Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is rarely considered the best of his novels. Most commentators and critics consider the novel uneven, less character-driven than plot-driven, melodramatic. But the reason that A Tale of Two Cities carries as much weight as David Copperfield or Great Expectations is because it captures better than any other novel the rage and risk of revolution. Without flinching from the causes of the French Revolution or the shortcomings of contemporary England, Dickens draws a sharp contrast between the city of civilization and gradual change – London – and the uncontrollable sea of wrath represented by Paris, where the only religion is blood and safety can only be found in the mob.
The chief distinction between the two cities, Dickens makes clear, is a simple one: religion. That distinction lies behind the contrast between Sydney Carton and Madame Defarge. Carton is one of Dickens’ greatest creations: a man laid low by his own incapacity to control his appetites or his future, but who finds redemption through Christian, selfless love, going to the guillotine to redeem his soul. And Madame Defarge’s atheistic, indefatigable hatred makes her perhaps Dickens’ greatest villain: a woman driven by desire for revenge so strong it obliterates all limits, both personal and political.
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