CliffsNotes on Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities

✍ Scribed by Marie Kalil

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

In CliffsNotes on A Tale of Two Cities, you experience one of Charles Dickens's most important works as he recounts the horrors of the French Revolution in what amounts to a cautionary tale warning of the possibility of revolution in 18th-century England. From its first line ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times") to its last ("It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known"), Dickens's novel of revolution, sacrifice, and redemption continues to captivate modern imaginations.

Chapter summaries and commentaries lead you through Dickens's "Tale," and critical essays give you insight into the women...

✦ Table of Contents

Life and Background of the Author. Introduction to the Novel. Critical Commentaries. Book the First--Recalled to Life. Chapter 1--The Period. Chapter 2--The Mail. Chapter 3--The Night Shadows. Chapter 4--The Preparation. Chapter 5--The Wine-shop. Chapter 6--The Shoemaker. Book the Second--The Golden Thread. Chapter 1--Five Years Later. Chapter 2--A Sight. Chapter 3--A Disappointment. Chapter 4--Congratulatory. Chapter 5--The Jackal. Chapter 6--Hundreds of People. Chapter 7--Monseigneur in Town. Chapter 8--Monseigneur in the Country. Chapter 9--The Gorgon's Head. Chapter 10--Two Promises. Chapter 11--A Companion Picture. Chapter 12--The Fellow of Delicacy. Chapter 13--The Fellow of No Delicacy. Chapter 14--The Honest Tradesman. Chapter 15--Knitting. Chapter 16--Still Knitting. Chapter 17--One Night. Chapter 18--Nine Days. Chapter 19--An Opinion. Chapter 20--A Plea. Chapter 21--Echoing Footsteps. Chapter 22--The Sea Still Rises. Chapter 23--Fire Rises. Chapter 24--Drawn to the Loadstone Rock. Book the Third--The Track of a Storm. Chapter 1--In Secret. Chapter 2--The Grindstone. Chapter 3--The Shadow. Chapter 4--Calm in Storm. Chapter 5--The Wood-Sawyer. Chapter 6--Triumph. Chapter 7--A Knock at the Door. Chapter 8--A Hand at Cards. Chapter 9--The Game Made. Chapter 10--The Substance of the Shadow. Chapter 11--Dusk. Chapter 12--Darkness. Chapter 13--Fifty-two. Chapter 14--The Knitting Done. Chapter 15--The Footsteps Die Out Forever. Character Analyses. Critical Essays. CliffsNotes Review. CliffsNotes Resource Center. Index.