FREE ESSAY ON A TALE OF 2 CITIES

A TALE OF 2 CITIES

age of foolishneIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the ss . . .
Dickens begins A Tale of Two Cities with this famous sentence. It describes the spirit of
the era in which this novel takes place. This era is the latter part of the 1700s - a
time when relations between Britain and France were strained, America declared its
independence, and the peasants of France began one of the bloodiest revolutions in
history. In short, it was a time of liberation and a time of terrible violence. Dickens
describes the two cities at the center of the novel: Paris, a city of extravagance,
aristocratic abuses, and other evils that lead to revolution and London, a city rife with
crime, capital punishment, and disorder. In both cities, the capabilities of an angry mob
were a dangerous thing, to be feared by all.
The tale begins on a road between London and Dover (in southern England) in 1775. Three
strangers in a carriage are traveling along this dangerous road. The carriage encounters
a messenger on a horse who asks for one of the passengers, Jarvis Lorry of Tellson's
Bank. They are wary, because the messenger could be a highwayman, robber, or other
undesirable. However, Mr. Lorry ventures out into the rain to receive the message. He
recognizes the messenger as a man named Jerry, who works for Tellson's Bank, as well.
Jerry tells him to wait at Dover for the young lady. Lorry tells Jerry to relay to the
people at the Bank this message: Recalled to Life. Jerry has no idea what it means and
rides off into the rain.
Dickens then ponders how the heart of a person is a true mystery. Lorry can tell who or
at least of what class the two other passengers are. Traveling on, Lorry dozes in and out
of dreams. His dreams reveal to the reader that his mission is to metaphorically dig a
man out of the grave. He dreams of imaginary conversations with this man he is to recall
to life. Buried how long? Lorry always asks. Almost eighteen years, replies the man.
Lorry brings the man in his dreams to see a woman (the young woman of which Jerry the
messenger spoke). But the man does not know if he still wishes to live or if he can bear
to see the young lady after having been buried for eighteen long years. Upon arriving at
an inn in Dover, Lorry waits for the young lady.
Here the reader learns that the sixty-year-old Lorry is a well-dressed businessman who
works for Tellson's Bank. Tellson's has an office in London, and an office in Paris.
Lorry is above all a man of business, and t