Dickens and The City of GodReading the Gospel of John in A Tale of Two Cities

Melissa Brotton, MS, Ph.D.Department of English and Communication

La Sierra University

Epigraphs “. . . the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17. 21)

“In seasons of pestilence, some of us will have a secret attraction to the disease – a terrible passing inclination to die of it. And all of us have like wonders hidden in our breast, only needing circumstances to evoke them” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 279).

“for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” (John 12.43)

Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. (Augustine, City of God, Book XIV.38).

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Dickens. February 7.

A Tale of Two Cities, 1859, (serialized in All the Year Round, April 30- November 26).

One of Dickens’ most known stories, but one which stands out for its layers of symbolic and metaphorical meaning.

Charles Dickens. Daguerreotype. George Herbert Watkins. 1858. Wikipedia. Jan. 30, 2009. Web.

Dickens on A Tale As the idea became

familiar to me, it gradually shaped itself into its present form. Throughout its execution, it has had complete possession of me; I have so far verified what is done and suffered in these pages, as that I have done and suffered it all myself. (Preface to A Tale of Two Cities, 1959).

Photographic Portrait. Charles Dickens. George Herbert Watkins. 1861. David Simkin. Portraits of Charles Dickens : Drawings, Paintings, Engravings and Photographs. Sussex PhotoHistory Home Page. 25 Feb. 2012. Web.

What Two Cities? London and Paris?

England and France?

Soho and Saint Antoine?

The City of God and the City of Man?

All of the above?

St. Augustine’s Prayer to the Holy Spirit.

Conflicts Dr. Manette’s background

story: an innocent man imprisoned by the powerful Evrèmonde brothers for attesting to a murder.

Defarges’ revenge on the Evrèmonde family

Love triangle: Lucie, Charles Darnay (Evrèmonde) and Sydney Carton

Darnay and Carton’s simultaneous redemptions

The backdrop of the French Revolution

Still. BBC’s A Tale of Two Cities, 1989. Granada Television.

The French Revolution in Dickens

The Sea Rises by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). Illustration to Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Book II, Chapter 22. All the Year Round (October 1859); issued 3 September.

“There was no pause, no pity, no peace, no interval of relenting rest, no measurement of time. Though days and nights circled as regularly as when time was young, and the evening and the morning were the first day, other count of time there was none. Hold of it was lost in the raging fever of a nation, as it is in the fever of a patient. (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 270).

A Book of DoublesLondon Paris

Soho Saint Antoine

Charles Darney Sydney Carton

Dr. Manette Monseignor Evremonde

Lucie Manette Therese (Madame) Defarge

Mr. Lorry Mr. Stryver

Jerry Cruncher John Barsad

Miss Pross Therese (Madame) Defarge

The Jackal The Lion

Doubles and Contrasts

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 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 – in short, the period was so like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. (A Tale of Two Cities, 1).

Structure John

“The light shines in the darkness; and the darkness has not overcome it.” (1.5)

“He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness’” (1.23)

The wedding at Cana: water to wine

Jesus and the woman at the well: water of life

Healing at the pool

Jesus, the bread of life

Jesus feeds the 5,000

Jesus is the good shepherd

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead

Final kiss and anointing by the prostitute

A Tale of Two Cities “it was the season of Light, it was the

season of Darkness”( 1)

“Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at that favoured period, as at this” (1)

Outside the wineshop: wine to blood

Saint Antoine’s well: water of death

Death at the pool (execution of Gaspard)

People of France cannot find enough bread

Monseigneur refuses to feed his tenants; he refuses to grant money to a poor man’s grave at the request of the man’s wife.

Monseigneur kills a child with his carriage and glibly dismisses the incident by throwing coins at the father.

Final kiss and blessing by the seamstress in language of anointing

Parallels

John

Traitor is the means by which Christ is given over to death

Christ reveals himself to his denouncers

Protagonist is executed by the ruling government’s instrument of death: Cross

Cross is raised as a spectacle

Protagonist dies for others

Resurrection

Redemption of world

A Tale of Two Cities

Traitor is the means by which Carton has access to the Conciergerie

Carton reveals himself to the Defarges (who have denounced Darnay)

Protagonist is executed by the ruling government’s instrument of death: guillotine

Guillotine is on a platform for the spectators

Protagonist dies for others

Resurrection motif

Redemption of a family

AffinitiesMme. Defarge’s

revengeHerodias’s revenge

“Tell wind and fire where to stop, . . .but don’t tell me”

“Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter” (Matthew 14.8).

Rosalie Crutchley as Madame Defarge. A Tale of Two Cities. Still. 1958 & 1965. BBCTV. Madame Defarge. Blog. Luka.

Salome with the Head of John the baptist. Caravaggio. Oil on Canvas. National Gallery. 1607. London. Wikimedia.

Finding FatherHailing his softened tone and manner, his daughter fell upon her knees before him, with her appealing hands upon his breast.

“O, sir, at another time you shall know my name, and who my mother was, and who my father, and how I never knew their hard, hard history. But I cannot tell you at this time, and I cannot tell you here. All that I may tell you here and now, is, that I pray to you to touch me and to bless me. Kiss me, kiss me! O my dear, my dear.” (Lucie Manette, A Tale of Two Cities, 53).

Father and ChildFrance and England

Lucie and Dr. Manette

Darnay and Evrèmonde

Carton finds a father in Mr. Lorry: “You are a good man and a true friend,” said Carton in an altered voice. “Forgive me if I notice you are affected. I could not see my father weep, and sit by, careless. And I could not respect your sorrow more, if you were my father. You are free from that misfortune, however.

Though he said the last words with a slip into his usual manner, there was a true feeling and respect both in his tone and in his touch, that Mr. Lorry, who had never seen the better side of him, was wholly unprepared for. He gave him his hand, and Carton gently pressed it. (304)

A Book of Contrasts

Mme. Defarge Sydney Carton

Still of James Wilby playing Sydney Carton in Masterpiece Theatre’s A Tale of Two Cities. Grenada Television. 1989. Dickensblog. 19 July 2010. Sponsored by English Lamp Post Co.

Mary Gutzi as Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities: A Musical. Broadway Performance. 1999.

Contrasts: Fate vs. Choice

Destiny: Mde. Defarge

If any figure in the novel believes herself an instrument in the hand of destiny, it is Madame Defarge. She is absolutely confident in the eventual fall of the nobility: “Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule” (207). She does not fear . . . .” (David Rosen. A Tale of Two Cities: Theology of Revolution. Dickens Studies Annual. 27, 1998. 182.)

Free Will: Sydney Carton

“Carton is well aware of chance, and treats personal behavior as a series of educated wagers” (Rosen 181)

“Unlike Madame Defarge, Carton is a figure of free agency, who makes his own destiny, and knows himself answerable (to put it mildly!) for his decisions” (Rosen 182).

Dickens on Predestination vs.

Free Will “The novel justifies Carton’s outlook, without

quite slighting the question of destiny. In a letter written shortly after composing the Tale, Dickens suggests that fiction should aspire to imitate the workings of providence. Indeed, intimations of the divine will seem to permeate the text” (Rosen 182).

“Individuals are entirely free in, and responsible for, their own actions – actions that yield necessary, providential consequences” (Rosen 182).

Sydney Carton vs. Charles Darnay:

A Study in Contrasts?

James Barbour and Aaron Lazarin A Tale of Two Cities on Broadway. 2008. Stage Review. A Tale of Two Cities.” Oct. 3, 2008. EW.com. Web.

Conversion Narrative?

“An important feature in all these delineations of moral change is the hero’s ability to recognise and formulate his own limitations” (Barbara Hardy. “Change of Heart in Dickens’ Novels.” Victorian Studies. 5.1 (Sept. 1961) 49-67.

Lloyd, Frank. Still. William Farnum as Sydney Carton. 1922. Frank Lloyd: Master of Melodrama. Alt Film Guide. Web. 1 March 2012.

Carton’s Pseudo-Conversion

“From the very beginning, Dickens forces the reader to discriminate between the popular judgment about Carton’s degeneracy and the possibility of his having hidden merits, often by putting his condemnation of Carton in the wrong mouths (John Kucich. “The Purity of Violence”: A Tale of Two Cities.” Critical Essays on Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities. Ed. Michael A. Cotsell, New York: G. K. Hall, 1998).

Not so much a converting

as a revealing The mark of Carton’s

genius is this very ability to penetrate to the most important, the most essential levels– to see beyond the limited vision of others, or to say what others dare not say. In other words, Carton appeals to us through his freedom from convention, and from constraint (Kucich, John. “The Purity of Violence: A Tale of Two Cities.” Critical Essays on Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities. Ed. Michael A. Cotsell, New York: G. K. Hall, 1998. 136).

In contrast, then, to the other good characters , whose lives are ruled by restraints of one kind or another, and despite our sense that we must disapprove of him, Carton stand out as the most vividly authentic character in the novel. (Kucich 136).

The Fullness of the Time

(My Hour) When was the decision made to die?

At the time of the crisis?

Just before the crisis?

Long before the crisis?

If you remember the words that passed between us long ago, you will readily comprehend this when you see it. You do remember them, I know. It is not in your nature to forget them. I am thankful that the time has come, when I can prove them. That I do so is no subject for regret or grief.

Sydney Carton

Cooperating with the Traitor

Dickens

Sydney Carton filled another glass with brandy, poured it slowly over the hearth, and watched it as it dropped. It being all spent, he said, rising:

“So far, we have spoken before these two, because it was well that the merits of the cards should not rest solely between you and me. Come into the dark room here, and let us have one final word alone” (A Tale of Two Cities, 301).

John

“So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly’” (John 13.26b-27, ESV).

Recognizing My Hour

These solemn words which had been read at his father’s grave, arose in his mind as he went down the dark streets, among the heavy shadows, with the moon and the clouds sailing on high above him. “I am the resurrection and the life,” saith the Lord, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.”

In a city dominated by the axe, alone at night, with natural sorrow rising in him for the sixty-three who had that day been put to death, and for to-morrow’s victims then waiting their doom in the prisons, and still of to-morrow’s and to-morrow’s, the chain of association that brought the words home, like a rusty old ship’s anchor from the deep, might have been easily found. He did not seek it, but repeated them and went on. (A Tale of Two Cities, 308)

Finding Comfort

“‘I am the resurrection and the life’, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.”

Now that the streets were quiet, and the night wore on, the words were in the echoes of his feet, and were in the air. Perfectly calm and steady, he sometimes repeated them to himself as he walked; but he heard them always. (A Tale of Two Cities, 309).

Resolved about My Hour

A trading-boat, with a sail of the softened colour of a dead leaf, then glided into his view, floated by him, and died away. As its silent track in the water disappeared, the prayer that had broken up out of his heart for a merciful consideration of all his poor blindness and errors, ended in the words, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Mr. Lorry was already out when he got back, and it was easy to surmise where the good old man was gone. Sydney Carton drank nothing but a little coffee, ate some bread, and, having washed and changed to refresh himself, went out to the place of trial. (310).

A Face Like FlintIsaiah 50. 7 “therefore I have set my face like flint”

Luke 9:51 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (ESV)

And it came to passe, when the time was come that he should bee receiued vp, he stedfastly set his face to goe to Jerusalem. (King James Version)

Sense of resolution, purpose, whole-heartedness, commitment.

Photos from Wilson, Graham. “The Use of Flint in Church Walls in England.” Rock of the Month. Turnstone Geological Services Limited. 18 April 2004. Web. 2 March 2012 & “Arrowheads.” Alibates Flint Quarries.” National Park Service. U. S. Department of the Interior. 11 September 2011. Web. 2 March 2012.

Carton’s Last Night

Checking his steps, which had begun to tend towards an object, he took a turn or two in the already-darkening street, and traced the thought in his mind to its possible consequences. His first impression was confirmed. “It is best,” he said, finally resolved, “that these people should know there is such a man as I here.” And he turned his face toward Saint Antoine. (A Tale of Two Cities, 331).

Revealing himself to the enemy

The Double Recognition by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). Illustration to Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Book III, Chapter 8. All the Year Round (December 1859); issued in weekly numbers 15 October.

Ambiguity of Being “Lifted Up”

Isaiah 52:13-15 “See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished by him – so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals – so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.”

John 12:32 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

La Guillotine Construction of the guillotine began with the platform

or scaffold. A skilled carpenter cut the lumber for the major pieces including post supports, interconnecting beams, the floorboards, and the steps for the stairway underneath the platform. The stairs bottomed at one open end of the scaffold (on the front side of the guillotine) and opened in an entry or hatch near the other end of the platform at the back of the guillotine. The platform also had an open railing around three sides of the scaffold; the side without the railing was toward the front of the machine and the bottom of the stairs. (“Guillotine.” How Products are Made, Vol. 7. Web.)

<http://www.history.com/topics/guillotine/videos#guillotine>

Carton’s Final Steps Not Unlike His First

Steps “The puritan ethic of

disciplined personal endeavor demands renunciation such as Carton has been neurotically making all along, and its final act is the renunciation of life itself” (J. M. Rignall. “Dickens and the Catastrophic Continuum of History in A Tale of Two Cities.” See Critical Essays on Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities).

Foster, Stephen D. Jr. “Rick Santorum: ‘President Obama Wants to Guillotine Christians.’” Addicting Info.: The Knowledge You Crave. 2012 Web. 2 March 2012.

More Alike than Different

Darnay’s Last Hours

“He had been apprised that the final hour was three, and he knew he would be summoned sometime earlier, inasmuch as the tumbrils jolted heavily and slowly through the streets. Therefore he resolved to keep two before his mind, as the hour, and so to strengthen himself in the interval that he might be able, after that time, to strengthen others.” ( 342)

Carton’s Last Hours

The supposed Evrèmonde descends, and the seamstress is lifted out next after him. He has not relinquished her patient hand in getting out, but still holds it as he promised. He gently places her with her back to the crashing engine that constantly whirrs up and falls, and she looks into his face and thanks him. (365)

Sydney Carton’s Vision

I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it fade away. I see him, foremost of the just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair, to this place – then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day’s disfigurement – and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and faltering voice. (A Tale of Two Cities, 367).

The Ambiguity of Glory

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified . . . Father, glorify your name” (John 12.23).

“I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. . . . 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 (Sydney Carton, A Tale of Two Cities, 367).

The Rest in Work “And so, Carton, in his limited way, defeats

the purpose of the revolution (to slaughter the Evrémondes), and is able to change the world for the better”

(David Rosen, “A Tale of Two Cities: Theology of Revolution.” Dickens Studies Annual. 27. (1998) 171-85).

Question of Person First person, plural

Sense of inclusiveness

“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”

Shifting Subject She kisses his lips; he kisses hers; they solemnly bless each other. The spare hand does not tremble as he releases it; nothing worse than a sweet, bright constancy in the patient face. She goes next before him—is gone; the knitting-women count Twenty-two.

“I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

(A Tale of Two Cities, 366)

Ex(change)

The murmuring of many voices, the upturning of many faces, the pressing on of many footsteps in the outskirts of the crowd, so that it swells forward in a mass, like one great heave of water, all flashes away. Twenty-three.

(A Tale of Two Cities, 366)

Virtual Death Dickens draws the reader into Carton’s

experience, hears the jeering crowd, sees a blur of faces and hears the deafening roar until . . . “all flashes away.”

“Twenty-three” is not an accident, as Rosen points out: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me” (Psalm 23.4)

What two cities? Two cities: the city of man and the city of

God

“Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God” (Psalm 87.4)

Psalm 40.7-8: Then said I, See, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

I delight to do your will, O my God: yes, your law is within my heart.”

Additional Credits Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities.

New York: Signet. 1997.

Illustrations by Phiz for A Tale of Two Cities (1859)Philip V. Allingham, Contributing Editor, Victorian Web, Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Victorian Web.