A Tale of Two Cities Book Report

Lucie is portrayed to be a figure of light, a figure that holds the power to influence peers. Throughout this novel, Lucie has great impact on Doctor Manette and Sydney Carton’s lives due to this character trait. Dickens describes Lucie having “a quantity of golden

She likes to intensify scenarios, keep a stern face, and contribute to the revolts. Also in the novel, Dickens introduces important characters such as Doctor Manette, a former Bastille prisoner, who has a daughter named Lucie Manette. However, Doctor Manette’s crucial conditions, such as believing he is a shoe maker, is continuously advised to both Lucie and his dear friend, Mr. Defarge. In order to help, Mr. Defarge takes Doctor Manette into his hands, and takes care of him before the arrival of his daughter Lucie which develops a strong connection between the Doctor and Mr. Defarge. Previously mentioned before, a man named Charles Darnay, who is related of the Evremonde brothers, is wed to Lucie Manette. Flushed with anger and betrayal on behalf of her husband from hearing the news, Madame Defarge registers Charles to be killed. Despite the fact that Charles has no intentions of taking over his uncle and father’s roles in aristocracy, Madame Defarge perseveres to make sure that the blood is drawn from Charles. Mr. Defarge, however, believes that this action should not be fulfilled on behalf of the Manette family, but this does not stop Madame Defarge as she explains that “my husband has his weakness, and he is so weak as to relent towards this Doctor” to the “Jacques”, which is a group of revolutionists during this time (279). Furthermore, when the rebellion is

Defarge displays a lot of love for her family but thinks she needs revenge on the Marquis family. She is the leader of the revolution and is very strong and powerful. Things always have to be her way. This is because she is the boss and thinks she is doing the right things. She wants revenge on all the people who have hurt her family even if they haven’t hurt them. Mrs. Defarge points out how the whole Marquis family should be killed when she says, “Tell the wind and the fire where to stop; not me!” (Dickens 286). She thinks that she has a good excuse to kill people. The excuse is that all the people she killed had hurt her family in some way. This is not a good excuse because how is that any different than someone else killing a random person for no reason. Mrs. Defarge loves her family so much that it empowers her to kill those she thinks deserve to die. She doesn’t have any compassion or boundaries as to when to stop. She thinks she is redeeming her family and herself by killing the people who have “hurt” them. She is really just being a terrible person and ends up dying because she was trying to kill more people. Mrs. Prise stopped her because she was stronger than Mrs. Defarge, which led to Defarge killing herself. Love had a big impact on the actions of Mrs.

At the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens writes, “every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other (14).” Throughout the novel, Dickens incorporates the theme of secrets to connect characters and add mystery to the story. The three characters with the significant secrets are Charles Darnay, Alexandre Manette, and Madame Defarge. Darnay, Manette, and Defarge are all of French blood, living in either France or England in the heat of the French Revolution. Charles Dickens chooses to write the book in 1859, more than half a century following the French Revolution, to show his beloved country of England how not to act in a time of national chaos. During A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Darnay, Alexandre Manette, and Madame Defarge keep secrets that negatively impact other characters.

In Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, the revolutionary leader Madame Defarge is a key part in developing the plot. Despite her reserved character at the beginning of the novel, she becomes the iron fist of the bloody revolution and reign of terror. She is a ruthless leader through her deception, cold-bloodedness, and fixation on revenge. Always knitting, Madame Defarge is quietly plots her plan for revenge throughout the novel. In contrast to her deceptive character, she is very passive and seemingly almost peaceful at the beginning of the book just knitting in her chair, until we learn what she is knitting. She is knitting a death registry to keep track of those who oppose her. As the book progresses, Madame Defarge becomes more and more

Throughout the course of the book, she uses her power to encourage people to kill others and to destroy an innocent family. On the contrary, Lucie Manette was a kind woman who was affected by the evils of the revolution throughout the novel. Here, she was given the task to watch her mentally broken father while also becoming depressed due to her innocent husbands death sentence. By giving people the power to negatively affect people while also causing more stresses to others, the French Revolution is more evil than prosperous.

Monsieur Defarge is the man who escorts Darnay to La Force prison. Along the way, he recognizes him, and asks Darnay if he is the son-in-law of Doctor Manette, the father of Lucy Manette, who once visited his wine-shop. Darnay confirms that he is indeed that man, and pleads with Defarge to have mercy on him. However, Defarge states that he is a patriot, and therefore will absolutely not help an “aristocrat” such as Darnay. He even refuses to tell Mr. Lorry, a friend of

Jarvis Lorry who is travelling in Paris with his daughter, Lucie. He wanted to reunite with Dr. Manette. But the truth that left me hanging was that when Charles Darnay had a

Later on in the novel, after Darnay is released from the prison of La Force, Miss Pross understands the grave danger he is in and wishes to quickly see that he is safely escorted out of the country. However, she is informed of the untimely risk of the escape from France and states, “we must have patience and wait: that’s all” (225). Lastly, when the time comes for Darnay’s escape, Miss Pross stays behind in France in fear of the coach being too crowded, the time it takes to check all the citizenship papers at the border, and the suspicion of all their party leaving at once. Little does she know that Madame Defarge would come looking for Lucie. Miss Pross knows her purpose as she stays in France that day: “I know that the longer I keep you here, the greater hope there is for my Ladybird” (286). Therefore, throughout every day Miss Pross serves the Manette family, including the day she kills Madame Defarge, she, along with others, sacrifices her safety, time, and purity for Lucie’s family to be whole and together in the end.

At the heart of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens lies the ideas, feelings, and heart of the French Revolution. It is what the entire novel is centered around, and without it the story is far less powerful. While there are many different things that drive this book, revolution is far and beyond the most important. In order to fully capture the immense presence of this theme’s influential impact on the novel, it is crucial to understand the extensive use of extended metaphor that Dickens continuously plays on throughout its duration. In essence, the book is exactly that: one metaphor with plenty of detail and intrigue thrown in to make for a good story. But that metaphor is far deeper than just the surface revolution.

Lucie Manette is first introduced as a an emotional girl that, when she receives bad news, faints. As the novel proceeds, Lucie is able to have more control of her emotions. When she first meets her father, she does all she can to keep herself focused on taking care of him. Guiding her father out of madness and into the world again through the sheer strength of her love, Lucie becomes the poster child for tenderness and female self-sacrifice. One important part that shows Lucie’s strength is when her husband Charles Darnay was sentenced to death at his second trial. She was so shocked that she dropped to the floor in agony, but then she picked herself up. She knew that even though she was hurting, she had to manage her feelings, and put on a brave face for Charles. That is a strong woman. Despite the terror and the bloodshed that surround her, Lucie remains an innocent mother whose only priority is her family. Lucie’s deep sympathy for Sydney Carton’s pain doesn’t cloud her realism, she could never marry the man herself. Despite this, she becomes a fierce defender of Sydney’s hidden strengths. She knows that her response would affect him dearly, but she sticks up for what she wants. Everything she has been through, her father in prison for eighteen years, her son passing away, to her husband being sentenced to death, she was still capable of maintaining her sanity to provide joy to

Dr. Manette, believed to be dead by his daughter, was actually unjustly imprisoned in the Bastille, in prison. In 1775, eighteen years after his imprisonment, Dr. Manette was released, and staying with the Defarge’s. Jarvis Lorry, a banker at Tellson’s, is responsible for identifying Dr. Manette and bringing him back to England safely. Lorry sees it necessary to bring Lucie, the doctor’s daughter, along because she will be the one to nurse her father back to health. Lorry tells Lucie “He is alive. Greatly changed , it is too probable; almost a wreck, it is possible; though we shall hope the best.”(Dickens 30) This gives Lucie hope that no matter how bad off her father is, they can fix him. When the two arrive, they see that the doctor is not

Madame Defarge encounters many coincidences that will ultimately lead her to her fate. Not only does Madame Defarge encounter her fate, she is also predicting other people’s fates. Dickens introduces Madame Defarge by saying, “…when the one woman who had stood conspicuous, kitting, still knitted on with the steadfastness of Fate.” In the beginning we do not know what she is knitting, but later we find out that she is knitting a registry of names of the people who will die in the revolution. Dickens often also describes her as the woman who seems to be innocently knitting and watching everything that is going on. Madame Defarge encounters another coincidence when she tries to go find Lucie before Darnay is sent to the guillotine. Lucie and Darnay secretly left Paris to head back home and Madame Defarge is unaware of that. Coincidentally Miss Pross tells Mr. Lorry, “‘what do you think of our not starting from this court-yard? Another carriage

Dickens introduces a memorable cast of characters with Doctor Manette, his daughter Lucy Manette, Sydney Carter,Madame Defarge, and Charles Darnay motley Jerry Cruncher,Stryver the lawyer, and Miss Pross. A tale of two cities begins in 1775 when Mr. Jarvis Lorry goes to fetch Lucy Manette to visit her father, who has been imprisoned for

Out of all the compelling characters in this story, Lucie Manette and Jarvis Lorry are the two that are most interesting to me. In the beginning of the story, they were strangers. However, as the plot develops, we find out they have actually met before. When Lucie became an orphan, Lorry took her to England to be raised. This action shows that Lorry cared for Lucie and wanted what was best for her. They meet again when he takes Lucie to her father. Throughout the story, they grow a strong bond.