a tale of two cities

having delayed reading ‘the tale of two cities’ for as long as i have, thinking that it would be merely another story of young tragic love across the lines of two warring families, i was happily surprised by its scale and scope. the lovers merely happen to be small pawns in the larger story of class war and revolutions in which human lives are mere fodder in the greater struggle. sometimes the personal war is waged as the war for a greater cause and sometimes the greater cause becomes the basis for personal pain. dicken’s tone is terse and unrelenting while he looks upon the tragedy of the innocent lovers caught in circumstances that had nothing to do with them. he identifies, as we do, not with the main protagonists with the halo of golden light around, but with those on the fringes watching the travails of the couple. unlike these angels, he knows those who are stained and corrupted by their more human urges- jealousy, desire, rage and revenge- not only these sinister sides of man, but also the longings for the more compassionate, beautiful and kind. at the end madame defarge- a great villainess, if ever there was one, reveals her personal vendetta and when sydney carton, the unreliable barrister, proves his love by sacrificing all. through the entire melodrama, dicken’s cutting and precise dismantling does not let the storyline ever fall apart into sentiment and mawkish clichés.