The novel A Tale of Two Cities unfolds the incidents revolving around the two cities London and Paris - against the background of the French Revolution. Hence Dickens has given excellent descriptions of the two cities and of the countries of which they are the capitals.

“A Tale of Two Cities” is a Tale of London and Paris:

London as well as France are being administered badly. In London robberies are rampant, religious intolerance, superstitions, greed and death are dominant. The priests, military officers, nobility, aristocrats are all corrupt. Thus law and order is in a deplorable state.

Paris is no better than London. There are economic instability, indiscriminate killing and lack of trial. Corruption and injustice reigns in Churches and Courts. Hunger is written on every face and the flowing wine is symbolic of the bloodshed of the Revolution. St. Antoine Street is a miniature Paris where hunger and bloodshed are common features.

The lives of the characters are interwoven by means of the two cities. Dr. Manette is imprisoned in France for eighteen years for championing the poor and truth. Refuge and restoration is possible only in England. Charles Evremonde leaves France, the country of his birth, for England, where he gets peace of mind. But England is no refuge. Though Lucie, her father and Charles live happily in Soho Squire, they are compelled by fate to move to Paris where violence engulfs them. Neither of the two cities is a peaceful heaven the events in France influence the lives of the characters in England. The two cities are contrasted with each other. While the French characters the Vengeance, Evremondes, Madame Defarge, Defarge stand for hatred, the English characters Dr. Manette, Lucie, Jarvis Lorry, Miss Pross, Sydney Carton stand for love. However, love and hatred are not restrained to any particular city Defarge, a Frenchman, is loyal to Dr. Manette; Sydney, an English man, moves from cynicism to love, from England to Paris. The corrupt Jerry Cruncher becomes honest in Paris.

London and Pairs are juxtaposition intermittently. While Book One moves from Paris to England, Book Two, continuously moves between the two. In Chapter 21, the characters in London listen to the footsteps raging in Saint Antoine. The footsteps take us back to the revolution and back again to England where Darnay decides to go to France. Once he goes, there is no looking back, and all the characters and both the cities merge in Book Three. Thus parallelism and contrast between the two cities link and merge them. The title of the book is one of the best Dickens ever hit upon.

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