What happens in Book II of A Tale of Two Cities?
Book II, Chapters 5–8 shift between London's legal underbelly and the decadent rot of Parisian aristocracy. In Chapter 5 ("The Jackal"), we see the parasitic relationship between the brilliant yet self-destructive Sydney Carton and the vain, average lawyer Stryver: Carton does the hard intellectual work while Stryver takes the credit. Their late-night session concludes with Carton gazing into a mirror, filled with self-loathing. Chapter 6 ("Hundreds of People") takes us to Soho, where Dr. Manette has established a quiet life with Lucie. When Charles Darnay visits, Manette's old shoe-making bench—haunting relic of his imprisonment—stands in the corner like a silent threat. Chapter 7 ("Monseigneur in Town") shifts to Paris, critiquing the Monseigneur who needs four servants just to serve his morning chocolate. Outside, the Marquis St. Evrémonde's carriage runs over a child in the street; he tosses a coin to the grieving father, Gaspard, and drives away without a second thought. Defarge is seen in the crowd. Chapter 8 ("Monseigneur in the Country") follows the Marquis to his château, where he meets a road-mender who has seen a man clinging beneath his carriage—Gaspard in pursuit. Arriving at his estate, the Marquis finds Charles Darnay waiting, and their chilly exchange reveals that Darnay has rejected his family's name and inheritance.
Analysis
Dickens designs these four chapters as a deliberate structural contrast: the shabby moral compromise of London set against the ornate moral bankruptcy of Paris. The pairing of Carton and Stryver is one of the novel's most skillful moves—Carton is introduced not through action but through reflection, literally, in a mirror. The image of a man who "had no idea of time" and sees only waste in himself crystallizes the novel's central meditation on squandered potential. Dickens maintains a distance without losing interest; Carton is depicted with a cool, almost clinical precision.
The Monseigneur scene is a pure satirical set piece, showcasing Dickens at his most Swiftian. The grotesque comedy of the four-lackey chocolate ritual quickly plunges into horror when the carriage strikes the child. This tonal shift is achieved through speed: the prose accelerates with the horses and then comes to a sudden stop. The coin tossed to Gaspard serves as the novel's most economical symbol—aristocratic indifference turned into a literal throwaway. Defarge's silent presence in the crowd lights the revolutionary fuse.
The shoe-making bench in Manette's Soho parlor acts as Dickens's Gothic intrusion into domestic realism: an object that refuses to remain in the past. Its presence during Darnay's courtship visit subtly frames the love story within the trauma narrative, emphasizing that personal happiness cannot be fully divorced from historical wounds. Throughout these four chapters, Dickens layers motifs of doubling—Carton and Stryver, Darnay and the Marquis, London and Paris—preparing the reader for the novel's broader argument that no life is truly singular.
Key quotes from Book II
“Sydney Carton, idlest and most unpromising of men, was Stryver's great ally. What the two drank together, between Hilary Term and Michaelmas, might have floated a king's ship.”
Dickens introduces Carton's role as Stryver's intellectual engine, framing their partnership in the language of excess and waste.
“Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend, will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof shuts out the sky.”
The Marquis delivers this chilling credo to Darnay at the château, articulating the aristocratic worldview that the Revolution will soon answer.
“Carton looked at his friend and mentor, and said, carelessly enough, 'What a fellow you are, Stryver!'”
The throwaway tone of Carton's remark to Stryver captures his habitual self-concealment—contempt and admiration compressed into studied indifference.
Check your understanding
Ask about this work
The reader has this chapter in front of it — the summary, the analysis, the key quotes and the vocabulary — along with the rest of the book’s chapters. Ask what happens and why it matters, or push back on a reading.
It cites the chapter or the line it is working from, and it says so plainly when the guide doesn’t cover something. It’s instructed never to write an essay, a paragraph or an answer for you to hand in, and never to grade anything — it will show you how to approach the question instead.
Sign in to ask the reader about this work — 1 credit a message.
Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Book II
- Hilary Term
- One of the four legal terms of the English court calendar, running roughly from January to April. It marks one boundary of the period during which Carton and Stryver drink heavily together.
- Michaelmas
- The feast of St. Michael on 29 September, which also marks the end of the English legal and academic autumn term. Used here as a time marker for the legal year.
- ally
- A close partner or helper, especially one who provides essential support. Here it describes Carton's role as the real intellectual force behind Stryver's courtroom success.
- deference
- Submission and yielding to the authority or power of another, often out of fear rather than respect. In this passage it describes the obedience the Marquis believes terror forces from the poor.
- repression
- The use of force or intimidation by those in power to control and silence people. The Marquis presents it as the only reliable way to keep the lower classes in line.