Lecture Notes on Tale of Two Cities
Link to the video here.
• Third city- Manchester
• Dickens conceived his first idea to write this book when he was acting
• 1857 – Dickens assisted his writer friend Collins in writing a play called The Frozen Deep
• Also participated in the play
• The love triangle in the play modeled the love triangle in ATTC
• Fell in love with a woman Ellen, separated from his wife (May 1858)
• Lucie Manette represents Ellen, has her appearance
• 1858 – Dickens began public readings for profit instead of charity readings
• 1859- Ch. 1-3 of ATTC were published
• Two cities are London and Paris
• At the end of ATTC, he reminds the readers of a change in Paris, the destruction of a bastille
• Dickens fascinated by the light and dark sides of the city of Paris
• Dickens makes it clear in his opening that the worlds of Paris and London are similar
• Using historical setting for modern parallel
• ATTC moves between England and France in that turbulent time period
• Time period 1757-1793
• Victorians haunted by memory and example of the French Revolution
• There were fears that a revolution could happen in England
• Novel is a warning about the revolution
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