A Tale of Two Cities

“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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

Besides being distinctively famous, the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities set a major precedent in terms of how Dickens will handle characters, images, and ideas throughout the rest of the novel. In this passage, the narrator juxtaposes contradictory statements about the late 18th century, describing it, for instance, as both an optimistic period and a despairing one. It’s not immediately clear how both these statements can be true, but by the end of the novel the claim makes sense: a better era rises out of the misery of this one. Similarly, the novel repeatedly contrasts apparent opposites (Darnay and Carton, Paris and London, life and death) only to blur the lines between them, suggesting that these pairs actually overlap with or depend on one another.

“‘Jerry, say that my answer was, Recalled to life.’”  

Lorry’s response to the message he receives from Tellson’s refers to the fact that Alexandre Manette has been released from imprisonment in the Bastille, and that Lorry is now on his way to see him and reunite him with his daughter Lucie. The cryptic phrasing, however, also introduces one of the novel’s central themes: resurrection. In this case, the imprisonment Manette has undergone is described as a kind of living death that only his daughter’s love can pull him back from.