A Tale of Two Cities Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
A Tale of Two Cities is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat who renounced his family, and Sydney Carton, a brilliant, wasted English lawyer who looks just like him, both love Lucie Manette. When the Revolution condemns Darnay to death, Carton makes a final sacrifice.
The novel opens and closes with two of the most famous lines in English literature.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Dr. Alexandre Manette | Doctor freed after 18 years in the Bastille |
| Lucie Manette | His devoted daughter |
| Charles Darnay | French aristocrat living in England |
| Sydney Carton | Cynical lawyer who loves Lucie |
| Ernest and Thérèse Defarge | Revolutionary wine-shop owners |
| Jarvis Lorry | Kind banker at Tellson's |
| Miss Pross | Lucie's fierce English companion |
| The Marquis St. Evrémonde | Darnay's cruel uncle |
How does the story begin?
In 1775 the banker Jarvis Lorry takes Lucie Manette to Paris to bring home her father, Dr. Manette, just released after eighteen years in the Bastille. They find him in the attic of the wine shop of Ernest Defarge, his former servant, making shoes, his mind broken. Lucie's love slowly brings him back.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens in London?
Five years later Charles Darnay is tried in London for spying. He is saved when Sydney Carton, a lawyer's assistant, points out that he and Darnay look alike, which ruins a witness's identification. Darnay and Carton both fall in love with Lucie. Darnay marries her. Carton tells Lucie he would give his life for her or anyone she loves.
↑ Back to the topWhat is happening in France?
Darnay's uncle, the Marquis, runs over a peasant child with his carriage and tosses the father a coin; that night the father kills him in his bed. Madame Defarge knits the names of aristocrats marked for death into her work. In 1789 the Bastille is stormed and the Revolution begins. Years later Darnay goes to Paris to save a former servant and is arrested as an emigrant aristocrat.
↑ Back to the topWhy is Darnay condemned?
Dr. Manette's fame as a Bastille prisoner wins Darnay's release, but he is arrested again the same day. The Defarges produce a letter Manette wrote in prison, describing how the Evrémonde brothers abused a peasant family and had him locked away to keep it quiet. Madame Defarge was the surviving sister of that family. The letter condemns Darnay to the guillotine.
↑ Back to the topHow does A Tale of Two Cities end?
Carton has a plan. He visits Darnay in prison, drugs him, swaps clothes and has him carried out while he takes his place. Lorry and the Manettes escape Paris with the unconscious Darnay. Madame Defarge goes to arrest Lucie and finds Miss Pross, who struggles with her; her pistol goes off and kills her. Carton goes calmly to the guillotine, comforting a young seamstress beside him. He imagines Lucie's future child named after him, and feels that what he is doing is the best thing he has ever done.
↑ Back to the topMore about A Tale of Two Cities
This summary reveals the whole plot, including the ending.