A tale of two cities An Introduction…

Question #1 What events from Dickens’ childhood most clearly had an impact on his literary career? Father’s issues with money Being separated from family—debtor’s prison/employment Death of sister-in-law

Question #2 What qualities make a character Dickensian? Vivid characterization Melodramatic, outlandish, comic Archetypes (classic, iconic, bordering on stereotypical)

Question #3 Time of CHANGE Democracy Educating the masses Progress of industrial enterprise Rise of materialistic philosophy Plight of the industrial worker Describe Victorian England at the time of Dickens’ career.

Question #4 To what extent can the Industrial Revolution be seen in the works of Dickens? Dickens’ writing provides a sympathetic chronicle of the plight of the urban poor in 19th Century England.

Question #5 PRO Complex plots Vivid characterization Beautiful, complex command of language CON Published in installments Melodramatic/over-the-top What are some critical comments concerning Dickens’ work?

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Beginning and ending with some of English literature's most famous lines, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities thrives on tension and conflict, all set against a bloody backdrop of the French Revolution. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done…”

A Brief plot-based overview

WAR DISCOVERY ROMANCE BETRAYAL REVOLUTON BEAUTY SACRIFICE love fAMILY MYSTERY

It is late in the year of 1775...

After 18 years as a political prisoner in the Bastille in France, the aging Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter, the beautiful and kind Lucie Manette, in England.

There, the lives of two very different men—Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer—become enmeshed through their love for the lovely Lucie.

From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the treacherous streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror and soon fall under the shadow of the guillotine.

Hints for reading dickens Though Dickens' techniques can be dense and layered, there are some helpful hints to keep in mind while exploring his work. Hints for reading dickens

Dickens’ favorite tricks… Similes: These are not subtle, but they are colorful. Allusions: Dickens goes to the Bible often in this work. Apostrophe: Dickens likes to talk directly to his readers and his characters Rhetorical Questions: Dickens will ask these only where the answer is blatantly obvious.

Dickens’ favorite tricks… Repetition: Dickens will repeat ideas over and over again until you get it. Sentences and phrases get repeated until they begin to mean the opposite of what they seem to intend. Alliteration: Dickens will let the first letters of the words run in a string. Note the way he plays with sounds. Generally, sibilants (S sounds) connote gentle things, while harsh sounds (k’s, t’s and the like) connote bad things.

Dickens’ favorite tricks… Sentence Games: Dickens will run sentences far beyond the point of basic utility, but generally to underline a content point. He will also use a parallel construction in matching sentences. Remember that long sentences generally build emotion, while short ones dissipate it.