Name ______Date ______
A Tale of Two Cities
Book III
Chapter 1
I. Notes
One thing on which the critics agree is that A Tale of Two Cities is masterfully plotted and structured. Dickens' genius becomes more and more apparent in the novel's third book, as the various story lines merge and the characters' lives intersect. Dickens gives the novel a circular feel as Darnay's journey and imprisonment seem to repeat events that have taken place before. His journey, for instance, parallels Mr. Lorry's trip to France in Book I. In both cases, each man travels secretly from England to release an innocent man from prison. However, where Defarge assisted Mr. Lorry, he imprisons Darnay.
Like Doctor Manette, Darnay has been locked away "in secret,"with no chance of contacting family or friends and no hope of a trial. Additionally, as Darnay enters the prison and momentarily mingles with the other prisoners, he seems to be buried alive, as the Doctor once was. To him, the other prisoners appear as ghosts "all turning on him eyes that were changed by the death they had died in coming there."When he is taken to his cell, confined alone, he thinks, "Now I am left, as if I were dead."Darnay is now like a dead man, whose only hope is to be recalled to life somehow.
II. Questions
1. How does Charles come to realize the extreme danger he's placed himself by returning to France at this time?
2. What is the full significance of the chapter's title?
3. Of what is Charles reminded as he paces to and fro in his cell in La Force?
4. Under what charges has Charles been imprisoned?
5. How does our attitude towards Ernest Defarge change in this chapter?
6.What type of reception does Charles receive in France?
7.What is the “emigrant decree,” and how does it affect Charles?
8.What is Defarge’s reaction to Charles’s plea for help, and why does he act this way?
9.Who is this La Guillotine who has become the new darling of France?
10.What about Charles’s detention makes it worse than general imprisonment? Why do you think this is worse?