• 3rd city, Manchester • First conceived the main idea of the story while acting with his children in a drama called the frozen deep • Assisted writing a play with his friend Willie Collins, The Frozen Deep inspired by the expedition for the North West passage • Met Termons, particularly Ellen, whom he left his wife and married for. • Lucy is equivalent to Ellen • 1857 was the year in which little doter was published • 1858 began series of public readings for profit in oppose to the charity readings • Became the greatest reader of the greatest writer of the age • May 1858 separated his wife Catherine • 30 April 1859 first two ch of Tale of Two Cities is published • London was extreme, a labyrinth, a maze • First visited Paris in 1844 • Rented Apartments • Falls in love with woman named Lucy and leaves his wife, women in Tale of Two cities named Lucie • Parallels between Dickens and the leads. Characters were to have initials CD and DC • London and Paris • Dickens brought to Paris as a child because of his father’s work- bad experiences, haunting and dark. “wretchedness and darkness, but also of great fascination.” • City of extremes in wealth and poverty- looked at it bleakly • Visited Paris later in his life, liked Paris when he first went there “most extraordinary place in the world” “novelty, novelty, novelty” • The period was good and evil, opening tells about this • Strikes connections between pre-revolutionary Paris and contemporary London • Inevitability of history • Mannette put into prison before Lucie was born • Sydney Carton puts himself into Charles Darneys place to die, sacrifices himself for love so that Darney and Lucie can live together because he loves Lucie