A Tale of Two Cities

6. Dickens’s novels often include one or more courtroom scenes. In the film, the courtroom
scene is crucial. It not only introduces us to Darnay and other important characters, it
contains many of the issues the story explores. Why did Dickens write so much about
the law? Why are legal matters often so deemed to be dramatic? Have students make a
list of current films and television shows that use courtroom scenes for their dramatic
core. What are some of the similarities and differences between Dickens’s use of this
setting and more contemporary uses?
TH E L I KEN ESS BY PHIZ , 1 859
J AC Q U E R I E
The Defarges have a large circle of friends, most of whom are called “Jacques,” a
common French first name. “Jacques” is simply a code name used to conceal
their true identity from strangers and perhaps from each other. They form a secret
society, at first keeping track of aristocratic crimes, and later bringing their enemies
to trial and execution once the revolution has begun. In fact, it is unlikely that secret
societies played an important role in the French Revolution. Most of the major
revolutionary groups, such as the Jacobins and Girondins, operated quite openly.
Secret revolutionary societies were actually more important in Dickens’s own time.
He may have drawn inspiration from such secret groups as the Carbonari, which
operated in Italy.
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