a Tale of Two Cities is about the French Revolution and the lives of some of the people who get caught up in it it takes place over seventeen years from 1775 to 79 T - with flashbacks going back even further and it shows the injustice leading to the Revolution and the consequences it is also in many ways a Christian allegory about sacrifice and spiritual Redemption the book begins one night in 1775 a man named Jarvis lorry is in a male coach on his way to Dover England mr. lorry works for Tulsans Bank in London and he's leaving from Dover for Paris on business a man lorry nose named Jerry cruncher catches up to him and gives him a note that says wait at Dover for mam'selle mr. lorry says Jerry should reply with the phrase recalled to life the next day mr. lorry meets with Lucie Manette she thinks there's some news about property belonging to her father whom she thinks died 18 years ago mr. lorry informs her that her father is actually alive he was imprisoned in France Lucy's mother died when Lucy was 2 so Lucy grew up thinking her parents were gone forever but now mr. lorry is going to take her to see her father the story shifts to the poor Paris neighborhood of sant antoine a wine cask has broken open in the street and frenzy ensues as people rush to drink as much wine as they can inside the wine shop where the cask was supposed to be delivered Monsieur and Madame Defarge the owners of the shop are talking to three men the men will refer to each other as Jacques it's a code name that identifies them as revolutionaries mr. lorry and Lucie Manette are there and Monsieur Defarge leads them upstairs in a small room as Lucy's father Dr Manette he can barely speak and does nothing but obsessively make shoes a skill he taught himself in the Bastille where he was locked up he only refers to himself as 105 North Tower which is the cell he was held in he doesn't know Lucy though she reminds him of his wife and he doesn't recognise mr. lorry his old friend Lucy tells him his agony is over and they cried together Doctor Manette is then smuggled out of Paris and taken to England the story skips ahead five years to 1780 Jerry cruncher who works as a runner and messenger for Tulsans Bank is on assignment watching a treason trial the man on trial is Charles Darnay he is accused of passing English secrets to France a man named John Barsad testifies against Darnay then a man named Roger cly who used to work as Darnay is servant testifies that he saw Darnay show papers to various French gentlemen other people are called up lastly a man who says he saw Darnay in the mail coach to Dover five years earlier darnay's attorney mr. Stryver asks if it could have been someone else who looked like Darnay the man is sure it wasn't mr. Stryver then asks Sydney Carton to stand up everyone is shocked at how much carton and Darnay resemble each other and the witness's credibility falls apart mr. Stryver makes the case that Barsad and cly were really the spies and Darnay is acquitted though not acquainted Darnay and Sydney Carton end up going to a tavern together carton asks Darnay if it was worth almost losing his life to win Lucie Manette's compassion he is obviously depressed and he doesn't like Darnay because Darnay reminds him of everything he is not we eventually learned that carton works with mr. Shriver and has no hope of being anything but a drunk and no intention of trying to improve his situation he does however have feelings for Lucie Manette four months pass mr. lorry goes to visit Lucie and Dr Manette they aren't home so he speaks with her housekeeper miss Pross he asks about doctor Manette who was mostly returned to normal and resumed work as a physician doctor Manette won't get rid of his shoe making bench and Miss Pross suspects he thinks about his years in prison often though he's afraid to speak of them miss Pross also goes on about how her brother Solomon a scoundrel who has disappeared is the only person good enough to marry Lucy doctor Manette and Lucie arrive then Darnay after lunch Darnay tells a story about the Tower of London where he was held during his trial in an old dungeon that had been built over and forgotten some workmen found a stone inscribed with letters that appeared to be initials but eventually were discovered to spell the word dig under a stone in the floor they found the ashes of an O in leather bag the story causes doctor Manette obvious distress but he says it's nothing back in France the wealthy Marquis st. Evremonde speeds recklessly through a poor village he hits and kills a small boy and his only reaction is to toss a gold coin at the boys grieving father Monsieur and Madame Defarge are there when the Marquis tosses monsieur defarge a gold coin Defarge throws it back into his coach the Marquis curses the commoners while Madame Defarge just watches and knits Darnay arrives at the Marquis home that night Darnay is his nephew his real name is also ever moaned and he's come from England to tell the Marquis he is renouncing the title and property he stands to inherit when the Marquis dies all their family's wealth has been obtained at the expense of the people and he wants no part of it one morning comes the Marquis is dead he has been stabbed through the heart the note left reads drive him fast to his tomb this from Jacques a year passes Darnay is living in London as a French tutor and one day he goes to Doctor Manette and reveals that he's in love with Lucy Darnay also confesses that Darnay isn't his real name but Manette stops him before he says any more mr. Stryver and Sydney Carton also talk about Lucie Strieber says he intends to marry her and carton seems uneasy about it though he doesn't admit it's because he's also in love with Lucy on his way to propose mr. Stryver stops to ask mr. lorry's opinion mr. lorry convinced his driver to wait until he spoke into the Manette's and is sure Lucy will accept that evening mr. lorry tells driver she would have turned him down strieber replies angrily that it's best for him anyway Sydney Carton then goes to speak to Lucy he tells her he's worthless he loves her and she inspired in him a dream of being a better man he knows it won't happen but he wanted to tell her and ask that she never tell anyone he says he will never mention it again that outwardly he will always appear as he's been in the past but she will know his true feelings before carton leaves he says he would sacrifice everything for Lucy while Jerry cruncher and his son young Jerry wait for work in front of Tulsans Bank a funeral passes by it's a rowdy crowd and someone tells cruncher the funeral is for Roger cly who is convicted of spying against England cly is one of the men who testified against Darnay that night cruncher goes to the graveyard where cly was buried his son follows him and sees him and two other men digging up cly's grave Jerry cruncher is what's called a red direction man he digs up recently deceased bodies and sells them to scientists but something went wrong when cruncher dug up cly's body though we don't know what yet we learned why Madame Defarge is always knitting she's making a coded record of everyone the revolutionaries must kill the list comes up when Monsieur Defarge hears about the person who was executed for the murder of the Marquis the jocks demand that the aristocracy in all its heirs be eliminated and Monsieur Defarge replies that once a name is added to madame defarge's list it can't be erased the next day a stranger shows up in the defarge's wine-shop it's John Barsad who testified against Darnay he talks about how oppressed the people are trying to get the defarges to reveal the revolutionary ideas but the defarges were warned about him before he leaves he mentions that Lucie Manette is getting married to Charles Darnay the nephew of the Marquis Monsieur Defarge is shocked at the news he thinks of the Manette's and he hopes for their sakes that Darnay stays out of France because his name is in the register Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay are married in a small ceremony and everyone is happy earlier in the day however Mr lorry noticed that Doctor Manette was visibly disturbed by a conversation he had in private with Darnay we learned later that Darnay revealed to Doctor Manette his true identity as the nephew of the Marquis Dr Manette is supposed to join Lucy and Darnay on their honeymoon but he relapses into insanity mr. lorry finds him back at his cobbler's bench that night in the condition in which he first found him after several days mr. lorry finds Doctor Manette fully recovered he doesn't remember what happened and says some stimulus must have triggered the memories only he doesn't know what it was when mr. lorry suggests they get rid of the cobbler's bench doctor Manette hesitates but ultimately agrees when Doctor Manette leaves to join Lucy and Darnay mr. lorry and Miss Pross destroyed the bench and buried the tools they decide never to tell anyone about doctor Manette's relapse several years pass and it is now 1789 the family lives happily Lucie and Charles have a daughter also named Lucy and they had a son who died young Sydney Carton has grown very close with the family one night in July mr. lorry comes to the house he says Tulsans is extremely busy because people in Paris remove all their wealth to England the unspoken implication is that it isn't safe anymore in France finally the Revolution years in the making begins the revolutionary stormed the Bastille a mass of jail in Paris and the defarges are among the leaders after hours of fighting the Bastille a symbol of the oppression of the poor surrenders Monsieur Defarge and one of the jocks find a guard and demand he take them to 105 North Tower the room where Dr Manette was held they search the room and appear to find something important though we aren't told what it is afterward the revolutionaries carry out brutal executions of aristocrats and officials and there's chaos across France three years passed like this it is now 1792 Tulsans bank decides to dispatch mr. lorry to its Paris branch in hopes that he can protect their records from destruction Darnay tries to convince him not to go but mr. lorry is resolved just then mr. lorry receives a letter addressed to the nephew of the Marquis mr. lorry still doesn't know darnay's true identity but Darnay tells him he knows the man and will deliver the letter the letter is from an official in France when the Marquis died Darnay inherited his property but since he wasn't there the official took care of it the revolutionaries have imprisoned him for being sympathetic to the aristocracy and he wants Darnay to save him Darnay decides to go in that night he writes a farewell letter and leaves in France it isn't long before Darnay is arrested and taken to LaForest prison in Paris there as Monsieur Defarge leads him to a cell he asks if Darnay is the one who married Lucie Manette Darnay recalls defarge's name as that of the man who helped Dr Manette and asks his help but the fajr won't help him mr. lorry isn't elsens in Paris when Doctor Manette and Lucie unexpectedly enter they heard about Darnay there's little time outside revolutionaries are sharpening weapons to kill the prisoners in La force Dr Manette as a former prisoner of the Bastille knows he'll have influence with them so he goes outside and after a moment leaves with the revolutionaries for the prison Monsieur Defarge finds mr. lorry he has a letter from Darnay and mr. lorry takes Monsieur Defarge as well as Madame Defarge and her lieutenant who's referred to as the Vengeance to see Lucy Lucy implores madame defarge's help but she refuses more than a year passes with Darnay locked up Doctor Manette has become the physician for three prisons in this time and he tells Lucy of a spot where Darnay might be able to see her she waits there for two hours every day hoping he sees her the day of darnay's trial arrives he's accused as an emigrant since he left France for England and he could be put to death but Darnay says he went to England because he had nothing in France after renouncing his property and when Doctor Manette who is well known and beloved testifies in support of Darnay he is acquitted the crowd which was ready to tear Darnay to pieces earlier cheers and carries him home on their shoulders but Darnay is arrested again shortly afterward on new charges his accusers are Monsieur and Madame Defarge and one other person whose identity the soldiers won't reveal while Darnay is being arrested miss Pross and Jerry cruncher who's been working for mr. lorry in Paris are stopping into a wine shop miss Pross is shocked to recognize her brother solomon cruncher swears he's seen him before but can't quite place him until sydney carton appears he reveals that solomon is an English spy working under the alias of John Barsad and carton forces him to go with them to tell since they find mr. lorry and carton says Darnay has been arrested again he overheard bar Saud talking to someone about it in the wine shop to ensure that bar Saud will help carton threatens to expose him as a spy if that isn't enough carton will also expose the man he was speaking with Roger cly also a spy bar Saad counters that cly is dead and takes out a certificate of burial to prove it but Jerry cruncher reveals that there was no body in cly's coffin just dirt and rocks while mr. lorry scolds Jerry cruncher for grave robbing carton speaks with barsaat alone and makes him agree to help with a secret plan carton wanders Paris alone that night he thinks of Lucie and repeats to himself a Bible verse that promises eternal life to those who believe in Christ he also buys something at a chemist shop darnay's newish trial takes place in the morning the first thing that happens is the judge reads out darnay's accusers they are Monsieur and Madame Defarge and doctor Manette everyone is shocked at the mention of doctor Manette but the prosecutor produces a letter written by the dr. that Monsieur Defarge recovered from 105 North Tower in the Bastille it tells the story of how Dr Manette was imprisoned many years earlier in 1757 a pair of twin brothers approached Dr Manette and asked them for his help Manette was taken to a young woman who was feverish and hysterical as he tried to help her the twins told him there was another patient they took him to a room where a young boy lay dying of a stab wound while Dr Manette treated him the boy described how his sister the young woman in the other room was recently married but one of the twins still desired her they asked her husband persuade his new wife to sleep with him but he couldn't and so as they were nobles and he a commoner they essentially worked him to death the twin then took the sister and raped her when her brother found out he hit his youngest sister so the same could never happen to her and he went to kill the noble but he was fatally injured in the fight after telling his story he died doctor Manette returned to the young woman but a week later she also died not long after another woman showed up at doctor Manette's door she was the wife of the Marquis st. Evremonde and she knew what the Marquis had done to the young woman she heard the woman had a sister and wanted to find her but Doctor Manette didn't know where she was the woman said it would be the duty of her son Charles to find this sister and make any atonement he could that night a stranger arrived at doctor Manette's doctor Manette's servant Ernest Defarge was there the stranger asked doctor Manette's help with an urgent case and when Doctor Manette went with him he was taken to the Bastille and locked away after the letter is read Darnay who is technically the new Marquis in sever mind is sentenced by unanimous vote to die he and Lucy reach out to each other one last time before Barsad takes him away Sydney Carton seeks out the defarge's wine-shop and eavesdrops on them he hears Madame Defarge say they must accuse the minutes of spying including the little girl it is revealed that Madame Defarge was the sister of the young woman the Marquise raped and she believes everyone connected to the a Vermont family must be punished back at the Manette's room doctor Manette has relapsed in his jacket carton finds papers that will allow the Manette family to pass out of the city barriers and he tells mr. Liu about madame defarge's plan he says mr. lorry and the Manette's must leave tomorrow carton then gives mr. lorry his own papers and says when he arrives at their coach tomorrow they are all to leave for England at once while Darnay prepares for his execution carton turns up at his cell he had Barsad sneaked him in he says Lucie sent him and he demands that Darnay strip off his clothes immediately and not ask why then with the substance he purchased from the chemist he drugs Darnay after carton switch is closed with Darnay Barsad has Darnay carried out while Sydney Carton remains in darnay's place the jailers come and take carton and 51 other prisoners to the guillotine in a steady stream their heads are cut off to a cheering crowd carton comforts the woman ahead of him as he calmly walked toward the scaffolding meanwhile Darnay who is still unconscious is delivered to mr. lorry in the minutes and together they flee as fast as they can at the Paris border they are stopped and their papers inspected but they are allowed to pass Madame Defarge shows up at the minutes to accuse them but finds only miss Pross there she realized that the Manette's have already fled and when she turns to pursue them miss Pross grabs her they struggle and the gun Madame Defarge pulls from her waistband goes off and kills her Miss Pross leaves and meets Jerry cruncher and together the two safely get out of Paris the woman carton was comforting is executed and then carton is taken up it said after that no man had ever been so calm in the guillotine the narrator imagines what carton was thinking he sees the defarges and others dying by the guillotine before it's out of use and a beautiful city eventually rising out of the chaos he sees Lucie Manette with a son named after him and doctor Manette eventually passing away tranquil II he sees Lucien Darnay together their whole lives always remembering carton on the anniversary of his death he sees the mistakes he made in his life fading away and thinks it is a better thing he does and sacrificing himself than he has ever done before for more information about A Tale of Two Cities check out the ax Tale of Two Cities spark note @ww spark notes calm for a translation of the entire book into modern English go to no fear literature at WWDC arc notes calm slash no fear slash lid