A Tale of Two Cities(part3)

Marquis recalls with pleasure the days when his family had the right of life and death over their slaves, "when many such dogs were taken out to be hanged". He won't even allow a widow to put up a board bearing her dead husband’s name, to discern his resting place from all the others. He orders Madame Defarge's sick brother-in-law to heave a cart all day and allay frogs at night to exacerbate the young man's illness and hasten his death.

In England, even banks endorse unbalanced sentences: a man may be condemned to death for nicking a horse or opening a letter. Conditions in the prisons are dreadful. "Most kinds of debauchery and villainy were practised, and ... dire diseases were bred", sometimes killing the judge before the accused.

So riled is Dickens at the brutality of English law that he depicts some of its punishments with sarcasm: "the whipping-post, another dear old institution, very humanising and softening to behold in action". He faults the law for not seeking reform: "Whatever is is right" is the dictum of the Old Bailey.[25] The gruesome portrayal of quartering highlights its atrocity.

Without entirely forgiving him, Dickens understands that Jerry Cruncher robs graves only in order to feed his son, and reminds the reader that Mr Lorry is more likely to rebuke Jerry for his humble social status than anything else. Jerry reminds Mr Lorry that doctors, men of the cloth, undertakers and watchmen are also conspirators in the selling of bodies.

Dickens wants his readers to be careful that the same sort of revolution that so damaged France won't happen in Britain, which (at least at the beginning of the book)[26] is shown to be nearly as unjust as France. But his warning is addressed not to the British lower classes, but to the aristocracy. He repeatedly uses the metaphor of sowing and reaping; if the aristocracy continues to plant the seeds of a revolution through behaving unjustly, they can be certain of harvesting that revolution in time. The lower classes do not have any agency in this metaphor: they simply react to the behaviour of the aristocracy. In this sense it can be said that while Dickens sympathises with the poor, he identifies with the rich: they are the book's audience, its "us" rather than its "them". "Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious licence and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind".[27]


[edit] Relation to Dickens's personal life
Some have argued that in Tale Dickens reflects on his recently begun affair with eighteen-year-old actress Ellen Ternan, which was possibly asexual but certainly romantic. The character of Lucie Manette resembles Ternan physically, and some have seen "a sort of implied emotional incest" in the relationship between Dr Manette and his daughter.[28]

Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay may also bear importantly on Dickens' personal life. The plot hinges on the near-perfect resemblance between Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay; the two look so alike that Carton twice saves Darnay through the inability of others to tell them apart. It is implied that Carton and Darnay not only look alike, but they possess identical "genetic" endowments (to use a term that Dickens would not have known): Carton is Darnay made bad. Carton suggests as much:

'Do you particularly like the man [Darnay]?' he muttered, at his own image [which he is regarding in a mirror]; 'why should you particularly like a man who resembles you? There is nothing in you to like; you know that. Ah, confound you! What a change you have made in yourself! A good reason for talking to a man, that he shows you what you have fallen away from and what you might have been! Change places with him, and would you have been looked at by those blue eyes [belonging to Lucie Manette] as he was, and commiserated by that agitated face as he was? Come on, and have it out in plain words! You hate the fellow.'[29]

Many have felt that Carton and Darnay are doppelgängers, which Eric Rabkin defines as a pair "of characters that together, represent one psychological persona in the narrative".[30] If so, they would prefigure such works as Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Darnay is worthy and respectable but dull (at least to most modern readers), Carton disreputable but magnetic.

One can only suspect whose psychological persona it is that Carton and Darnay together embody (if they do), but it is often thought to be the psyche of Dickens himself. Dickens was quite aware that between them, Carton and Darnay shared his own initials.[31] Furthermore, in early drafts of the novel, Darnay and Carton each individually had the same initials as Dickens, since in early drafts Carton's forename was Dick rather than Sydney[citation needed].

Characters
Many of Dickens's characters are "flat" rather than round, in the novelist E. M. Forster's famous terms, meaning roughly that they have only one mood.[32] In Tale, for example, the Marquis is unremittingly wicked and relishes being so; Lucie is perfectly loving and supportive. (As a corollary, Dickens often gives these characters verbal ticks or visual quirks that he mentions over and over, such as the dints in the nose of the Marquis.) Forster believed that Dickens never truly created rounded characters, but a character such as Carton surely at least comes closer to roundness.

Sydney Carton – quick-minded but depressed English barrister and alcoholic; his Christ-like self-sacrifice redeems his own life as well as saving the life of Charles Darnay
Lucie Manette – An ideal Victorian lady who was perfect in every way, she was loved by both Carton and Charles Darnay (whom she marries); daughter of Dr Manette. She is the "golden thread" after whom Book Two is named, so called because she holds her father's and her family's lives together (and because of her blond hair like her mother's)She also ties almost every character in the book together.[33]
Charles Darnay – a young French noble of the Evrémonde family. In disgust at the cruelty of his family to the French peasantry, he has taken on the name "Darnay" (after his mother's maiden name, D'Aulnais) and left France for England.[34]
Dr. Alexandre Manette – Lucie's father, kept a prisoner in the Bastille for eighteen years.
Monsieur Ernest Defarge – owner of a French wine shop and leader of the Jacquerie; husband of Madame Defarge; servant to Dr Manette as a youth. One of the key revolutionary leaders, he leads the revolution with a noble cause, unlike many of other revolutionaries.
Madame Therese Defarge – a vengeful female revolutionary; arguably the novel's antagonist
The Vengeance – a companion of Madame Defarge referred to as her "shadow", a member of the sisterhood of women revolutionaries in Saint Antoine, and revolutionary zealot. Many Frenchmen and women actually did change their names to show their enthusiasm for the Revolution[35]
Jarvis Lorry – an elderly manager at Tellson's Bank and a dear friend of Dr Manette.
Miss Pross – Lucie Manette's governess since Lucie was ten years old; fiercely loyal to Lucie and to England.
The Marquis St. Evrémonde[36] – cruel uncle of Charles Darnay
John Barsad (real name Solomon Pross) – a spy for Britain who later becomes a spy for France (at which point he must conceal that he is British). He is the long-lost brother of Miss Pross.
Roger Cly – another spy, Barsad's collaborator
Jerry Cruncher – porter and messenger for Tellson's Bank and secret "Resurrection Man" (body-snatcher)
Mr Stryver – Arrogant and ambitious barrister, senior to Sydney Carton.[37] There is a frequent mis-perception that Stryver's full name is "C. J. Stryver", but this is very unlikely. The mistake comes from a line in Book 2, Chapter 12: "After trying it, Stryver C. J. was satisfied that no plainer case could be."[38] The initials C. J. almost certainly refer to a legal title (probably "chief justice"); Stryver is imagining that he is playing every role in a trial in which he browbeats Lucie Manette into marrying him.
The Seamstress – a young woman caught up in The Terror. She precedes Sydney Carton (whom comforts her) to the guillotine.
Gabelle – Gabelle is "the Postmaster, and some other taxing functionary, united"[39] for the tenants of the Marquis St. Evrémonde. Gabelle is imprisoned by the revolutionaries, and it is his beseeching letter that brings Darnay to France. Gabelle is "named after the hated salt tax".[40]
Gaspard – Gaspard is the man whose son gets run over by the monseignor. he then kills the monseignor and goes into hiding for a year. he eventually gets found, arrested, and executed.

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Films
There have been at least five feature films based on the book:

A Tale of Two Cities, a 1911 silent film.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1917 silent film.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1922 silent film.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1935 black and white MGM movie starring Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone and Edna Mae Oliver. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1958 version, starring Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Christopher Lee, Leo McKern and Donald Pleasance.
In the 1981 film History of the World, Part I, the French Revolution segment appears to be a pastiche of A Tale of Two Cities.

In the film A Simple Wish, the protagonist's father Oliver (possibly a reference to another of Dickens' famous novels, Oliver Twist) is vying for a spot in his theatre company's production of a musical of A Tale of Two Cities, of which we see the beginning and end, using the two famous quotes, including "It is a far, far better thing that I do", as part of a few solos.


[edit] Radio
In June 1989, BBC Radio 4 produced a 6-hour drama adapted for radio by Nick McCarty and directed by Ian Cotterell. The cast included:

Charles Dance as "Sydney Carton"
Maurice Denham as "Dr. Alexandre Manette"
Charlotte Attenborough as "Lucie Manette"
Richard Pasco as "Jarvis Lorry"
John Duttine as "Charles Darnay"
Barbara Leigh-Hunt as "Miss Pross"
Margaret Robertson as "Madame Defarge"
John Hollis as "Jerry Cruncher"
John Bull as "Ernest Defarge"
Aubrey Woods as "Mr. Stryver"
Eva Stuart as "Mrs. Cruncher"
John Moffat as "Marquis St. Evremonde"
Geoffrey Whitehead as "John Barsad" and "Jacques #2"
Nicholas Courtney as "Jacques #3" and "The Woodcutter"

[edit] Television programs
An 8-part mini-series was produced by the BBC in 1957 starring Peter Wyngarde as "Sydney Carton", Edward de Souza as "Charles Darnay" and Wendy Hutchinson as "Lucie Manette".

Another mini-series, this one in 10 parts, was produiced by the BBC in 1965.

A third BBC mini-series (in 8 parts) was produced in 1980 starring Paul Shelley as "Carton/Darnay", Sally Osborne as "Lucie Manette" and Nigel Stock as "Jarvis Lorry".

The novel was adapted into a 1980 television movie starring Chris Sarandon as "Sydney Carton/Charles Darnay". Peter Cushing as "Dr. Alexandre Manette", Alice Krige as "Lucie Manette", Flora Robson as "Miss Pross", Barry Morse as "The Marquis St. Evremonde" and Billie Whitelaw as "Madame Defarge".

In 1989 Granada Television made a mini-series starring James Wilby as "Sydney Carton", Serena Gordon as "Lucie Manette", Xavier Deluc as "Charles Darnay", Anna Massey as "Miss Pross" and John Mills as "Jarvis Lorry", which was shown on American television as part of the PBS television series Masterpiece Theatre.

In the 1970 Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "The Attila the Hun Show", the sketch "The News for Parrots" included a scene of A Tale of Two Cities (As told for parrots).

The children's television series Wishbone adapted the novel for the episode "A Tale of Two Sitters".


[edit] Books
American author Susanne Alleyn's novel A Far Better Rest, a reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities from the point of view of Sydney Carton, was published in the USA in 2000.

Diane Mayer self-published her novel Evremonde through iUniverse in 2005; it tells the story of Charles and Lucie Darnay and their children after the French Revolution.

Simplified versions of A Tale Of Two Cities for English language learners have been published by Penguin Readers, in several levels of difficulty.


[edit] Stage musicals
There have been four musicals based on the novel:

A 1968 stage version with music by Jeff Wayne staring Edward Woodward.

A Tale of Two Cities, Jill Santoriello's musical adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, was performed at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, in October and November 2007. James Stacy Barbour ("Sydney Carton") and Jessica Rush ("Lucie Manette") were among the cast. A production of the musical began previews on Broadway on August 19, 2008, opening on September 18 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Warren Carlyle is the director/choreographer; the cast includes James Stacy Barbour as "Sydney Carton", Brandi Burkhardt as "Lucie Manette", Aaron Lazar as "Charles Darnay", Gregg Edelman as "Dr. Manette", Katherine McGrath as "Miss Pross", Michael Hayward-Jones as "Jarvis Lorry" and Natalie Toro as "Madame Defarge".[41][42][43]

In 2006, Howard Goodall collaborated with Joanna Read in writing a separate musical adaptation of the novel called Two Cities. The central plot and characters were maintained, though Goodall set the action during the Russian Revolution.

The novel has also been adapted as a musical by Takarazuka Revue, the all-female opera company in Japan. The first production was in 1984, starring Mao Daichi at the Grand Theater, and the second was in 2003, starring Jun Sena at the Bow Hall

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