Download A Tale of Two Cities – by Charles Dickens (1859)

A Tale of Two Cities – by Charles Dickens (1859)
Essential Questions
•
Why did Dickens chose to write ToTC? What was his main purpose/message?
•
Many readers criticize Dickens’ coincidences as unbelievable and far fetched. However, what important theme do
you think the coincidences in ToTC convey?
•
At several points Dickens shifts from third to first person and from present tense to past tense. What do these shifts
accomplish?
•
Who is the main hero/heroine of the novel?
• What is the theme of the novel?
Key motifs
 Resurrection
 Individual sacrifice
 Light vs. dark
 Good vs. evil
 Shadows
 Fate/inevitability
 Echoes of footsteps
 Wine/blood
 Guillotine
 Doubles/opposites/parallels
 Individual freedoms (liberty, privacy)
Characters
 Dr. Manette
 Lucie Manette
 Charles Darnay
 Sydney Carton
 Jarvis Lorry
 Madame Defarge
 Monsieur Defarge
 Jerry Cruncher (and his son)
 Ms. Pross
 Mr. Stryver
 Mr. Barsad/Pross
 The Monsiegneur
 The Marquis
 Gaspard
Terminology
L'ABBAYE Prison of the French
monarchy, used by the
Revolutionaries to jail aristocrats.
BASTILLE French fortress used to
confine state prisoners; the
Bastille was much hated by the
people.
CONCIERGERIE Prison attached
to the Palace of Justice in Paris.
Marie Antoinette, Robespierre,
and other famous prisoners of the
Revolution awaited execution
here; between January 1793 and
July 1794 nearly 2,600 prisoners
left for the guillotine.
FLEET STREET London
newspaper and business district,
well known to Dickens.
LA FORCE Old debtors' prison of
Paris; during the Revolution it held
political offenders.
FURIES In Greek and Roman
mythology, minor deities who
relentlessly pursued sinners.
GORGON'S HEAD Reference to
Medusa, the Gorgon, a monster of
Greek mythology. All who looked
at Medusa were turned to stone.
The hero Perseus succeeded in
cutting off her head.
JACQUERIE Originally applied to
a French peasant revolt in the
Middle Ages, the term came to
mean any uprising of the common
people. Jacques was the old
collective name for French
peasants, which Defarge and his
revolutionary friends co-opt,
proudly, as a password: "How
goes it, Jacques?"
NEWGATE Infamous London
prison, now demolished; held
prisoners awaiting trial at the Old
Bailey, next door.
OLD BAILEY London court of law,
remodeled into the Centre
Criminal Court, but still widely
called "Old Bailey."
SAINT ANTOINE Suburb
(faubourg) of Paris that supported
primitive manufacturing; its
impoverished residents were the
backbone of the Revolutionary
mob.
TEMPLE BAR London gateway
dividing Fleet Street from the
Strand; the heads of executed
traitors were displayed on it.
Designed by Christopher Wren in
1670, Temple Bar was removed to
a private estate in 1878.
TOWER OF LONDON Fortress
where those imprisoned for
treason awaited trial.
TUILERIES, PALACE OF Paris
residence of the French kings, and
hated symbol of the monarchy.
Burnt down by French
Revolutionaries of 1871.
WHITEFRIARS London district
between Thames and Fleet Street,
long a haunt of fugitive debtors
and criminals and so an
appropriate address for Jerry
Cruncher, body snatcher.