A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens): ICSE Class 8 Summary, Themes and Characters
Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. Doctor Manette, freed after eighteen years in the Bastille, his daughter Lucie, her husband Charles Darnay and the careless lawyer Sydney Carton are caught up in the Revolution, until Carton gives his life to save Darnay.
What A Tale of Two Cities is about
A Tale of Two Cities is on the Suggested Reading List for Class VIII in the CISCE Curriculum for Upper Primary Classes; it is recommended, not prescribed.
Charles Dickens published the novel in 1859, first in weekly parts. It moves between London, calm and orderly, and Paris, where the poor are crushed by the cruelty of the nobles and finally rise up in the French Revolution (1789). Dickens sympathises with the suffering poor, but he also shows how revenge turns the Revolution into a new tyranny, the Terror, in which thousands were sent to the guillotine.
The novel is divided into three 'books':
- Book the First: Recalled to Life (1775): Doctor Manette is brought out of Paris after eighteen years' imprisonment.
- Book the Second: The Golden Thread (1780-1792): Lucie Manette, the 'golden thread', holds her family together in London while revolution brews in France.
- Book the Third: The Track of a Storm (1792-1793): Darnay returns to Paris, is condemned, and Sydney Carton makes his sacrifice.
The novel is long and its language is nineteenth-century, so many schools use an abridged edition. Because the text is in the public domain, the quotations and extracts on this page are checked against the Project Gutenberg edition.
Weightage: Not prescribed: CISCE sets no literature texts for Class VIII and lists this novel only as suggested reading. Your school decides whether to read and test it.Source: CISCE Curriculum for Upper Primary Classes (VI-VIII), RDCD 2016, English Literature: Suggested Reading List (Class VIII)
A Tale of Two Cities: summary
In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.
Book the First: Recalled to Life. In 1775 Mr Jarvis Lorry, a trusted man of business at Tellson's Bank, travels to Paris with a young woman, Lucie Manette. She learns that her father, Doctor Manette, whom she believed dead, has been released after eighteen years of secret imprisonment in the Bastille. They find him in a garret above the wine-shop of Ernest Defarge, his former servant. The doctor's mind has been broken: he sits making shoes and remembers himself only as 'One Hundred and Five, North Tower'. Lucie's love slowly brings him back to life, and they take him to London.
Book the Second: The Golden Thread. In 1780 a young Frenchman, Charles Darnay, is tried in London for treason. He is saved when his lawyer's assistant, Sydney Carton, points out how much he and Darnay look alike, which makes a witness's identification worthless. Carton is brilliant but idle, unhappy and given to drink. Both men come to love Lucie. Darnay, who is secretly the nephew of the cruel French aristocrat the Marquis St. Evrémonde, has given up his family name and wealth in disgust at their cruelty. (The Marquis's carriage runs over and kills a poor child in Paris, and the Marquis is later murdered in his bed.) Lucie marries Darnay. Carton tells her that he would give his life to keep a life she loves beside her. Meanwhile, in Paris, the Defarges plot revolution; Madame Defarge silently knits into her work the names of those marked for revenge. In 1789 the people storm the Bastille, and Defarge searches cell One Hundred and Five, North Tower.
Book the Third: The Track of a Storm. In 1792 a letter from Gabelle, an old servant imprisoned by the revolutionaries, draws Darnay to Paris to help him. Darnay is arrested as an emigrant aristocrat. Doctor Manette, honoured as a former Bastille prisoner, wins his release, but Darnay is arrested again the same day, denounced by the Defarges. At his trial a paper is read that Manette himself wrote in prison long ago: it tells how the Evrémonde brothers destroyed a peasant family and imprisoned Manette to silence him. Madame Defarge, it emerges, is the surviving sister of that family. Darnay is condemned to the guillotine.
The sacrifice. Carton, using his likeness to Darnay and the help of the spy Barsad, enters the prison, drugs Darnay, changes clothes with him, and has him carried out, while Carton takes his place. The family escapes from France. Madame Defarge, going to denounce Lucie, is killed in a struggle with the fiercely loyal Miss Pross. Carton goes calmly to the guillotine, comforting a young seamstress, at peace for the first time in his life.
Themes and message
Sacrifice and redemption
Carton's death to save Darnay is the novel's climax. A man who thought his life worthless redeems it through a selfless act of love.
From the text: His promise to Lucie in Book the Second; his exchange with Darnay and his last words before the guillotine.
Revolution, injustice and revenge
Dickens shows that the cruelty of nobles like the Marquis causes the Revolution, but that revenge, in turn, becomes cruel: the revolutionaries kill the innocent along with the guilty.
From the text: The Marquis's carriage killing a child; the storming of the Bastille; Madame Defarge's hatred extending to Lucie and her child.
Resurrection
Many characters are 'recalled to life': Manette from prison, Darnay from death sentences, Carton spiritually.
From the text: The title of Book the First; Manette's recovery; Carton's sacrifice.
The power of love
Lucie's love restores her father and holds her family together; love moves Carton to sacrifice.
From the text: 'She was the golden thread...'; Carton's devotion.
Imprisonment and freedom
Prisons, literal and figurative, appear everywhere: the Bastille, La Force, Manette's broken mind, Carton's wasted life.
From the text: Manette's shoemaking; Darnay's imprisonment; Carton's release in death.
Characters
Sydney Carton
Brilliant but idle lawyer; the novel's hero by the end
- clever
- self-despising
- loving
- self-sacrificing
Saves Darnay at the London trial by their likeness, and dies in his place at the end.
Charles Darnay
Nephew of the Marquis St. Evrémonde; Lucie's husband
- honourable
- idealistic
- brave
Gives up his family name and wealth; returns to Paris to help Gabelle.
Lucie Manette
Doctor Manette's daughter; 'the golden thread'
- loving
- gentle
- devoted
Restores her father; holds her family together.
Doctor Alexandre Manette
Lucie's father; former prisoner of the Bastille
- suffering
- noble
- fragile under stress
Returns to shoemaking when distressed; his old prison letter condemns Darnay.
Madame Defarge
Revolutionary leader; the antagonist
- relentless
- vengeful
- watchful
Knits a register of victims; pursues the Evrémondes and Lucie; killed in the struggle with Miss Pross.
Jarvis Lorry
Banker at Tellson's; the family's loyal friend
- businesslike
- kind
- dependable
Brings Manette out of Paris; helps the family escape at the end.
Miss Pross
Lucie's devoted companion
- fierce
- loyal
- comic
Fights Madame Defarge to protect Lucie.
How it is written
| Device | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Antithesis | 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. | Sets up the novel's contrasts of two cities and two sides of history. |
| Symbolism | Madame Defarge's knitting; the golden thread; shoemaking. | Knitting = vengeance recorded; golden thread = love that binds; shoemaking = Manette's trauma. |
| Foreshadowing | The likeness between Carton and Darnay at the Old Bailey trial. | Prepares for the exchange at the end. |
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Narrator: The novel's opening sentence (Book the First, Chapter I).
Antithesis that introduces an age of extremes and the novel's pattern of contrasts.
One Hundred and Five, North Tower.
Doctor Manette: When asked his name in Defarge's garret (Book the First).
He knows himself only by his prison cell: imprisonment has erased his identity.
She was the golden thread that united him to a Past beyond his misery
Narrator: Describing Lucie's effect on her father (Book the Second).
Gives Book the Second its title and shows the healing power of love.
a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!
Sydney Carton: His confession to Lucie (Book the Second).
Foreshadows his sacrifice for Darnay.
It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done
Sydney Carton (imagined last thoughts): The novel's closing words, at the guillotine.
Carton finds meaning and peace in his sacrifice.
Key concepts
- Contrast and doubling
The title itself sets up a contrast: London and Paris. The famous opening sentence is a long list of opposites ('the best of times... the worst of times'). Characters come in pairs too: Carton and Darnay look alike but live very differently; Lucie (love, the 'golden thread') is set against Madame Defarge (hatred, knitting a list of victims). Spotting these pairs helps you answer questions on structure and theme.
Worked example
How are Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge contrasted?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Lucie: love that binds and heals.
- Madame Defarge: hatred that knits death lists.
Answer: Lucie is 'the golden thread' who binds her family together and heals her father with love; Madame Defarge knits, too, but her knitting is a register of people to be killed. Love that heals is contrasted with revenge that destroys.
- Resurrection: 'recalled to life'
The idea of being brought back to life runs through the novel. Doctor Manette is 'recalled to life' from prison. Darnay is twice saved from death. Jerry Cruncher, the bank messenger, secretly works as a 'resurrection man' digging up bodies, a comic, grim echo of the theme. Above all, Sydney Carton, wasting his life, finds new meaning and a kind of spiritual rebirth in dying for others.
Worked example
In what sense is Sydney Carton 'recalled to life'?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- He lives a wasted, purposeless life.
- His sacrifice gives his life meaning and peace.
Answer: Carton has wasted his talents and believes his life is worthless; by choosing to die for Darnay and Lucie's family, he finds purpose and peace, so his death is a kind of rebirth into the man he might have been.
A Tale of Two Cities in real life
Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Revenge breeds revenge
Suppose two classes have a quarrel over a cricket match, and each 'pays back' the other with worse pranks every week.
How does this mirror the novel, and how could it end?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Each act of revenge provokes a bigger one.
- In the novel, nobles' cruelty provokes revolutionary cruelty.
Answer: The cycle only ends when someone chooses forgiveness or sacrifice instead of revenge, as Lucie and Carton do.
Memory hook: An eye for an eye leaves both blind.
Redemption
Imagine a pupil known for careless behaviour who, during a school emergency, calmly helps younger children to safety.
How is this like Sydney Carton?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- A poor reputation does not define a person.
- One brave, selfless act can reveal their true worth.
Answer: Like Carton, people can redeem themselves through selfless action; the novel suggests it is never too late to become your better self.
Memory hook: It's never too late to do a far, far better thing.
Love that heals
Suppose a grandparent who has been ill and confused becomes calmer whenever a favourite grandchild visits.
Which relationship in the novel does this recall?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Lucie's presence calms Doctor Manette.
- Love and familiarity help recovery.
Answer: Lucie's love restores her father, the 'golden thread' linking him to happiness; patient love can help heal deep suffering.
Memory hook: Love is the golden thread.
Topics in this chapter
How the school exam asks A Tale of Two Cities
The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.
| Question type | How it is asked | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Extract-based questions | A short passage followed by questions on meaning, context, figures of speech and significance. | Place the extract in the story; answer each part in full sentences. |
| Short answers on events | 'Why is Darnay arrested in Paris?', 'How is Darnay saved at the London trial?' | Event plus cause or result. |
| Character sketch | 'Write a character sketch of Sydney Carton.' | Traits with incidents; show his change. |
| Theme essay | 'How does Dickens show both the causes and the dangers of revolution?' | Nobles' cruelty; the Revolution's revenge; conclusion. |
Tricks to remember A Tale of Two Cities
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
Three books: R-G-S
Recalled to Life, Golden Thread, Storm (The Track of a Storm): 'Really Good Story'.
Use it when: The novel's structure.
C for Carton, C for Calm sacrifice
Darnay is the Descendant of the cruel family; Carton is the Calm one who dies.
Use it when: Keeping the look-alikes apart.
A Tale of Two Cities: extract-based questions
Read the extract, answer every part on paper, then open the answers.
Extract 1: The opening
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair
(1) · 1 mark · Very short answer
What figure of speech is used throughout this extract?
(2) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Give the meaning of 'incredulity'.
(3) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Which period is the narrator describing?
(4) · 2 marks · Short answer
How does the extract prepare the reader for the novel's structure?
(5) · 3 marks · Short answer
Why might Dickens say the age was both 'the best' and 'the worst' of times?
Show the answersAnswers
- Antithesis (contrasting ideas in balanced phrases), along with repetition (anaphora) of 'it was'.
- Disbelief; unwillingness to believe.
- The years before the French Revolution (the novel opens in 1775).
- Its pairs of opposites mirror the novel's contrasts: two cities, London and Paris; love and hatred; Carton and Darnay; hope and despair in the Revolution.
- It was an age of new ideas of liberty and hope for the oppressed (the best), but also of cruelty by the nobles and later the bloodshed of the Terror (the worst); different people experienced the same age very differently.
Extract 2: The last words
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.
(1) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Who is imagined as speaking these words, and where?
(2) · 1 mark · Very short answer
What is the 'far, far better thing' he does?
(3) · 1 mark · Very short answer
What does 'rest' refer to here?
(4) · 2 marks · Short answer
Identify the use of repetition and its effect.
(5) · 3 marks · Short answer
How do these words complete Carton's change in the novel?
Show the answersAnswers
- Sydney Carton, at the guillotine in Paris.
- He dies in Charles Darnay's place to save him for Lucie and their family.
- Death, which he sees as peace after a restless, wasted life.
- 'far, far better' is repeated in two balanced clauses, giving a calm, solemn rhythm that shows Carton's peace and certainty.
- Carton began as an idle, self-despising drinker who thought his life worthless. His promise to Lucie foreshadowed this act; now, by dying for others, he finds a purpose and a peace he had never known, so his death becomes his redemption.
A Tale of Two Cities: exam-level solved questions
Ordered from exam level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.
Example 1: The London trial · 2 marks · Short answerExam level
How is Charles Darnay saved at his trial for treason in London?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- A witness claims to identify Darnay.
- Carton shows that he looks just like Darnay.
Answer: A witness swears he recognises Darnay, but Sydney Carton draws attention to his own strong resemblance to the prisoner, so the identification is shown to be unreliable and Darnay is acquitted.
Example 2: Doctor Manette's shoemaking · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
Why does Doctor Manette make shoes, and what does it show?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- He learnt shoemaking in prison to keep his mind occupied.
- When he is distressed, he goes back to it.
- It shows lasting damage from imprisonment.
Answer: In the Bastille, shoemaking kept him from despair; after release he still makes shoes, and later returns to it whenever he is under great stress. It symbolises the deep, lasting damage that years of unjust imprisonment did to his mind.
Example 3: Darnay's second arrest · 4 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
Why is Darnay condemned at his second trial in Paris?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Denounced by the Defarges.
- Manette's old prison letter is read.
- It condemns the Evrémonde family.
- Madame Defarge's personal revenge.
Answer: He is denounced by the Defarges, who produce a paper Doctor Manette wrote in the Bastille, describing how the Evrémonde brothers destroyed a peasant family and had him imprisoned to keep him silent. Since Darnay is an Evrémonde, the court condemns him. Madame Defarge, the surviving sister of that family, wants revenge on all Evrémondes, so the injustice of the past now falls on an innocent man.
Example 4: Carton's character · 5 marks · Long answerHarder exam level
Trace the development of Sydney Carton. (About 120 words)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Beginning: brilliant, idle, drinking.
- Love for Lucie and his promise.
- Decision in Paris.
- Sacrifice and peace.
Answer: When we first meet Carton he is a brilliant but idle lawyer who lets others take credit for his work and drinks heavily; he believes his life is wasted. Yet he saves Darnay at the London trial by noticing their likeness. His love for Lucie awakens his better self, and he tells her he would give his life to keep a life she loves beside her. In Paris he quietly plans to keep that promise, uses the spy Barsad to enter the prison, and exchanges places with Darnay. He goes to the guillotine calmly, comforting a frightened seamstress. The careless man becomes the novel's hero, finding in sacrifice the meaning his life had lacked.
Example 5: Revolution · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Does Dickens support or condemn the French Revolution? Give a balanced answer.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Causes: nobles' cruelty and the people's suffering.
- Dangers: revenge, mob violence, killing the innocent.
- Conclusion: understands but condemns its cruelty.
Answer: Dickens shows great sympathy for the poor: the Marquis's carriage kills a child and he tosses a coin as compensation, and Manette is imprisoned for years without trial. The Revolution is the natural result of such cruelty. But Dickens also shows how revenge makes the revolutionaries as cruel as the nobles: Madame Defarge wants to destroy Lucie and her child, and the guillotine takes innocent people like Darnay and the seamstress. Dickens understands why the Revolution happened but condemns the hatred and bloodshed it turned into, warning that injustice breeds more injustice.
Example 6: Extract-style · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Explain the significance of Book the Second's title, 'The Golden Thread'.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The golden thread is Lucie.
- She binds her father to his past and present.
- She holds the family together; contrast with Madame Defarge's knitting.
Answer: The narrator calls Lucie 'the golden thread' that unites her father to a past and present beyond his misery. Her love binds the family together and heals Manette. The image also contrasts with Madame Defarge, whose threads knit a list of victims: one woman's thread binds with love, the other's with hatred.
Where the marks are
How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.
Character or theme answer (school paper). CISCE sets no Class VIII literature paper; this split is indicative. (5 marks)
| Step | Marks |
|---|---|
| Clear point answering the question | 1 |
| Relevant incidents and short accurate quotations | 2 |
| Explanation | 1 |
| Organisation and expression | 1 |
Where students lose marks in A Tale of Two Cities
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Confusing Carton and Darnay
They look alike and both love Lucie.
Do this: Darnay = the French aristocrat (Evrémonde) who marries Lucie; Carton = the English lawyer who dies for him.
Usually costs: Whole answers can collapse.
Mistake: Seeing Dickens as simply for or against the Revolution
Pupils pick one side.
Do this: Show both: sympathy with the oppressed, horror at revenge.
Usually costs: Analysis marks.
Mistake: Misquoting the famous lines
Pupils remember them loosely.
Do this: Learn the exact short quotations on this page.
Usually costs: Accuracy marks.
Mistake: Ignoring the three-book structure
Pupils retell events out of order.
Do this: Learn the books: Recalled to Life, The Golden Thread, The Track of a Storm.
Usually costs: Accuracy and organisation marks.
Practice questions on A Tale of Two Cities
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQExam level
How long was Doctor Manette imprisoned in the Bastille? (a) five years (b) ten years (c) eighteen years (d) twenty-five years
Hint
Book the First.
Answer
(c) eighteen years.
Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerExam level
What does Madame Defarge's knitting secretly record?
Hint
Revenge.
Answer
The names of people marked for death by the revolutionaries.
Q3 · 2 marks · Short answerExam level
Why does Darnay go back to Paris in 1792?
Hint
A letter from an old servant.
Answer
He receives a letter from Gabelle, a former servant of his family, who has been imprisoned by the revolutionaries; Darnay goes to help free him.
Q4 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
Who kills Madame Defarge, and how?
Hint
A loyal companion of Lucie.
Answer
She dies in a struggle with Miss Pross, when the pistol Madame Defarge carries goes off.
Q5 · 4 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
Compare Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay.
Hint
Alike in looks, different in life.
Answer
They look almost identical and both love Lucie. Darnay is honourable and purposeful, a man who gives up his family's wealth on principle; Carton is talented but wastes his life. In the end Carton's sacrifice shows that he too has great nobility; their likeness allows him to give Darnay his life.
Q6 · 4 marks · Long answerHarder exam level
Write a character sketch of Madame Defarge in about 100 words.
Hint
Knitting, revenge, her family's wrongs.
Answer
Value points: wife of the wine-shop keeper; calm, watchful, always knitting her register of victims; a leader of the revolutionaries; her hatred comes from the Evrémondes' destruction of her family; relentless: pursues Darnay and even Lucie and her child; killed in a struggle with Miss Pross; symbol of revenge that destroys even the innocent.
Q7 · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
'The novel shows that cruelty breeds cruelty.' Discuss with two examples.
Hint
Nobles to revolutionaries.
Answer
Value points: the Evrémondes' cruelty to a peasant family and to Manette creates Madame Defarge's hatred; the Marquis's contempt for the poor leads to his murder and to the Revolution; revenge then kills innocents such as Darnay (nearly) and the seamstress; conclusion: only love and sacrifice (Lucie, Carton) break the cycle.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.Who wrote A Tale of Two Cities, and when?Show answer
Charles Dickens, 1859.
2.Which two cities are meant?Show answer
London and Paris.
3.What did Doctor Manette do in prison and afterwards when distressed?Show answer
He made shoes.
4.What is Charles Darnay's real family name?Show answer
Evrémonde.
5.Who is called 'the golden thread'?Show answer
Lucie Manette.
6.How does Carton save Darnay at the end?Show answer
He enters the prison, drugs Darnay, changes places with him, and goes to the guillotine in his place.
Quick revision checklist
The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?
- Can you outline the three books in order?
- Can you explain the opening sentence and its antithesis?
- Can you explain why Darnay is condemned?
- Can you trace Carton's change?
- Can you give a balanced view of Dickens on the Revolution?
A Tale of Two Cities: frequently asked questions
Is A Tale of Two Cities prescribed for ICSE Class 8?
No. It is on CISCE's suggested reading list for Class VIII; schools choose their own books.
Should I read an abridged version?
Many schools use one for Class VIII. Check which edition your school uses; the plot and key quotations are the same.
Is the novel historically accurate?
The Revolution, the storming of the Bastille and the Terror are real; the characters are invented.
Where can I read the full text?
It is in the public domain and freely available, for example on Project Gutenberg.
Based on: CISCE Curriculum for Upper Primary Classes (VI-VIII), English Literature: Suggested Reading List (Class VIII); Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (Project Gutenberg eBook #98)