A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens: a summary of the plot

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” is one of the most famous opening lines in English Literature. The particular time is 1775, and Jarvis Lorry, of Tellson’s Bank, travels from London to Paris to take Lucie Manette, who has lived nearly all her life in England, to find her father, a French doctor who has just been released after eighteen years imprisonment in the infamous Bastille, because an enemy wanted him out of the way.

They find him being looked after by Defarge, his old servant, in a very sorry state and almost out of his mind, absorbed in the shoemaking that he had taught himself whilst in the Bastille. They take him back to London where he makes a slow recovery.

Five years later, Lucie and the doctor are called as witnesses at the trial of a Frenchman, Charles Darnay, who has been falsely accused of spying. At the trial, the defence lawyer, Stryver, is advised by his assistant, Sydney Carton, that there is strong resemblance between Carton and Darnay. This makes any evidence based on identification suspect, and Darnay is acquitted as a result.

Both Darnay and Carton are attracted to Lucie. When Darnay eventually marries Lucie, Carton remains devoted to her.

Darnay is in fact the nephew of a French nobleman, the Marquis St Evrémonde, who holds his tenants in contempt and shows no sympathy when his carriage runs over and kills a young child (illustrated above). Darnay visits the Marquis and declares his opposition to the oppressive monarchist government. The Marquis is murdered. It is later revealed that the “lettre de cachet” that had placed Dr Manette in the Bastille had been issued by the Marquis.

A year later, Lucie urges Carton to abandon his dissolute ways. Jerry Cruncher, who supplements his income as a messenger for Tellson’s Bank by grave robbing, digs up the coffin of Roger Cly, a former servant of Darnay who had testified against him at his treason trial. In Paris, John Barsad, the other chief witness against Darnay, visits Defarge and his wife. Dr Manette suffers a relapse and resumes his shoemaking.

The Revolution begins in Paris with the storming of the Bastille, in which the Defarges play leading roles. M Defarge finds the former cell of Dr Manette.

Gabelle, who had formerly worked for the Marquis and acted as agent for Darnay, is imprisoned by the revolutionaries, so Darnay goes to Paris to try to help him, accompanied by Lorry and Cruncher.

However, Darnay is himself arrested and imprisoned. Lucie, plus her child, father, and servant (Miss Pross) go to Paris. Darnay is released but then re-arrested, with the Defarges producing evidence that would seem to seal his fate. Barsad is revealed, by Cruncher, as being Miss Pross’s long-lost brother Solomon.

With Darnay sentenced to death, Carton, still devoted to Lucie, goes to his cell and drugs the man that he so closely resembles, sending him back to London with Lucie and Mr Lorry. Mme Defarge is killed by Miss Pross after the former had threatened Lucie and her child.

Carton goes to the guillotine in Darnay’s place, declaring “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done”.

This summary © John Welford