Characters
This character is "recalled to life" after spending 18 years in prison.
Who is Dr. Manette?
This city is where the Manettes live in peace. Its one of the "two" in the title.
What is London?
This theme is introduced with Dr. Manettes return to life.
What is resurrection?
This person receives a mysterious message at the Dover mail coach: "Recalled to Life."
Who is Mr. Lorry?
Madame Defarge constantly works on this item, which secretly records names of those marked for death.
What is her knitting (or knitting register)?
Who is Lucie Manette?
The infamous prison is where Dr. Manette was held.
What is the Bastille?
Lucie's devotion to her father shows the power of this theme.
What is family?
The story opens with this famous line about the time period, and most importantly, duality.
What is "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."?
The echoing footsteps Lucie hears outside her home symbolizes this.
What is the approaching revolution (or upcoming fate, etc)?
This character is the honest banker who brings Dr. Manette from France to England.
Who is Jarvis Lorry?
Dr. Manette is found living in this strange place above a shop in Paris.
What is an attic?
Darnay refuses to reveal his real last name in England, emphasizing this theme.
What is secrecy?
During Darnay's trial, this witness can't recall if they saw Darnay at a tavern.
Who is Roger Cly?
This object is carried by Mr. Lorry and represents routine and order.
What is his briefcase?
This English lawyer is cynical, alcoholic and secretly inlove with Lucie.
Who is Sydney Carton?
What is Saint Antoine?
Dickens describes the peasant's harsh treatments and dreadful lives, showing this theme.
What is social class?
Dr. Manette relapses into a trance-like state and returns to this habit after Lucie's wedding with Charles is discussed.
What is shoemaking?
The Defarges' wine shop, filled with whispers and tension, symbolizes this element of the revolution.
What is secrecy (or upcoming rebellion)?
This wine shop owner is a fierce revolutionary with a personal grudge against the aristocracy.
Who is Madame Defarge?
This estate was formerly owned by the Evremonde family and is a symbol of aristocratic cruelty.
What is the Chateau of the Marquis?
Dickens explores this theme through the doubles in the novel: two cities, two look-alike men, and two very different lives.
What is duality?
In a violent scene in Saint Antoine, a cask of wine breaks, this is what the people's reaction truly foreshadows.
The name "Jacques," used by revolutionaries in the wine shop, symbolizes this concept.
What is secrecy (shared revolutionary identity, code for unity)?