A Tale of Two Cities analysis

A Tale of Two Cities is a story of two cities that are in turmoil with one another. People from each city get involved with each other and trouble and miscommunication happens. But in the end one man resolves it all. Throughout the book I found that family was a very broad theme in the story, and the struggles to make and keep families together throughout the book. Just like normal families in the real world.




Passage: Book Two Chapter 10: Two Promises pages 133-140

‘I give the promise,’ said the Doctor, ‘without any condition. I believe your object to be, purely and truthfully, as you have stated it. I believe your intention is to perpetuate, and not to weaken, the ties between me and my other and far dearer self. If she should ever tell me that you are essential to her perfect happiness, I will give her to you. If there were – Charles Darnay, if there were any fancies, any reasons, any apprehensions, anything whatsoever, new or old, against the man she really loved – the direct responsibility thereof not lying on his head- they should all be obliterated for her sake. She is everything to me, more to me than suffering, more to me than wrong, more to me – Well! This is idle talk.’    Page 139



This passage I found very interesting. This is how I thought of the theme of family. You can really tell that Doctor Manette really loves his daughter and cares about her more than anything. This was brought to my attention as Mr. Darnay was asking for Lucie’s father’s approval and he sweetly explained to him how he felt about his daughter and what would happen if Mr. Darnay treated her wrong and what good would eventually come if he continued to treat her as he loved her. And once they get married, the rest of the book seems to fall into place and the story develops other concluding thoughts that have to do with Doctor Manette and Mr. Darnay’s relationship.

I can vividly remember imagining this chapter in my head like I was watching it being performed on a stage. I can visualize Mr. Darnay approaching Dr. Manette and being a nervous wreck in his head, but he portrays he’s very confident. And I can see Dr. Manette’s feelings in his face and what thoughts must be going through his head at this shock. Just as any other father’s feelings would be if someone asked to marry their daughter. And also distinguish what their interactions with each other look like throughout the rest of the book.

As Dr. Manette tells Mr. Darnay of his love for Lucie, it is easy to be able to hear the tone of his voice and the tone of Mr. Darnay’s voice throughout this passage as they exchange answers and discuss Dr. Manette’s daughter. When he speaks to Darnay about this particular subject you can straightforwardly realize that he is as serious as it gets and by the words Mr. Darnay says after, you find that he gets it, and understands because of the tones Dr. Manette uses to expose his feelings towards the subject.

In all, the themes and descriptions and voice of this chapter really helped me better understand this passage. That’s why this whole chapter was the one I chose to write about. On the theme of family, this is supported very well by the examples given from Dr. Manette and his thoughts on his daughter Lucie and her future family. And the ways that he lets the reader know how important she is to him. And also Mr. Darnay’s ways of presenting his beliefs on his future family to come, and how important that is to him. I found that family is very well supported throughout the book. Charles Dickens did an excellent job at giving the book the book a theme of family, along with many others.

Overall, A Tale of Two Cities was a hard book, but very educational. In the end, I found I did enjoy reading it after I realized what fully took place in the book. I loved the way the stories took place and how they came about through the book. It was a very clever idea to write about and I think that Charles Dickens did a profound job at making a great educational and understandable book.