A Tale of Two Cities Video

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel written by Charles Dickens. Originally published in weekly installments in Dickens’ own literary journal, the novel is set during the violent French Revolution. A Tale of Two Cities follows the epic love triangle involving Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat; Sydney Carton, his lookalike; and the beautiful Lucie Manette.

Set in 1775, the novel opens with the very famous line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” Jarvis Lorry, a bank clerk, is traveling from London to Dover to meet with Lucie Manette, the daughter of one of his old friends. Lucie’s father, the once-esteemed Dr. Manette, has long been imprisoned in the Bastille; she believes him to be dead. Upon Lorry’s arrival, he shocks Lucie by revealing that her father is, in fact, alive—or as he puts it in a letter to his colleague, “recalled to life.”

Lorry takes Lucie to France to reunite her with Dr. Manette, who is being housed in the wine shop of Defarge, Manette’s former servant. Driven mad by years of imprisonment, Dr. Manette spends his time working as a cobbler. Lorry encourages Lucie to shower her father with affection. She does, and over the course of five years, her father regains his sanity.

The story then jumps ahead to 1780 London, where Charles Darnay is being tried for providing English secrets to the French and the Americans during the American Revolution. Darnay’s lawyer, Mr. Stryver, has a disgraced colleague from whom he seeks advice. This alcoholic colleague, Sydney Carton, happens to look remarkably similar to the accused man, Darnay. When Sydney Carton appears in the courtroom, everything is thrown into chaos. Since Carton looks nearly identical to Darnay, the court cannot definitively identify Darnay as the spy; they are forced to acquit him.

Fatefully, Darnay, Carton, and Mr. Stryver all fall in love with Lucie Manette, who served as an unwilling witness for the prosecution. After a year of courtship, Lucie decides to marry Darnay. But Carton tells Lucie that, while he does not expect her to return his love, he would do anything for her or for anyone she cares about. On the morning of the couple’s wedding, Darnay reveals to Dr. Manette that he is a French nobleman who renounced his title. When the couple returns from their honeymoon, Darnay and Carton agree to be friends.

Darnay visits his uncle, Monseigneur Evrémonde, in France, who has that very day run over a peasant child with his carriage. Disgusted by his uncle’s lack of remorse, Darnay curses Evrémonde, a family name Darnay has renounced, and declares his intention to return to England the following day. The Monseigneur’s behavior exemplifies the French aristocracy’s pitiless attitude towards the common people; indeed, he is murdered in bed the next morning. A note signed “Jacques” is left behind by the peasant child’s father, Gaspard.

Back in Paris, an English spy named John Barsad drops into Defarge’s wine shop to gather evidence and determine whether Defarge is a revolutionary. While Defarge reveals practically nothing, his wife, Madame Defarge, secretly knits a list of people she and the other revolutionaries intend to kill.

Eight years later, in 1789, the French Revolution is underway. Peasants storm the Bastille and murder aristocrats in the streets. Monsieur Gabelle, the man in charge of the Evremonde estate, is imprisoned and urgently requests that Darnay return to Paris. When he does, Darnay is arrested as a nobleman and an emigrant. He is thrown into jail.

Doctor Manette, Lucie, and her daughter follow Darnay to Paris. The Doctor temporarily secures Darnay's release by using his power among the revolutionaries as a former Bastille prisoner. But Darnay is eventually denounced by the now powerful Defarges, who produce a document found in Manette’s former cell. It reveals that Manette was jailed by the Evrémondes for witnessing the rape of a peasant girl and the murder of her brother. As a result, Darnay is sentenced to death.

Carton, however, is determined to help Lucie. Arriving in Paris, Carton overhears the Defarges’ plan to kill Lucie and her child, and realizes that Madame Defarge is the surviving sister of the Evrémonde’s victims. Acting quickly, Carton arranges for the Manettes to leave Paris immediately.

Carton soon recognizes John Barsad as Solomon Pross, the long-lost brother of Miss Pross, Lucie Manette’s servant. He recruits Barsad, who works as a turnkey in the Conciergerie, to break into Darnay’s cell. Carton then drugs Darnay and takes his place, having Barsad carry Darnay to safety.

Meanwhile, Madame Defarge knocks on Lucie's door to arrest her, but the Manettes have already fled to safety. She is instead confronted with the extremely protective Miss Pross, who accidentally shoots Madame Defarge dead. While Darnay safely joins the Manettes in London, Carton impersonates Darnay and dies in his place at the guillotine, satisfied with his final act of kindness towards Lucie.