Kevin Laser

Feb 14, 2011

The theme of secrecy and surveillance in The Tale of Two Cities

Throughout the book, Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens employs many themes, one of which is secrecy and surveillance.
This theme is brilliantly woven throughout the novel in the mail coach scene, Dr. Manette’s past, Charles Evremonde’s secret
identity, Jerry Cruncher’s secret profession, and Defarge’s underground activities. Although everyone has secrets, no one can keep
them from God who can see everything in man’s heart.
Dickens wastes no time introducing this theme when in chapter two there is a mail coach travelling late in the cold, dark
evening, and each of the passengers earnestly guards himself, making no effort to be social and interact with one another. Each
person is terribly fearful, distrustful, and suspicious of one another. They each clutch ferociously to keep their identity secret. There
was danger of robbers and evildoers all around the countryside in those days, and Dickens shows that in order remain safe people
lived in secrecy and distrust of one another.
Early on in the novel Dr. Manette is recalled to life and begins his new life with his beloved daughter Lucie. However, Dr.
Manette was imprisoned for many years. For most of the book it is left a secret as to why Dr. Manette was sentenced to prison. His
mental condition does not allow him to share what this secret is, and Defarge is anxious to find it, which he eventually does in the
chimney of Manette’s cell in the Bastille.
Another character in the book who had secrets is Charles Evremonde. Recognizing that a life of luxury and excess is selfish
and immoral he renounces his aristocratic family line, changes his name to Charles Darnay, and tries to keep his family lineage a
secret. During the time of the French Revolution many aristocrats were harmed by revolutionaries, therefore Charles likely kept his
family heritage a secret for his own safety. This secret was so personal and deep that he even kept it even from his own wife. Could
he not trust his own wife? A question to consider though, would be, is Charles keeping this secret for his own safety, or because he
wants to fully remove himself from the evils of aristocracy. Another secret that Charles kept was from his uncle, which was that he
was actually helping the revolutionaries.
Jerry Cruncher’s secret was that he was a grave robber. His conscience was so dull and seared that he convinced himself
that it was an “honest” profession because it provided food for his family. He thought that a noble end could justify the means.
However, the very fact that he kept it a secret reveals that he knew deep in his heart that it was wrong. He tried to keep his secret
from his family but he couldn’t, as his son followed him one night to the grave yard and ended up tragically wanting to be a
“resurrection man” also. Fortunately, later in the novel Jarvis Lorry admonishes Cruncher for grave robbing, and influences him to
abandon such immorality for a truly honest occupation that he would not need to keep a secret.
The Defarges symbolize the revolutionaries, whose secret is to overthrow the government and get rid of aristocrats. To
preserve their secret the Defarges call their comrades “Jacque”. Their wine shop is a secret meeting place for the revolutionaries.
When someone who is opposed to the revolution enters the wine shop, Madame Defarge puts a rose in her hair as a secret sign for
the Jacques to exit the shop. Although the secrecy of being a Jacque and having a secret meeting place in the wineshop is meant to
oppose oppression and bring about justice, it actually becomes a breeding place for vengeance and retaliation. This is startlingly and
repeatedly illustrated in Madame Defarge’s knitting, which is her secret register of the names of the aristocrats she will accuse to
death.
Dickens beautifully captures the profound mystery of the secrecy of every human. In book 1 chapter 3 he writes: “...that
every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a
great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds
of breasts there is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!” He is saying that each human being has secrets. No
human can truly know everything about another. Since everyone has secrets, there is something mysterious about each person.
Thankfully, God’s Word goes beyond this human to human reality. In Psalm 139:1-4 it says that God knows everything about each
person, and in Psalm 44:21 it says that, “He knows the secrets of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12-13 reveals that God will judge the heart
and no creature can escape that. It is true. Just as in the novel every secret was eventually exposed, in reality, man’s secrets will be
exposed and revealed by God Himself.