Dickens at his best

"A Tale of Two cities" has every possible element of a classic. It has a historical background, a hero and heroine who fit the bill perfectly(as far as the cliche of perfect protagonists goes). It also has secondary characters whose stories are as fascinating as the protagonists. But this is not all. The real hero of the tale is a man who spends most of his time in an inebriated state, and whose true worth we acknowledge due to the heroic act he commits at the end of the novel.

The plot deals with Lucy Manette and Charles Darnay. Lucy's father was French and her mother British. When Lucy was a mere infant her father was arrested. Lucy was given the impression that he was dead. At the age of 17, she finds out that her father was in fact not dead, and had just been released from French prison. After nearly two decades in a cell, he is quite withered away, and finds solace only in shoe making. Why was he arrested? Read the novel to find out.

The other protagonist is Charles Darnay. He came from aristocratic French stock. His family the Evremondes, had been guilty of perpetuating several crimes, and escaping punishment thanks to their noble status. Now under the new government(post Revolution), he would be forced to pay for his ancestors' sins.

Sidney Carton is a significant character, although we underestimate his value at first. In the beginning, he seems to be nothing more than a gifted yet alcoholic lawyer. He secretly loves Lucy, and it is this love that causes him to sacrifice his most precious possession for a woman who would never know how much he loved her.

Darnay's character is almost colorless . He does very little other than look attractive and be chivalrous and kind at periodic intervals. Lucy is equally sugar coated, but at least serves a useful purpose in rehabilitating her father.Dickens created Carton's character fully aware that while he would not get the girl, he would at least have the readers' sympathies. Lucy Manette may never fully realize the depth of Carton's feelings for her, but the reader surely does.

Dickens has achieved a fine balance between realism and idealism. A novelist like Jane Austen, was very realistic in her character portrayal which meant that even the central characters in her books had their flaws. A novelist like Hardy painted his characters with an idealistic brush. Dickens ensures that the protagonists are clean-- you could not accuse them of killing a fly. But everyone else has their little quirks and flaws. Dickens it would seem, also wanted to ensure that the real hero of the book was as unlikely as they get and would disprove the importance of appearances.

As the background is of the French Revolution, there are characters such as Monsieuer and Madame DeFarge, who are revolutionairies. Madame DeFarge's character in particular, is a piece of master penmanship. Just writing about this fictional character sends chills down my spine.

In true Victorian style, there are several subplots such as the secret profession of Jerry Cruncher , a messenger . In true Dickens style, there is a great deal of criticism of the justice system. Dickens very successfully destroys the hypocritical myths that the British sought to perpetuate about their so called superior justice system, life style etc.His descriptions of 18th century England are accurate yet appalling for the modern reader. Dickens describes everything from casual executions to looting, to people paying to watch someone being hanged.

Dickens' research was based on a cartload(literally!) of Thomas Carlyle's books on the French Revolution. After reading thousands upon thousands of pages on it, he was able to create a flawless background of the 18th century, so flawless that you hardly suspect the research that went into creating the background.

The end result is a wonderful story, with a well developed historical background, meticulously etched characters, socio-economic critique of the era and one of the most famous opening lines in English literature, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."