A Tale of Two Cities

In the fictitious novel Tale of Two Cities, the author, Charles


Dickens, lays out a brilliant plot. Charles Dickens was born in


England on February 7, 1812 near the south coast. His family moved to


London when he was ten years old and quickly went into debt. To help


support himself, Charles went to work at a blacking warehouse when he


was twelve. His father was soon imprisoned for debt and shortly


thereafter the rest of the family split apart. Charles continued to


work at the blacking warehouse even after his father inherited some


money and got out of prison. When he was thirteen, Dickens went back


to school for two years. He later learned shorthand and became a


freelance court reporter. He started out as a journalist at the


age of twenty and later wrote his first novel, The Pickwick Papers. He


went on to write many other novels, including Tale of Two Cities in


1859.




    Tale of Two Cities takes place in France and England during the


troubled times of the French Revolution. There are travels by the


characters between the countries, but most of the action takes place


in Paris, France. The wineshop in Paris is the hot spot for the French


revolutionists, mostly because the wineshop owner, Ernest Defarge, and


his wife, Madame Defarge, are key leaders and officials of the


revolution. Action in the book is scattered out in many places; such


as the Bastille, Tellson's Bank, the home of the Manettes, and


largely, the streets of Paris. These places help to introduce many


characters into the plot.




    One of the main characters, Madame Therese Defarge, is a major


antagonist who seeks revenge, being a key revolutionist. She is very


stubborn and unforgiving in her cunning scheme of revenge on the


Evermonde family. Throughout...