Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews December 6, 2023 November 29, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Full title A Tale of Two Cities
Author Charles Dickens
Type of work Novel
Genre Historical fiction
Language English
Time and place written 1859, London
Date of first publication Published in weekly serial form between April 20, 1859, and November 26, 1859
Publisher Chapman and Hall
Narrator The narrator is anonymous and can be thought of as Dickens himself. The narrator maintains a clear sympathy for the story’s morally good characters, including Sydney Carton, Charles Darnay, Doctor Manette, and Lucie Manette. Though he criti-cizes ruthless and hateful figures such as Madame Defarge, who cannot appreciate love, he understands that oppression has made these characters the bloodthirsty creatures they have become.
Point of view The narrator speaks in the third person, deftly switching his focus between cities and among several characters. The narrator is also omniscient—not only revealing the thoughts, emotions, and motives of the characters, but also supplying historical context to the events that occur, commenting confidently upon them.
Tone Sentimental, sympathetic, sarcastic, horrified, grotesque, grim
Tense Past
Setting (time) 1775–1793
Setting (place) London and its outskirts; Paris and its outskirts
Protagonist Charles Darnay or Sydney Carton
Major conflict Madame Defarge seeks revenge against Darnay for his relation to the odious Marquis Evrémonde; Carton, Manette, Lucie, and Jarvis Lorry strive to protect Darnay from the bloodthirsty revolutionaries’ guillotine.
Rising action The ongoing murder of aristocrats after the storming of the Bastille; Darnay’s decision to go to Paris to save Gabelle; the Defarges’ demand that Darnay be arrested
Climax During a court trial, Defarge reads aloud a letter that he has discovered, which Manette wrote during his imprisonment in the Bastille and which indicts Darnay as a member of the cruel aristocratic lineage of Evrémonde (Book the Third, Chapter 10). In this climactic moment, it becomes clear that Madame Defarge’s overzealous hatred of Darnay can end only in death—either his or hers.
Falling Action The jury’s sentencing of Darnay to death; Darnay’s wish that Manette not blame himself; Carton’s decision to sacrifice his life to save Darnay
Themes The ever-present possibility of resurrection; the necessity of sacrifice; the tendency toward violence and oppression in revolutionaries
Motifs Doubles; shadows and darkness; imprisonment
Symbols The wine that spills out of the cask in Book the First, Chapter 5, symbolizes the peasants’ hunger and the blood that will be let when the revolution comes into full swing; Madame Defarge’s knitting symbolizes the vengefulness of the common people; the Marquis is a symbol of pure evil—the Gorgon’s head symbolizes his absolute coldness toward the suffering of the poor.
Foreshadowing The wine cask breaking outside Defarge’s wine shop; the echoing footsteps in the Manettes’ sitting room; the resemblance between Carton and Darnay; Carton’s indication of this resemblance in a London court, which results in Darnay’s acquittal; Doctor Manette’s reaction after learning Darnay’s true identity
Please wait while we process your payment