Chapter VI
Timeline
History, Novel, and Author · 1774–1989
The Novel Begins — Dr. Manette Released
Dr. Alexandre Manette, after eighteen years of unjust imprisonment in the Bastille, is released and taken to the Defarges' wine shop in Saint Antoine. He is a broken man, reduced to shoemaking and barely aware of his own name. Jarvis Lorry and Lucie Manette travel from London to Paris to bring him home.
Charles Darnay's Trial at the Old Bailey
Charles Darnay, a young French émigré, is tried for treason at the Old Bailey in London. Sydney Carton, the dissolute lawyer who bears a striking resemblance to Darnay, secures his acquittal by pointing out their physical similarity. The trial introduces the central characters and begins the novel's web of connections.
Storming of the Bastille
The Paris crowd storms the Bastille fortress-prison. In the novel, the Defarges lead the assault and search Dr. Manette's old cell — 'One Hundred and Five, North Tower' — for evidence. They find something hidden there. This chapter is one of Dickens's most vivid set-pieces, his rendering of the revolution in full voice.
September Massacres — Darnay Returns to Paris
As the Terror intensifies, Charles Darnay receives a letter from a former servant who has been imprisoned. Despite knowing the danger, Darnay returns to Paris to help him. He is arrested at the gates. Meanwhile, the September Massacres convulse Paris — prisoners are slaughtered in the streets. The novel's third book begins.
Execution of Louis XVI
King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine in the Place de la Révolution. In the novel, this event forms the backdrop to Darnay's imprisonment and trial. The Terror is now in full force, and the guillotine has become the center of Parisian life.
Darnay's Trial and Carton's Sacrifice
Darnay is tried before the revolutionary tribunal. Dr. Manette's old Bastille document — a damning indictment of the Evrémonde family — is produced as evidence. Darnay is sentenced to death. Sydney Carton, arriving in Paris, takes Darnay's place at the guillotine through their physical resemblance. His final 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.' Miss Pross confronts Madame Defarge; Madame Defarge is killed by her own pistol.
Louis XVI Ascends the Throne
Louis XVI becomes King of France at age 19. The nation is deeply in debt from decades of war and court extravagance, but the young king is ill-equipped to manage the crisis.
The Revolution of 1789
Estates-General convened (May), Tennis Court Oath (June 20), Storming of the Bastille (July 14), Declaration of the Rights of Man (August 26), The Great Fear sweeps rural France. In the novel, these events form the background of the pivotal Bastille chapter and the beginning of the Defarges' revolutionary revenge.
War Declared — The First Coalition
Revolutionary France declares war on Austria and Prussia. It will soon be fighting most of Europe. The war creates the conditions for the Terror: foreign invasion and internal counterrevolutionary plots generate a climate of fear.
The September Massacres
As Prussian armies advance on Paris, mobs break into the prisons and massacre over 1,000 prisoners — including aristocrats and priests. This marks a dramatic escalation in revolutionary violence. Dickens portrays this in the novel through the Carmagnole and the grindstone scenes.
The French Republic Proclaimed
The National Convention abolishes the monarchy and declares France a republic. 'Year One' begins. The royal family is imprisoned.
The Executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
Louis XVI is guillotined on January 21. Marie Antoinette follows on October 16. Their children are imprisoned. The royal line is extinguished.
The Reign of Terror
The Committee of Public Safety, led by Robespierre, rules France through revolutionary tribunals and mass executions. Approximately 17,000 are officially guillotined; tens of thousands more are killed in summary reprisals. The guillotine becomes the symbol of the revolution. Danton, Desmoulins, and eventually Robespierre himself (July 27, 1794 — 9 Thermidor) are consumed by the machine they set in motion.
Charles Dickens Born
Charles John Huffam Dickens is born in Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children. His father is a clerk in the Navy Pay Office.
The Blacking Factory
Dickens's father is imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. At age 12, Charles is sent to work at Warren's Blacking Factory, pasting labels onto pots of boot polish. This experience of poverty and shame shapes his entire worldview and his lifelong advocacy for the poor.
The Pickwick Papers — Breakthrough
At age 24, Dickens publishes the first installment of The Pickwick Papers. It is an instant sensation, making him the most popular writer in England.
Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution Published
Carlyle's history of the Revolution becomes Dickens's primary source for A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens reads it obsessively, claiming to have read it 500 times. The book's apocalyptic vision of revolutionary violence shapes the novel profoundly.
The Frozen Deep — The Origin of Carton
Dickens acts in Wilkie Collins's play The Frozen Deep, about self-sacrifice in the Arctic. The role of Richard Wardour — a man who gives his life so the woman he loves may marry another — plants the seed for Sydney Carton.
A Tale of Two Cities Published
The novel is published in weekly installments in Dickens's journal All the Year Round. It is an immediate popular success, though critics are initially cool. It becomes the best-selling novel in the English language.
Death of Dickens
Charles Dickens dies of a stroke at Gad's Hill Place at age 58, leaving The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished. He is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. Thousands attend his funeral; a London costermonger reportedly asks: 'Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?'
Ronald Colman Film Adaptation
MGM's classic Hollywood adaptation starring Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Colman's performance defines Carton for a generation.
BBC Miniseries Adaptation
The BBC produces a television miniseries starring James Wilby as Carton. It is widely praised for its fidelity to the novel.