A Tale of Two Cities in Pick-a-Shelf

Feb 14, 2012 Lucinda Elliot rated it liked it

I have been meaning to read this for ages. I eventually read it because I needed the background information on the French Revolution. For sure, Dickens is more objective in his depiction than many nineteenth century critics,but you would not think from this that he was a suporter of the Revolution, as he was,though not the Terror.As Geroge Orwell commented, all the political action is depicted in terms of hatred while the extent of the Terror is ridiculously exaggerated.

It's a good story, if mel I have been meaning to read this for ages. I eventually read it because I needed the background information on the French Revolution. For sure, Dickens is more objective in his depiction than many nineteenth century critics,but you would not think from this that he was a suporter of the Revolution, as he was,though not the Terror.As Geroge Orwell commented, all the political action is depicted in terms of hatred while the extent of the Terror is ridiculously exaggerated.

It's a good story, if melodramatic. As have been so many critics, Angus Wilson, etc I was disappointed in the two dimensional characters of 'Charles Darnay' and Lucie. He noble but oddly passive and dull, she almost a caricature of a Victorian heroine and Angel in the House.

When they fall in love (well, he does; she is too ladylike to fall in love until the man declares himself) when he is on trial for trumped up charges of treason and she is forced to give evidence against him,knowing he is facing the sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering, it is psychologically realistic; she is overcome by compassion and horror, remembering his kindness to her on the only occasion they met previously, while he is more upset by her sorrow for him than all the stares of the ghoulish crowd.

Sadly, they are not portrayed so vividly again; they dwindle into a dull, ideal married couple.

It is ironic that one of the most damning pieces of evidence against
Darnay is that he made a joke about George III and Washington; for sure he doesn't make any more witticisms throughout the remainder of the book. Perhaps he has decided that it is too dangerous, as even without making any funny remarks from then on, he is on trial for his life two more times.

For some reason, Dickens gives few insights into Darnay's mental processes, so that one feels that he couldn't be bothered, though in fact it seems he was trying a new technique of presenting character. Mystery of a character's thoughts and motives can be a great advantage (Gaskell did it to perfection with Kinraid in 'Sylvia's Lovers') but it doesn't work here.

Sydney Carton, the dissolute but brilliant lawyer, is more rounded,and his reformation is intriguing, though he chooses to devote himself to a very insipid object of passion in his eventual sacrifice of himself for Lucie (and Darney as her chosen one).

Perhaps most of these characters are better viewed, as some critics suggest, as instruments for the plot or presonifications of particular qualities.

Fascinating historical information and evocative description enliven this story, which is so unlike most of Dickens that I have encountered so far, but his depiction of the Revolution is far too simplistic to be just.

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Jul 07, 2013 Rosemary rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, ultimate-teen-guide

I first read this as a teenager and was underwhelmed, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time. The last section with its descriptions of the women knitting at the execution is masterly. Still prefer Bleak House and David Copperfield, though.

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