A Tale of Two Cities: An Interesting Novel by Dickens

Charles Dickens is one of the most popular novelists of the 19th century. He belongs to England. He is acknowledged as the reporter of town life. He accurately portrays the town living and miserable conditions of middle class. As a social reformer Dickens employs fiction as a platform for his social appeal. Humour and pathos lie closely together in his world of writings. In short, he is a lovable novelist.

A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens is a well-liked novel. It has taken to present the happenings of the two cities - Paris and London during French Revolution. The author has described the incidents and characters of both the cities without any bias. Here the characters of the composition move freely from Paris to London. Hence, the writer has appropriately named the novel as A Tale of Two Cities.

The plot of this work of fiction is compact, well constructed, economical and dramatic. It is full of suspense, drama and curiosity. Here the aim of the novelist is not to describe the French Revolution in detail. He has simply taken some of the incidents of Revolution. With that background he has woven his plot. He describes the problems and troubles of the common man. He talks about the life of the people with their political and social problems.

The plot of A Tale of Two Cities is very interesting. Dr. Alexander Manette has been imprisoned for 18 years. His daughter Lucie brings him to London after his release. Due to her care Dr. Manette recovers physically and mentally. Miss Lucie falls in love with Darnay. Darnay's father and uncle were responsible for the suffering of her father. In spite of that Dr. Manette allows Darnay to marry his daughter. They begin their conjugal life.

Even in the critical hours, Darnay goes to Paris. He puts his life in danger to save the life of Gabelle. Since the French Revolution was going on, he is arrested there. He is sentenced to death. Dr. Manette and Lucie go there to save him. He is released but he is again arrested. Now Sydney Carton plans to save Darnay's life for the sake of his beloved Lucie. Carton loves Lucie sincerely even after her marriage to Darnay. He takes help of the jailor who takes out the unconscious Darnay from the prison. Carton replaces Darnay in the prison and dies for him for the sake of Lucie.

In this way we find that A Tale of Two Cities is a very interesting novel. Dickens has told the story excellently well. He has cast his spell on the readers. Our interest in the novel never becomes weak. The suspense goes on mounting. Here he has blended humour and pathos. For this merit, this novel is always appreciated.

Hareshwar Roy, Satna