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
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 June 15, 2023 June 8, 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 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
A Tale of Two Cities is structured around a central conflict between Charles Darnay’s desire to break free of his family legacy, and Madame Defarge’s desire to hold him accountable for the violent actions of his father and uncle. This conflict embodies conflicting aspects of the French Revolution in general: on one hand, the Revolution led to the deaths of many people who hadn’t done anything wrong, and were likely good people on a personal level. On the other hand, the Revolution was a response to generations of well-documented injustices. Like Darnay, many French aristocrats could be considered guilty by association, or as a result of profiting from systems of exploitation. The plot is set in motion years before the action of the novel begins, when the Evremonde brothers participate in a series of violent and cruel actions toward members of Madame Defarge’s family, and then unjustly imprison young Dr. Manette in order to conceal their crimes.
Readers don’t find out about these incidents until late in the novel, but the fact that they have been propelling the plot mirrors how history unfolds. The violence of the Revolution doesn’t just come out of nowhere: it breaks out because of the accumulation of decades of unjust treatment and abuses of power. Similarly, crimes committed generations earlier continue to haunt and threaten Darnay, Lucie, and Dr. Manette. Key events like Darnay building a career for himself in England, getting married, and starting his own family seem to be taking him closer to his desire of living a good and honest life without exploiting or hurting anyone. However, as Darnay eventually realizes, he hasn’t actually resolved the conflict because he has never taken responsibility for the suffering his family has caused: he has only run away from it. As Darnay admits, “He knew very well that in his love for Lucie, his renunciation of his social place… had been hurried and incomplete.” In order to fully obtain his desire and break all bonds with a system he despises, Darnay returns to France.
Darnay’s return moves the action quickly toward its climax. When Darnay gets arrested, freed, and then arrested a second time, the conflict intensifies between Darnay’s freedom, and Madame Defarge’s desire to see him and all of his family punished. The novel resolves this conflict with twin climaxes: Sidney Carton smuggles Darnay out of prison and takes his place on the execution block, while Madame Dafarge becomes a victim of her own desire for violence after she is killed while struggling with Miss Pross. These climaxes allow Darnay to achieve his goal of being fully liberated from his family burden: after another man dies for his sins, he goes on to live a happy and peaceful life. The falling action is largely revealed in Carton’s hypothetical final vision, showing the Manette-Darnay family living happily together, and faithfully remembering the man who gave up his life for them.
Please wait while we process your payment