British Literature 10

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N O R W E L L H I G H S C H O O L British Literature 10

CRAIG BELMORE - KELLY CRISS - KELSEY LINK - LEIGH LEWIS CHAPTER 1 Introduction

Please refer to these support materials throughout your study of British Litera- Map of Ancient Britain ture, as they have been compiled to support your skill development and provide David Rumsey Map http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail context. /RUMSEY~8~1~20862~520055:Ancient-Britain- I--Published-under-# SECTION 1 Context

NHS MOTIFS

1. Fear as Drive 2. Role of Civilization 3. Quest for Power 4. Influence of Desire on Relationships

Readings and discussion this year will be centered around a thematic reading of British literature. Keep these five motifs in mind throughout your reading.

2 Medieval Age Group Presentation

Directions: Over the next few days we will be working in groups to present the concerns, concepts, Presenter(s): and events that occurred during the Medieval Ages, also called the Middle Ages. Presentation draft writer: Products: Works Cited page writer: An Expository Essay describing the assigned topic. Illustrator/handout generator: An oral presentation of the concept/subject, including an introduction.

A visual guide to the presentation (PowerPoint, poster, or handout) Game/Quiz writer:

A Works Cited page. Topics:

A comprehension check: a quiz or a game with appropriate rules or answer keys. Religion (“Pagan”/Christianity) Feudalism The Crusades

Printed or photocopied (print resources) proof of research done. Medieval church Medieval Work (in each class) Bubonic Plague

Procedure: Medieval homes Knights/Knighthood Invasion from Europe

Develop the 6 questions that need to be answered in order to understand the topic: Medieval food and dress Chivalry Thomas a’ Becket Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? King Arthur Courtly Love Geoffrey Chaucer Research the topic using print resources in the library, being sure to capture the information necessary to create a Works Cited page.

Divide the products above among group members. Goal: Students should be able to recognize key concerns, concepts, and events from Write an essay that introduces the topic and answers 6 important questions: Who? the period. What? Where? When? How? Why?

Create talking points or note cards from the essay and deliver an oral presentation to the class. This presentation should answer the same 6 questions as the essay, but reading the essay is not enough to earn full credit (5 minutes, maximum).

Create a quiz or game to check your listeners’ comprehension of your oral presentation.

Schedule the presentation order with me.

Deliver the presentation and pass in a written version of the presentation.

3 SECTION 2

Close Reading HOW TO MARK A BOOK by Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001) (link to PDF: HTMAB)

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE. AN- You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade SWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW. you to do something equally important in the 1. The essay is entitled “How to Mark a Text.” course of your reading. I want to persuade you to However, showing how to mark a text is a "write between the lines." Unless you do, you are STRATEGY employed for a greater purpose. not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading. What is the purpose of this essay? In other I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is words, what is the author trying to DO? not an act of mutilation but of love. 2. Consider the image of the “beefsteak” in the You shouldn't mark up a book which isn't yours. fourth paragraph. How does this metaphor Librarians (or your friends) who lend you books convey the author’s meaning? expect you to keep them clean, and you should. If 3. What are some of the misconceptions about you decide that I am right about the usefulness of books and reading that the author seeks to marking books, you will have to buy them. Most dispel? of the world's great books are available today, in 4. Why is writing while reading necessary? Why reprint editions, at less than a dollar. does the author prefer writing directly on the There are two ways in which one can own a book. book? The first is the property right you establish by 5. How does this essay apply to high school paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and English? What suggestions and perspectives can furniture. But this act of purchase is only the you take from this piece? prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the

best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing 4 ECTION S 3 The Victorian Period (1833-1901)

Queen Victoria’s reign was marked by triumphs and tragedies. The Jane Eyre consequences of some of them, liked the mixed legacy of imperialism, were felt way beyond her century.

Shy and diminutive, the young queen set out to restore the reputation of the monarchy. Her marriage in 1840 to her first cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was a model of respectability. That quality, respectability, became a very important concept of the period.

The first blight on her reign came in 1845 when a potato crop failed in Ireland. The Famine grew worse until by 1849 half the UNIT CONTENTS population had died or gone into exile. The British government did little for this quarter of the United Kingdom. The events and legend of the 1. Victorian Period Background Famine fueled the hatred and violence in the relations of the British and Irish for more than a hundred and fifty years. 2. Jane Eyre Passage Analysis Chart The high point of Victoria’s reign was The Great Exposition in the 3. Jane Eyre Socratic Seminar Questions Crystal Palace, organized by her husband, The Prince Consort, in 1851. Built in a wholly new style, iron girders holding over a million feet of 4. Jane Eyre Comparison Contrast Assignment glass panels, the building was the cathedral of commerce and empire. A combination of world’s fair and industrial show, the Exposition 5. Works Cited trumpeted to the world the achievements of manufacturing England, colonizing England, and self-satisfied England.

Two works published in Victoria’s reign proved as powerful as any of the machinery for The Great Exposition. In 1848, as England watched as revolutions convulsed Europe, Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto. This pamphlet warned that there was a “spectre haunting Europe.” That “spectre” was communism, with its prophecy of political revolution. The other book, the work of a gentleman scientist who had seen evidence for a biological evolution during his long sea voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, was On the Origin of Species. Supporters and attackers alike knew that after Charles Darwin’s work, our sense of ourselves and our place in the world would never be the same.

The reform impulse gathered strength throughout the period. Jane Eyre Syntax Analysis 5 Passage Analysis

Examine the following passage from Jane Eyre and fill out the chart that follows according to the syntax. Then explain how Sentence Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Bronte’s use of syntax affects the tone and meaning of the pas- Number of words sage. Number of independent clauses “I could not help it; the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes. Then my sole relief was to walk along the corridor of the third Number of dependent story, backwards and forwards, safe in the silence and solitude of the spot, clauses and allow my mind’s eye to dwell on whatever bright visions rose before it— Use of dash, and, certainly, they were many and glowing; to let my heart be heaved by the semicolon, or exclamation exultant movement . . . and, best of all, to open my inward ear to a tale that was never ended—a tale my imagination created, and narrated continuously; Repeated use of quickened with all of incident, life, fire, feeling, that I desired and had not in coordinating conjunctions my actual existence. It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot Number of polysyllabic words find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many rebellions besides Use of questions political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth. Women Use of repetition are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as Use of parallel structure their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagna- tion, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more Use of rhetorical fragments privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroi- Use of comparisons dering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for Types of figurative their sex” (111). language

6 Jane Eyre Socratic Seminar

Prepare thoughts, evidence and questions based on the following questions in order to be ready to participate in discussion.

1. Discuss the significance of Jane's dreams.

2. What ultimately is Jane’s goal in the novel? Why does this desire constitute her both as a rebel and an outcast of the time period?

3. Jane passionately loves Rochester. Why, then, does Jane break off her marriage? Consider another possibility besides the existence of Bertha.

4. What do the different locations in Jane Eyre reveal about Jane's character? What elements of her character do specific locations evoke?

5. What does Bronte convey about the association between money and happiness though the characters? To what extent is this true today?

6. How do Jane’s views on religion change throughout the novel? What are her spiritual beliefs?

7. What does Bertha Mason represent? What connections does she have with Jane?

8. What is the symbolic significance of Thornsfield?

9. Rochester's disastrous marriage to Bertha was based on passion, while St. John refuses to marry Rosamond because of his passion for her. What is Bronte saying about the role passion should play in marriage

10. What about Rochester is Jane drawn to? Between him and St. John, who seems to be the “better” man?

11. Jane asserts her equality to Rochester and St. John. What does Jane mean by equality, and why is it so important to her?

12. What is the balance of power between Jane and Rochester when they marry? Does this balance change throughout the years?

13. In a romantic relationship, does one partner inevitably dominate the other?

14. Should an individual who holds a position of authority be granted the respect of others, regardless of his or her character? Why?

15. What makes Jane a successful heroine?

16. Why does the novel end with the words of St. John? What is the significance of Jane returning her attention/focus to him?

"Now, my good fellow, how are you?" he asked.

"She's done for me, I fear," was the faint reply.

"Not a whit!--courage! This day fortnight you'll hardly be a pin the worse of it: you've lost a little blood; that's all Carter, assure him there's no danger."

7 Jane Eyre Point of View Comparison

Below are two passages that deal with an identical incident, one from Jane Eyre and the other from Wide Sargasso Sea, the prequel to Jane Eyre told from Bertha Mason’s perspective. In a well-developed paragraph, explain how the change in perspective alters the tone of the scene, readers’ understanding of the characters, and Bronte and Rhys’ intended purpose in telling

"Now, my good fellow, how are you?" he asked. I said, “I can’t remember what happened. I can’t remember.” "She's done for me, I fear," was the faint reply. “When he came in,” said Grace Poole, “he didn’t recognize you.” "Not a whit!--courage! This day fortnight you'll hardly be a pin the worse “Will you light the fire,” I said, “because I’m so cold.” of it: you've lost a little blood; that's all Carter, assure him there's no dan- “This gentleman arrived suddenly and insisted on seeing you and ger." that was all the thanks he got. You rushed at him with a knife and when "I can do that conscientiously," said Carter, who had now undone the ban- he got the knife away you bit his arm. You won’t see him again. And dages; "only I wish I could have got here sooner: he would not have bled where did you get this knife? I told them you stole it from me but I’m so much--but how is this? The flesh on the shoulder is torn as well as cut. much too careful. I’m used to your sort. You got no knife from me. You This wound was not done with a knife: there have been teeth here!" must have brought it that day when I took you out. I told Mrs. Eff you "She bit me," he murmured. "She worried me like a tigress, when Roches- oughtn’t to be taken out.” [...] ter got the knife from her." Grace Poole said, “So you don’t remember you attacked this gentle- "You should not have yielded: you should have grappled with her at man with a knife? I said that you would be quiet. ‘I must speak to her,’ he once," said Mr. Rochester. said. Oh he was warned but he wouldn’t listen. I was in the room but I "But under such circumstances, what could one do?" returned Mason. didn’t hear all he said except ‘I cannot interfere legally between yourself "Oh, it was frightful!" he added, shuddering. "And I did not expect it: she and your husband.’ It was when he said ‘legally’ that you flew at him and looked so quiet at first." when he twisted the knife out of your hand you bit him. Do you mean to say you don’t remember any of this?”

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Viking Penguin, Inc, 1965. Inc. 1982.

8 Works Cited for Section 3: Jane Eyre

The College Board AP Vertical Teams for English. N.p.: College Entrence Examination Board,

2002. N. pag. Print.

"Jane Eyre Socratic Seminar." N.p., n.d. Web.

Wiggins, Grant P. Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson,

2010. Print. Beowulf: The Background

Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Burne-Jones-Viking_Ship.jpg

The Odyssey: Not the only Epic. REVIEW 2.1 Review of five elements of Epic Poetry Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, Which of the following choices is NOT a part the wanderer, harried for years on end, of the Epic: after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy. He saw the townlands and learned the minds of many distant men, and weathered many bitter nights and days A. A long narrative in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home. But not by will nor valor could he save them, B. A tragic flaw for their own recklessness destroyed them all — children and fools, they killed and feasted on C. The values of a particular culture the cattle of Lord Hêlios, the Sun, and he who moves all day through the heaven D. In medias res took from their eyes the dawn of their return. . . Translated by Robert Fitzgerald (1961) E. Invocation of the muse What words above make the opening lines of The Odyssey uniquely Greek? Well, first, the poet names a goddess from the Greek F. A larger-than-life hero pantheon: Muse. Second, the poet sets the action in geography that his audience would know: Troy is in the Mediterranean Sea and is a city that figured prominently in Greek history. Finally, the Trojan War had epics and plays created, much in the same way that movies and TV shows have been produced about the Second World War in the United States. Odys- Check Answer seus appears in other narrative poems and plays about the Trojan War, and the Greeks would know him as well as we know President Theodore Follow the link below to review the elements of an Epic and Roosevelt, General Patton, or General MacArthur. the Epic Hero: What words make the opening lines of The Odyssey an Epic Poem? Take the quiz on the facing page and see if you can apply each of the op- https://docs.google.com/a/norwellschools.org/presentation/d/1klVVzHE2WXgc tions to the poem on this page. Wqo-5izmdaLDP9c8a1Cjy46NtTbtgGY/edit#slide=id.i0

11 Beowulf: Does it qualify as an Epic Poem?

Read the first 18 lines of Beowulf and complete the homework Homework: Complete the following on your iPad as on the facing page. homework for our next class. Hear me! We've heard of Danish heroes, 1. Highlight in YELLOW all of the words that establish this Ancient kings and the glory they cut poem as Anglo-Saxon (as opposed to Greek). For themselves, swinging mighty swords! How Shild1 made slaves of soldiers from every 2. Highlight in RED all of the words that fit the five elements Land, crowds of captives he'd beaten 5 of an epic poem. Review the quiz on the last page for those Into terror; he'd traveled to Denmark alone, elements. An abandoned child, but changed his own fate, Lived to be rich and much honored. He ruled 3. On a piece of paper, name any element of epic poetry that Lands on all sides: wherever the sea seems to be missing. Would take them his soldiers sailed, returned 10 With tribute and obedience. There was a brave 4. On that same piece of paper, answer the question in the ti- King! And he gave them more than his glory, tle of THIS page: Does Beowulf qualify as an Epic Poem? Conceived a son for the Danes, a new leader Explain why or why not. Allowed them by the grace of God. They had lived, Before his coming, kingless and miserable; 15 Now the Lord of all life, Ruler Of glory, blessed them with a prince, Beo,2 Whose power and fame soon spread through the world ______1 Shid or Shield is the name of Beowulf’s great grandfather and the first Danish King.

2. The king who follows Shid. Beo is Beowulf’s grandfather.

12 About the Translator: Be sure that your iPad has a wifi connection and surf to the Burton Raffel N.H.S. Library website: http://norwellschools.org/Page/227

Click on the “Biography in Context” database link. What, no author? No. There are a few challenges to finding the “original” author. First of all, the poem was written during a Search for “Burton Raffel.” Follow the links to at least 2 data- period that had very few who could read and write. Very few bases that have website on the translator. documents from the Anglo-Saxon period have survived the storm of the passing centuries. Second, Beowulf began as a REVIEW 2.2 Burton Raffel story memorized and performed a wandering entertainer called a scop. After years of oral retellings the poem probably grew Question 1 of 4 from the first battle to two, and then three. Third, a Christian Burton Raffel is the author of Beowulf. monk wrote the poem down. We do not have the monk’s name, but some scholars argue that he tried to weave Christian beliefs into an essentially pagan story. The manuscript survived over the centuries to be rediscovered, translated into modern Eng- lish, and recognized as one of the oldest pieces of literature on the British Isle. Several translations of the poem exist, but the A. True one we will be reading has been studied for years by high school and college students. B. False

Part of the reason we have chosen this version is the authority of the translator, Burton Raffel. Follow the steps below to in- vestigate why this man has been trusted with the responsibility of retelling this ancient epic. Once you’ve read at least 2 sources Check Answer about him, take the quiz on the facing page.

13 So, what makes Beowulf an Kennings: two-word poetic re-naming of common things. For Anglo-Saxon epic? example, the ocean becomes “sea-road.” Kennings are nouns that can be found as subjects, appositives, objects of the preposi- tion, or predicate nominatives.

One of the challenges Burton Raffel had in translating the poem was capturing not just the meaning, but the literary traditions of Old English. His translation strives to preserve the elements of this epic that make it a product of the Anglo-Saxon culture. Remnants of Celtic polytheism and predestination mingle with Christian imagery. The inversion of words, repetition of words and images, and the use of appositives came from the oral tradition and were in the poem to make it easier to memorize and perform the poem. These conventions can be found in the Old English, written poem. These elements also reflected the expectations of an Anglo- Saxon audience. Those elements include:

Caesura: pauses for breath in the middle of lines. Sometimes these pauses show up as extra spaces. Other times, like in this text of Beowulf, the break is not shown in the print.

Rhythm: Anglo-Saxon poetry generally has four stressed syllables per line. Two stresses occur before the caesura. Two stresses occur following the caesura.

Assonance: repeated vowel sounds in unstressed syllables. Unlike alliteration (which also occurs in epic poetry) assonance can be found in the middle of the word.

Alliteration: repeated consonant sounds found at the beginning of words. Alliteration occurs on the stressed syllable of the word.

14 Practice looking for Anglo-Saxon Epic Poetry elements in the following used in the following contemporary poem:

“JUNK” by Richard Wilbur

Huru Welandes worc ne geswiceσ? monna ænigum σara σe Mimming can heardne gehealdan. —Waldere

1. An axe angles from my neighbor’s ashcan; 2. It is hell’s handiwork, the wood not hickory, 3. The flow of the grain not faithfully followed. 4. The shivered shaft rises from a shellheap 5. Of plastic playthings, paper plates, 6. And the sheer shards of shattered tumblers Image Credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/zen/4013525/Do 7. That were not Annealed for the time needful. 8. At the same curbside, a cast-off cabinet 9. Of wavily warped unseasoned wood REVIEW 2.3 Anglo-Saxon Poetic Elements 10. Waits to be trundled in the trash-man’s truck. 11. Haul them off! Hide them! The heart winces 12. For junk and gimcrack, for jerrybuilt things Question 1 of 5 13. And the men who make them for a little money, Which of the following lines contains 14. Bartering pride like the bought boxer 15. Who pulls his punches, or the paid-off jockey four, stressed syllables? 16. Who in the home stretch holds in his horse. 17. Yet the things themselves in thoughtless honor 18. Have kept composure, like captives who would not A. Line 2 19. Talk under torture. Tossed from a tailgate 20. Where the dump displays its random dolmens, 21. Its black barrows and blazing valleys, B. Line 3 22. They shall waste in the weather toward what they were. 23. The sun shall glory in the glitter of glass-chips, C. Line 7 24. Foreseeing the salvage of the prisoned sand, 25. And the blistering paint peel off in patches, 26. That the good grain be discovered again. D. Line 22 27. Then burnt, bulldozed, they shall all be buried 28. To the depth of diamonds, in the making dark E. All of the above 29. Where halt Hephaestus keeps his hammer 30. And Wayland’s work is worn away.

Source of the text – Richard Wilbur, Collected Poems 1943-2004. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2004, pp. 261-2. posted Check Answer Friday, November 18, 2011

15 CHAPTER 3 from Beowulf Translated by Burton Raffel

A List of Characters and Places

Here are some of the important people, monsters, and places that appear in Beowulf or are mentioned in the story: Beowulf: a Geat, son of Edgetho and nephew of Higlac, king of the Geats. Higlac is Beowulf's feudal lord, as well as his uncle. Brecca: chief of a tribe called Brondings and a friend of Beowulf. Grendel: a man-eating monster who lives at the bottom of a foul mere, or mountain lake. His name might be related to the old Norse grindill, meaning "storm," or grenja, "to bel- low." Herot: the golden guest-hall built by King Hrothgar, the Danish ruler. It was decorated with the antlers of stags; the name means "hart [stag] hall." Scholars think Herot might have been built near Lejre on the coast of Zealand, in Denmark. Hrothgar: king of the Danes, builder of Herot. He had once befriended Beowulf's father. His father was called Healfdane (which probably means "half Dane"). Hrothgar's name might mean "glory spear" or "spear of triumph." Unferth: one of Hrothgar's courtiers, who is reputed to be a skilled warrior. His sword, called Hrunting, is used by Beowulf in a later battle. Welthow: Hrothgar's wife, queen of the Danes. Wiglaf: a Geat warrior, one of Beowulf's select band, and the only one to help him in his final fight with the dragon. Wiglaf might be related to Beowulf.

Image source: http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Beowulf--the-Hero-beowulf-328989_412_564.jpg Prologue Bore him as their leader had asked, their lord Hear me! We've heard of Danish heroes, And companion, while words could move on his tongue. 30 Ancient kings and the glory they cut Shild's reign had been long; he'd ruled them well. For themselves, swinging mighty swords! There in the harbor was a ring-prowed fighting How Shild made slaves of soldiers from every Ship, its timbers icy, waiting, Land, crowds of captives he'd beaten 5 And there they brought the beloved body Into terror; he'd traveled to Denmark alone, Of their ring-giving lord, and laid him near 35 An abandoned child, but changed his own fate, The mast. Next to that noble corpse Lived to be rich and much honored. He ruled They heaped up treasures, jeweled helmets, Lands on all sides: wherever the sea Hooked swords and coats of mail, armor Would take them his soldiers sailed, returned 10 Carried from the ends of the earth: no ship With tribute and obedience. There was a brave Had ever sailed so brightly fitted, 40 King! And he gave them more than his glory, No king sent forth more- deeply mourned. Conceived a son for the Danes, a new leader Forced to set him adrift, floating Allowed them by the grace of God. They had lived, As far as the tide might run, they refused Before his coming, kingless and miserable; 15 To give him less from their hoards of gold Now the Lord of all life, Ruler Than those who'd shipped him away, an orphan 45 Of glory, blessed them with a prince, Beo, And a beggar, to cross the waves alone. Whose power and fame soon spread through the world. High up over his head they flew Shid’s strong son was the glory of Denmark; His shining banner, then sadly let His father's warriors were wound round his heart 20 The water pull at the ship, watched it With golden rings, bound to their prince Slowly sliding to where neither rulers 50 By his father's treasure. So young men build Nor heroes nor anyone can say whose hands The future, wisely open-handed in peace, Opened to take that motionless cargo. Protected in war; so warriors earn Then Beo was king in that Danish castle, Their fame, and wealth is shaped with a sword. 25 Shild's son ruling as long as his father When his time was come the old king died, And as loved, a famous lord of men. 55 Still strong but called to the Lord's hands. And he in turn gave his people a son, His comrades carried him down to the shore, The great Healfdane, a fierce fighter

17 Who led the Danes to the end of his long Life and left them four children, Three princes to guide them in battle, Hergar 60 And Hrothgar and Halga the Good, and one daughter, Yrs, who was given to Onela, king Of the Swedes, and became his wife and their queen. Then Hrothgar, taking the throne, led The Danes to such glory that comrades and kinsmen 65 Swore by his sword, and young men swelled His armies, and he thought of greatness and resolved To build a hall that would hold his mighty Band and reach higher toward Heaven than anything That had ever been known to the sons of men. 70 And in that hall he'd divide the spoils Of their victories, to old and young what they'd earned In battle, but leaving the common pastures Untouched, and taking no lives. The work Was ordered, the timbers tied and shaped 75 By the hosts that Hrothgar ruled. It was quickly Ready, that most beautiful of dwellings, built As he'd wanted, and then he whose word was obeyed All over the earth named it Herot. His boast come true he commanded a banquet, 80 Opened out his treasure-full hands. That towering place, gabled and huge, Stood waiting for time to pass, for war To begin, for flames to leap as high As the feud that would light them, and for Herot to burn, 85

18 By God, punished forever for the crime Of Abel's death. The Almighty drove The Monster Grendel Those demons out, and their exile was bitter, Shut away from men; they split 25 Into a thousand forms of evil—spirits And fiends, goblins, monsters, giants, A brood forever opposing the Lord's 1 Will, and again and again defeated. A powerful monster, living down In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient As day after day the music rang Loud in that hall, the harp's rejoicing Call and the poet's clear songs, sung 5 Of the ancient beginnings of us all, recalling The Almighty making the earth, shaping These beautiful plains marked off by oceans, Then proudly setting the sun and moon To glow across the land and light it; 10 The corners of the earth were made lovely with trees And leaves, made quick with life, with each Of the nations who now move on its face. And then As now warriors sang of their pleasure: So Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hall 15 Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend, Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild Marshes, and made his home in a hell Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime, Conceived by a pair of those monsters born 20 Of Cain, murderous creatures banished

19 SECTION 2 Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, king Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door Then, when darkness had dropped, Grendel 30 By hell-forged hands. His misery leaped Went up to Herot, wondering what the warriors The seas, was told and sung in all 65 Would do in that hall when their drinking was done. Men's ears: how Grendel's hatred began, He found them sprawled in sleep, suspecting How the monster relished his savage war Nothing, their dreams undisturbed. The monster's On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud Thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: 35 Alive, seeking no peace, offering He slipped through the door and there in the silence No truce, accepting no settlement, no price 70 Snatched up thirty men, smashed them In gold or land, and paying the living Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies, For one crime only with another. No one The blood dripping behind him, back Waited for reparation from his plundering claws: To his lair, delighted with his night's slaughter. 40 That shadow of death hunted in the darkness, At daybreak, with the sun's first light, they saw Stalked Hrothgar's warriors, old 75 How well he had worked, and in that gray morning And young, lying in waiting, hidden Broke their long feast with tears and laments In mist, invisibly following them from the edge For the dead. Hrothgar, their lord, sat joyless Of the marsh, always there, unseen. In Herot, a mighty prince mourning 45 So mankind's enemy continued his crimes, The fate of his lost friends and companions, Killing as often as he could, coming 80 Knowing by its tracks that some demon had torn Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. Though he lived His followers apart. He wept, fearing In Herot, when the night hid him, he never The beginning might not be the end. And that night Dared to touch king Hrothgar's glorious Grendel came again, so set 50 Throne, protected by God—God, On murder that no crime could ever be enough, Whose love Grendel could not know. But Hrothgar's 85 No savage assault quench his lust Heart was bent. The best and most noble For evil. Then each warrior tried Of his council debated remedies, sat To escape him, searched for rest in different In secret sessions, talking of the terror Beds, as far from Herot as they could find, 55 And wondering what the bravest of warriors could do. Seeing how Grendel hunted when they slept. And sometimes they sacrificed to the old stone gods, 90 Distance was safety; the only survivors Made heathen vows, hoping for Hell's Were those who fled him. Hate had triumphed. Support, the Devil's guidance in driving So Grendel ruled, fought with the righteous, Their affliction off. That was their way, One against many, and won; so Herot 60 And the heathen's only hope, Hell Stood empty, and stayed deserted for years,

20 Always in their hearts, knowing neither God 95 Nor His passing as He walks through our world, the Lord Of Heaven and earth; their ears could not hear His praise nor know His glory. Let them Beware, those who are thrust into danger, Clutched at by trouble, yet can carry no solace 100 In their hearts, cannot hope to be better! Hail To those who will rise to God, drop off Their dead bodies and seek our Father's peace!

3 So the living sorrow of Healfdane's son Simmered, bitter and fresh, and no wisdom 105 Or strength could break it: that agony hung On king and people alike, harsh And unending, violent and cruel, and evil. In his far-off home Beowulf, Higlac's Follower and the strongest of the Geats—greater 110 And stronger than anyone anywhere in this world— Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror And quickly commanded a boat fitted out, Proclaiming that he'd go to that famous king, Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar, 115 Now when help was needed. None Of the wise ones regretted his going, much As he was loved by the Geats: the omens were good, And they urged the adventure on. So Beowulf Chose the mightiest men he could find, 120 The bravest and best of the Geats, fourteen In all, and led them down to their boat; He knew the sea, would point the prow Straight to that distant Danish shore.

21 Name has echoed in our land: sailors 145 Have brought us stories of Herot, the best Of all mead-halls, deserted and useless when the moon The Arrival of the Hero Hangs in skies the sun had lit, Light and life fleeing together. My people have said, the wisest, most knowing Beowulf and his group of warriors land on Denmark’s shore And best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes' 150 and is challenged by the coast guard. The guard recognizes the hero Great King. They have seen my strength for themselves, as the leader of the group because of his bearing, gear, and obvious Have watched me rise from the darkness of war, strength. The nameless guard brings the Geats to Heorot and intro- Dripping with my enemies' blood. I drove duces them to Hrothgar, the king. Five great giants into chains, chased 4 All of that race from the earth. I swam 155 Then Wulfgar went to the door and addressed 125 In the blackness of night, hunting monsters The waiting seafarers with soldier's words: Out of the ocean, and killing them one "My lord, the great king of the Danes, commands me By one; death was my errand and the fate To tell you that he knows of your noble birth They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called And that having come to him from over the open Together, and I've come. Grant me, then, 160 Sea you have come bravely and are welcome. 130 Lord and protector of this noble place, Now go to him as you are, in your armor and helmets, A single request! I have come so far, But leave your battle shields here, and your spears, Oh shelterer of warriors and your people's loved friend, Let them lie waiting for the promises your words That this one favor you should not refuse me— May make." That I, alone and with the help of my men, 165 Beowulf arose, with his men May purge all evil from this hall. I have heard, Around him, ordering a few to remain 135 Too, that the monster's scorn of men With their weapons, leading the others quickly Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none. Along under Herat's steep roof into Hrothgar's Nor will I. My lord Higlac Presence. Standing on that prince's own hearth, Might think less of me if I let my sword 170 Helmeted, the silvery metal of his mail shirt Go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid Gleaming with a smith's high art, he greeted 140 Behind some broad linden shield:0 my hands The Danes' great lord: Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life "Hail, Hrothgar! Against the monster. God must decide Higlac is my cousin and my king; the days Who will be given to death's cold grip. 175 Of my youth have been filled with glory. Now Grendel's Grendel's plan, I think, will be

22 What it has been before, to invade this hall And gorge his belly with our bodies. If he can, If he can. And I think, if my time will have come, There'll be nothing to mourn over, no corpse to prepare 180 For its grave: Grendel will carry our bloody Flesh to the moors, crunch on our bones And smear torn scraps of our skin on the walls Of his den. No, I expect no Danes Will fret about sewing our shrouds, if he wins. 185 And if death does take me, send the hammered Mail of my armor to Higlac, return The inheritance I had from Hrethel, and he From Wayland. Fate will unwind as it must!"

23 With courage drawn from too many cups 215 Of ale, sworn to stay after dark And stem that horror with a sweep of their swords. Hrothgar’s Reply to the And then, in the morning, this mead-hall glittering With new light would be drenched with blood, the Hero benches 5 Stained red, the floors, all wet from that fiend's 220 Hrothgar replied, protector of the Danes: 190 Savage assault—and my soldiers would be fewer "Beowulf, you've come to us in friendship, and Still, death taking more and more. because But to table, Beowulf, a banquet in your honor: Of the reception your father found at our court. Let us toast your victories, and talk of the future." Edgetho had begun a bitter feud, Then Hrothgar's men gave places to the Geats, 225 Killing Hathlaf, a Wulfing warrior: Yielded benches to the brave visitors Your father's countrymen were afraid of war, 195 And led them to the feast. The keeper of the mead If he returned to his home, and they turned him away. Came carrying out the carved flasks, Then he traveled across the curving waves And poured that bright sweetness. A poet To the land of the Danes. I was new to the throne, Sang, from time to time, in a clear 230 Then, a young man ruling this wide Pure voice. Danes and visiting Geats Kingdom and its golden city: Hergar, 200 Celebrated as one, drank and rejoiced. My older brother, a far better man Than I, had died and dying made me, Second among Healfdane's sons, first In this nation. I bought the end of Edgetho's Quarrel, sent ancient treasures through the ocean's 205 Furrows to the Wulfings; your father swore He'd keep that peace. My tongue grows heavy, And my heart, when I try to tell you what Grendel Has brought us, the damage he's done, here In this hall. You see for yourself how much smaller 210 Our ranks have become, and can guess what we've lost To his terror. Surely the Lord Almighty Could stop his madness, smother his lust! How many times have my men, glowing

24 Your luck may change if you challenge Grendel, Staying a whole night through in this hall, 260 Waiting where that fiercest of demons can find you." Unferth's Challenge Beowulf answered, Edgetho's great son: 6 "Ah! Unferth, my friend, your face Unferth spoke, Ecglafs son, Is hot with ale, and your tongue has tried Who sat at Hrothgar's feet, spoke harshly To tell us about Brecca's doings. But the truth 265 And sharp (vexed by Beowulf s adventure, 235 Is simple: no man swims in the sea By their visitor's courage, and angry that anyone As I can, no strength is a match for mine. In Denmark or anywhere on earth had ever As boys, Brecca and I had boasted— Acquired glory and fame greater We were both too young to know better—that we'd risk Than his own): Our lives far out at sea, and so 270 "You're Beowulf, are you—the same We did. Each of us carried a naked Boastful fool who fought a swimming 240 Sword, prepared for whales or the swift Match with Brecca, both of you daring Sharp teeth and beaks of needlefish. And young and proud, exploring the deepest He could never leave me behind, swim faster Seas, risking your lives for no reason Across the waves than I could, and I 275 But the danger? All older and wiser heads warned you Had chosen to remain close to his side. Not to, but no one could check such pride. 245 I remained near him for five long nights, With Brecca at your side you swam along Until a flood swept us apart; The sea-paths, your swift-moving hands pulling you The frozen sea surged around me, Over the ocean's face. Then winter It grew dark, the wind turned bitter, blowing 280 Churned through the water, the waves ran you From the north, and the waves were savage. As they willed, and you struggled seven long nights 250 Creatures Who sleep deep in the sea were stirred To survive. And at the end victory was his, Into life—and the iron hammered links Not yours. The sea carried him close Of my mail shirt, these shining bits of metal To his home, to southern Norway, near Woven across my breast, saved me 285 The land of the Brondings, where he ruled and was From death. A monster seized me, drew me loved, Swiftly toward the bottom, swimming with its claws Where his treasure was piled and his strength Tight in my flesh. But fate let me protected 255 Find its heart with my sword, hack myself His towns and his people. He'd promised to outswim Free; I fought that beast's last battle, 290 you: Left it floating lifeless in the sea. Bonstan's son made that boast ring true. You've been lucky in your battles, Beowulf, but I think 25 Brecca's battles were never so bold; Neither he nor you can match me—and I mean No boast, have announced no more than I know Beowulf's Reply to To be true. And there's more: you murdered your brothers, 320 Unferth's Challenge Your own close kin. Words and bright wit 7 Won't help your soul; you'll suffer hell's fires, “Other monsters crowded around me, Unferth, forever tormented. Ecglaf s Continually attacking. I treated them politely, Proud son, if your hands were as hard, your heart Offering the edge of my razor-sharp sword. As fierce as you think it, no fool would dare 325 But the feast, I think, did not please them,filled 295 To raid your hall, ruin Herot Their evil bellies with no banquet-rich food, And oppress its prince, as Grendel has done. Thrashing there at the bottom of the sea; But he's learned that terror is his alone, By morning they'd decided to sleep on the shore, Discovered he can come for your people with no fear Lying on their backs, their blood spilled out Of reprisal; he's found no fighting, here, 330 On the sand. Afterwards, sailors could cross 300 But only food, only delight. That sea-road and feel no fear; nothing He murders as he likes, with no mercy, gorges Would stop their passing. Then God's bright beacon And feasts on your flesh, and expects no trouble, Appeared in the east, the water lay still, No quarrel from the quiet Danes. Now And at last I could see the land, wind-swept The Geats will show him courage, soon 335 Cliff walls at the edge of the coast. Fate saves 305 He can test his strength in battle. And when the sun The living when they drive away death by themselves! Comes up again, opening another Lucky or not, nine was the number Bright day from the south, anyone in Denmark Of sea-huge monsters I killed. What man, May enter this hall: that evil will be gone!" Anywhere under Heaven's high arch, has fought Hrothgar, gray-haired and brave, sat happily 340 In such darkness, endured more misery or been harder 310 Listening, the famous ring-giver sure, Pressed? Yet I survived the sea, smashed At last, that Grendel could be killed; he believed The monsters' hot jaws, swam home from my journey. In Beowulf s bold strength and the firmness of his The swift-flowing waters swept me along spirit. And I landed on Finnish soil. I've heard There was the sound of laughter, and the cheerful No tales of you, Unferth, telling 315 clanking Of such clashing terror, such contests in the night! Of cups, and pleasant words. Then Welthow, 345 Hrothgar's gold-ringed queen, greeted The warriors; a noble woman who knew

26 What was right, she raised a flowing cup When night had covered the earth with its net To Hrothgar first, holding it high And the shapes of darkness moved black and silent 380 For the lord of the Danes to drink, wishing him 350 Through the world. Hrothgar's warriors rose with him. Joy in that feast. The famous king He went to Beowulf, embraced the Geats' Drank with pleasure and blessed their banquet. Brave prince, wished him well, and hoped Then Welthow went from warrior to warrior, That Herot would be his to command. And then He declared: Pouring a portion from the jeweled cup "No one strange to this land For each, till the bracelet-wearing queen 355 Has ever been granted what I've given you, Had carried the mead-cup among them and it was No one in all the years of my rule. Beowulf s Make this best of all mead-halls yours, and then Turn to be served. She saluted the Geats' Keep it free of evil, fight Great prince, thanked God for answering her prayers, With glory in your heart! Purge Herot 390 For allowing her hands the happy duty And your ship will sail home with its treasure-holds Of offering mead to a hero who would help 360 full." Her afflicted people. He drank what she poured, Edgetho's brave son, then assured the Danish Queen that his heart was firm and his hands Ready: Hrothgar and his people retire, leaving Beowulf and his men to sleep "When we crossed the sea, my comrades in Herot. And I, I already knew that all 365 My purpose was this: to win the good will Of your people or die in battle, pressed In Grendel's fierce grip. Let me live in greatness And courage, or here in this hall welcome My death!" 370 Welthow was pleased with his words, His bright-tongued boasts; she carried them back To her lord, walked nobly across to his side. The feast went on, laughter and music And the brave words of warriors celebrating Their delight. Then Hrothgar rose, Healfdane's 375 Son, heavy with sleep; as soon As the sun had gone, he knew that Grendel Would come to Herot, would visit that hall

27 Grendel to gnaw the broken bones Of his last human supper. Human Eyes were watching his evil steps, The Battle with Grendel Waiting to see his swift hard claws. 420 8 Grendel snatched at the first Geat Alone in the hall with his men, Beowulf is unable to fall asleep. He came to, ripped him apart, cut His body to bits with powerful jaws, Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty Drank the blood from his veins and bolted Hills and bogs, bearing God's hatred, Him down, hands and feet; death 425 Grendel came, hoping to kill And Grendel's great teeth came together, Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot. 395 Snapping life shut. Then he stepped to another He moved quickly through the cloudy night, Still body, clutched at Beowulf with his claws, Up from his swampland, sliding silently Grasped at a strong-hearted wakeful sleeper Toward that gold-shininghall. He had visited Hrothgar's —And was instantly seized himself, claws 430 Home before, knew the way— Bent back as Beowulf leaned up on one arm. But never, before nor after that night, 400 That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, Found Herot defended so firmly, his reception Knew at once that nowhere on earth So harsh. He journeyed, forever joyless, Had he met a man whose hands were harder; Straight to the door, then snapped it open, His mind was flooded with fear—but nothing 435 Tore its iron fasteners with a touch Could take his talons and himself from that tight And rushed angrily over the threshold, 405 Hard grip. Granders one thought was to run He strode quickly across the inlaid From Beowulf, flee back to his marsh and hide there: Floor, snarling and fierce: his eyes This was a different Herot than the hall he had emptied. Gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome But Higlac's follower remembered his final 440 Light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall Boast and. standing erect, stopped Crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed 410 The monster'sflight.,fastened those claws With rows of young soldiers resting together. In his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel And his heart laughed, he relished the sight, Closer. The infamous killer fought For his freedom, wanting no flesh but retreat, 445 Intended to tear the life from those bodies Desiring nothing but escape; his claws By morning; the monster's mind was hot Had been caught, he was trapped. That trip to Herot With the thought of food and the feasting his belly 415 Was a miserable journey for the writhing monster! Would soon know. But fate, that night, intended The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed, And Danes shook with terror. Down 450

28 The aisles the battle swept, angry Could not hurt him, the sharpest and hardest iron And wild. Herot trembled, wonderfully Could not scratch at his skin, for that sin-stained demon Built to withstand the blows, the struggling Had bewitched all men's weapons, laid spells Great bodies beating at its beautiful walls; That blunted every mortal man's blade. 485 Shaped and fastened with iron, inside 455 And yet his time had come, his days And out, artfully worked, the building Were over, his death near; down Stood firm. Its benches rattled, fell To hell he would go, swept groaning and helpless To the floor, gold-covered boards grating To the waiting hands of still worse fiends. As Grendel and Beowulf battled across them. Now he discovered—once the afflictor 490 Hrothgar's wise men had fashioned Herot 460 Of men, tormentor of their days—what it meant To stand forever; only fire, To feud with Almighty God: Grendel They had planned, could shatter what such skill had put Saw that his strength was deserting him, his claws Together, swallow in hot flames such splendor Bound fast, Higlac's brave follower tearing at Of ivory and iron and wood. Suddenly His hands. The monster's hatred rose higher, 495 The sounds changed, the Danes started 465 But his power had gone. He twisted in pain, In new terror, cowering in their beds as the terrible And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder Screams of the Almighty's enemy sang Snapped, muscle and bone split In the darkness, the horrible shrieks of pain And broke. The battle was over, Beowulf And defeat, the tears torn out of Grendel's Had been granted new glory: Grendel escaped, 500 Taut throat, hell's captive caught in the arms 470 But wounded as he was could flee to his den, Of him who of all the men on earth His miserable hole at the bottom of the marsh, Was the strongest. Only to die, to wait for the end 9 Of all his days. And after that bloody That mighty protector of men Combat the Danes laughed with delight. 505 Meant to hold the monster till its life He who had come to them from across the sea, Leaped out, knowing the fiend was no use Bold and strong-minded, had driven affliction To anyone in Denmark. All of Beowulf’s 475 Off, purged Herot clean. He was happy, Band had jumped from their beds, ancestral Now, with that night's fierce work; the Danes Swords raised and ready, determined Had been served as he'd boasted he'd serve them; To protect their prince if they could. Their courage Beowulf, 510 Was great but all wasted: they could hack at Grendel A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel, From every side, trying to open 480 Ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering A path for his evil soul, but their points Forced on Hrothgar's helpless people By a bloodthirsty fiend. No Dane doubted

29 The victory, for the proof, hanging high 515 From the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monster's Arm, claw and shoulder and all. 10 And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded Herot, warriors coming to that hall From faraway lands, princes and leaders 520 Of men hurrying to behold the monster's Great staggering tracks. They gaped with no sense Of sorrow, felt no regret for his suffering, Went tracing his bloody footprints, his beaten And lonely flight, to the edge of the lake 525 Where he'd dragged his corpselike way, doomed And already weary of his vanishing life. The water was bloody, steaming and boiling In horrible pounding waves, heat Sucked from his magic veins; but the swirling 530 Surf had covered his death, hidden Deep in murky darkness his miserable End, as hell opened to receive him. Then old and young rejoiced, turned back From that happy pilgrimage,mounted their hard- hooved 535 Horses, high-spirited stallions, and rode them Slowly toward Herot again, retelling Beowulf s bravery as they jogged along. And over and over they swore that nowhere On earth or under the spreading sky 540 Or between the seas, neither south nor north, Was there a warrior worthier to rule over men. (But no one meant Beowulf s praise to belittle Hrothgar, their kind and gracious king!)

30 For the battle you win!"

The Battle with Grendel's Dishonored by his drunken challenge, Unferth offers his sword, Hrunting, to Beo- wulf as a weapon against Grendel’s mother. The hero graciously accepts, which restores some of Unferth’s honor and gains Beowulf Unferth’s loyalty. Mother 11 Grendel’s mother attacks Herot, takes her son’s arm, and two warriors back to 12 her lair in revenge for her son’s death. Hrothgar calls on Beowulf to kill her and He leaped into the lake, would not wait for anyone's 570 describes her lair for the hero. Answer; the heaving water covered him Over. For hours he sank through the waves; "They live in secret places, windy 545 At last he saw the mud of the bottom. Cliffs, wolf-dens where water pours And all at once the greedy she-wolf From the rocks, then runs underground, where mist Who'd ruled those waters for half a hundred 575 Steams like black clouds, and the groves of trees Years discovered him, saw that a creature Growing out over their lake are all covered From above had come to explore the bottom With frozen spray, and wind down snakelike 550 Of her wet world. She welcomed him in her claws, Roots that reach as far as the water Clutched at him savagely but could not harm him, And help keep it dark. At night that lake Tried to work her fingers through the tight 580 Burns like a torch. No one knows its bottom, Ring-woven mail on his breast, but tore No wisdom reaches such depths. A deer, And scratched in vain. Then she carried him, armor Hunted through the woods by packs of hounds, 555 And sword and all, to her home; he struggled A stage with great horns, though driven through the To free his weapon, and failed. The fight forest Brought other monsters swimming to see 585 From faraway places, prefers to die Her catch, a host of sea beasts who beat at On those shores, refuses to save its life His mail shirt, stabbing with tusks and teeth In that water. It isn't far, nor is it As they followed along. Then he realized, suddenly, A pleasant spot! When the wind stirs 560 That she'd brought him into someone's battle hall, And storms, waves splash toward the sky, And there the water's heat could not hurt him, 590 As dark as the air, as black as the rain That the heavens weep. Our only help, Nor anything in the lake attack him through Again, lies with you. Grendel's mother The building's high-arching roof. A brilliant Is hidden in her terrible home, in a place 565 Light burned all around him, the lake You've not seen. Seek it, if you dare! Save us, Itself like a fiery flame. Once more, and again twisted gold, Then he saw Heaped-up ancient treasure, will reward you The mighty water witch, and swung his sword, 595

31 His ring-marked blade, straight at her head; of the earth, The iron sang its fierce song, Edgetho's son, and died there, if that shining Woven metal had not Sang Beowulf's strength. But her guest helped—and Holy Discovered that no sword could slice her evil God, who sent him victory, gave judgment 630 Skin, that Hrunting could not hurt her, was useless 600 For truth and right, Ruler of the Heavens, Now when he needed it. They wrestled, she ripped Once Beowulf was back on his feet and fighting. And tore and clawed at him, bit holes in his helmet, And that too failed him; for the first time in years 13 Of being worn to war it would earn no glory; Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy It was the last time anyone would wear it. But Beowulf 605 Sword, hammered by giants, strong Longed only for fame, leaped back And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons 635 Into battle. He tossed his sword aside, But so massive that no ordinary man could lift Angry; the steel-edged blade lay where Its carved and decorated length. He drew it He'd dropped it. If weapons were useless he'd use From its scabbard, broke the chain on its hilt, His hands, the strength in his fingers. So fame 610 And then, savage, now, angry Comes to the men who mean to win it And desperate, lifted it high over his head 640 And care about nothing else! He raised And struck with all the strength he had left, His arms and seized her by the shoulder; anger Caught her in the neck and cut it through, Doubled his strength, he threw her to the floor. Broke bones and all. Her body fell She fell, Grendel's fierce mother, and the Geats' 615 To the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet Proud prince was ready to leap on her. But she rose With her blood, and Beowulf rejoiced at the sight. 645 At once and repaid him with her clutching claws, The brilliant light shone, suddenly, Wildly tearing at him. He was weary, that best As though burning in that hall, and as bright as And strongest of soldiers; his feet stumbled Heaven's And in an instant she had him down, held helpless. 620 Own candle, lit in the sky. He looked Squatting with her weight on his stomach, she drew At her home, then following along the wall A dagger, brown with dried blood, and prepared Went walking, his hands tight on the sword, 650 To avenge her only son. But he was stretched His heart still angry. He was hunting another On his back, and her stabbing blade was blunted Dead monster, and took his weapon with him By the woven mail shirt he wore on his chest. 625 For final revenge against Grendel's vicious The hammered links held; the point Attacks, his nighttime raids, over Could not touch him. He'd have traveled to the bottom And over, coming to Herot when Hrothgar's 655 Men slept, killing them in their beds,

32 Eating some on the spot, fifteen Or more, and running to his loathsome moor With another such sickening meal waiting In his pouch. But Beowulf repaid him for those visits, 660 Found him lying dead in his corner, Armless, exactly as that fierce fighter Had sent him out from Herot, then struck off His head with a single swift blow. The body Jerked for the last time, then lay still. 665

With the proof of both heads and Grendel’s arm, Hrothgar opens his vault and showers gold, armor, and glory on Beowulf and his men. Beowulf leaves Denmark and returns home to Sweden (Geatland) where he eventually becomes king.

33 Then Beowulf rose, still brave, still strong And with his shield at his side, and a mail shirt on his breast, The Battle with the Dragon Strode calmly, confidently, toward the tower, under 690 14 The rocky cliffs: no coward could have walked there! Beowulf rules successfully as king for fifty years, until he starts And then he who'd endured dozens of desperate getting reports of a dragon ravaging villages in Geatland. A thief Battles, who'd stood boldly while swords and shields stole a precious, gold cup from the dragon’s hoard, filling the monster Clashed, the best of kings, saw with a thirst for vengeance. In order to stop the destruction and pro- Huge stone arches and felt the heat 695 tect his people, the seventy-year-old Beowulf decides to don his armor Of the dragon's breath, flooding down and face the dragon in its lair. Through the hidden entrance, too hot for anyone To stand, a streaming current of fire Then he said farewell to his followers, And smoke that blocked all passage. And the Geats' Each in his turn, for the last time: Lord and leader, angry, lowered 700 "I'd use no sword, no weapon, if this beast His sword and roared out a battle cry, Could be killed without it, crushed to death A call so loud and clear that it reached through Like Grendel, gripped in my hands and torn 670 The hoary rock, hung in the dragon's Limb from limb. But his breath will be burning Ear. The beast rose, angry, Hot, poison will pour from his tongue. Knowing a man had come—and then nothing 705 I feel no shame, with shield and sword But war could have followed. Its breath came first. And armor, against this monster: when he comes to me A steaming cloud pouring from the stone, I mean to stand, not run from his shooting 675 Then the earth itself shook. Beowulf Flames, stand till fate decides Swung his shield into place, held it Which of us wins. My heart is firm, In front of him, facing the entrance. The dragon 710 My hands calm: I need no hot Coiled and uncoiled, its heart urging it Words. Wait for me close by, my friends. Into battle. Beowulf s ancient sword We shall see, soon, who will survive 680 Was waiting, unsheathed, his sharp and gleaming This bloody battle, stand when the fighting Blade. The beast came closer; both of them Is done. No one else could do Were ready, each set on slaughter. The Geats' 715 What I mean to, here, no man but me Great prince stood firm, unmoving, prepared Could hope to defeat this monster. No one Behind his high shield, waiting in his shining Armor. The monster came quickly toward him, Could try. And this dragon's treasure, his gold 685 Pouring out fire and smoke,hurrying And everything hidden in that tower, will be mine Or war will sweep me to a bitter death!" 34 To its fate. Flames beat at the iron 720 15 Shield, and for a time it held, protected His name was Wiglaf, he was Wexstan's son Beowulf as he'd planned; then it began to melt, And a good soldier; his family had been Swedish, And for the first time in his life that famous prince Once. Watching Beowulf, he could see Fought with fate against him, with glory How his king was suffering, burning. Remembering 755 Denied him. He knew it, but he raised his sword 725 Everything his lord and cousin had given him, And struck at the dragon's scaly hide. Armor and gold and the great estates The ancient blade broke, bit into Wexstan's family enjoyed, Wiglaf’s The monster's skin, drew blood, but cracked Mind was made up; he raised his yellow And failed him before it went deep enough, helped him Shield and drew his sword . . . 76o Less than he needed. The dragon leaped 730 And Wiglaf, his heart heavy, uttered With pain, thrashed and beat at him, spouting The kind of words his comrades deserved: Murderous flames, spreading them everywhere. "I remember how we sat in the mead-hall, drinking And the Geats' ring-giver did not boast of glorious And boasting of how brave we'd be when Beowulf Victories in other wars: his weapon Needed us, he who gave us these swords 765 Had failed him, deserted him, now when he needed it 735 And armor: all of us swore to repay him, Most, that excellent sword. Edgetho's When the time came, kindness for kindness Famous son stared at death, —With our lives, if he needed them. He allowed us to join him, Unwilling to leave this world, to exchange it

For a dwelling in some distant place—a journey Chose us from all his great army, thinking Into darkness that all men must make, as death 740 Our boasting words had some weight,believing 770 Ends their few brief hours on earth. Our promises, trusting our swords. He took us Quickly, the dragon came at him, encouraged For soldiers, for men. He meant to kill As Beowulf fell back; its breath flared, This monster himself, our mighty king, And he suffered, wrapped around in swirling Fight this battle alone and unaided, Flames—a king, before, but now 745 As in the days when his strength and daring dazzled 775 A beaten warrior. None of his comrades Men's eyes. But those days are over and gone Came to him, helped him, his brave and noble And now our lord must lean on younger Followers; they ran for their lives,fled Arms. And we must go to him, while angry Deep in a wood. And only one of them Flames burn at his flesh, help Remained, stood there, miserable, remembering, 750 Our glorious king! By almighty God, 780 As a good man must, what kinship should mean. . . I'd rather burn myself than see Flames swirling around my lord.

35 And who are we to carry home Here, at the water's edge, high Our shields before we've slain his enemy On this spit of land, so sailors can see And ours, to run back to our homes with Beowulf 785 This tower, and remember my name, and call it So hard-pressed here? I swear that nothing Beowulf s tower, and boats in the darkness 815 He ever did deserved an end And mist, crossing the sea, will know it." Like this, dying miserably and alone, Then that brave king gave the golden Butchered by this savage beast: we swore Necklace from around his throat to Wiglaf, That these swords and armor were each for us all!". .. 790 Gave him his gold-covered helmet, and his rings, And his mail shirt, and ordered him to use them well: 820 Wiglaf’s help allows Beowulf to defeat the dragon, but the old hero re- "You're the last of all our far-flung family. ceived a mortal wound from the battle. Beowulf sends his faithful war- Fate has swept our race away, rior into the dragon’s lair. Wiglaf finds treasure beyond count. Taken warriors in their strength and led them 16 To the death that was waiting. And now I follow them." Then Wiglaf went back, anxious The old man's mouth was silent, spoke 825 To return while Beowulf was alive, to bring him No more, had said as much as it could; Treasure they'd won together. He ran, He would sleep in the fire, soon. Hoping his wounded king, weak His soul Left his flesh, flew to glory And dying, had not left the world too soon. 795 Then he brought their treasure to Beowulf, and found Wiglaf upbraids Beowulf’s followers for their broken promises of loy- His famous king bloody, gasping alty and bravery. They then burn Beowulf’s body in a funeral pyre For breath. But Wiglaf sprinkled water and raised his burial mound on a cliff overlooking the ocean, where Over his lord, until the words other voyagers would see it. Deep in his breast broke through and were heard. 800 17 Beholding the treasure he spoke, haltingly: And then twelve of the bravest Geats “For this, this gold, these jewels, I thank Rode their horses around the tower, 830 Our Father in Heaven, Ruler of the Earth— Telling their sorrow, telling stories For all of this, that His grace has given me, Of their dead king and his greatness, his glory, Allowed me to bring to my people while breath 805 Praising him for heroic deeds, for a life Still came to my lips. I sold my life As noble as his name. So should all men For this treasure, and I sold it well. Take Raise up words for their lords, warm 835 What I leave, Wiglaf, lead my people, With love, when their shield and protector leaves Help them; my time is gone. Have His body behind, sends his soul The brave Geats build me a tomb, 810 On high. And so Beowulf s followers When the funeral flames have burned me, and build it Rode, mourning their beloved leader,

36 Crying that no better king had ever 840 Lived, no prince so mild, no man So open to his people, so deserving of praise.

37 CHAPTER 4

The Author in Depth: Geoffrey Chaucer Canterbury (1343?-1400)

Son of a merchant, page in a royal house, solider, Tales diplomat, and royal clerk, Geoffrey Chaucer saw quite a bit of the medieval world. His experiences helped him to write The Canterbury Tales. This masterpiece provides the best contemporary picture we have of the fourteenth-century England. Gathering different characters from different walks of life, Chaucer takes the reader on a journey through medieval society. As you read the background info at right, consider: The Poet’s Beginning 1. What might be the historical signifi- The exact date of Chaucer’s birth is unknown, but cance of The Canterbury Tales? official records furnish many details of his active life. 2.What types of character’s would you ex- Born into a middle-class family, Chaucer was sent in his early teens to work as a page to the wife of Lionel of pect to be on a religious pilgrimage, Antwerp, a son of the reigning monarch, Edward III. and what kinds of stories might they Through this position, middle-class Chaucer was tell? introduced to the aristocratic society of England. In 1359, while serving in the English Army in France, 3.What do you know about Medieval soci- Chaucer was captured and held prisoner. King Edward ety? paid a 16 sixteen pound ransom for his release--a sum that was eight times what a simple laborer might make SECTION 1 THE PROLOGUE The Canterbury Tales : Prologue

Here bygynneth the Book Here begins the Book of the tales of Caunterbury of the Tales of Canterbury 1: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote When April with his showers sweet with fruit 2: The droghte of march hath perced to the roote, The drought of March has pierced unto the root 3: And bathed every veyne in swich licour And bathed each vein with liquor that has power Click here for a PDF of the Prologue and some 4: Of which vertu engendred is the ﬂour; To generate therein and sire the ﬂower; 5: Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, 6: Inspired hath in every holt and heeth Quickened again, in every holt and heath, questions. You must be online to download this. If 7: Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun 8: Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne, Into the Ram one half his course has run, you aren’t online, it is viewable on the next page. 9: And smale foweles maken melodye, And many little birds make melody 10: That slepen al the nyght with open ye That sleep through all the night with open eye 11: (so priketh hem nature in hir corages); (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)- 12: Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage, https://docs.google.com/a/norwellschools.org/ 13: And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, And palmers to go seeking out strange strands, 14: To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; To distant shrines well known in sundry lands. 15: And specially from every shires ende And specially from every shire's end file/d/0B1_P7-21TqeEMXlqN2l2TjRUTDA/edit? 16: Of engelond to caunterbury they wende, Of England they to Canterbury wend, 17: The hooly blisful martir for to seke, The holy blessed martyr there to seek usp=sharing 18: That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke. Who helped them when they lay so ill and weal 1. Which words in the Middle English version can you distinguish?

Click here for some help with close reading of the 2. Which words have changed a great deal once translated into Modern English? prologue. You must be online to view this website. http://www.fhsenglishmedia.com/uploads/ 8/7/7/4/8774765/the-canterbury-tales- Source: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/CT-prolog-para.html annotated-general-prologue1.pdf

39 SECTION 1 Background to the prologue and tale

Wife of by Geoffrey Chaucer

Bath’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” addresses what women desire the most. In or- Prologue der to save his life, a knight embarks on a quest to answer the queen’s ques- and Tale tion of what women desire most. On his journey he meets an old woman who agrees to tell the knight the answer if he does whatever she says. The knight returns to the court and delivers the correct answer. The old women tells the knight he has to marry her. He agrees, unwill- ingly. The wife then lectures the knight about all his objections to her as a wife. The tale ends with the knight yielding to his wife and receiving an unwelcome surprise. What do women want?

HOW TO ACCESS THE TALE Glossary: motes: dust particles 1. You must be ONLINE to access the tale the first time. (Once you Thorpes: villages matins: morning prayers download the PDF, you can read it without a wireless connection.) gages: guarentees 2. Click Here for the Google Link to the PDF (which you can then cossetted: pampered Midas: In mythology, King Midas had the magic touch that turned everything to download to your iPad): gold. bittern: small wading bird https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByEY61EzFlJeS3lOMWFhb05UNHc/edit? coverchief...caul: kerchief and a decorative cap usp=sharing Dante: Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet who wrote the Divine Comedy. Caucuses: mountain range between southeastern Europe and Western Asia. See a complete edition of the same public domain translation, as well as Velerius...Seneca: A Roman author who collected historical anecdotes. Middle English texts, at: http://www.canterburytales.org/. The Hypertext sot: fool version at JSU's local site is prepared by Dr. Joanne E. Gates. Lines have calumniate: slander been numbered to conform to the Longman Anthology of British niggards of their pence: misers stingy with their money. Literature, Volume 1A (2nd edition at page 337). 40 12. The knight is clearly upset on his wedding knight. What does the old woman propose to him? What is his answer? Questions for “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” 13.What happens to the old woman? Why? 1.How is the knight described in line 59? 14.How does the Wife of Bath end the tale? 2.What happens to the maiden? Quote a line for support. 15.Do you think the Wife of Bath believes that men can change 3.King Arthur was planning on putting the knight to death. or is she more cynical? Explain. Who/What stops him? Why? 16.What is the lesson that the Wife of Bath is trying to teach 4.What is the challenge issued to the knight? here? Is anything that Chaucer writes relevant even today? Ex- 5.When the knight travels around asking others “what do plain. women want?” what are some of the answers he receives?

6.The Wife of Bath says that women can’t keep secrets. Which There is more to do... don’t stop here! story does she tell to convey this? Do you agree with her?

7.Upon his return home, what bizarre sight does the knight come across?

8.Explain the conversation between the knight and the old woman.

9. When the queen asks the knight once again “what women want,” what is his answer? Quote a line for support.

10. What does the old woman demand of the knight once his life is saved?

11. What is the knight’s reaction?

41 Selfsame Sovereignty - Making Connections

The Wife of Bath uses the story of the knight and the old woman to express her own belief in selfsame sovereignty or equality in marriage between a husband and wife. Whether such an idea meant that women shared ownership of property and family wealth or whether it meant they had an equal share in decision- making, such a belief was definitely ahead of the times. On the next page, there is an essay written by an actual college student on “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.” This is the kind of essay YOU In medieval England, women could might be writing in just a few years. There are many more essays inherit property only if there were by students and scholars to be found at www.luminarium.org (on no male heirs in the family. Usually, Chaucer and other British works!). property was entailed, or assigned to the male survivors, the women being left under the men’s care until marriage or death. Moreover, at marriage a woman was often required to renounce any further claims to her father’s property. Often, any property she did bring to the marriage was was immediately forfeited to her husband, leaving her with virtually no further claim to it. Only in 1857 did Great Britain’s Married Women’s Property Acts first allow a woman the right to property in her own name.

Making Connections: What do you think about gender equality in marriages today? Does “selfsame sovereignty” apply? Explain.

Source: Prentice Hall British Literature

42 Jonathan Blake Eng 150, Survey of English Lit Professor Suzanne Johnson Flynn Gettysburg College 9/25/94 Struggle For Female Equality in "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" When Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales, the social structure of his world was changing rapidly. Chaucer himself was a prime example of new social mobility being granted to members of the emerging middle class. He had opportunities to come into contact not only with earthy characters from varied ports of call, but with the wealthy nobility. He was also married to a knight's daughter, someone of higher birth than himself, a clear demonstration of a more lenient class structure (pp. 76 - 77*). As a member of this changing society, Chaucer had a keen perception of the attitudes and philosophies which were emerging and shaping the roles specific to people's lives. Among these were ideas and customs which had dictated extremely subservient lives for women. One of his characters, the Wife of Bath, contradicts many of these oppressive customs and asserts her own overbearing assessment of the roles of women in society and in relationships. However, while apparently attempting to assert female dominance over men, the effect the Wife desires is to bring men and women to a more balanced level of power. No attempt to change the minds of others with regard to social order could possibly be effective without a statement of the shortcomings of the current order. This is where the Wife may often be written off as a shrew-like bombast simply spouting her

43 SECTION 3 The Miller’s Prologue The Miller’s Tale Fabliau(x): Bawdy, comic tales. Usually a trick/joke occurs as part of the climax. One of the standard plots in a fabliau is the cuckolding of a dim-witted husband by a lustful student.

Use a quotation from the text below to answer each of the following questions: 1. How can we see the Miller’s personality “shining through” in this prologue? 2. Why does Reeve object to the tale the Miller is going to tell? 3. Why does the Miller not worry about whether he has been cuck- olded? 4. Why does the narrator apologize?

The Words between the Host and the Miller Now when the knight had thus his story told, In all the rout there was nor young nor old But said it was a noble story, well Worthy to be kept in mind to tell; And specially the gentle folk, each one. Our host, he laughed and swore, "So may I run, But this goes well; unbuckled is the mail; Let's see now who can tell another tale: For certainly the game is well begun. Now shall you tell, sir monk, if't can be done, HOW TO ACCESS THE TALE Something with which to pay for the knight's tale." The miller, who with drinking was all pale, 1. Prologue and Tale are on the pages that follow, with questions So that unsteadily on his horse he sat, preceding each part. He would not take off either hood or hat, Nor wait for any man, in courtesy, But all in Pilate's voice began to cry, And by the Arms and Blood and Bones he swore, "I have a noble story in my store, With which I will requite the good knight's tale." See a complete edition of the same public domain translation, as well as Our host saw, then, that he was drunk with ale, Middle English texts, at: http://www.canterburytales.org/. The Hypertext And said to him: "Wait, Robin, my dear brother, Some better man shall tell us first another: version at JSU's local site is prepared by Dr. Joanne E. Gates. Lines have Submit and let us work on profitably." been numbered to conform to the Longman Anthology of British "Now by God's soul," cried he, "that will not I! Literature, Volume 1A (2nd edition at page 337). For I will speak, or else I'll go my way." Our host replied: "Tell on, then, till doomsday! You are a fool, your wit is overcome." "Now hear me," said the miller, "all and some! But first I make a protestation round That I'm quite drunk, I know it by my sound: And therefore, if I slander or mis-say,

44 Blame it on ale of Southwark, so I pray; For I will tell a legend and a life Both of a carpenter and of his wife, The Miller’s Tale: And how a scholar set the good wright's cap." The reeve replied and said: "Oh, shut your trap, Use a quotation from the text to answer each of the following ques- Let be your ignorant drunken ribaldry! tions: It is a sin, and further, great folly To asperse any man, or him defame, 1. Describe the relationship between John (the carpenter) and Alison. And, too, to bring upon a man's wife shame. 2. Find a quotation to describe Nicholas’ courtship of Alison, and one for There are enough of other things to say." Absalom’s attempts. This drunken miller spoke on in his way, 3. Describe the story/warning Nicholas tells John, the carpenter. And said: "Oh, but my dear brother Oswald, 4. What are the steps Nicholas tells the carpenter to take in order to fulfill his The man who has no wife is no cuckold. plan? But I say not, thereby, that you are one: 5. In the nighttime, as the plan is going into effect, where to Nicholas and Alison Many good wives there are, as women run, go? And ever a thousand good to one that's bad, 6. What happens when Absalom comes to the window for a kiss? As well you know yourself, unless you're mad. 7. How does Absalom exact his revenge? Why are you angry with my story's cue? 8. How does the revenge end up biting Nicholas in the rear end? I have a wife, begad, as well as you, 9. In the end, who wins? Yet I'd not, for the oxen of my plow, Take on my shoulders more than is enow, Writing Prompts: By judging of myself that I am one; I will believe full well that I am none. A. The two requirements for a tale on the journey are that it must 1, A husband must not be inquisitive amuse, and 2, instruct. Evaluate how well the Miller meets the conditions Of God, nor of his wife, while she's alive. of the contest. Evaluate means just that – EVALUATE! Explain what you So long as he may find God's plenty there, think some possible lessons were that the Miller intended to teach, and then For all the rest he need not greatly care." explain whether or not you think the lesson was both worthwhile and effective. What should I say, except this miller rare He would forgo his talk for no man there, But told his churlish tale in his own way: I think I'll here re-tell it, if I may. B. Likewise, explain how the Miller intended to amuse. Not everyone would find And therefore, every gentle soul, I pray this stuff funny (perhaps you included!). Again, evaluate how well the Miller That for God's love you'll hold not what I say met the requirements of the storytelling contest. Evilly meant, but that I must rehearse, All of their tales, the better and the worse, Or else prove false to some of my design. Therefore, who likes not this, let him, in fine, C. Another oftentimes present, although not required, quality of the tales is that Turn over page and choose another tale: they tend to mock other types of people. This is especially significant on this For he shall find enough, both great and small, pilgrimage, where so many different types of people are traveling together. It is Of stories touching on gentility, highly likely that the type of character who is a villain in a tale is actually the And holiness, and on morality; very kind of person who is on the journey! And blame not me if you do choose amiss. a. Note who the Miller mocks in his tale. What persons, qualities, and/or The miller was a churl, you well know this; conventions does he seem to value, and which does he seem to ridicule? So was the reeve, and many another more, By the end of the story, who is the fool, and who is the hero (if anyone)? And ribaldry they told from plenteous store. Who that is listening in the party would be offended by his tale, and who Be then advised, and hold me free from blame; would find it amusing? Men should not be too serious at a game. ______

45 44 For youth and age are often in debate. 1 Once on a time was dwelling in Oxford 45 But now, since he had fallen in the snare, 2 A wealthy lout who took in guests to board, 46 He must endure, like other folk, his care. 3 And of his craft he was a carpenter. 47 Fair was this youthful wife, and therewithal 4 A poor scholar was lodging with him there, 48 As weasel's was her body slim and small. 5 Who'd learned the arts, but all his phantasy 49 A girdle wore she, barred and striped, of silk. 6 Was turned to study of astrology; 50 An apron, too, as white as morning milk 7 And knew a certain set of theorems 51 About her loins, and full of many a gore; 8 And could find out by various stratagems, 52 White was her smock, embroidered all before 9 If men but asked of him in certain hours 53 And even behind, her collar round about, 10 When they should have a drought or else have showers, 54 Of coal-black silk, on both sides, in and out; 11 Or if men asked of him what should befall 55 The strings of the white cap upon her head 12 To anything- I cannot reckon them all. 56 Were, like her collar, black silk worked with thread, 13 This clerk was called the clever Nicholas; 57 Her fillet was of wide silk worn full high: 14 Of secret loves he knew and their solace; 58 And certainly she had a lickerish eye. 15 And he kept counsel, too, for he was sly 59 She'd thinned out carefully her eyebrows two, 16 And meek as any maiden passing by. 60 And they were arched and black as any sloe. 17 He had a chamber in that hostelry, 61 She was a far more pleasant thing to see 18 And lived alone there, without company, 62 Than is the newly budded young pear-tree; 19 All garnished with sweet herbs of good repute; 63 And softer than the wool is on a wether. 20 And he himself sweet-smelling as the root 64 Down from her girdle hung a purse of leather, 21 Of licorice, valerian, or setwall. 65 Tasselled with silk, with latten beading sown. 22 His Almagest, and books both great and small, 66 In all this world, searching it up and down, 23 His astrolabe, belonging to his art, 67 So gay a little doll, I well believe, 24 His algorism stones- all laid apart 68 Or such a wench, there's no man can conceive. 25 On shelves that ranged beside his lone bed's head; 69 Far brighter was the brilliance of her hue 26 His press was covered with a cloth of red. 70 Than in the Tower the gold coins minted new. 27 And over all there lay a psaltery 71 And songs came shrilling from her pretty head 28 Whereon he made an evening's melody, 72 As from a swallow's sitting on a shed. 29 Playing so sweetly that the chamber rang; 73 Therewith she'd dance too, and could play and sham 30 And Angelus ad virginem he sang; 74 Like any kid or calf about its dam. 31 And after that he warbled the King's Note: 75 Her mouth was sweet as bragget or as mead 32 Often in good voice was his merry throat. 76 Or hoard of apples laid in hay or weed. 33 And thus this gentle clerk his leisure spends 77 Skittish she was as is a pretty colt, 34 Supported by some income and his friends. 78 Tall as a staff and straight as cross-bow bolt. 35 This carpenter had lately wed a wife 79 A brooch she wore upon her collar low, 36 Whom lie loved better than he loved his life; 80 As broad as boss of buckler did it show; 37 And she was come to eighteen years of age. 81 Her shoes laced up to where a girl's legs thicken. 38 Jealous he was and held her close in cage. 82 She was a primrose, and a tender chicken 39 For she was wild and young, and he was old, 83 For any lord to lay upon his bed, 40 And deemed himself as like to be cuckold. 84 Or yet for any good yeoman to wed. 41 He knew not Cato, for his lore was rude: 85 Now, sir, and then, sir, go befell the case, 42 That vulgar man should wed similitude. 86 That on a day this clever Nicholas 43 A man should wed according to estate, 87 Fell in with this young wife to toy and play,

46 88 The while her husband was down Osney way, 132 With Saint Paul's windows cut upon his shoes, 89 Clerks being as crafty as the best of us; 133 He stood in red hose fitting famously. 90 And unperceived he caught her by the puss, 134 And he was clothed full well and properly 91 Saying: Indeed, unless I have my will, 135 All in a coat of blue, in which were let 92 For secret love of you, sweetheart, I'll spill. 136 Holes for the lacings, which were fairly set. 93 And held her hard about the hips, and how! 137 And over all he wore a fine surplice 94 And said: O darling, love me, love me now, 138 As white as ever hawthorn spray, and nice. 95 Or I shall die, and pray you God may save! 139 A merry lad he was, so God me save, 96 And she leaped as a colt does in the trave, 140 And well could he let blood, cut hair, and shave, 97 And with her head she twisted fast away, 141 And draw a deed or quitclaim, as might chance. 98 And said: I will not kiss you, by my fay! 142 In twenty manners could he trip and dance, 99 Why, let go, cried she, let go, Nicholas! 143 After the school that reigned in Oxford, though, 100 Or I will call for help and cry 'alas!' 144 And with his two legs swinging to and fro; 101 Do take your hands away, for courtesy! 145 And he could play upon a violin; 102 This Nicholas for mercy then did cry, 146 Thereto he sang in treble voice and thin; 103 And spoke so well, importuned her so fast 147 And as well could he play on his guitar. 104 That she her love did grant him at the last, 148 In all the town no inn was, and no bar, 105 And swore her oath, by Saint Thomas of Kent, 149 That he'd not visited to make good cheer, 106 That she would be at his command, content, 150 Especially were lively barmaids there. 107 As soon as opportunity she could spy. 151 But, truth to tell, he was a bit squeamish 108 My husband is so full of jealousy, 152 Of farting and of language haughtyish. 109 Unless you will await me secretly, 153 This Absalom, who was so light and gay, 110 I know I'm just as good as dead, said she. 154 Went with a censer on the holy day, 111 You must keep all quite hidden in this case. 155 Censing the wives like an enthusiast; 112 Nay, thereof worry not, said Nicholas, 156 And on them many a loving look he cast, 113 A clerk has lazily employed his while 157 Especially on this carpenter's goodwife. 114 If he cannot a carpenter beguile. 158 To look at her he thought a merry life, 115 And thus they were agreed, and then they swore 159 She was so pretty, sweet, and lickerous. 116 To wait a while, as I have said before. 160 I dare well say, if she had been a mouse 117 When Nicholas had done thus every whit 161 And he a cat, he would have mauled her some. 118 And patted her about the loins a bit, 162 This parish clerk, this lively Absalom 119 He kissed her sweetly, took his psaltery, 163 Had in his heart, now, such a love-longing 120 And played it fast and made a melody. 164 That from no wife took he an offering; 121 Then fell it thus, that to the parish kirk, 165 For courtesy, he said, he would take none. 122 The Lord Christ Jesus' own works for to work, 166 The moon, when it was night, full brightly shone, 123 This good wife went, upon a holy day; 167 And his guitar did Absalom then take, 124 Her forehead shone as bright as does the May, 168 For in love-watching he'd intent to wake. 125 So well she'd washed it when she left off work. 169 And forth he went, jolly and amorous, 126 Now there was of that church a parish clerk 170 Until he came unto the carpenter's house 127 Whose name was (as folk called him) Absalom. 171 A little after cocks began to crow; 128 Curled was his hair, shining like gold, and from 172 And took his stand beneath a shot-window 129 His head spread fanwise in a thick bright mop; 173 That was let into the good wood-wright's wall. 130 'Twas parted straight and even on the top; 174 He sang then, in his pleasant voice and small, 131 His cheek was red, his eyes grey as a goose; 175 Oh now, dear lady, if your will it be,

47 176 I pray that you will have some ruth on me, 220 She was to sleep within his arms all night, 177 The words in harmony with his string-plucking. 221 For this was his desire, and hers also. 178 This carpenter awoke and heard him sing, 222 Presently then, and without more ado, 179 And called unto his wife and said, in sum: 223 This Nicholas, no longer did he tarry, 180 What, Alison! Do you hear Absalom, 224 But softly to his chamber did he carry 181 Who plays and sings beneath our bedroom wall? 225 Both food and drink to last at least a day, 182 And she said to her husband, therewithal: 226 Saying that to her husband she should say- 183 Yes, God knows, John, I hear it, truth to tell. 227 If he should come to ask for Nicholas- 184 So this went on; what is there better than well? 228 Why, she should say she knew not where he was, 185 From day to day this pretty Absalom 229 For all day she'd not seen him, far or nigh; 186 So wooed her he was woebegone therefrom. 230 She thought he must have got some malady, 187 He lay awake all night and all the day; 231 Because in vain her maid would knock and call; 188 He combed his spreading hair and dressed him gay; 232 He'd answer not, whatever might befall. 189 By go-betweens and agents, too, wooed he, 233 And so it was that all that Saturday 190 And swore her loyal page he'd ever be. 234 This Nicholas quietly in chamber lay, 191 He sang as tremulously as nightingale; 235 And ate and slept, or did what pleased him best, 192 He sent her sweetened wine and well-spiced ale 236 Till Sunday when the sun had gone to rest. 193 And waffles piping hot out of the fire, 237 This simple man with wonder heard the tale, 194 And, she being town-bred, mead for her desire. 238 And marvelled what their Nicholas might ail, 195 For some are won by means of money spent, 239 And said: I am afraid, by Saint Thomas, 196 And some by tricks, and some by long descent. 240 That everything's not well with Nicholas. 197 Once, to display his versatility, 241 God send he be not dead so suddenly! 198 He acted Herod on a scaffold high. 242 This world is most unstable, certainly; 199 But what availed it him in any case? 243 I saw, today, the corpse being borne to kirk 200 She was enamoured so of Nicholas 244 Of one who, but last Monday, was at work. 201 That Absalom might go and blow his horn; 245 Go up, said he unto his boy anon, 202 He got naught for his labour but her scorn. 246 Call at his door, or knock there with a stone, 203 And thus she made of Absalom her ape, 247 Learn how it is and boldly come tell me. 204 And all his earnestness she made a jape. 248 The servant went up, then, right sturdily, 205 For truth is in this proverb, and no lie, 249 And at the chamber door, the while he stood, 206 Men say well thus: It's always he that's nigh 250 He cried and knocked as any madman would- 207 That makes the absent lover seem a sloth. 251 What! How! What do you, Master Nicholay? 208 For now, though Absalom be wildly wroth, 252 How can you sleep through all the livelong day? 209 Because he is so far out of her sight, 253 But all for naught, he never heard a word; 210 This handy Nicholas stands in his light. 254 A hole he found, low down upon a board, 211 Now bear you well, you clever Nicholas! 255 Through which the house cat had been wont to creep; 212 For Absalom may wail and sing Alas! 256 And to that hole he stooped, and through did peep, 213 And so it chanced that on a Saturday 257 And finally he ranged him in his sight. 214 This carpenter departed to. Osney; 258 This Nicholas sat gaping there, upright, 215 And clever Nicholas and Alison 259 As if he'd looked too long at the new moon. 216 Were well agreed to this effect: anon 260 Downstairs he went and told his master soon 217 This Nicholas should put in play a wile 261 In what array he'd found this self-same man. 218 The simple, jealous husband to beguile; 262 This carpenter to cross himself began, 219 And if it chanced the game should go a-right, 263 And said: Now help us, holy Frideswide!

48 264 Little a man can know what shall betide. 308 A certain thing concerning you and me; 265 This man is fallen, with his astromy, 309 I'll tell it to no other man or men. 266 Into some madness or some agony; 310 This carpenter went down and came again, 267 I always feared that somehow this would be! 311 And brought of potent ale a brimming quart; 268 Men should not meddle in God's privity. 312 And when each one of them had drunk his part, 269 Aye, blessed always be the ignorant man, 313 Nicholas shut the door fast, and with that 270 Whose creed is, all he ever has to scan! 314 He drew a seat and near the carpenter sat. 271 So fared another clerk with astromy; 315 He said: Now, John, my good host, lief and dear, 272 He walked into the meadows for to pry 316 You must upon your true faith swear, right here, 273 Into the stars, to learn what should befall, 317 That to no man will you this word betray; 274 Until into a clay-pit he did fall; 318 For it is Christ's own word that I will say, 275 He saw not that. But yet, by Saint Thomas, 319 And if you tell a man, you're ruined quite; 276 I'm sorry for this clever Nicholas. 320 This punishment shall come to you, of right, 277 He shall be scolded for his studying, 321 That if you're traitor you'll go mad- and should! 278 If not too late, by Jesus, Heaven's King! 322 Nay, Christ forbid it, for His holy blood! 279 Get me a staff, that I may pry before, 323 Said then this simple man: I am no blab, 280 The while you, Robin, heave against the door. 324 Nor, though I say it, am I fond of gab. 281 We'll take him from this studying, I guess. 325 Say what you will, I never will it tell 282 And on the chamber door, then, he did press. 326 To child or wife, by Him that harried Hell! 283 His servant was a stout lad, if a dunce, 327 Now, John, said Nicholas, I will not lie; 284 And by the hasp he heaved it up at once; 328 But I've found out, from my astrology, 285 Upon the floor that portal fell anon. 329 As I have looked upon the moon so bright, 286 This Nicholas sat there as still as stone, 330 That now, come Monday next, at nine of night, 287 Gazing, with gaping mouth, straight up in air. 331 Shall fall a rain so wildly mad as would 288 This carpenter thought he was in despair, 332 Have been, by half, greater than Noah's flood. 289 And took him by the shoulders, mightily, 333 This world, he said, in less time than an hour, 290 And shook him hard, and cried out, vehemently: 334 Shall all be drowned, so terrible is this shower; 291 What! Nicholay! Why how now! Come, look down! 335 Thus shall all mankind drown and lose all life. 292 Awake, and think on Jesus' death and crown! 336 This carpenter replied: Alas, my wife! 293 I cross you from all elves and magic wights! 337 And shall she drown? Alas, my Alison! 294 And then the night-spell said he out, by rights, 338 For grief of this he almost fell. Anon 295 At the four corners of the house about, 339 He said: Is there no remedy in this case? 296 And at the threshold of the door, without:- 340 Why yes, good luck, said clever Nicholas, 297 O Jesus Christ and good Saint Benedict, 341 If you will work by counsel of the wise; 298 Protect this house from all that may afflict, 342 You must not act on what your wits advise. 299 For the night hag the white Paternoster!- 343 For so says Solomon, and it's all true, 300 Where hast thou gone, Saint Peter's sister? 344 'Work by advice and thou shalt never rue.' 301 And at the last this clever Nicholas 345 And if you'll act as counselled and not fail, 302 Began to sigh full sore, and said: Alas! 346 I undertake, without a mast or sail, 303 Shall all the world be lost so soon again? 347 To save us all, aye you and her and me. 304 This carpenter replied: What say you, then? 348 Haven't you heard of, Noah, how saved was he, 305 What! Think on God, as we do, men that swink. 349 Because Our Lord had warned him how to keep 306 This Nicholas replied: Go fetch me drink; 350 Out of the flood that covered earth so deep? 307 And afterward I'll tell you privately 351 Yes, said this carpenter, long years ago.

49 352 Have you not heard, asked Nicholas, also 396 Of all the world, like Noah and his wife. 353 The sorrows of Noah and his fellowship 397 But of one thing I warn you now, outright. 354 In getting his wife to go aboard the ship? 398 Be well advised, that on that very night 355 He would have rather, I dare undertake, 399 When we have reached our ships and got aboard, 356 At that time, and for all the weather black, 400 Not one of us must speak or whisper word, 357 That she had one ship for herself alone. 401 Nor call, nor cry, but sit in silent prayer; 358 Therefore, do you know what would best be done? 402 For this is God's own bidding, hence- don't dare! 359 This thing needs haste, and of a hasty thing 403 Your wife and you must hang apart, that in 360 Men must not preach nor do long tarrying. 404 The night shall come no chance for you to sin 361 Presently go, and fetch here to this inn 405 Either in looking or in carnal deed. 362 A kneading-tub, or brewing vat, and win 406 These orders I have told you, go, God speed! 363 One each for us, but see that they are large, 407 Tomorrow night, when all men are asleep, 364 Wherein we may swim out as in a barge, 408 Into our kneading-tubs will we three creep 365 And have therein sufficient food and drink 409 And sit there, still, awaiting God's high grace. 366 For one day only; that's enough, I think. 410 Go, now, your way, I have no longer space 367 The water will dry up and flow away 411 Of time to make a longer sermoning. 368 About the prime of the succeeding day. 412 Men say thus: 'Send the wise and say no thing.' 369 But Robin must not know of this, your knave, 413 You are so wise it needs not that I teach; 370 And even Jill, your maid, I may not save; 414 Go, save our lives, and that I do beseech. 371 Ask me not why, for though you do ask me, 415 This silly carpenter went on his way. 372 I will not tell you of God's privity. 416 Often he cried Alas! and Welaway! 373 Suffice you, then, unless your wits are mad, 417 And to his wife he told all, privately; 374 To have as great a grace as Noah had. 418 But she was better taught thereof than he 375 Your wife I shall not lose, there is no doubt, 419 How all this rigmarole was to apply. 376 Go, now, your way, and speedily about, 420 Nevertheless she acted as she'd die, 377 But when you have, for you and her and me, 421 And said: Alas! Go on your way anon, 378 Procured these kneading-tubs, or beer-vats, three, 422 Help us escape, or we are lost, each one; 379 Then you shall hang them near the roof-tree high, 423 I am your true and lawfully wedded wife; 380 That no man our purveyance may espy. 424 Go, my dear spouse, and help to save our life. 381 And when you thus have done, as I have said, 425 Lo, what a great thing is affection found! 382 And have put in our drink and meat and bread, 426 Men die of imagination, I'll be bound, 383 Also an axe to cut the ropes in two 427 So deep an imprint may the spirit take. 384 When the flood comes, that we may float and go, 428 This hapless carpenter began to quake; 385 And cut a hole, high up, upon the gable, 429 He thought now, verily, that he could see 386 Upon the garden side, over the stable, 430 Old Noah's flood come wallowing like the sea 387 That we may freely pass forth on our way 431 To drown his Alison, his honey dear. 388 When the great rain and flood are gone that day- 432 He wept, he wailed, he made but sorry cheer, 389 Then shall you float as merrily, I'll stake, 433 He sighed and made full many a sob and sough. 390 As does the white duck after the white drake. 434 He went and got himself a kneading-trough 391 Then I will call, 'Ho, Alison! Ho, John! 435 And, after that, two tubs he somewhere found 392 Be cheery, for the flood will pass anon.' 436 And to his dwelling privately sent round, 393 And you will say, 'Hail. Master Nicholay! 437 And hung them near the roof, all secretly. 394 Good morrow, I see you well, for it is day!' 438 With his own hand, then, made he ladders three, 395 And then shall we be barons all our life 439 To climb up by the rungs thereof, it seems,

50 440 And reach the tubs left hanging to the beams; 484 But which it is I cannot truly say. 441 And those he victualled, tubs and kneading-trough, 485 This Absalom right happy was and light, 442 With bread and cheese and good jugged ale, enough 486 And thought: Now is the time to wake all night; 443 To satisfy the needs of one full day. 487 For certainly I saw him not stirring 444 But ere he'd put all this in such array, 488 About his door since day began to spring. 445 He sent his servants, boy and maid, right down 489 So may I thrive, as I shall, at cock's crow, 446 Upon some errand into London town. 490 Knock cautiously upon that window low 447 And on the Monday, when it came on night, 491 Which is so placed upon his bedroom wall. 448 He shut his door, without a candle-light, 492 To Alison then will I tell of all 449 And ordered everything as it should be. 493 My love-longing, and thus I shall not miss 450 And shortly after up they climbed, all three; 494 That at the least I'll have her lips to kiss. 451 They sat while one might plow a furlong-way. 495 Some sort of comfort shall I have, I say, 452 Now, by Our Father, hush! said Nicholay, 496 My mouth's been itching all this livelong day; 453 And Hush! said John, and Hush! said Alison. 497 That is a sign of kissing at the least. 454 This carpenter, his loud devotions done, 498 All night I dreamed, too, I was at a feast. 455 Sat silent, saying mentally a prayer, 499 Therefore I'll go and sleep two hours away 456 And waiting for the rain, to hear it there. 500 And all this night then will I wake and play. 457 The deathlike sleep of utter weariness 501 And so when time of first cock-crow was come, 458 Fell on this wood-wright even. (as I guess) 502 Up rose this merry lover, Absalom, 459 About the curfew time, or little more; 503 And dressed him gay and all at point-device, 460 For travail of his spirit he groaned sore, 504 But first he chewed some licorice and spice 461 And soon he snored, for badly his head lay. 505 So he'd smell sweet, ere he had combed his hair. 462 Down by the ladder crept this Nicholay, 506 Under his tongue some bits of true-love rare, 463 And Alison, right softly down she sped. 507 For thereby thought he to be more gracious. 464 Without more words they went and got in bed 508 He went, then, to the carpenter's dark house. 465 Even where the carpenter was wont to lie. 509 And silent stood beneath the shot-window; 466 There was the revel and the melody! 510 Unto his breast it reached, it was so low; 467 And thus lie Alison and Nicholas, 511 And he coughed softly, in a low half tone: 468 In joy that goes by many an alias, 512 What do you, honeycomb, sweet Alison? 469 Until the bells for lauds began to ring 513 My cinnamon, my fair bird, my sweetie, 470 And friars to the chancel went to sing. 514 Awake, O darling mine, and speak to me! 471 This parish clerk, this amorous Absalom, 515 It's little thought you give me and my woe, 472 Whom love has made so woebegone and dumb, 516 Who for your love do sweat where'er I go. 473 Upon the Monday was down Osney way, 517 Yet it's no wonder that I faint and sweat; 474 With company, to find some sport and play; 518 I long as does the lamb for mother's teat. 475 And there he chanced to ask a cloisterer, 519 Truly, sweetheart, I have such love-longing 476 Privately, after John the carpenter. 520 That like a turtle-dove's my true yearning; 477 This monk drew him apart, out of the kirk, 521 And I can eat no more than can a maid. 478 And said: I have not seen him here at work. 522 Go from the window, Jack-a-napes, she said, 479 Since Saturday; I think well that he went 523 For, s'help me God, it is not 'come kiss me.' 480 For timber, that the abbot has him sent; 524 I love another, or to blame I'd be, 481 For he is wont for timber thus to go, 525 Better than you, by Jesus, Absalom! 482 Remaining at the grange a day or so; 526 Go on your way, or I'll stone you therefrom, 483 Or else he's surely at his house today; 527 And let me sleep, the fiends take you away!

51 528 Alas, quoth Absalom, and welaway! 572 Indeed all paramours he did defy, 529 That true love ever was so ill beset! 573 And wept as does a child that has been beat. 530 But kiss me, since you'll do no more, my pet, 574 With silent step he went across the street 531 For Jesus' love and for the love of me. 575 Unto a smith whom men called Dan Jarvis, 532 And will you go, then, on your way? asked she, 576 Who in his smithy forged plow parts, that is 533 Yes truly, darling, said this Absalom. 577 He sharpened shares and coulters busily. 534 Then make you ready, said she, and I'll come! 578 This Absalom he knocked all easily, 535 And unto Nicholas said she, low and still: 579 And said: Unbar here, Jarvis, for I come. 536 Be silent now, and you shall laugh your fill. 580 What! Who are you? It's I, it's Absalom. 537 This Absalom plumped down upon his knees, 581 What! Absalom! For Jesus Christ's sweet tree, 538 And said: I am a lord in all degrees; 582 Why are you up so early? Ben'cite! 539 For after this there may be better still 583 What ails you now, man? Some gay girl, God knows, 540 Darling, my sweetest bird, I wait your will. 584 Has brought you on the jump to my bellows; 541 The window she unbarred, and that in haste. 585 By Saint Neot, you know well what I mean. 542 Have done, said she, come on, and do it fast, 586 This Absalom cared not a single bean 543 Before we're seen by any neighbour's eye. 587 For all this play, nor one word back he gave; 544 This Absalom did wipe his mouth all dry; 588 He'd more tow on his distaff, had this knave, 545 Dark was the night as pitch, aye dark as coal, 589 Than Jarvis knew, and said he: Friend so dear, 546 And through the window she put out her hole. 590 This red-hot coulter in the fireplace here, 547 And Absalom no better felt nor worse, 591 Lend it to me, I have a need for it, 548 But with his mouth he kissed her naked arse 592 And I'll return it after just a bit. 549 Right greedily, before he knew of this. 593 Jarvis replied: Certainly, were it gold 550 Aback he leapt- it seemed somehow amiss, 594 Or a purse filled with yellow coins untold, 551 For well he knew a woman has no beard; 595 Yet should you have it, as I am true smith; 552 He'd felt a thing all rough and longish haired, 596 But eh, Christ's foe! What will you do therewith? 553 And said, Oh fie, alas! What did I do? 597 Let that, said Absalom, be as it may; 554 Teehee! she laughed, and clapped the, window to; 598 I'll tell you all tomorrow, when it's day- 555 And Absalom went forth a sorry pace. 599 And caught the coulter then by the cold steel 556 A beard! A beard! cried clever Nicholas, 600 And softly from the smithy door did steal 557 Now by God's corpus, this goes fair and well! 601 And went again up to the wood-wright's wall. 558 This hapless Absalom, he heard that yell, 602 He coughed at first, and then he knocked withal 559 And on his lip, for anger, he did bite; 603 Upon the window, as before, with care. 560 And to himself he said, I will requite! 604 This Alison replied: Now who is there? 561 Who vigorously rubbed and scrubbed his lips 605 And who knocks so? I'll warrant it's a thief. 562 With dust, with sand, with straw, with cloth, with chips, 606 Why no, quoth he, God knows, my sweet roseleaf, 563 But Absalom, and often cried Alas! 607 I am your Absalom, my own darling! 564 My soul I give now unto Sathanas, 608 Of gold, quoth he, I have brought you a ring; 565 For rather far than own this town, said he, 609 My mother gave it me, as I'll be saved; 566 For this despite, it's well revenged I'd be. 610 Fine gold it is, and it is well engraved; 567 Alas, said he, from her I never blenched! 611 This will I give you for another kiss. 568 His hot love was grown cold, aye and all quenched; 612 This Nicholas had risen for a piss, 569 For, from the moment that he'd kissed her arse, 613 And thought that it would carry on the jape 570 For paramours he didn't care a curse, 614 To have his arse kissed by this jack-a-nape. 571 For he was healed of all his malady; 615 And so he opened window hastily,

52 616 And put his arse out thereat, quietly, 660 That he was held for mad by all the town; 617 Over the buttocks, showing the whole bum; 661 For every clerk did side with every other. 618 And thereto said this clerk, this Absalom, 662 They said: The man is crazy, my dear brother. 619 O speak, sweet bird, I know not where thou art. 663 And everyone did laugh at all this strife. 620 This Nicholas just then let fly a fart 664 Thus futtered was the carpenter's goodwife, 621 As loud as it had been a thunder-clap, 665 For all his watching and his jealousy; 622 And well-nigh blinded Absalom, poor chap; 666 And Absalom has kissed her nether eye; 623 But he was ready with his iron hot 667 And Nicholas is branded on the butt. 624 And Nicholas right in the arse he got. 668 This tale is done, and God save all the rout! 625 Off went the skin a hand's-breadth broad, about, 626 The coulter burned his bottom so, throughout, 627 That for the pain he thought that he should die. 628 And like one mad he started in to cry, 629 Help! Water! Water! For God's dear heart! 630 This carpenter out of his sleep did start, 631 Hearing that Water! cried as madman would, 632 And thought, Alas, now comes down Noel's flood! 633 He struggled up without another word 634 And with his axe he cut in two the cord, 635 And down went all; he did not stop to trade 636 In bread or ale till he'd the journey made, 637 And there upon the floor he swooning lay. 638 Up started Alison and Nicholay 639 And shouted Help! and Hello! down the street. 640 The neighbours, great and small, with hastening feet 641 Swarmed in the house to stare upon this man, 642 Who lay yet swooning, and all pale and wan; 643 For in the falling he had smashed his arm. 644 He had to suffer, too, another harm, 645 For when he spoke he was at once borne down 646 By clever Nicholas and Alison. 647 For they told everyone that he was odd; 648 He was so much afraid of Noel's flood, 649 Through fantasy, that out of vanity 650 He'd gone and bought these kneading-tubs, all three, 651 And that he'd hung them near the roof above; 652 And that he had prayed them, for God's dear love, 653 To sit with him and bear him company. 654 The people laughed at all this fantasy; 655 Up to the roof they looked, and there did gape, 656 And so turned all his injury to a jape. 657 For when this carpenter got in a word, 658 'Twas all in vain, no man his reasons heard; 659 With oaths imprenive he was so sworn down,

53 Miller’s Tale Waxes Philosophic by Sara Michel

M o d e r n R e t e l l i n g . . . In “The Miller’s Tale,” Geoffrey Chaucer describes Alisoun, the old carpenter’s beautiful young wife, as an object of male desire. Chaucer calls forth natural images—the The BBC's modern retelling of "The Miller's Tale" sets the action in a karaoke bar, where slimness of a weasel’s body, the tenderness of a chicken, the sweetness of fruit—to the owner's much younger wife is the star. She finds herself drawn to a young guest who reveal her sexuality. “She was a far more pleasant thing to see/Than is the newly bud- promises her fame and fortune. (You must be online for this link to work!) ded young pear tree;/And softer than the wool is on a wether,” he writes in this second http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1KBT3i6ocY story of Canterbury Tales, which chronicles 30 medieval pilgrims traveling to Canter- bury, England, taking turns as raconteur to pass the time.

L i t e r a r y C r i t i c i s m . . . While Chaucer’s evocation of nature in “The Miller’s Tale” is often seen as a departure from his earlier philosophical poetry, Mark Miller, an associate professor of English, Read the essay in the box on the next page for some contemporary literary criticism. has a different view. He believes that all of the tales, written at the end of the 14th century, are in fact quite philosophical.

In Philosophical Chaucer: Love, Sex, and Agency in the Canterbury Tales (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Miller challenges the notion that the poet abandoned his reflec- tive roots, which are explicit in “The Knight’s Tale,” Canterbury’s opener. Instead, he believes, Chaucer uses natural images as a context for philosophical musing, beginning with “The Miller’s Tale” and continuing through the remaining stories, exploring issues of gender, sex, and love.

“The standard way to understand Chaucer’s career is to see his knight’s tale as the last gasp of philosophical poetry,” Miller says from his cubbyhole office in Gates-Blake Hall. “But it’s wrong,” he declares, arguing that Chaucer “continues to have many of the philosophical interests he has always had and gets a lot more subtle and engaging in his literary texts.”

Influenced by Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy and Guillaume de Lorris’s Ro- mance of the Rose, Chaucer began as a philosophical poet, Miller says, writing “The Knight’s Tale” earlier in his career, most likely by 1386. He adapted it for a new pro- ject, Canterbury Tales—a collection of stories that editors later divided into ten fragments.

Miller opens Philosophical Chaucer with a discussion of “The Miller’s Tale” because it offers the most immediate and obvious contrast to the knight’s, which includes con- versations on love and courtly manners. He then examines the philosophy in other tales, devoting each chapter to some philosophical problem, from Boethius’s agency or autonomy to Lorris’s utopia, as it’s studied in the story.

54 CHAPTER 3: ARTHURIAN LITERATURE Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

About the Selection: In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an enormous green knight bursts into Arthur’s hall and challenges King Arthur to strike the first blow in a duel, provided that in a year’s time he seek out the Green Knight and allow him to deal the first blow. Ga- wain takes the challenge on Arthur’s behalf and promptly chops off the intruder’s head. To his astonishment, the intruder picks up his head, repeats the challenge, and leaves. A year later, Gawain sets off on his adventure in the course of which his loyalty, honesty, and bravery undergo various tests. SECTION 1 Knights of Legend A Society of Promises: Feudalism was a system both of government and of land ownership. In exchange for a nobleman’s oath of loyalty, a king would give him land. The nobleman Think About: What is the relationship of the writer to tradition? ruled these lands, judging legal cases, imposing taxes, and maintaining an army--powers granted him in exchange for his promise of loyalty to his king. Medieval Europe depended on a few powerful words, The Code of Chivalry: As an expression of feudal ideals of the promise of loyalty a knight gave to his lord. By honor, nobles developed a code of conduct called chivalry. A.D. 1000, a simple promise had blossomed into a This code demanded that knights be brave warriors and virtu- social order called feudalism. ous Christians who would selflessly fight for justice.

King Arthur and His Knights: The ideals of chivalry gave rise to legends and songs, such as the tales of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. In the eleventh century, as feudalism established itself throughout Europe, stories about Ar- thur’s court became widespread.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” a medieval poem, the chivalry of Gawain, Arthur’s loyal nephew, is tested by three challenges. In meeting them, Gawain proves admirable but not invulnerable. As one critic writes, the hero “gains in human credibility what he loses in ideal perfection.” We know little about the poet of “Sir Gawain,” who is credited with three other poems in alliterative verse. In his work, though, with its combination of humor and fervent ideals, he has helped shape an enduring vision of personal integrity.

56 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight peal. The story’s skillful use of alliteration and rhyme makes it an excellent introduction to Arthurian legends.

Click here for the link to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

(Leigh- we are using the story on page 171 of the green Pren- tice Hall book. So, we need to have Christine scan it in and at- tach as a PDF!)

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the three main points of the Green Knight’s speech in lines 34-51?

2.What aspect of medieval romances does the Green Knight’s appearance illustrate? Before you read: In this selection you will see knights who observe a code of honorable behavior called chivalry. Write 3.How does the Green Knight challenge Arthur’s court? about someone you know who observes a code of behavior. 4.Read Gawain’s description of himself in lines 128-130. In Are there movies that you have seen with elements of chiv- what ways does this illustration of Gawain contrast with alry? those lines?

As you read: Look for passages in these selections that re- 5. How are Gawain’s words in lines 128-134 and the court’s de- veal the kind of behavior that chivalry requires. cision consistent with the ideals of chivalry?

Background: Little is known about the author of Sir Ga- 6.What does Gawain do to the Green Knight? wain and the Green Knight. However, the story of the green knight who tests the honesty and bravery of Arthur’s knight 7. Summarize the event in lines 188-213. Gawain still remains one of the most popular of the Arthurian 8.What two characteristics of a medieval romance are re- legends. The author’s vivid descriptions, lively language, and flected in lines 214-231? dramatic picture of life in medieval times have a timeless ap-

57 9.What happens after Gawain decapitates the Green Knight?

10.What is the Green Knight doing when Gawain arrives at the Green Chapel?

11.Summarize what happens after the Green Knight’s third stroke with the ax.

12. How does Gawain react when the Green Knight first lifts his ax?

13. Whom do you admire more, Gawain or the Green Knight? Why?

14.How do Arthur’s knights first respond to the Green Knight’s challenge? Why does the Green Knight laugh at their response?

15.What does Gawain offer to do? How does he make his offer seem humble, not boastful?

16.In lines 464-477, how does Gawain react when he considers his own actions? What has Sir Gawain learned from his second encounter with the Green Knight?

17.Is it more important to achieve goals or learn from mistakes. Make specific references to Sir Gawain & The Green Knight in your answer.

58 Activities

1. In small groups, discuss the following scenarios:

Scenario One: You are at a party, having a great time, when a frightening guest crashes it. He/she demands that someone fight him/her—if he/she dares!

Scenario Two: There’s a kid at school who is an unbearable braggart. He/she is the best at everything!! How would you teach him/her a lesson?

Scenario Three: Someone you are very attracted to uses his/her sex appeal to talk you into doing something you know is wrong.

Scenario Four: You have to admit you have done something wrong in front of a large group of your peers.

2. Click here for an activity about the Hero’s Quest.

3. Click here to read an article about “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” in The New York Times.

59 SECTION 2 The Role of Women in Sir Gawain and the Green Literary Criticism Knight Lili Arkin

May 4, 1995 ABOUT THE ESSAY In the Fourteenth Century, Feudalism and its offspring, chiv- This essay argues that the women in “Gawain” are a metaphor for alry, were in decline due to drastic social and economic other anti-social forces and dangers outside the control of feudalism changes. In this light, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight pre- and chivalry sents both a nostalgic support of the feudal hierarchies and an implicit criticism of changes, which, if left unchecked will lead to its ultimate destruction. I would suggest that the women in the story are the Gawain poet's primary instruments in this critique and reinforcement of Feudalism. By positioning The Vir- gin Mary (as the singular female archetype representing spiritual love, obedience, chastity, and life) against Morgan and Bertilak's wife (who represent the traditional female archetypes of courtly love, disobedience, lust and death) the Ga- wain poet points out the conflict between courtly love and spiritual love which he, and other critics of the time, felt had drastically weakened the religious values behind chivalry. As such, the poem is a warning to its Aristocratic readers that the traditional religious values underlying the feudal system must be upheld in order to avert destruction of their way of life.

It is easy to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a romantic celebration of chivalry, but Ruth Hamilton believes that "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains a more wide- ranging, more serious criticism of chivalry than has heretofore been noticed" (113). Specifically, she feels that the poet is 60 showing Gawain's reliance on chivalry's outside form and sub- Much of the identification of women with subversion is accom- stance at the expense of the original values of the Christian re- plished through the operation of the major medieval arche- ligion from which it sprang. As she shows, "the first order of types. Lady Bertilak is clearly seen in the Biblical role of tempt- knights were monastic ones, who took vows of poverty, obedi- ress. The Biblical archetype began with Eve and as Maureen ence, and chastity. The first duties the knights undertook, the Fries shows "Eve became known as the source and symbol of crusades, were for the Church" (113). The great divergence in lust and the dangers of the flesh; it was she who led Adam the two came with the rise of courtly love in which the knights astray" (27). In Gawain's anti-feminist tirade, Gawain actually were led to great feats of bravery and uplift by devotion to a places her in a long line of other biblical temptresses includ- mistress rather than God. Given the Church's mistrust of ing Delilah and Bathsheba (1216-19). women and the flesh, the contradiction seems clear. Hamilton But Lady Bertilak is also strongly associated the romantic ar- tells us there was a mass of clerical writings in the Fourteenth chetype of "courtly love". As such, Fries says, the Lady "be- Century that were critical of chivalry and show the split becomes the ambivalent mirror in which the knight pictures his tween chivalry and the church during that time. own potential for moral achievement or moral failure in terms Given this mistrust of women by the church, the placement of of the male warrior ethos such literature was designed to glo- the women in the story must be a critical medium for deliver- rify" (28). Even before examining the Lady's operation in the ing this message. Interestingly, the women appear to wield bedroom, the moral contradiction between the two archetypes great power. Bertilak's wife is operating unassisted against Ga- is evident and defines the dilemma he will face. wain in the bedroom as the hunter and aggressor. Morgan is If we look now look at the unique archetype of the Virgin the instigator of the plot which begins the story, and she is Mary and her special relationship to Gawain, we see how the strong enough to move into Bertilak's castle, turn him green poet has structured the bedroom scene as the conflicting de- and order him to walk and talk with a severed head. However, mands of spiritual and courtly love. Mary is unique among the poet never intends to present a world where women are women in Christianity. She is the model of female behavior powerful; rather, these women constitute a metaphor for representing humility and obedience to God in her role as the other anti-social forces and dangers outside the control of feu- Mother of God. She is a virgin, untainted by sexuality, which dalism and chivalry which a medieval world genders female is considered the root of all evil in the early Christian church. because of a set of biblical and classical models which estab- As Marina Warner says in Alone of All Her Sex, "The cult of lish anything subversive as feminine. Mary is inextricably interwoven with Christian ideas about the dangers of the flesh and their special connection with

61 women." She is a life giver without sin, the only woman to Green Knight he is beset by a number of hardships and is fi- have both motherhood and chastity. This seems to sum up the nally at the point of despair. As he lies freezing in the forest he positioning of Mary on one side representing spiritual love, prays to Mary find him shelter and a place to say Mass on chastity, obedience and life and Lady Bertilak on the other as Christmas eve. She answers his prayers and leads him to Berti- the archetype of both courtly love and biblical temptress with lak's castle. associations of lust, disobedience and death. Describing this When Gawain comes to Bertilak's court he is thrown into a to- concept so fundamental to Christianity, Marina Warner says tally different world. Here, it is Gawain's prowess in courtly "To this day it is a specially graceful analogue... a great vault love that the courtiers of Bertilak's castle are interested in thrown over the history of western attitudes to women, the rather than some feat of daring like that which Arthur wanted whole mighty span rising on Eve the temptress on one side, before starting dinner. They say: and Mary the paragon on the other" (60). This noble Knight will prove what manners the mighty bring; That Gawain is Mary's Knight is made clear as he is robed for His converse of courtly love shall spur our studying (920- battle. She is represented as one of the five points of the pen- 927). tangle, through the five joys of Mary, and her image is etched on the back of his shield. The poem describes the arming De Roo has argued that Arthur's court, which is described as scene which shows her special relationship to him: "in its fair prime" (54) and Arthur as "childlike" (86), represents the early days of chivalry, when it was still young and in- That his prowess all depended on the five pure Joys that the nocent, given over to jousting and martial exploits more than holy Queen of Heaven had of her child. Accordingly the courte- love. Bertilak, as an older figure, presides over a much more ous Knight had that Queen's image etched on the inside of his sophisticated and worldly court and presents a more compli- armored shield, So that when he beheld her, his heart did not cated moral situation for Gawain. In Arthur's court, Guinevere fail. (645-65) sits statically on a dais, silent. In Bertilak's court, Bertilak's It is important to note that he derives his prowess and cour- wife is a force to be reckoned with in the bedroom. Even in the age from his special relationship with Mary. As long as Ga- early days of Arthur's court, a level of moral decay is sug- wain is facing the dangers which grow out of his bargain with gested with their frivolous celebration of Christmas and their the Green Knight, which does not test his contradicting loyal- reaction to the Green Knight's challenge. There is a warning ties in love, his spiritual faith is clear and unshaken and his implicit in the dangers facing them, that the continuing separa- prowess and courage hold. On his journey to look for the

62 tion of chivalric and Christian values will inevitably be destruc- down the spiritual ladder (Warner 58). The juxtaposition of tive. the two women clearly demonstrates this concept.

This separation becomes clear from the beginning of his so- This moral 'drag' becomes apparent from the beginning of his journ in Bertilak's court and it is demonstrated in his first association with the Lady. On Christmas morning, "that morn- meeting with the Lady. After his arrival, we see Gawain at ing when men call to mind the birth of our dear Lord born to Mass "in serious mood the whole service through"(940). This die for our destiny" (996-7), instead of finding solace in the serious mood is immediately forgotten with the sight of the meaning of Christmas, Gawain and the Lady "found such sol- Lady. All he wants to do is to escort her down the aisle and ad- ace and satisfaction seated together, in the discrete confi- mire her loveliness: dences of their courtly dalliance" (1011-12). When Gawain was alone in the forest, fearing death, he could only think of one Most winsome in ways of all women alive, She seemed to Sir thing, that Mary should lead him to a place to say mass on Gawain, excelling Guinevere. To squire that splendid dame, Christmas. Now he is so consumed with his 'luf-talk' that he he strode through the chance. (944-46) has forgotten the significance of the day. This scene contains another implicit warning; women may This scene is only a foreshadowing of the dangers of courtly look beautiful, but they can also be the route to death and de- love; the bedroom scene is the real proving ground. First, the cay. Strolling down the aisle with the Lady is an older woman poet subtly shows how courtly love can fall outside the bounds and the two are compared, 'For if the one was winsome, then of the male feudal hierarchy and its rules. On the first day of withered was the other" (951). Rather than just representing her assault the Lady begins to establish her own bargain with the vicissitudes of time, the comparison is a moral statement Gawain--a bargain of courtly love-- through a subtle set of about women and their association with sex, sin and death. valuations based on his prowess in 'luf-talk'. She says to him: Marina Warner quotes several Medieval theologians and con- cludes "the lure of her (Eve's) beauty was nothing but an as- 'For were I worth the whole of woman kind, and all the wealth pect of the death bought about by her seduction of Adam in in the world were in my hand, And if bargaining I were to bid the garden" (58). Further, decay of the flesh is often a symbol to bring myself a lord- With your novel qualities, knight, made of spiritual decay and this also traces to Eve who "cursed to known to me now, Your good looks, gracious manner and bear children rather than blessed with motherhood was identi- great courtesy, All of which I have heard of before, but here fied with nature, a form of low matter that drags man's soul prove true- No lord that is living could be allowed to excel you.'

63 And Gawain replies: scenes. The hunt scenes show an unambiguous world of men and an appropriate venue for male chivalric action. The men 'Indeed, dear lady, you did better,' said the knight, 'But I am are outside, in vigorous, heroic, manly pursuit, training for proud of the precious price you put on me, And solemnly as what is really the purpose of chivalry--the defense of the land your servant say you are my sovereign. May Christ requite it and the service of the Church. The Lord is in the lead, the bold- you: I have become your knight.' est and most active. The rules are followed exactly. Notice Unwittingly, Gawain has entered into another bargain, but how much detail is spent in each hunting scene describing the now Gawain's bargain is with a woman rather than a man, rules of carving and distributing the days spoils. For example, and his ability to please her with his talk is being tested rather the poet says of the first day's hunt: than the other bargains which test his loyalty, valor and truth- Those highest in rank came up with hosts of attendants, fulness. The poet is setting up the different bargains to ask the picked out what appeared to be the plumpest beasts And, ac- question, which is the most important value of chivalry. The cording to custom, had them cut open with finesse (1325-27). Lady believes courtly love is the highest value in chivalry as she says on the second day: While the hunt is going on Gawain is lying in bed. The poet mentions this in each hunting scene to emphasize the con- Since the choicest thing in Chivalry, the chief thing praised, is trast. For example, on the first day he says, "Thus by the forest the loyal sport of love, the very lore of arms (1512-13). borders the brave lord sported, and the good man Gawain, on This points out a serious conflict; in the game of courtly love, his gay bed lying" (1178-9). In contrast to the hunt scenes, Ga- a man is forced outside of the traditional male hierarchies, wain's situation seems too pleasurable, bordering on the sin of placed on equal footing with a woman, and not subject to the luxury and representing a private world outside of the tradi- feudal loyalty system. It is further suggested that this relation- tional hierarchies, rules and loyalties. ship has eclipsed other relationships within the code of chiv- The first message, then, is that a knight has no business sport- alry. And, unlike the other contests, established by men, ing with women, but there is more of a warning present as the where the rules are clearly defined, the Lady's game is ambigu- contest in the bedroom escalates. In the bedroom, the Lady is ous. We can see this as the seduction progresses; Gawain's not just an archetype suggesting certain moral associations to moral code cannot stand strongly enough in this arena. the reader; she is a real temptress testing his chastity and a It seems as if this is what the Gawain poet intended to suggest real object of courtly love, testing his courtesy. As she presses when he positioned the bedroom scenes within the hunt him more and more aggressively as each day passes, the con-

64 flict between his spiritual love and courtly love becomes appar- himself too highly, and in this way commits the sin of covet- ent. On the third day she "pressed him so hotly" (1770) that ousness. the conflict is made clear: His disavowal of the Virgin Mary is shown when he trades one He was concerned for his courtesy, lest he be called caitiff, But symbol for another, the pentangle for the girdle. He gives up more especially for his evil plight if he should plunge into sin, the symbol associated with the Virgin Mary and instead em- and dishonor the owner of the house treacherously (1773-75). braces the girdle which is associated with the Lady. Hamilton believes that the poet constructed the pentangle as a meta- While he is able to see that his chastity is more important than phor for the confusion of chivalry and religion since "all three his courtesy, he is still desperately trying to balance the two. It aspects - Gawain, religion and chivalry - are equivalent , all in- is his inability to make a clear and unambiguous choice be- tertwined and interdependent, none more important the other tween the two which leads him to accept the girdle. While . Gawain has lost his sense of proportion, his perception of the Mary, representing his spiritual love and faith, saves him from proper hierarchy of values" (114). We have seen that all these losing his chastity, as the poet says, "And peril would have im- aspects do not support each other, that in fact, his courtesy pended Had Mary not minded her knight" (1768-9), Gawain and his continence have been at war, the weaknesses of the still turns around and disavows her. When the Lady directly pentangle has become apparent and he is forced to look for an- asks him if he has another love, Gawain answers, " 'I owe my other symbol. oath to none, nor wish to yet a while' " (1790-1). His devotion has been lost in his bargaining. There is another possible significance in the acceptance of the girdle as a substitute for the pentangle, his trading of a Marian This loss of devotion and faith is his undoing for it was his symbol for a secular symbol. Richard Green points out that faith in Mary, through the contemplation of her five joys and during the time the poet was writing, there was a well-known her symbol on the back of her shield, which gave him his prow- apocryphal story in which Mary gives Doubting Thomas her ess and courage. With a weakening of his faith in her, which girdle, the Sacred Cintola, as a sign of his ultimate faith and we can read as a weakening of his spiritual faith as well, he is truthfulness. Green points out the irony which this suggests prey to the Lady's offer of another token to protect him, the "from a comparison of the two arming scenes (the prominent girdle. In this way he becomes guilty of the sin of cowardice, shield which serves to establish Gawain as Mary's Knight in as Gawain himself names it when his failings are revealed to the first scene being replaced in the second by a secular trav- him by the Green Knight. We also see that in his bargaining esty of the Sacra Cintola, its green colour carrying the ironic with the Lady and her valuation of him, he has come to value implication of disloyalty in love)" (7). It supports the idea that

65 he has been disloyal to Mary in accepting the 'false girdle.' We happened to Gawain, his passion was aroused by his 'luf-talk' later see the girdle labeled as a sign of his 'untrawthe,' his with the Lady, weakening his will and opening him up to other faithlessness. sins which are perhaps not as serious as a loss of chastity but are destructive to the workings of the feudal system. If this story can be applied here, there are further ironies to be gleaned. The pentangle is an "endless knot' and as such it is The poet demonstrates that his actions weaken the feudal sys- impenetrable. Many critics have pointed out that the girdle is tem by showing that the consequence of his acceptance of the not endless, and is in fact broken and needs to be tied and un- girdle is that he must then conceal it from his host and in the tied. Marina Warner shows how the Virgin became a symbol process break his agreement with Bertilak. While he has up- of wholeness, unbroken because of her virginity. In Medieval held his bargain with the Lady, and performed with spotless writings the Virgin Mary is described as "a closed gate," a courtesy in the game of courtly love, he has had to break his "spring shut-up," a "fountain sealed" (Warner). Warner, in dis- word and disobey the Lord to do it. Again we see the symbol- cussing the Sacra Cintola, refers to the mythological antece- ism of the archetypes at work. Mary, in her role of Mother of dents of the girdle and says "the sexuality of the symbol de- God, is a symbol of obedience. Eve, in her role in the Fall, rep- rives from its tantalizing ambivalence: loosed, the girdle gives resents disobedience. He has chosen disobedience over obedi- promise; fastened, it denies" (279). Seen in this light, Gawain ence. This is where the Gawain poet makes his strongest is trading the pentangle and the Virgin Mary, both symbols point; the game of courtly love will ultimately break the male that deny and therefore protect, with a symbol which can be social bonds which hold feudalism together. Only the tradi- loosed and therefore makes Gawain weak and prey to other tional Christian hierarchies, from which chivalry was born, sins beyond the protection of his chastity. can provide an adequate support. Christian love and Courtly love are antagonists. This idea parallels St. Augustine's theories of concupiscence. Warner defines concupiscence as " 'the tendency to sin,' a This is reinforced by the final exchange between Gawain and weakening of the will that makes resistance difficult, that is the Green Knight where the poet shows the way he feels feu- the permanent legacy of the Fall, the part of original sin not dalism should work--by banishing courtly love and women remitted in baptism. It is related to desire and the evils of the from the code of chivalry. Sheila Fisher shows how the power flesh. St. Augustine felt that it was not the act of intercourse the women hold is reappropriated by the men in order to sup- that was sinful but the passion necessary to perform it. It is port the male social order. First we see that the outcome of the the bodily passions that are mistrusted in Medieval Catholi- beheading game, and therefore Gawain's life, rests on his per- cism, for they weaken reason and will. This is exactly what formance of the 'exchange of winnings' agreement, that is to

66 say, on his fidelity to Lord Bertilak. Secondly, after the Green tion is to dispense with courtesy, that chivalric value of which Knight reveals the meaning of the test, he states that the Lady he is the paragon in this poem" (115). Now he is much more acted at his behest and thereby appropriates the power she concerned about having been caught in the sins of cowardice seemed to hold. Later in the scene, he reveals that Morgan and covetousness than whether he is polite.. And not only sent him to Arthur's castle in the guise of the Green Knight; does he dispense with courtesy but he is finished with women however, by the time he reveals this, he has already appropri- as well. He refuses to return to the castle to make peace with ated the plan for his own purposes. It is also possible that the Bertilak's wife and Morgan, even though Morgan is Arthur's bartering game, which becomes the basis for the judgment, is half-sister. They are effectively banished. All the external his own invention since he does not attribute this to Morgan's threats they represent, and the internal conflict they gener- agency. This enables him to then turn her plan, which was ated, are eliminated. Power is back in the hands of the appro- hatched for destructive purposes, to a noble and elevating test priate authority, and Gawain's loyalties are redefined. which serves the high moral purpose of teaching Gawain a This shifting of blame and power is demonstrated through the lesson--hold true to the ideals of the Christian doctrine as a path the girdle takes as a symbol and who it is associated with support for the chivalric code. (Fisher 89-95). First, it is offered by the lady as a love token Gawain, in his confession and absolution, goes through a simi- made with her own hand. It is a woman's garment, a symbol lar shifting of power and blame. When the Green Knight first of female sexuality. Then, it becomes a token endowed with reveals Gawain's failure of "cowardice and covetousness" the magic to protect his life, still a female garment, but worn (2374), Gawain shows deep shame and self abnegation (2369- by a man. When the confession and absolution scene occur, it 75). However, after he has been absolved by the Green Knight, becomes a possession of the Green Knight. He then redefines he launches into a tirade about women, all biblical tempt- it as a token "of the great adventure at the Green chapel" resses, in which he becomes one in a long line of male victims (2399). Gawain takes it up as a symbol of his shame. When it unwittingly duped by women (2413-28). In this way he dis- returns to Arthur's court, all the men of the Round Table de- places the blame and is able to regain his power within the cide to wear it, and it becomes a symbol of honor and a stan- story by returning not as a failure but as a fully reinstated dard part of the male outfit. knight of honor. This is not the end of the message. While Gawain has clearly This tirade against women seems to have another motivation. learned the lesson and wears the girdle now as a symbol of his Hamilton points out that "When Gawain realizes that he can- shame, the other Knight of Arthur's court have not; they laugh not achieve perfection through chivalry, his immediate reac- at Gawain's story and proudly take the girdle as a symbol of

67 honor. Guinevere and Morgan will return, and since the with a more complicated world where the standard basis for knights have not learned their lesson about the dangers of exchange and loyalties is being undermined. From our per- courtly love, they will be destroyed. This story becomes a mes- spective, _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_, has the uninten- sage, not for Arthur's court, but for the Aristocratic readership tional effect of pointing out the moral complexities facing of _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_, for they know what Fourteenth Century feudalism. will happen to Arthur's court as a result of not heeding this The conflict Sir Gawain confronts becomes a metaphor for message. By the time Gawain was written, the demise of Came- other problems facing the Fourteenth Century aristocracy. Ga- lot was a common part of the lore. wain's bargaining with Bertilak's wife, a bargain outside of the I believe that this is suggested by the bookend references to traditional aristocratic exchange system, raises the question of Troy, for I learned in _Alone of All Her Sex_, that the Virgin's who one should bargain with, if the acceptable venues for girdle has "direct mythological antecedents in the West" bargaining--among Aristocratic men --is no longer the only ba- (279). At the judgment of Paris, Aphrodite gives Paris her gir- sis for exchange. Bertilak's chastisement and reinstatement of dle and promises him his pick of the most beautiful woman. Gawain in the social order, at the end of the beheading game, He, in turn, gives her the apple of discord. All of the men of makes us realize that the traditional loyalties within the hierar- the round table have taken the girdle, and despite its redefini- chies were not longer enforceable. Aristocratic men could not tion as a male token, the associations with female sexuality re- simply reappropriate the power for their own purposes as Ber- main. In time, Arthur's court will face the fate of Troy, de- tilak did in _Sir Gawain_, for by the Fourteenth Century, stroyed by the discord between men brought about by the de- power was already diffused by the rise of the mercantile class, sire to possess the most beautiful woman. The message is the growth of the cities and the shift in peasant labor. Finally, clear. For the bonds between men to remain strong, traffick- we know that the traditional Christian doctrine, which the Ga- ing with women, in the tradition of courtly love, must be ban- wain poet suggests as the answer, is itself being tested by the ished. new social structure which did not grow out of it, as feudalism did, and so does not fit so neatly. This perspective makes _Sir It seems as if much of what we have read this semester shows Gawain and the Green Knight_ a nostalgic tale where religion a world trying to grapple with massive social change. The held all the answers and the old system held all the power. books present a perspective which nostalgically supports a dying social structure, that of the feudal economy Unwittingly, these books have also shown how the feudal system, and the Bibliography religious doctrines which support it, no longer fit comfortably

68 De Roo, Harvey. "Undressing Lady Bertilak: Guilt and Denial Morgan, Gerald. "The Action of the Hunting and Bedroom in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The Chaucer Review 27 Scenes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Medium Aevum (1993): 305-24. 56 (1987): 200-16.

Fisher, Sheila. "Taken Men and Token Women in Sir Gawain Warner, Marina. Alone of all Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult and the Green Knight." Seeking the Woman in Late Medieval of the Virgin Mary. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1976. and Renaissance Writings: Essays in Feminist Contextual Criticism.. Ed. Sheila Fisher and Janet E. Halley. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989. 71-105.

Fries, Maureen. "The Characterization of Women in the Allit- erative Tradition." The Alliterative Tradition in the Four- teenth Century Ed. Bernard S. Levy and Paul E. Szarmach. Kent: Kent State University Press, 1981. 25-45.

Green, Richard. "Sir Gawain and the Sacra Cintola." English Studies in Canada 11 (1985): 1-11.

Gold, Penny Schine. The Lady and the Virgin: Image, Atti- tude, and Experience in Twelfth-Century France. Chicago: Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1985.

Hamilton, Ruth. "Chivalry as Sin in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." University of Dayton Review 18 (1987): 113-17.

Kamps, Ivo. "Magic, Women, and Incest: The Real Challenges in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies 1(1989): 313- 36.

69 CREDITS

Prentice Hall The British Tradition, Volume 1

Picture: http://dwell-in-possibility.blogspot.com/2009/02/book-revie w-sir-gawain-and-green-knight.html--

Picture: http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/tristram.html

Picture: http://literature11.pbworks.com/w/page/18014152/King%20 Arthur%20and%20Robin%20Hood

Picture: http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf982j/Green%20Knight.ht ml

Hero’s Quest: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/symmetry-sir-gawain -and-green-knight#section-16487

Scenarios Activity: http://www.teamsmedieval.org/ofc/F07/gawain.htm

70 CHAPTER 6 Romantic and Victorian Poetry

A starting point for some of the great British poets...

SELECTIONS FROM: Blake (with questions) Wordsworth Keats Browning Tennyson

La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John William Waterhouse Accessed via Wikipedia Commons Questions on Blakes poetry (poems follow) SECTION 1 Archetypes are patterns (images, plot, character, ideas) that seem universal because of the way in which they spring up in texts of varying cultures and time periods. For example, water, the sea- William Blake sons, and times of day are archetypal images which you have probably encountered and studied in many literary works.

1. Why does the lamb work as an archetype for innocence? What details from the poem “The Lamb” support this interpretation? 2. How does the tiger work as a symbol of experience (or non-innocence)? What details from the poem “The Tyger” add complexity to this symbol? SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE 3. Consider “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” together. What similarities in form, diction, syntax, and meaning connect these poems (the titles don’t explicitly indicate WILLIAM BLAKE that these two poems are to be paired)? How does your reading of “The Lamb” (1757-1827) change after reading “The Tyger,” and how does your reading of “The Tyger” build on your reading of “The Lamb?” WILLIAM BLAKE’S VOLUME OF POETRY ENTITLED SONGS OF INNOCENCE 4. Blake frequently offers social commentary in his poems. In “The Tyger,” what AND EXPERIENCE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF HIS BELIEF THAT INNOCENCE choices in diction seem to be commenting on the social ills of his time? 5. In both poems, repetition is a main poetic devise. What effect does the repeti- AND EXPERIENCE WERE “THE TWO CONTRARY STATES OF THE HUMAN tion have in “The Lamb?” What effect does the repetition (and variation) have in SOUL,” AND THAT TRUE INNOCENCE WAS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT EXPERI- “The Tyger?” (HINT: The effects are very different!) ENCE. SONGS OF INNOCENCE CONTAINS POEMS EITHER WRITTEN FROM 6. In “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow,” how does Blake again use archetypal im- THE PERSPECTIVE OF CHILDREN OR WRITTEN ABOUT THEM. MANY OF THE ages to bring meaning to his poems? 7. How does “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” help you to better understand these POEMS APPEARING IN SONGS OF INNOCENCE HAVE A COUNTERPART IN paired poems. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE, WITH QUITE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE OF THE WORLD. Extension Work: Read the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” from both Songs of Expe- rience and Songs of Innocence. Consider how these offer social commentary (espe- THE DISASTROUS END OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION CAUSED BLAKE TO cially in comparison to “Infant Sorrow”, how they build off similar archetypes as LOSE FAITH IN THE GOODNESS OF MANKIND, EXPLAINING MUCH OF THE those included here (especially “The Lamb”), and how they use poetic devices to DESPAIR FOUND IN SONGS OF EXPERIENCE. BLAKE ALSO BELIEVED THAT create an effect. CHILDREN LOST THEIR INNOCENCE THROUGH EXPLOITATION AND FROM A

RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY WHICH PUT DOGMA BEFORE MERCY. HE DID NOT, To access all the poems from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, use the link below: http://www.online-literature.com/blake/songs-of-innocence-and-experie/ HOWEVER, BELIEVE THAT CHILDREN SHOULD BE KEPT FROM BECOMING

EXPERIENCED ENTIRELY. IN TRUTH, HE BELIEVED THAT CHILDREN All images come from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy B, 1789, 1794 (British Museum), accessed via the Blake Archives at http://blakearchive.org SHOULD INDEED BECOME EXPERIENCED BUT THROUGH THEIR OWN DISCOV- ERIES, WHICH IS REFLECTED IN A NUMBER OF THESE POEMS.

(SUMMARY ADAPTED FROM WIKIPEDIA BY ANNIE COLEMAN, LOCATED AT HTTP://LIBRIVOX.ORG/SONGS-OF-INNOCENCE-AND-EXPERIENCE-BY-WILLIAM-BLAKE/)

72 “The Lamb” from Songs of Innocence “The Tyger” from Songs of Experience

Little lamb, who made thee? Tyger, tyger, burning bright Does thou know who made thee, In the forests of the night, Gave thee life, and bid thee feed What immortal hand or eye By the stream and o'er the mead; Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Gave thee clothing of delight, In what distant deeps or skies Softest clothing, woolly, bright; Burnt the fire of thine eyes? Gave thee such a tender voice, On what wings dare he aspire? Making all the vales rejoice? What the hand dare seize the fire? Little lamb, who made thee? Does thou know who made thee? And what shoulder and what art Could twist the sinews of thy heart? Little lamb, I'll tell thee; And, when thy heart began to beat, Little lamb, I'll tell thee:He is called by thy name, What dread hand and what dread feet? For He calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek, and He is mild, What the hammer? what the chain? He became a little child. In what furnace was thy brain? I a child, and thou a lamb, What the anvil? what dread grasp We are called by His name. Dare its deadly terrors clasp? Little lamb, God bless thee! Little lamb, God bless thee! When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did He smile His work to see? Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

73 “Infant Joy” from Songs of Innocence

'I have no name; I am but two days old.' What shall I call thee? 'I happy am, Joy is my name.' Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy! Sweet joy, but two days old. Sweet joy I call thee: Thou dost smile, I sing the while; Sweet joy befall thee!

“Infant Sorrow” from Songs of Experience

My mother groaned, my father wept: Into the dangerous world I leapt, Helpless, naked, piping loud, Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my father's hands, Striving against my swaddling bands, Bound and weary, I thought best To sulk upon my mother's breast.

74 SECTION 2 William Wordsworth “My Heart Leaps Up” My heart leaps up when I behold On April 7, 1770, William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. Wordsworth's mother died when he was eight--this experience shapes A rainbow in the sky: much of his later work. Wordsworth attended Hawkshead Grammar School, where his love of poetry was firmly established and, it is believed, he made his first So was it when my life began; attempts at verse. While he was at Hawkshead, Wordsworth's father died leaving him and his four siblings orphans. After Hawkshead, Wordsworth studied at St. So is it now I am a man; John's College in Cambridge and before his final semester, he set out on a walking tour of Europe, an experience that influenced both his poetry and his political sensibilities. While touring Europe, Wordsworth came into contact with the So be it when I shall grow old, French Revolution. This experience as well as a subsequent period living in France, brought about Wordsworth's interest and sympathy for the life, troubles and Or let me die! speech of the "common man". These issues proved to be of the utmost importance to Wordsworth's work. Wordsworth's earliest poetry was published in 1793 in the The Child is father of the Man; collections An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. While living in France, Wordsworth conceived a daughter, Caroline, out of wedlock; he left France, And I could wish my days to be however, before she was born. In 1802, he returned to France with his sister on a four-week visit to meet Caroline. Later that year, he married Mary Hutchinson, a Bound each to each by natural piety. childhood friend, and they had five children together. In 1812, while living in Grasmere, they grieved the loss of two of their children, Catherine and John, who Question on “My Heart Leaps Up” both died that year. Equally important in the poetic life of Wordsworth was his 1795 meeting 1. IF we take this poem to be representative of Romantic atti- with the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It was with Coleridge that Wordsworth published the famous Lyrical Ballads in 1798. While the poems themselves are tudes toward the natural world, some of the most influential in Western literature, it is the preface to the second what conclusions might we draw edition that remains one of the most important testaments to a poet's views on both his craft and his place in the world. In the preface Wordsworth writes on the about what English Romantics need for "common speech" within poems and argues against the hierarchy of the think about Nature? period which valued epic poetry above the lyric. Wordsworth's most famous work, The Prelude (1850), is considered by many to be the crowning achievement of English romanticism. The poem, revised 2. IF we take this poem to be rep- numerous times, chronicles the spiritual life of the poet and marks the birth of a resentative of the English Roman- new genre of poetry. Although Wordsworth worked on The Prelude throughout his life, the poem was published posthumously. Wordsworth spent his final years tic form of “Spirituality,” what conclusions might we draw settled at Rydal Mount in England, travelling and continuing his outdoor about what English Romantics believe? excursions. Devastated by the death of his daughter Dora in 1847, Wordsworth seemingly lost his will to compose poems. William Wordsworth died at Rydal Mount on April 23, 1850, leaving his wife Mary to publish The Prelude three 3.If this poem is representative of English Romantic poetry, months later. what modern expectation about what it means to be “Ro- - See more at: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/ mantic is missing? 296#sthash.jqPP94jG.dpuf 75 Download the poem “Tintern Abbey” HERE. Questions on “Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey”

(Students may want to pair with “The Daffodils” for interest- GALLERY 6.1 Pictures of Tintern Abbey ing discussion of memory, nature, and poetic sensibilities)

Many of these questions are inspired by those included in the 2012 Prentice Hall Literature Series: British Literature, Common Core Edition.

1. What is the situation that this poem describes (Who, What, Why, When and Where? - To answer “When?” consider time since last visit and infer time of year.) 2. Focusing on lines 1-22 and lines 40-49, how does the imagery help us better understand English Romanticism and its beliefs about nature and spirituality? 3. How have the poet’s memories of his first visit helped him? What “other gift” does the poet mention in line 36? 4. Explain how the poet’s attitudes and perspectives have changed between his first and second visits. 5. What does this poem say about Nature, Memory, Time, and Age/Youth. Find one or more lines to support each answer.

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76 Additional Poem Selections “The Daffodils”

“The World is Too Much With Us” I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, The world is too much with us; late and soon, When all at once I saw a crowd, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Little we see in Nature that is ours; Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! Continuous as the stars that shine This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretched in never-ending line The winds that will be howling at all hours, Along the margin of a bay: And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers, Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. For this, for everything, we are out of tune; The waves beside them danced, but they It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A pagan suckled in a creed outworn; A Poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn. They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

77 “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”

Earth has not anything to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

78 SECTION 3 “La Belle Dame Sans Keats Merci”

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,

QUICK FACTS Alone and palely loitering; The sedge is withered from the lake, NAME: John Keats And no birds sing. OCCUPATION: Poet Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight, BIRTH DATE: October 31, 1795 So haggard and so woe-begone? DEATH DATE: February 23, 1821 The squirrel's granary is full,

PLACE OF BIRTH: London, England And the harvest's done.

PLACE OF DEATH: Rome, Italy I see a lilly on thy brow, English Romantic lyric poet John Keats was dedicated to the perfection of With anguish moist and fever dew; poetry marked by vivid imagery that expressed a philosophy through And on thy cheek a fading rose classical legend. Fast withereth too. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY I met a lady in the meads Born in London, England, on October 31, 1795, John Keats devoted his short Full beautiful, a faery's child; life to the perfection of poetry marked by vivid imagery, great sensuous Her hair was long, her foot was light, appeal and an attempt to express a philosophy through classical legend. In 1818 he went on a walking tour in the Lake District. His exposure and And her eyes were wild. overexertion on that trip brought on the first symptoms of the tuberculosis, which ended his life. I set her on my pacing steed,

(from www.biography.com) And nothing else saw all day long; For sideways would she lean, and sing poems on pages following come from www.poets.org A faery's song.

79 I made a garland for her head, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; She looked at me as she did love, And made sweet moan.

She found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew; And sure in language strange she said, I love thee true.

She took me to her elfin grot, And there she gazed and sighed deep, And there I shut her wild sad eyes-- Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, So kissed to sleep. Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express And there we slumbered on the moss, A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: And there I dreamed, ah woe betide, What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape The latest dream I ever dreamed Of deities or mortals, or of both, On the cold hill side. In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? what maidens loth? I saw pale kings, and princes too, What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? Who cried--"La belle Dame sans merci Hath thee in thrall!" Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; I saw their starved lips in the gloam Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, With horrid warning gaped wide, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: And I awoke, and found me here Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave On the cold hill side. Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss, And this is why I sojourn here Though winning near the goal--yet, do not grieve; Alone and palely loitering, She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, Though the sedge is withered from the lake, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! And no birds sing.

80 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Ode to a Nightingale Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, 1. For ever piping songs for ever new; My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains More happy love! more happy, happy love! My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains For ever panting, and for ever young; One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: All breathing human passion far above, 'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, But being too happy in thine happiness,— A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, In some melodious plot Who are these coming to the sacrifice? Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Singest of summer in full-throated ease. Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? 2. What little town by river or sea shore, O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? Tasting of Flora and the country green, And, little town, thy streets for evermore Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth! Will silent be; and not a soul to tell O for a beaker full of the warm South, Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene, With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede And purple-stained mouth; Of marble men and maidens overwrought, That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, With forest branches and the trodden weed; And with thee fade away into the forest dim: Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold pastoral! 3. When old age shall this generation waste, Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe What thou among the leaves hast never known, Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, The weariness, the fever, and the fret 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'--that is all Here, where men sit and hear each other groan; Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs, Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies; Where but to think is to be full of sorrow

81 And leaden-eyed despairs, To cease upon the midnight with no pain, Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow. In such an ecstasy! Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain— 4. To thy high requiem become a sod. Away! away! for I will fly to thee, Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, 7. But on the viewless wings of Poesy, Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! Though the dull brain perplexes and retards: No hungry generations tread thee down; Already with thee! tender is the night, The voice I hear this passing night was heard And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne, In ancient days by emperor and clown: Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays; Perhaps the self-same song that found a path But here there is no light, Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown She stood in tears amid the alien corn; Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways. The same that oft-times hath Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam 5. Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, 8. But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet Forlorn! the very word is like a bell Wherewith the seasonable month endows To toil me back from thee to my sole self! The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine; As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf. Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves; Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades And mid-May's eldest child, Past the near meadows, over the still stream, The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. In the next valley-glades: Was it a vision, or a waking dream? 6. Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep? Darkling I listen; and, for many a time I have been half in love with easeful Death, Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme, To take into the air my quiet breath; Now more than ever seems it rich to die,

82 SECTION 4 “My Last Duchess” Robert Browning *Make sure you know what a dramatic monologue is before taking on this poem!

1.As you read the following poem, consider the following questions: 1.What is the effect of enjambment in the poem? 2.Comment on the form of the poem. 3.Who are the three major characters introduced? NAME: Robert Browning 4.Who is Fra Pandolf? OCCUPATION: Author, Poet 5.What is the reason that the Duke is entertaining a visitor?

DEATH DATE: December 12, 6.Explain lines 13-15. What is going on? 1889 7.Where does the tone of the poem shift? EDUCATION: University College London 8.How does line 19 demonstrate foreshadowing?

PLACE OF BIRTH: London, England 9.Explain lines 12-25. How does the speaker feel about the woman in the poem? Quote two lines for support. PLACE OF DEATH: Venice, Italy 10.From lines 30-40, how do we know the speaker is bitter? English poet and playwright Robert Browning was a master of dramatic verse and is best known for his 12-book long form blank poem The Ring and 11.Explain what is happening in lines 45-46. the Book. 12.What is the significance of the last three lines of the poem? 13. What is the seahorse a symbol of? Explain. 14.Why do you think the speaker likes the painting so much? (from www.biography.com)

Wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning was also a prolific poet worthy of reading! “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!”

83 The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule Ferrara She rode with round the terrace — all and each That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Would draw from her alike the approving speech, 30 Looking as if she were alive. I call Or blush, at least. She thanked men, — good! but thanked That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands Somehow — I know not how — as if she ranked Worked busily a day, and there she stands. My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name Will't please you sit and look at her? I said With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame "Frà Pandolf" by design, for never read This sort of trifling? Even had you skill Strangers like you that pictured countenance, In speech — (which I have not) — to make your will The depth and passion of its earnest glance, Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this But to myselfthey turned (since none puts by Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) 10 Or there exceed the mark" — and if she let And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set 40 How such a glance came there; so, not the first Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse, Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not --E'en then would be some stooping, and I choose Her husband's presence only, called that spot Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without Frà Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Over my Lady's wrist too much," or "Paint Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands Must never hope to reproduce the faint As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet Half-flush that dies along her throat": such stuff The company below, then. I repeat, Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough 20 The Count your master's known munificence For calling up that spot of joy. She had Is ample warrant that no just pretence 50 A heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad, Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast, Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, The dropping of the daylight in the West,

84 Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me! “Porphyria's Lover”

THE rain set early in to-night, Notes The sullen wind was soon awake, It tore the elm-tops down for spite, 1. The poem as originally published was entitled "I. Italy," the And did its worst to vex the lake: companion piece to "II. France" (later entitled "Count Gis- I listen'd with heart fit to break. mond") under the general title "Italy and France." The dra- When glided in Porphyria; straight matic monologue is a byproduct of Browning's research for She shut the cold out and the storm, And kneel'd and made the cheerless grate Sordello, during which he read about Alfonso II d'Este, fifth Blaze up, and all the cottage warm; Duke of Ferrara (1533-1597; ruled 1559-1597), the patron of Which done, she rose, and from her form the writer Tasso. Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, And laid her soil'd gloves by, untied The place is the ducal palace in the Italian city-state of Fer- Her hat and let the damp hair fall, rara; the time is the Renaissance. And, last, she sat down by my side And call'd me. When no voice replied,

Source: She put my arm about her waist, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-browningRober And made her smooth white shoulder bare, t Browning. 1812–1889 And all her yellow hair displaced, And, stooping, made my cheek lie there, And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,

Murmuring how she loved me—she AUDIO 6.1 Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, Audio of poem To set its struggling passion free From pride, and vainer ties dissever, And give herself to me for ever.

But passion sometimes would prevail, Nor could to-night's gay feast restrain A sudden thought of one so pale For love of her, and all in vain: So, she was come through wind and rain.

85 Be sure I look'd up at her eyes Happy and proud; at last I knew Porphyria worshipp'd me; surprise Made my heart swell, and still it grew While I debated what to do.

That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Perfectly pure and good: I found A thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around,

And strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain. As a shut bud that holds a bee, I warily oped her lids: again Laugh'd the blue eyes without a stain.

And I untighten'd next the tress About her neck; her cheek once more Blush'd bright beneath my burning kiss I propp'd her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore

Her head, which droops upon it still: The smiling rosy little head, So glad it has its utmost will, That all it scorn'd at once is fled, And I, its love, am gain'd instead!

Porphyria's love: she guess'd not how Her darling one wish would be heard. And thus we sit together now, And all night long we have not stirr'd, And yet God has not said a word!

86 SECTION 5 “The Lady of Shalott” Alfred, Lord Tennyson

NAME: Alfred Tennyson

OCCUPATION: Poet Part I BIRTH DATE: August 06, 1809 On either side the river lie DEATH DATE: October 06, 1892 Long fields of barley and of rye, PLACE OF BIRTH: Somersby, United Kingdom That clothe the wold and meet the sky; PLACE OF DEATH: Aldworth, United Kingdom And through the field the road runs by To many-towered Camelot; FULL NAME: Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson And up and down the people go, NICKNAME: The Lord Tennyson Gazing where the lilies blow BEST KNOWN FOR Round an island there below, The island of Shalott.1 Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Queen Victoria's poet laureate. His lasting works include "Ulysses," "The Lady of Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Shalott," and Idylls of the King. Little breezes dusk and shiver Through the wave that runs for ever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls, and four gray towers, Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.

87 By the margin, willow veiled Shadows of the world appear. Slide the heavy barges trailed There she sees the highway near By slow horses; and unhailed Winding down to Camelot: 50 The shallop flitteth silken-sailed There the river eddy whirls, Skimming down to Camelot: And there the curly village-churls, But who hath seen her wave her hand? And the red cloaks of market girls, Or at the casement seen her stand? 25 Pass onward from Shalott. Or is she known in all the land, The Lady of Shalott? Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on an ambling pad, Only reapers, reaping early Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad, In among the bearded barley, Or long-haired page in crimson clad, Hear a song that echoes cheerly Goes by to towered Camelot; From the river winding clearly, And sometimes through the mirror blue Down to towered Camelot: The knights come riding two and two: And by the moon the reaper weary, She hath no loyal knight and true, Piling sheaves in uplands airy, The Lady of Shalott. Listening, whispers "'Tis the fairy Lady of Shalott." But in her web she still delights To weave the mirror's magic sights, Part II For often through the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights There she weaves by night and day And music, went to Camelot: A magic web with colours gay. Or when the moon was overhead, She has heard a whisper say, Came two young lovers lately wed; A curse is on her if she stay "I am half sick of shadows," said To look down to Camelot. The Lady of Shalott. She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, Part III And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott. A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode between the barley-sheaves, And moving through a mirror clear The sun came dazzling through the leaves, 75 That hangs before her all the year, And flamed upon the brazen greaves

88 Of bold Sir Lancelot. "Tirra lira," by the river A red-cross knight for ever kneeled Sang Sir Lancelot. To a lady in his shield, She left the web, she left the loom, That sparkled on the yellow field, She made three paces through the room, Beside remote Shalott. She saw the water-lily bloom, The gemmy bridle glittered free, She saw the helmet and the plume, Like to some branch of stars we see She looked down to Camelot. Hung in the golden Galaxy. Out flew the web and floated wide; The bridle bells rang merrily The mirror cracked from side to side; As he rode down to Camelot: "The curse is come upon me," cried And from his blazoned baldric slung The Lady of Shalott. A mighty silver bugle hung, Part IV And as he rode his armour rung, Beside remote Shalott. In the stormy east-wind straining, The pale yellow woods were waning, All in the blue unclouded weather The broad stream in his banks complaining, Thick-jewelled shone the saddle-leather, Heavily the low sky raining The helmet and the helmet-feather Over towered Camelot; Burned like one burning flame together, Down she came and found a boat As he rode down to Camelot. Beneath a willow left afloat, As often through the purple night, And round about the prow she wrote 125 Below the starry clusters bright, The Lady of Shalott. Some bearded meteor, trailing light, Moves over still Shalott. And down the river's dim expanse Like some bold seer in a trance, His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd; 100 Seeing all his own mischance — On burnished hooves his war-horse trode; With a glassy countenance From underneath his helmet flowed Did she look to Camelot. His coal-black curls as on he rode, And at the closing of the day As he rode down to Camelot. She loosed the chain, and down she lay; From the bank and from the river The broad stream bore her far away, He flashed into the crystal mirror, The Lady of Shalott.

89 Lying, robed in snowy white All the knights at Camelot: That loosely flew to left and right — But Lancelot mused a little space; The leaves upon her falling light — He said, "She has a lovely face; Through the noises of the night God in his mercy lend her grace, She floated down to Camelot: The Lady of Shalott." And as the boat-head wound along The willowy hills and fields among, They heard her singing her last song, The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy, Chanted loudly, chanted lowly, Till her blood was frozen slowly, And her eyes were darkened wholly, Turned to towered Camelot. For ere she reached upon the tide 150 The first house by the water-side, Singing in her song she died, The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony, By garden-wall and gallery, A gleaming shape she floated by, Dead-pale between the houses high, Silent into Camelot. Out upon the wharfs they came, Knight and burgher, lord and dame, And round the prow they read her name, The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? and what is here? And in the lighted palace near Died the sound of royal cheer; And they crossed themselves for fear,

90 “The Charge of the Light Brigade” Charging an army, while All the world wonder’d: Plunged in the battery-smoke Half a league, half a league, Right thro’ the line they broke; Half a league onward, Cossack and Russian All in the valley of Death Reel’d from the sabre-stroke Rode the six hundred. Shatter’d and sunder’d. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Then they rode back, but not Charge for the guns!" he said: Not the six hundred. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, "Forward, the Light Brigade!" Cannon behind them Was there a man dismay’d? Volley’d and thunder’d; Not tho’ the soldier knew Storm’d at with shot and shell, Some one had blunder’d: While horse and hero fell, Theirs not to make reply, They that had fought so well Theirs not to reason why, Came thro’ the jaws of Death, Theirs but to do and die: Back from the mouth of Hell, Into the valley of Death All that was left of them, Rode the six hundred. Left of six hundred.

Cannon to right of them, When can their glory fade? Cannon to left of them, O the wild charge they made! Cannon in front of them All the world wonder’d. Volley’d and thunder’d; Honor the charge they made! Storm’d at with shot and shell, Honor the Light Brigade, Boldly they rode and well, Noble six hundred! Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell Rode the six hundred.

Flash’d all their sabres bare, Flash’d as they turn’d in air Sabring the gunners there,

91 “Ulysses” This is my son, mine own Telemachus, To whom I leave the scepter and the isle, It little profits that an idle king, Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill By this still hearth, among these barren crags, This labor, by slow prudence to make mild Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole A rugged people, and through soft degrees Unequal laws unto a savage race, Subdue them to the useful and the good. That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Of common duties, decent not to fail Life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed In offices of tenderness, and pay Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those Meet adoration to my household gods, That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail; Vext the dim sea. I am become a name; There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners, For always roaming with a hungry heart Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me, Much have I seen and known--cities of men That ever with a frolic welcome took And manners, climates, councils, governments, The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Myself not least, but honored of them all,-- Free hearts, free foreheads--you and I are old; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Old age hath yet his honor and his toil. Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. Death closes all; but something ere the end, I am a part of all that I have met; Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Not unbecoming men that strove with gods. Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks; For ever and for ever when I move. The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep How dull it is to pause, to make an end, Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life Push off, and sitting well in order smite Were all too little, and of one to me The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds Little remains; but every hour is saved To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths From that eternal silence, something more, Of all the western stars, until I die. A bringer of new things; and vile it were It may be that the gulfs will wash us down; For some three suns to store and hoard myself, It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And this gray spirit yearning in desire And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Though much is taken, much abides; and though Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. We are not now that strength which in old days

92 Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

93 CHAPTER 7 William Shakespeare: An Introduction

William Shakespeare (Love the earring) SECTION 1 You are going to research Shakespeare’s life and motivation for writing Macbeth. Read each question below and look for the best answer online. Beside each response, post the name of the website where you found your information. You may Getting to know The Bard: NOT use Wikipedia/blogs/illegitimate websites (go deeper). A Pre-reading Web Hunt 1. In which year was Shakespeare born? 2. Where was he born?

3. What is the inscription on Shakespeare’s gravestone?

4. How many plays did he write?

5. How many sonnets did he write?

6. What is the story of his marriage?

7. What were the names of his children?

8. Who performed most of Shakespeare’s female roles? Why?

9. What is the name of Shakespeare’s acting company?

10. Give three facts about the Globe Theater.

11. For which royalty were some of Shakespeare’s plays performed?

12. Did Shakespeare make money off his work?

13. Where and when did Shakespeare die?

14. How many words did Shakespeare “create”? List ten that caught your attention.

15. Find two pictures of Elizabethan clothing, and describe them. What do you notice?

16. What is Shakespeare’s connection to James I? Why might this connection be important? How did this connection influence the creation of Macbeth? Cawdor Castle 17. Do a web search for “Shakespeare authorship debate.” Why do people believe As you begin your web hunt, click HERE Shakespeare did not write his own plays? Name two people who supposedly were the “real” authors and explain why. to check out the Cawdor Castle, where most of the play 95 is set! 96 SECTION 2

Prereading-Macbeth in 32 The 32-second Macbeth

Seconds! Actors 1, 2, 3 Fair is foul and foul is fair

Actor 4 What bloody man is that?

DIRECTIONS Actor 2 A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come

Macbeth So foul and fair a day I have not seen 1. First, act out Macbeth in 32 seconds. If your Actor 3 All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! character “dies,” you must fall down dead! Try Macbeth If chance will have me king, then chance will crown me to finish in the 32-second time limit. Actor 5 Unsex me here 2. Then, go through and see what ideas/motifs Macbeth If it were done when ‘tis done are presented. What kinds of issues will we be Actor 5 Screw your courage to the sticking place encountering in the play? Macbeth Is this a dagger that I see before me? (Actor 4 dies)

Actor 5 A little water clears us of this deed.

Actor 6 Fly, good Fleance, fly! (dies)

Macbeth Blood will have blood

Actors 1, 2, 3 Double, double, toil and trouble

Actor 7 He has kill’d me, mother! (dies)

Actor 8 Bleed, bleed, poor country!

Actor 5 Out damn’d spot! (dies)

Macbeth Out, out, brief candle!

Actor 8 Turn, hell-hound, turn!

Macbeth Lay on Macduff! (dies)

Actor 8 Hail, king of Scotland!

© Folger Shakespeare Library 2007 CHAPTER 8 What is a sonnet: The Basics Sonnets are poems that meet the following rules: • All sonnets are 14 lines long • Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, which means that each line has 10 syllables, alternating in an unstressed/stressed pattern. • Sonnets follow a predetermined rhyme scheme; the rhyme pattern determines if the sonnet is Petrarchan (Italian), Shakespearean, or Spense- rian. • All sonnets are characterized by a “turn” located at a designated point in the sonnet. The turn is the point in the sonnet where the mood changes, or when the problem is solved. SECTION 1 The Petrarchan Form Petrarchan Sonnets A B The History B The sonnet began in Italy, where the poet Francesco A The octave (8 lines) Petrarch first established it as a serious form of poetry. A Petrarch wrote a large B collection of sonnets addressed to a young woman B named Laura he saw one afternoon at church. She was A not interested, but he didn’t let that stop him, and The Turn proceeded to publish some 260 sonnets about her— C followed by another hundred or so after her death. Petrarch D is, quite possibly, the first Francesco Petrarch, the recorded literary stalker. first recorded literary E The sestet (6 lines) stalker. C In these sonnets, Petrarch used witty plays on Laura’s name (l’oro=the golden one or the golden; references to laurel trees, D etc.) to both honor and attack the object of his affection. He would praise her for her beauty in one sonnet, then condemn her E as an icy monster who rejects his love in another. Laura was completely unable to respond to these poems, as women did not The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into an eight-line octave, write, and her public persona was thus basically Petrarch’s to rhyming abbaabba, followed by a six-line sestet, rhyming define. cdecde. Often, the octave poses the problem and the sestet offers the solution. Sonnets are generally linked by the person or theme addressed. 99 Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) Groomed for Success Nephew of the earl of Leicester, and son of a statesman, Philip Sidney was certainly well connected. Throughout his life, though, he carried himself with remarkable modesty. His schoolmate, and later, biographer Fulke Greville remarked on the “staidness of mind [and] lovely and familiar gravity.”

A Brave Solider Around 1580, Sidney fell out of favor with the queen when he wrote a letter urging her not to marry the duke of of Anjou. Eventually he regained status with her and was knighted in 1583. In 1586, during a military engagement against the Spanish-Catholics in Holland, Sidney was severely wounded. As he lay on the battlefield, he bravely insisted that the water offered to him be given to another wounded soldier. Twenty-six days later he died, to the great grief of his country.

Pioneering Sonneteer Sidney wrote the first great sonnet sequence in English, Astrophel and Stella. Before Sidney, other great sonnets were written, but his were the first linked by subject matter and theme. Each sonnet addresses an aspect of Astrophel’s love for Stella. This was inspired by Penelope Devereux (Stella) to whom Sidney (Astrophel) had been engaged. the engagement was later broken and Devereaux married Lord Rich. Yet, for most readers, Stella’s name will be for- Sir Philip Sidney was a courtier, scholar, poet, and ever remembered with Astrophel’s. solider--a true “Renaissance man.” He attended both Ox- ford and Cambridge, and furthered his knowledge by traveling through Europe. He became a favorite in the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

100 Pay for Poetry Unlike many other poets of his time, Spenser Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) depended on the payments he received for his work. When the queen’s treasurer balked at paying him, he sent this verse to to the queen: “I was promised on a time / To have reason for my rhime. / From that time onto this season / I have received nor rhime, nor reason.” Spenser was paid immediately.

The Faerie Queene In 1580, Spenser took a position as sec- retary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland. On a visit to Ireland in 1589, Sir Walter Raleigh read and was impressed with one of Spenser’s unfinished poems. He persuaded Spenser to take the first three books of his long poem to London for publication. The poem became Spenser’s greatest work, The Faerie Queene.

Written in an intentionally archaic style, The Faerie Queen re- counts the adventures of several knights, each representing a virtue. This allegory of good and evil. dedicated to Queen Eliza- beth, brought Spenser a small pension.

A Poet’s Poet Spenser was an innovative poet. In The Faerie Queen, he created a new type of nine line stanza, which was later named for him. He also created a sonnet form, known as the Spenserian Sonnet, containing a unique structure and Born into a working-class family, Edmund Spenser attended rhyme scheme. the Merchant Taylors’ School on a scholarship and managed to work his way through the Cambridge University. During his The Spenserian sonnet has a rhyme scheme of abab bcbc university years, Spenser published his first poems. cdcd ee.

101 Sonnet 35 Sonnet 75 Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser Listen to it here

My hungry eyes, through greedy covetize One day I wrote her name upon the strand, Still to behold the object of their paine, But came the waves and washed it away: With no contentment can themselves suffize; Again I wrote it with a second hand, But having, pine, and having not, complaine. But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. For lacking it, they cannot lyfe sustayne; Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay And having it, they gaze on it the more, A mortal thing so to immortalize, In their amazement lyke Narcissus vaine, For I myself shall like to this decay, Whose eyes him starv'd: so plenty makes me poore. And eek my name be wiped out likewise. Yet are mine eyes so filled with the store Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise Of that faire sight, that nothing else they brooke, To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: But lothe the things which they did like before, My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And can no more endure on them to looke. And in the heavens write your glorious name. All this worlds glory seemeth vayne to me, Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue, And all their showes but shadowes, saving she. Out love shall live, and later life renew.

1. Label the rhyme scheme in both sonnets, then mark the stressed and Check Your Understanding unstressed syllables in the first four lines. 2. Look up any words you do not know, and read the sonnets again for understanding. 3. Paraphrase each sonnet in your own words. 4. In Sonnet 35, what do the speaker’s eyes desire? 5. What state does that desire produce in him? Hoe does it make him feel? 6. In Sonnet 75, why does the Lady say the speaker’s efforts are futile? 7. How does the speaker respond? 8. What connection does sonnet 75 make between poetry and immortal- ity? 9. Are the speakers overreacting to their situations? Explain. 102 Sonnet 31 Sonnet 39 Sir Phillip Sidney Sir Phillip Sidney

With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies ! Come Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace, How silently, and with how wan a face ! The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe, What, may it be that even in heavenly place The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release, That busy archer his sharp arrows tries? The indifferent judge between the high and low; Sure, if that long with love-acquainted eyes With shield of proof, shield me from out the prease Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case; Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw; I read it in thy looks; thy languisht grace O make in me those civil wars to cease; To me that feel the like, thy state descries. I will good tribute pay, if thou do so. Then, even of fellowship, O Moon, tell me, Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed, Is constant love deemed there but want of wit? A chamber deaf to noise and blind to light, Are beauties there as proud as here they be? A rosy garland and a weary head: Do they above love to be loved, and yet And if these things, as being thine by right, Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me, Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness? Livelier than elsewhere, Stella's image see.

1. Label the rhyme scheme in the sonnet above and the turn. What do you notice about its form? Which sonnet form does this match? 2. Does Sidney respect or violate sonnet traditions by doing this? 3. Why might he want to innovate this way? 4. Paraphrase both sonnets into your own words. 5. Are the speakers in these sonnets sympathetic? Explain. 6. In Sonnet 31, how does the moon appear to the speaker? 7. To what does the speaker attribute the moon’s mood? 8. How does the speaker reveal his own situation by addressing the moon? 9. What benefits and rewards does the speaker attribute to sleep? What reward does he promise sleep? Judging on the reward, why might he crave sleep? 10.Looking at these sonnets, what can a poet achieve in a sonnet sequence that cannot be gained writing an individual poem? 103 SECTION 2 The Shakespearean Form Shakespearean Sonnets A B

A THE HISTORY B In the years 1592 to 1594, London’s theaters were closed C

because of an outbreak D of the plague. Thus Three quatrains C general misfortune had one benefit: It gave D Shakespeare the time to write some of his 154 sonnets. E In writing long sequences of sonnets, Shakespeare F was being fashionable. Elizabethan poets enjoyed the sonnet form, writing fourteen-line lyric poems E to both real and imaginary lovers. F Similar to other poets’ works, Shakespeare’s The turn

sonnets are numbered. Most are addressed to a G Couplet handsome young man, urging him to marry and G have children who can carry on his talents. Generally, Shakespeare’s sonnets focus on the Shakespearean sonnets have fourteen lines, with five iambic ideas of time, death, love and friendship. feet to each line, and follows a rhyme scheme of ababcdcde- fefgg, giving its structure three quatrains and one couplet that dramatically restates or redefines the theme. 104 Sonnet 18 Listen to it here Sonnet 130 Listen to it here William Shakespeare William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Coral is far more red than her lips' red; Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; And summer's lease hath all too short a date: If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, I have seen roses damasked, red and white, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And every fair from fair sometime declines, And in some perfumes is there more delight By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade I love to hear her speak, yet well I know Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; That music hath a far more pleasing sound; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, I grant I never saw a goddess go; When in eternal lines to time thou growest: My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare So long lives this and this gives life to thee. As any she belied with false compare. 1. Identify the rhyme scheme. 2. Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables. 1. Identify the rhyme scheme and mark the stressed and unstressed syllables 3. Paraphrase each stanza into your own words. in the first quatrain. 4. Is this a love poem? Explain. 2. Paraphrase each stanza into your own words. 5. Looking at the stressed syllables, who is this really about? 3. What is the tone of this sonnet? 6. What idea does this sonnet emphasize about time and death? 4. How are the mistress’ eyes, lips, cheeks, breath, and voice inferior, accord- Or to see Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour sing it (even better!) click here ing to the sonnet? Why does she “tread on the ground”? 5. What does the final couplet say about the speaker’s feelings? What general truth does it suggest? How is this relevant to today? 6. In his sonnets, Petrarch worshipped his mistress. Why has Sonnet 130 been called anti-Petrarchan? 105 Works Cited

Akala. "Hip Hop and Shakespeare?" Ted: Ideas Worth Spreading. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Cooley, and Rutsky. "An Introduction to Sonnets." An Introduction to Sonnets. Hoover High School, n.d. Web.

"David Gilmour Sonnet 18." Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Dunn, Austin. "Edmund Spenser Sonnet 35." Prezi, n.d. Web.

Dunn, Austin. "Edmund Spenser Sonnet 35." Prezi, n.d. Web. .

Edmund Spenser. N.d. Photograph. Flickr. Web. .

Francesco Petrarch. N.d. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Web. .

Sir Philip Sidney. N.d. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Web. .

"Sonnet 130." Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Sonnet 18." Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. .

"Sonnet 75." Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Sonnet. N.d. Photograph. Flickr. Web. .

Wiggins, Grant P. Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2010. Print.

William Shakespeare. N.d. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Web.

106 Macbeth Discussion Questions: ACT I CHAPTER 9 Directions: Respond to each of the following questions on a separate sheet of paper in your binder (complete sentences!) Please be specific, include quotations and line numbers.

The Play: Scene 1 1. Notice the stage directions (italics). How do these directions contribute to the play’s opening mood? 2. What is the paradox chanted by the three witches? What message might Shake- Act One speare be sending by beginning his play this way? (What can we expect for the rest of the play?)

The witches, three ways

The portrayal of the witches from directors Polanski (1971), Wright (2006), and Goold (2010). To read Act One, CLICK HERE. Look at the portrayals of the witches in the clips above. What kind of “magic” is suggested in each one? How are they different? How are they similar? How do these compare to how we imagine witches today? Scene 2 8. When Ross and Angus enter, Macbeth says, “why do you dress me/in bor- rowed robes?” Explain the significance of this question and the answer. 1. Who is the “merciless Macdonwald?” How does this impact the witches’ prophecies? How does the clothing motif have greater meaning? 2. What is the connection between Macdonwald and Macbeth? Why is Mac- beth called “brave?” (be specific!) 9. Examine the lines, “And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,/The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s/In 3. What information does the Thane of Ross bring to King Duncan? deepest consequence” (1.3.135-138). Who are the instruments of darkness? What are their motives? What does Banquo mean by “truths”? 4. What’s the deal with the current Thane of Cawdor? Who is he helping in What motif idea is echoed here? the battle? 10. Make a prediction about Macbeth’s next step? What does he say about 5. At the end of the scene, what does Duncan ask of Ross? Explain Duncan’s “chance?” Do you believe him? final line. Scene 4 6. Take note of how often the blood motif appears in this scene. Use the motif chart to record your findings. How does the repetition of the blood im- 1. Explain King Duncan’s quote: “There’s no art/To find the mind’s construc- agery effect the mood of the scene? tion in the face./He was a gentleman on whom I built/ An absolute trust” (I.iv.13-16). Scene 3 2. Explain Macbeth’s aside at the end of the scene (1.4.50-53). Paraphrase 1. How are the witches’ scenes different from the others so far? Why might this passage, then explain what motifs appear in this passage. What do their have Shakespeare made this distinction? How are the witches portrayed in add to the overall atmosphere? What does the word “wink” contribute to the beginning of 3.1? Macbeth’s overall characterization. What is Macbeth grappling with? Use specific references to the text. 2. Right before Macbeth and his friend Banquo happen upon the three witches he says, “so foul and fair a day I have not seen” (1.3.39). Where have 3. Where is everyone headed at the end of the scene? we heard this before? Why would Shakespeare have two different characters repeat it? Scene 5

3. Based upon Banquo’s reaction, describe the three witches’ physical appear- 1. Who do we meet at the beginning of scene V? What is (s)he doing? ance(s). List two antithesis in his observation. Are these positive or negative connotations towards the witches? 2. Are most of his/her lines in the form of an aside or a soliloquy? Explain.

4. What are the three prophecies that the witches give Macbeth? What is the 3. What is this character’s fear? What metaphor does she use to express this? significance of each prophecy? What needs to happen for them to come Why is “milk” an appropriate vehicle? true? 4. In her opening soliloquy, identify four sets of antitheses, and explain what 5. Why do the witches greet him using parallelism in their speech? How does this shows about both Macbeth’s character and Lady Macbeth’s character. this affect their tone? Why not greet Banquo in a similar manner? 5. Because of this fear, what does (s)he wish? Quote a line for support. 6. What is Banquo’s reaction and how do the witches respond? Use a quote for support. 6. Explain the significance of the following quote: “O, never/Shall sun that morrow see!” 7. Why does Macbeth call the witches “imperfect speakers?” Explain.

108 6. What is Lady Macbeth’s advice for Macbeth? Remember this line!

Scene 6

1. How is this scene an example of dramatic irony?

Scene 7

1. Read Macbeth’s opening soliloquy. How does he approach the topic of murder? What final decision does he come to? What does this say about his character?

2. How do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s ideas of manliness differ? What, according to each, should a man do?

3. How does Lady Macbeth goad her husband into doing what she wants? What questions does she use? What motifs arise in her speech? Take note of the ratio of monosyllabic words to polysyllabic words. What effect does this have on her argument? Why use this kind of language?

109 ACT 1 SCENE 7: Macbeth's castle. ANALYSIS OF SOLILOQUY Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service, and pass over the stage. Then enter MACBETH 1. Macbeth’s soliloquy is divided into five sections through the MACBETH brackets ([]). Paraphrase each section into your own words. [If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well 2.Find Macbeth’s practical and ethical objections to the murder It were done quickly: if the assassination scheme. Could trammel up the consequence, and catch 3.Find Macbeth’s religious and visionary objections. With his surcease success; that but this blow 4.Look at the metaphor about the horse and rider. What does Might be the be-all and the end-all here, this contribute to the list of objections? But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, 5. What does he decide to do in the end? Why? What does Mac- We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases beth realize about himself by talking himself through this? We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return 6.What does this show about Macbeth’s mindset and his charac- To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice ter at this point? Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice 7. Consider assassinations that have happened historically. What To our own lips.] [He's here in double trust; motivates people do commit assassinations? Considering what First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Macbeth discusses, how universal are these issues? Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself.] [Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking-off;] [And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind.][ I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other.] 110 MOTIF CHART As your read, update the following columns with lines from the text pertaining to each motif. Take note of the motif, how it changes, and why it changes. Remember to cite each line!

BLOOD CLOTHING SLEEP/DREAMS GENDER OTHER

111 Act Two Discussion Questions CHAPTER 10 Answer the following questions in complete sentences on a separate piece of paper. Use evidence to support your answers.

Scene 1 1. What did Banquo dream about? What does this suggest about his character? Is he a Act Two threat to Macbeth? Is Macbeth a threat to him? 2.How is sleep, or dreams, introduced in this scene? 3.How does appearance versus reality play a role in this scene? Discuss at least two ways. 4.What does Macbeth’s soliloquy suggest about his personality? What is he struggling with and why? (How is he feeling about the deed he is about to commit? What’s up with the bloody dagger?)

Scene 2 1. What does Lady Macbeth mean in the following line, “Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, I had done’t.”? When has she said something like this before? What does this say about her? 2. Why can Macbeth utter “Amen” to the lords? Explain. 3. What had Macbeth heard on the way back to his chamber after killing the king? What does this say about Macbeth? 4. Compare and contrast Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as they both react to the killing of Duncan. 5. Do you think Lady Macbeth is too bold? Too foolish? 6. Do you feel bad for Macbeth? Explain. 7. To what extent has Lady Macbeth become a foil to her husband?

Be able to explain the significance of the following lines: Who said it, who heard it, what it means, it’s importance, what it shows about character traits, what it suggests for the future, and/or the significance to the play as a whole.

To read Act Two, CLICK HERE “These deeds must not be thought/ After these ways; so, it will make us mad.” “I’ll go no more./ I am afraid to think what I have done.” “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand?” “A little water clears us of this deed.” “Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou/ couldst.” Scene 3 PASSAGE QUESTIONS

1. Explain the significance of Lennox’s following lines, “The night has been 1. What do “grace” and “lees” mean? How does Macbeth describe the world unruly, Where we lay, / Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say,/ in the wake of Duncan’s death? What is he really saying about himself? Lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death...” How does nature’s disorder relate to the king? 2. What do the metaphors mean in the last two sentences?

2. Who is the new character introduced in this scene? What is he like and 3. What do Macbeth’s words add to his characterization? How can we ac- why might he be important to the story? count for his calm reasoning, considering his immediate response to the murder? 3. Explain the irony in Macduff’s lines, “O gentle lady,/ ‘Tis not for you to hear what I speak./ The repetition in a woman’s ear/ Would murder as it 4. What is ironic, both verbal and dramatic, about this speech? How does fell.” Macbeth actually feel as a result of the murder?

4. What violent act has Macbeth committed in this scene? How does he use it in his favor? Who questions his motives? Why? Scene 4 5. What do Malcolm and Donalbain decide to do? Why? 1. What is the point of the conversation between Ross and the old man? 6. Explain the significance of Donalbain’s lines, “Where we are, /There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood,/ The nearer bloody.” 2. What two bits of news does Macduff enter the scene with?

7. Quote two lines with the word “blood” in it. Why does Shakespeare use the 3. Macduff exits to Fife, rather than the coronation of Macbeth. What does image so often in this scene? What mood does it create? Macduff seem concerned with? What might this foreshadow?

4. Predict what is to come. Will Banquo’s suspicions deepen? Can Macbeth suppress his tormented thoughts? How will the relationship between hus- PASSAGE ANALYSIS band and wife develop as king and queen? Will Macbeth’s reign be different than Duncan’s? Had I but died an hour before this chance I had lived a blessed time, for from this instant There’s nothing serious in morality. All is but toys. Renown and grace is dead. The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of. (2.3.87-92)

113 ANALYSIS OF SOLILOQUY

Is this a dagger which I see before me, A bell rings The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible That summons thee to heaven or to hell. (2.1.33-64) To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable SOLILOQUY QUESTIONS As this which now I draw. 1. Personification adds to the richness of the imagery in this passage. Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; Eleven inanimate objects, nonhumans, or abstract ideas are personi- And such an instrument I was to use. fied. List them, along with their traits. Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still, 2.Describe the mood as it is created by the diction. And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, 3.How can the dagger be read ambiguously? Which was not so before. There's no such thing: It is the bloody business which informs 4.Which lines indicate Macbeth’s uncertainty if the dagger is real or Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld not? Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates 5.What does Macbeth decide to do at the end of this soliloquy? How Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder, has his mindset changed from the last soliloquy? Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, 6.What motifs are touched on in this soliloquy? Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace. With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design 7. How would you imagine this on stage? Is there an actual dagger? Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, Does Macbeth reach for it? Why or why not? Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives: Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

114 BLOOD CLOTHING SLEEP/DREAMS GENDER OTHER

115 Act Three Discussion Questions CHAPTER 11 Directions: Respond to each of the following questions on a separate sheet of paper in your binder (complete sentences!) Please be specific, include quotations and line numbers.

Act Three Scene 1 1. Paraphrase Banquo’s soliloquy from the beginning of 3.1. 2. What does that speech imply about Banquo’s feelings towards Macbeth’s new king- ship? 3. What do Macbeth and Banquo talk about? 4. Who are the “bloody cousins” Macbeth refers to? (Line 34) 5. “To be thus is nothing / But to be safely thus.” (Line 52-53). What do these lines mean? To be safely what? What is he talking about here? What is his subtext? 6. Explain in your own words what the following lines mean (both literally, and what they tell you about Macbeth): “Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown and put a barren scepter in my grip, Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, No son of mine succeeding. If ‘t be so, For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan I have murdered” (66-71). 7. How does Macbeth persuade the murderers? Who does he sound like? Cite the line numbers from which you found your answer. 8. What deal has Macbeth just made in the end of scene 1? 9. How has he changed in this scene? Why? What does this suggest about his future?

Scene 2

1. How does Macbeth feel about the crime he committed? Quote two lines to support your answer. 2. How is Lady Macbeth acting? Consider her lines, such as “What’s done is done.”? Is this surprising? Why/Why not? 3. What is the significance of Macbeth’s following lines: “Must leave our honors in these flattering streams / And make our faces vizards to our hearts, / Disguising what they are.”? Where have we heard this sentiment in the past? To read Act Three, CLICK HERE 4. How and why does Macbeth use darkness at the end of this scene? What does darkness suggest or symbolize for the couple? 5. What has changed between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in this scene? How specifically is Macbeth different? (Use his last lines in your response). Scene 3 11.What does the Ghost do (how does he move, physically)?

1. Why does Macbeth send a third murderer to the scene? 12.How does Lady Macbeth cover for her husband?

2. How does the murder plot play out? What is successful and what is not 13.What familiar manipulation tool does Lady Macbeth utilize when trying successful? to get Macbeth to snap out of it (3.1.70-81)? What does she compare Mac- beth’s current visions to? Scene 4 14.How do you envision Macbeth’s reaction to the ghost? How is Macbeth 1. Recall a time you felt fear or horror (or witnessed it). What are some of looking/behaving? What does his voice sound like? Body language? Fa- the physical symptoms of fear and panic? What does the face of a fearful cial expressions? Anything else? person look like? How does fear affect a person’s other senses? 15.When Lady Macbeth and Macbeth converse about his visions, do you pic- 2. At line 14, who does Macbeth approach? ture this being a public conversation? Or private? Why? (This is most certainly important for staging purposes!) 3. How do you envision this encounter? Macbeth is at a banquet, surrounded by nobles, and he somehow has a conversation with a sketchy 16.If you were staging this scene, would you have an actor play Banquo’s vagabond. How would this be staged? ghost? Or would you simply have Macbeth talk to the air? Why?

4. “Then comes my fit again. I had else been perfect / whole as marble, 17.Macbeth, here, is arguably at his most horrified. When the Ghost and all founded as the rock, / As broad and general as the casing air. / But now I the guests leave, and he is alone with Lady Macbeth, what does he turn his am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears. – thoughts to? (line 159-160) Why might this shift in thought occur? But Banquo’s safe?” (3.1.24-28). 18.Where is Macbeth going tomorrow? Why do you think he is doing this? Why does Macbeth have this “fit,” and how did it affect him? What is he seeking?

5. What does he mean when he asks if Banquo is “safe”? 19.Paraphrase the following lines:

6. Does Macbeth notice the Ghost’s entrance at line 42? How do you know? “I am in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er. Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, Which 7. What is the effect of having Banquo’s ghost be silent? How would it be dif- must be acted ere they may be scanned” (3.1.168-172). ferent if it spoke? 20. What does Lady Macbeth believe her husband needs? Does he (and do 8. At what line does Macbeth notice the ghost? Record the line. you) believe he will get it? 9. What is the symbolic significance of the ghost sitting where he does?

10.Why does Macbeth believe the table is full even though Lennox assures him his seat is reserved?

117 Scene 5 PASSAGE ANALYSIS 1. What is the point of this scene? How does this seem similar or different to the other scenes where we have seen the witches? We have scorched the snake, not killed it. Scene 6 She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice Remains in danger of her former tooth. 1. How does Lennox feel about Macbeth? Support your answer with a line from the text. But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer, Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep 2. What is happening in England? What is the plan? Who is involved? In the affliction of these terrible dreams 3. Explain the significance of the following lines: “That, by the help of these / That shake us nightly. Better be with the dead, we may again/ Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, / Free from Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, our feasts and banquets bloody knives[...]”. Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave. After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well. (3.1.49-73) The Third Murderer Debate

The short scene of Banquo’s murder and Fleance’s escape PASSAGE QUESTIONS begins with the two murderers questioning a third murderer 1. Shakespeare makes Banquo a foil to Macbeth here. Paraphrase who has mysteriously joined them. Who is this person, and why the sentences in which Banquo’s traits are described, then explain how each of Macbeth’s is an opposite. has he joined them? 2.What do we learn about Macbeth’s state of mind from his dic- Theorists argue that this person is someone readers have al- tion and repetitions in the soliloquy? ready met in the play. Consider the other characters in the play 3.Paraphrase the last eight lines. Is Macbeth newly aware of the and who this could be. Why would Macbeth want to be there him- consequences of his crime, of had he always known that these self? Who else would have reason to kill Banquo? Are others sim- were inevitable? What does Macbeth believe about fate or chance: Does he trust or mistrust the witches and their prophe- ply “look[ing] like the innocent flower, but be[ing] the serpent cies? under’t”?

118 BLOOD CLOTHING SLEEP/DREAMS GENDER OTHER

119 Act Four Discussion Questions CHAPTER 12 Scene 1 1. How does Macbeth act toward the witches? How is this different from the last time he saw them? 2. Name the four apparitions that Macbeth sees. For each, describe what it looks Act Four like, what it says, and Macbeth’s reaction to it. 3. Which sight seems to upset Macbeth the most? Why? 4. What is ironic in lines 157-159? 5. What information does Lennox give Macbeth at the end of the scene? 6. How has Macbeth crossed the line to pure evil by the end of the scene? How is this crime different from the others?

Scene 2 1. Why is Lady Macduff so upset? What does she explain in lines 8-16? 2. How do Macduff’s son’s words ironically point out the cause of disorder in Scot- land: “Then the liars and swearers are fools, for there / Are liars and swearers enough to beat / The honest men and hang them up.”? 3. Look at Lady Macduff’s lines about her role in the world. How does this relate to appearance vs. reality? 4. Why can it be argued that this scene is the most disturbing in the play?

Scene 3 1. What is the present state of Scotland? Quote two examples in your answer. 2. Malcolm tells Macduff that for his own safety, he needs to be suspicious of visitors (35-38). While Malcolm and Macduff are talking, Malcolm speaks at great length about his own vices to Macduff. What are some of the faults he names? Why does he list them for Macduff? What was the point? 3. What does Malcolm reveal to Macduff once trust is established? What steps has Malcolm already taken in order to reclaim Scotland? 4. What does Ross’ speech during lines 189-197 tell you about the conditions in Scotland? To read Act Four, CLICK HERE 5. When Ross joins Malcolm and Macduff later in the scene, and is first asked by Macduff about his wife and children, why does he lie? Furthermore, how does he equivocate? 6. Upon hearing the news from Ross, Malcolm tells Macduff he should “dispute it like a man.” What does this mean? What does Macduff mean when he says he “must also feel it as a man”? What does manhood mean to each of these characters? FIRST APPARITION SECOND APPARITION THIRD APPARITION FOURTH APPARITION

Describe the Vision

What does the vision say? (Quote it!)

Describe Macbeth’s reaction to the vision

Rationale for Macbeth’s reaction

Outcome (To be completed at the end of the play)

121 PASSAGE ANALYSIS MALCOLM Let's make us medicines of our great revenge, PASSAGE QUESTIONS To cure this deadly grief. 1. Unpack the two metaphors in the first part of the exchange. In MACDUFF He has no children. All my pretty ones? what ways is the vehicle of each appropriate to the speaker? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? 2.Discuss these views of manliness. Which of these speakers What, all my pretty chickens and their dam seems more mature and complete in Shakespeare’s view? At one fell swoop? 3.If Shakespeare plans to end the play with poetic justice, consider how it will end. What does poetic justice mean? What kind of a MALCOLM Dispute it like a man. character would therefore need to kill Macbeth? What character seems to embody these traits? MACDUFF I shall do so; But I must also feel it as a man: I cannot but remember such things were, That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on, And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff, They were all struck for thee! naught that I am, Not for their own demerits, but for mine, Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now!

MALCOLM Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it.

MACDUFF O, I could play the woman with mine eyes And braggart with my tongue! But, gentle heavens, Cut short all intermission; front to front Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape, Heaven forgive him too!

MALCOLM This tune goes manly. (4.3.221-237)

122 BLOOD CLOTHING SLEEP/DREAMS GENDER OTHER

123 CHAPTER 13 Act Five Discussion Questions

Scene 1 1. What do the gentlewoman and the doctor observe at night? Explain in detail. 2. Why do you think Lady Macbeth’s sleep is troubled? How has she evolved from Act Five the powerful queen from act one? 3. What does the blood on her hands symbolize? 4. Write down some of Lady Macbeth’s lines pertaining to blood. How have her lines changed from earlier in the play? Where have we heard some of this before? Why is this significant? 5. Explain the significance of the doctor’s words: “Unnatural deeds/ Do breed unnatural troubles.”

Scene 2 1. Explain what is happening in this scene. 2. Where are the soldiers meeting? Why is this important? 3. Discuss the meaning of the following quote: “Now does he feel his title/ Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe/ Upon a dwarfish thief.”

Scene 3 1. Upon hearing the news of the soldier’s movement, what does Macbeth rely on for reassurance? 2. What does Macbeth say about the consequences of his actions? Is this new, or has he always known this? 3. At the end of the scene, how does Macbeth respond to the news of his wife’s illness? How has his attitude changed from the beginning of the play. 4. How does Macbeth behave in this scene? Has he given up, or is he overly confident? Is he still making decisions based on fear, guilt, or regret? Or is he finally clear headed? 5. Can Macbeth be considered lonely? Explain.

To read Act Five, CLICK HERE Scene 4 4. How did Lady Macbeth die? What kept her husband from doing the same thing? Explain her transformation as a character. Why did it end this way 1. What do the soldiers plan on doing at Birnam Wood? Why is this a prob- for her? lem for Macbeth? What have the witches done? 5. Is this a happy ending? What future is in store for Scotland? Explain. Scene 5

1. Explain the significance of Macbeth’s lines: “I have almost forgot the taste of fears. / The time has been my senses would have cooled/ To hear a night shriek, and my fell of hair/ Would at a dismal treatise would rouse and stir/ As life were in’t.” How/why has he changed?

2. What important event happens in this scene?

3. Look at Macbeth’s “Out out brief candle” soliloquy. What does this mean? What message about life is he trying to convey?

4. What is Macbeth suddenly worried about that brings him back to reality? Why does this frighten him?

Scene 7

1. What is Macbeth still relying on in this scene? Quote the line.

2. Why would Shakespeare include the seemingly unimportant death of Young Siward? Does this tell us anything about Macbeth?

3. How does Macduff call out Macbeth? What might this line foreshadow?

Scene 8

1. How does the following line epitomize Macbeth’s character: My soul is too much charged/ With blood of thine already.”

2. Once Macduff and Macbeth’s face off, upon what discovery does Macbeth decide not to fight? Why?

3. Explain the significance of the way that Macduff kills Macbeth. Why kill him so gruesomely?

125 Lady Macbeth Psychological Case Study (I)

Look at Lady Macbeth’s following lines and compare her state before to her current state. What has changed within her and why? Use the lines in your analysis. Look back at the text for context. Lady Macbeth Then Lady Macbeth Now

“Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of “Hell is murky” (5.1.38). hell” (1.5.57-58).

“What, quite unmanned in “Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeared” (5.1.38). folly?...Fie for shame” (3.4.88)!

“Yet who would have thought the old Give me the daggers. The dead are but as pictures. If he do man have had so much blood in him” (5.1.41)? bleed, I’ll gild the faces of grooms withal...” (2.2.69-72).

“My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so “The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now”(5.1.44)? white”(2.2.82-83).

Why do you make such faces? When alls done you look on “Look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; such he but a stool” (3.4.80). cannot come out on ‘s grave” (5.1.66).

“What’s done is done” (3.2.14). “What’s done cannot be undone” (5.1.71).

126 Lady Macbeth Psychological Case Study (II)

In 5.1, we see the last “female” standing and things are not looking so great. Last we left Lady Macduff, she criticized her husband for leaving. While Macbeth did not “leave” Lady Macbeth, their relationship altered as his power grew.

Working with your team of psychiatrists, you need to diagnose Lady Macbeth. Decide why she has fallen victim to insanity and if she counts as another “victim” of Macbeth’s reign, AKA should Macbeth be partially at fault for what his wife is going through?

Look back over the quotes on the “Lady Macbeth Then and Now” document as well as scenes where we see the Macbeths interact. Remember, this was once a loving marriage! What went wrong?

Questions to consider:

1. Where can Lady Macbeth go from here? Can she be “saved”?

2. What would Macbeth think of his wife acting this way? Would he even notice at this point?

3. Was there a turning point for Lady Macbeth? Was there a moment when she could have avoided this, or was this coming all along?

4. What theme does this show us about evil, ambition, or gender roles?

5. If you had to create the name of a disease for Lady Macbeth, what would it be? Why?

127 ANALYSIS OF SOLILOQUY QUESTIONS Seyton: The Queen, my lord, is dead. 1. What do the first two lines mean? Paraphrase them: 2. Why is there no “time for such a word” right now? Macbeth: She should have died hereafter. 1 3. What effect does the repetition of the word “tomorrow” have? When you There would have been time for such a word. read it, how does it impact your reading? (Think how it would be different if Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow he just said “tomorrow” once) 4. In lines 3-4, what is Macbeth saying about the future? Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 5. What do you think the “brief candle” is a metaphor for in line 7? To the last syllable of recorded time 5 6. In lines 8-12, Shakespeare creates one of the most famous metaphors in all his plays. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools a. What does the “player” (actor) represent? The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player b. Why, eventually, is this “player” heard no more? That struts and frets his hour upon the stage c. What does the “tale” represent? then is heard no more. It is a tale 10 d. How are “tales” full of ‘sound and fury’? Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. e. What does it mean if this tale signifies nothing?

Should – inevitably would 7. How does Macbeth FEEL in this passage? How has he reacted to the news that his wife has died, and that though he has tried to hard, ultimately, he Hereafter--in a future time has nothing to show for it? Petty--slow, dragging 8. What is the TONE of the speech? What words create it? Player--actor 9. Based on your answers to all these questions, how do you believe this speech Fret-to be scared is spoken? Quickly? Slowly? Consider the meaning of what Macbeth is saying. 10. What might be foreshadowed here? Consider the final metaphor that the speech uses.

128 BLOOD CLOTHING SLEEP/DREAMS GENDER OTHER

129 LITERARY ANALYSIS CONTEMPORARY CONNECTION CLICK HERE to read Freud’s analysis explaining the downfall of Below are Jimi Hendrix’s lyrics to “Castles Made of Sand,” a song based off of Macbeth. Read the lyrics, then explain how the song relates thematically Lady Macbeth, the historical context of the play, and the notion to the play. Look at similarities in plot, mood, and motifs. of father-son relationships. Down the street you can hear her scream you're a disgrace Critique Freud’s analysis of Lady Macbeth and her causes of As she slams the door in his drunken face And now he stands outside downfall. To what extent is she driven by an inability to conceive And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool children? Does this explain her cruel desire for her husband to He cries oh, girl you must be mad, become king, and why her suffering is more mental than physi- What happened to the sweet love you and me had? cal compared to her husband? Against the door he leans and starts a scene, And his tears fall and burn the garden green

And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually

A little Indian brave who before he was ten, Played war games in the woods with his Indian friends MOTIF ESSAY And he built up a dream that when he grew up He would be a fearless warrior Indian Cheif Look back over the motif charts and choose one to write Many moons past and more the dream grew strong until an argumentative essay on. Using the selected motif, ex- Tomorrow he would sing his first war song and fight his first battle plain why Shakespeare developed that motif through the But something went wrong, surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night play. What was the authorial intent in developing one im- And so castles made of sand melts into the sea, eventually age or idea? How did it contribute to the play? What the- There was a young girl, who's heart was a frown matic ideas are presented through the motif’s evolution? Cause she was crippled for life, And she couldn't speak a sound And she wished and prayed she could stop living, So she decided to die She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore And to her legs she smiled you wont hurt me no more But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say Look a golden winged ship is passing my way

And it really didn't have to stop, it just kept on going... And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually 130 Works Cited

Bloy, Barbara, Donna Tanzer, and Martin Beller. Macbeth: Comprehension, Analysis, Composition. Saddle Brook, NJ: Peoples Education, 2009. Print.

"Castles Made of Sand Lyrics." Lyrics Freak. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Davidson, Zoe A. "The End of Macbeth." Zoe Anne Davidson. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Freud, Sigmund. "Shakespeare: Macbeth - Freud on the Macbeths." Macbeth / William Shakespeare Criticism. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 June 2013. .

"Macbeth and Banquo Meet Witches on the Heath." Wikimedia Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. .

"Macbeth Apparitions." Look and Learn. N.p., n.d. Web. .

"Sir Patrick Stewart as Macbeth." The Telegraph. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Wiggins, Grant P. Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2010. Print.

"William Shakespeare." Flickr. N.p., n.d. Web. .

"William Shakespeare on Screen." Digital Spy. N.p., n.d. Web. .

131 CHAPTER 7 Victorian Literature

The reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901) included a period of enormous political, social, and cultural innovation and change. The Victorians made great ad- vances in science, technology, and the arts, sought creative solutions to social problems, and created a body of literature that continues to fascinate and inspire readers, artists, and scholars. SECTION 1 Biographical Information Charles Dickens His own story is one of rags to riches. He was born in Ports- mouth on February 7, 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. The good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived because his father, inspiration for the character of Mr Micawber in David Copperfield, was imprisoned for bad debt. The entire family, apart from Charles, were sent to Mar- shalsea along with their father. Charles was sent to work in Warren's blacking factory and endured appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. After three years he was returned to school, but the experience was never forgotten and became fictionalized in two of his well-known novels David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

Like many others, he began his literary career as a journalist. His own father became a reporter and Charles began with the ABOUT THE AUTHOR journals “The Mirror of Parliament” and “The True Sun.” Charles Dickens is loved for his great contribution to Then in 1833 he became parliamentary journalist for The classic English literature. He was the quintessential Morning Chronicle. With new contacts in the press he was able to publish a series of sketches under the pseudonym Victorian author. His epic stories, vivid characters “Boz.” In April 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter and exhaustive depiction of contemporary life are of George Hogarth who edited 'Sketches by Boz'. Within the unforgettable. same month came the publication of the highly successful “Pickwick Papers,” and from that point on there was no look- Exploring Further: ing back for Dickens. Click here to visit the Dickens Museum. As well as a huge list of novels, he published his autobiogra- phy, edited weekly periodicals including 'Household Words' Click here to read an article about Charles Dickens in The New and 'All Year Round', wrote travel books and administered York Times. 133 charitable organizations. He was also a theatre enthusiast, Discovering Dickens: Scavenger Hunt wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in 1851. His Using credible websites and the About the Author section energy was inexhaustible and he spent much time abroad - for above, answer the following questions to learn more about example lecturing against slavery in the United States and Charles Dickens. Knowledge of the author will lead to a bet- touring Italy. He was estranged from his wife in 1858 after the ter understanding of A Tale of Two Cities. birth of their ten children, but maintained a relationship with his mistress, the actress Ellen Ternan. He died of a stroke in 1. When and where was Dickens born? 1870. He is buried at Westminster Abbey. 2. Why did the Dickens family move around when Charles was young? Charles Dickens wrote his novel A Tale of Two Cities as a 3. What was the “defining” moment in Dickens’ childhood? Explain. warning to his own country about the dangers of intense ineq- uities between the rich and poor. 4. How would this moment later impact his writing?

5. How did the public read Dickens’ work before it was officially published into novel form? Any idea why this might be significant?

6. List at least three of his other major works (aside from A Tale of Two Cities)

7. Describe Victorian London.

8. What is the connection between Dickens and Christmas?

9. When did Dickens die? What is inscribed on his tombstone and why might this be significant?

10.In the 1850s, Charles Dickens was concerned that social problems in England, particularly those relating to the condition of the poor, might provoke a mass reaction on the scale of the French Revolu- tion. List at least 5 relevant facts about the French Revolution. Are there any connections between Dickens’ England and France during the 1770s & 80s?

134 135 SECTION 2 “It was the best of times, it A Tale of Two Cities was the worst of times.”

BEFORE YOU READ

1. Which emotion is stronger, love or hate? Explain. 2.Under what conditions do you think people are justified in revolting against a government? Is it ever an “okay” thing to do? Explain. 3.What might inspire people to make drastic changes in their lives? Can people change? 4.Would you sacrifice yourself for another’s happiness and if so, for whom? Can you think of any examples in history or in popular culture where a person has sacrificed him/herself for another? 5.The opening lines of the novel are: “It was the best or times, it was the worst of times.” What do you think that means? Think of a personal experience that validates this statement. How is it possible to be both simultaneously? Have you seen a paradox like this in another famous piece of literature?

136 137 138 SECTION 3 "A Tale of Two Cities" (1859): A Model of the Integra- Literary Criticism tion of History and Literature Philip V. Allingham, Contributing Editor, Victorian Web; Fac- ulty of Education, Lakehead University (Canada) A WORD FROM THE CRITIC Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859): Historical Fic- E. M. Forster remarked in his review of Hamilton's Materials and Methods of Fiction (Daily News: 23 April 1919), "We learn not tion from studying a book, but from enjoying it . . . " (177). In Aspects of the Novel (1927), novelist and critic E. M. For- Nevertheless, a teacher sensitive to the requisites of studying both ster defined the English novel as "a fiction in prose of a cer- history and literature may create a climate for intelligent rather than merely visceral enjoyment of an historical fiction. For tain length . . . not less than 50,000 words" (25). He uses the example, Sheila Borrowman's English 11 class at Cowichan metaphor of the novel as a valley or plain "bounded by two Secondary in Duncan [British Columbia] have just completed an chains of mountains neither of which rises very abruptly--the historically-based consideration of Charles Dickens's A Tale of opposing ranges of Poetry and History" (25). In an historical Two Cities, watching and discussing films, and analyzing the novel, argues Forster, the subject is not an historical event, events and personalities of that momentous time when the "but memories, associations, passions, [which] rise up and European spirit was reborn in the fires of the Bastille. cloud [the novelist's] objectivity" (36). The reconstructing of Consequently, when Sheila invited me to talk to the class about A an historical period for the novelist requires research, but is Tale of Two Cities, as a Dickensian I felt bound to defend the still merely a technique, as is fantasy, as is dialogue. A novel is work as a fiction, not as a history, and Dickens as a novelist rather more than a sequence of events told in chronological order than as an historian. As E. M. Forster suggests in Aspects of the (what Forster terms a "story") or a series of events in a cause- Novel, A Tale of Two Cities equals history plus Dickens. and-effect relationship (what Forster terms a "plot"). Among a novel's "nobler aspects" are character and theme, and what Forster calls "value" and "intensity." The final test of any novel is not our admiration for its technical excellence, its han- dling of its materials, but "our affection for it" (38). Certainly, A Tale of Two Cities had Dickens's affection: "I hope," he wrote enthusiastically to a French actor-friend on the 15th of October, 1859, "it is the best story I have written." Because of

139 its vigorous story, energetic manner of telling, and engaging reft of the native, colloquial speech upon which he genius fed. plot, A Tale of Two Cities must count as one of his best books, (386) despite its melodramatic and rhetorical excesses. Too few are the scenes in which that honest tradesman Jerry One way of a writer's increasing our feeling for a novel is hu- Cruncher remonstrates with his wife Aggerawayter for gratui- mour, and Dickens is among English literature's greatest hu- tous "flopping" (Book II, Ch. 1), although Jerry's shying a boot mourists. However, as George Woodcock remarks in his intro- at his oppressed mate strikes a modern reader as perilously duction to the Penguin edition of A Tale of Two Cities, the elev- close to spousal abuse, and therefore unfunny. enth of his fourteen novels is "the least Dickensian" (9)--not Since this is a story primarily designed to move the reader because it is set in a period other than that in which Dickens emotionally through a sympathetic identification with its char- lived (Barnaby Rudge, too, is set in the eighteenth century, acters, A Tale of Two Cities is not the collective memoirs of though written at the start of the Hungry Forties), but because the Cruncher family, the Manettes, the Defarges, Sydney Car- it lacks the whimsical characters and comic digressions for ton, and Charles Darnay. As Forster points out, "A memoir is which Dickens is famous. "If Dickens' Two Cities in the age of history, it is based on evidence. A novel is based on evidence + revolution lack the vivid humor and warmth, the intimate feel or -x, the unknown quantity being the temperament of the of bizarre yet familiar British experience, associated with the novelist" (55). A Tale of Two Cities is not a history of the contemporary England of his other novels, we should not dis- French Revolution--that is partly why no historical characters miss the Tale for failing to be another Pickwick" (Alter 135). actually appear in the story (the other reason is that Dickens As G. Robert Stange remarks, distrusted the ideallism of such revolutionary leaders as Comedy is based on the familiar and the particular; the wide Marat and Robespierre because of the monstrous deeds they gestures of intense passion or suffering are far removed from justified in the name of Liberty); rather, it is the revelation of the minute turns of comic vexation. For this reason comedy what Forster terms "the hidden life" of certain imagined char- would obviously be inappropriate to a study of revolution. acters who are reflections of the temperament of Dickens him- However, there is another reason for the gravity of A Tale of self (notice, for example, that one of the book's protagonists Two Cities: Dickens' best comedy is verbal . . . . Since Dickens has the initials "C. D." and that the model for Lucie was not rarely made good comedy out of the well-bred, it seems likely merely Lucy Crayford in the melodrama The Frozen Deep, but that in this novel, where he was pretty much confined to up- also Dickens's extra-marital liaison, Ellen Ternan; further- per middle-class people, aristocrats, and foreigners, he was be- more, Dickens originally intended his chief protagonist to be named "Dick Carton").

140 What Dickens is ultimately concerned with in A Tale of Two Historical fiction is a story in which the setting is an earlier pe- Cities is not a particular historical event--that is simply his riod in history (that is to say, earlier than the period in which chosen dramatic setting--but rather the relationship between it was actually written) and in which that temporal back- history and evil, how violent oppression breeds violent rebel- ground is of paramount importance to plot and characters. lion which becomes a new kind of oppression. His account of Such a story is A Tale of Two Cities, in which Dickens con- the ancien régime and the French Revolution is a study in civi- structs a number of persons (the former prisoner of the Bas- lized man's vocation for proliferating moral chaos, and in this tille, his daughter, Tellson's confidential clerk, the dissolute one important regard the Tale is the most compellingly "mod- English attorney, the liberal French aristocrat, and so on), a ern" of his novels. (Alter 137) series of events (from the outbreak of the Revolution in July, 1789, through the September Massacres of 1792 to Year One As a novelist, Dickens is not so concerned with reporting or of the Republic [1793]), a movement (the outbreak of the Revo- commenting upon physical actions--speeches, battles, riots, lution and annihilation of the aristocracy), and the spirit of a and so on (the stuff of history) as with "the pure passions, . . . past age (the late eighteenth century). Although he owes a the dreams, joys, sorrows and self-communings" (Forster 56) debt to serious scholarship (to the historian Carlyle, for exam- of his imagined characters. The French Revolution exists in A ple), Dickens attempts a painterly reconstruction of the by- Tale of Two Cities only insofar as Dickens's characters vivify gone age (note the tableaux vivants or set pieces described in it, live through it, react to it, and make its reality manifest to words suggesting shapes, textures, and colours) only as a back- the reader. For example, the embedded plot surrounding the drop for the story's action. rape and subsequent death of Térèse Defarge's sister, recorded in Dr. Manette's memoir, evokes all those conditions Consequently, we do not have in this novel the careful recon- that led directly to the revolution. "The rape itself implies so- struction of manners and morals which occasionally gives cial exploitation, a class-wide droit du seigneur. Conversely, such richness to the novels of Scott or Thackeray. . . . . In- one peasant's attack on his master anticipates the nation's re- stead, the novelist uses the condescending "in those days" for- ply to such abuse" (Hutter 448). While the rape of Térèse De- mula; he continually reminds us that we have escaped from farge's sister stands for the oppression of the masses, "For the the trammels and superstitions of the past into a freer, better purposes of the novel, the revolution is the Defarges" (Gross age. [Stange 384] 239) and a lone seamstress its thousands of unjustly executed Dickens's real subject in this novel is the relationship between victims. the characters, and especially the sacrifice of Sydney Carton for the love of Lucie Darnay (re-enacting the sacrifice made by

141 Richard Wardour, the character that Dickens himself played not ameliorated by revolution--as is demonstrated by Dickens in Wilkie Collins's The Frozen Deep in 1857). through the excesses of the revolutionary fervour through which a nameless seamstress must perish because she is sus- In historical fiction, characters who never really lived undergo pected of plotting against the fledgling Republic. "As always in and give expression to the impact of historical events on the Dickens's work, it is individuals who free themselves from the people who really did live through them. The result is not his- rigid imposition of institutions, not institutions which reform tory (an accurate record of actual events), but a fiction in themselves" (Sanders xvii). which an earlier age is rendered in immediate and personal terms through the joys, trials, sufferings, and victories of char- As Woodcock points out, the book's title suggests not only the acters with whom we as readers have identified. A Tale of Two balancing of two capitals, two societies, and two peoples: "It Cities is suggests the basic dichotomy on which the novel rests: the choice between changing society and changing ourselves" primarily . . . a novel which through the distancing medium of (14). a historical melodrama, critically evaluates the condition of contemporary mid-Victorian England and imaginatively ex- The novels prior to A Tale had condemned Victorian capital- plores one of the possible consequences of that condition. ism as a structure on the verge of collapse. A Tale explores Though the novel opens in 1775 the imaginative world created both what would be involved in the nature of that (revolution- in the scenes set in England is, in its essential characteristics ary) collapse and whether it is possible for individuals within (rather than surface detail), that of England in the 1850s. such an environment to be spiritually reborn as a means of re- (Brown 115) deeming the total structure. (Brown 121)

Some works of historical fiction, particularly romances and As in Hard Times (1854), the personal suffering and sacrifice pot-boilers, do not vivify very profound themes. However, as a of a good person contributes to the improvement of condition literary masterpiece A Tale of Two Cities does embody an en- (as well as an increase in moral perception) for the survivors. during theme of universal import: "The human spirit, dis- With the heroic self-sacrifice of Sydney Carton, the footsteps torted by systems, . . . produces distorted societies" (Sanders die out for ever (III, 15) and a new generation, represented by xvii). Institutions such as those of Victorian England (the the child of Lucy and Charles (who, as a man, becomes "the standpoint from which, as Brown has pointed out, the book's foremost of just judges"), profits by the lessons suffering has theme must be judged) will not be ameliorated by revolution taught the former generation. because people, who ultimately shape social institutions, are

142 A Tale optimistically suggests that a general process of individ- cize) was the product of the destruction of the eighteenth cen- ual re-birth or resurrection can provide a preventative social tury (which, as the famous opening lines of A Tale of Two Cit- counter to revolutionary hatred and violence. Social redemp- ies assert, was both an Age of Enlightenment and of supersti- tion through love and spiritual rebirth is not being offered as a tion, brutality, injustice, and abuse of privilege). The cata- solution to revolutionary France, but consistent with where clysm that engulfs and sweeps away the ancien régime, epito- the real interest in the novel lies, is being prescribed as a pre- mised in the novel by the Marquis de Saint Evrémonde, is the ventative cure for mid-Victorian England. (Brown 123). inevitable consequence of its own excesses and failings.

As G. Robert Stange notes, Dickens's remark about the novel's This sense of inevitability . . . is deliberately reinforced by the genesis in the Collins melodrama "helps emphasize the fact use of coincidence in the plot. After all, Dickens surely could that in the novel Sydney Carton's sacrificial death, and, more have invented some credible subterfuge to get Carton into Dar- important, the whole theme of violent death and regeneration, nay's cell without having Miss Pross discover her long-lost must be regarded as the 'main idea'" (382-3). "Dickens origi- brother Solomon in the police-spy, Barsad, at the crucial mo- nally thought of calling the book 'Buried Alive', and at its heart ment, without the superfluous abundance of evidence against lie images of death, and, much less certainly, of resurrection" Barsad in the testimonies of Mr. Lorry, Carton himself, and (Gross 233). The relationship between death and birth on the even Jerry Cruncher, all conveniently present just when one hand, and imprisonment and freedom on the other, be- needed. (Alter 141) comes intelligible when one realizes that Dickens was much Symbolically, these characters are memory, the witnesses of influenced by Thomas Carlyle's vision of history in The French past acts that come back to haunt Barsad. For the spy Barsad Revolution (1837), namely that humanity evolves through suc- as for the cruel Saint Evrémondes, the past refuses to be bur- cessive stages of destruction and reconstruction. Thus, in the ied and forgotten. The past in Dickens is never dead, only novel it is Dickens's contention that evil serves good, that the sleeping, waiting to be awakened. As Stange remarks, "Carton revolutionary city which would develop into the Paris Dickens embodies both the novel's central narrative theme and its pro- knew and loved is under the spell of a powerful enchanter who foundest moral view: his past of sinful negligence parallels the through terrific scenes of violence and bloodshed is working past of eighteenth-century Europe; his noble death demon- out the destiny ordained by the Creator. Each new age, like strates the possibility of rebirth through love and expiation" the phoenix, was for Carlyle born out of the ashes of its prede- (385). His double is the virtuous Evrémonde who has re- cessor, so that the Victorian age of scientific and industrial nounced his father's name in favour of his mother's, a model progress (in which, nevertheless, Dickens found much to criti-

143 of Enlightenment attitudes and conduct who is tried in both glance the book seems neatly divided between the two coun- cities. tries ("of the forty-five chapters, two recount the parallelism of events in England and France, nineteen are set in England, Each time he is unjustly accused, and each time he is rescued and twenty-four in France"--Stange 385), the book's subject by his alter-ego, Carton, the Englishman who--thanks to his inevitably drives the action towards Paris, the "load-stone Latin Quarter sojourn--speaks flawless French (note how Dar- rock." nay makes his living in London, not by sponging off his wealthy relatives and the overtaxed French peasantry, but by While in Dickens's previous novels, "the teeming life of Dick- teaching French and translating). ensian invention tends to draw our attention from the imaginative thinness of the heroes and heroines, the contrived coin- Even Darnay's real name, D'Evrémonde, suggests that he is an cidences, the strained notes of melodrama, the moments of Anglo-French Everyman ("every" plus "tout le monde"). As Al- dewy-eyed, lip-serving religiosity" (Alter 135), the rapid pace ter notes, Dickens probably intended that "Charles Darnay's combined with a dearth of incidental characters and subplots French name, Evrémonde, should sound like an English name highlights these deficiencies. What Alter terms "the more in- of a different sort: he is the Everyman who is drawn to the tently dramatic presentation of character and event in A Tale heart of destruction, virtually gives up his life there, in legal of Two Cities" (135) is actually the result of weekly serial publi- fact and physical appearance, to be re-born only through the cation, a form which Dickens had tried three times previously, expiatory death of another self, and so to return to his be- and which had given him, as he confessed to his friend John loved, whose name means 'light'" (138). From a memorial Forster, "perpetual trouble." "The small portions [of weekly plaque in Westminster Abbey's South Transept (the "Poets' installments] . . . drive me frantic," he complained (1 Novem- Corner" where Dickens himself would one day be buried) Dick- ber 1854) regarding the weekly serialisation of Hard Times in ens might have been familiar with the French poet-soldier of his own journal, Household Words. "Nothing but the interest the seventeenth century, Charles de Marquetel de Saint Denis of the subject," he wrote Forster on 25 August 1859, "and the de Saint Evrémond (1613-1703), the period in which through pleasure of striving with the difficulty of the forms of treat- his excesses and his denial of even modest democratic rights ment, nothing in the way of money, I mean, could also repay the Sun King of France, Louis XIV, was driving future genera- the time and trouble of the incessant condensation." For tions inexorably towards violent revolution. weekly serialisation Dickens adopted a special design, to The Carton-Darnay dichotomy reflects the split focus of the which he could deliberately write, or to which he could edit a story suggested by the two cities of the title. Although at first work written either as a whole (such as Elizabeth Gaskell's

144 North and South) or as monthly numbers (which appears to ing sentence, and a sombre eloquence which saves Carton be the case with A Tale of Two Cities). The problem as Dick- from mere melodrama, and stamps an episode like the ens saw it was to create discrete parts that later could be fused running-down of the child by the Marquis's carriage on one's as an uninterrupted whole. Early in the narrative Dickens mind with a primitive intensity rarely found after Dickens's would have to introduce principal persons and places, and early novels, like an outrage committed in a fairy-tale. [Gross move the main plot smartly off from the start. Each weekly 240] number would have to amount to exactly eight columns of text Selected References in All the Year Round; Hablot K. Browne's illustrations accompanied only the monthly parts. Dickens, used to writing expan- Alter, Robert. "The Demons of History in Dickens' Tale." sive monthly parts, felt cramped and rushed by weekly seriali- Novel: A Forum on Fiction 2, 1 (Fall 1968): 135-142. sation. Of his frustration with the weekly format he wrote, "The difficulty of the space is crushing. Nobody can have an Brown, James M. "A Tale of Two Cities--Revolutionary Mad- idea of it who has not had an experience of patient fiction- ness and Moral Rebirth." Dickens: Novelist in the Market- writing with some elbow-room 1 always, and open spaces in Place. Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes and Noble, 1982. Pp. 115- perspective" (Life 565). 126.

Despite the carping of such contemporary critics as Sir James Forster, E. M. Aspects of the Novel, ed. Oliver Stallybrass. Fitzjames Stephen about the story's incredible coincidences, Harmondsworth:Penguin, 1974 (originally published in 1927). forced French idioms, unwhole-some morality, contrived emo- Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens, ed. J. W. T. Ley. tions, specious history and jurisprudence, unreality of the illus- London: Cecil Palmer, 1928. trations, and general grotesqueness, A Tale of Two Cities reflects Charles Dickens's Gross, John. "A Tale of Two Cities (1962)." Dickens: Modern Judgements, ed. A. E. Dyson. London: Macmillan, 1968. Pp. exuberance and fertility. Dickens's genius inheres in minute 233-243. particuulars; . . . patterns of symbolism and imagery, a design which lies deeper than plot, . . . the lavish heaping-up of acute Grubb, Gerald Giles. "Dickens' Weekly Serialization." E. L. H. observations, startling similes, descriptive flourishes, circum- 9 (1942): 141-156. stantial embroidery. . . . . But for the most part one goes to the book for qualities which are easier to praise than to illustrate Hutter, Albert D. "Nation and Generation in A Tale of Two Cit- or examine: a rapid tempo which never lets up from the open- ies." PMLA 93 (1978): 448-462.

145 The Letters of Charles Dickens. The Pilgrim Edition. Ed. Made- line House, Graham Storey, K. J. Fielding, and Kathleen Tillot- son. 6 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1965-1989.

Sanders, Andrew. "Introduction" to Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Stange, G. Robert. "A Tale of Two Cities Reconsidered." Eng- lish Journal 47, 7 (October 1957): 381-390.

Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames. "A Tale of Two Cities (1859)." The Dickens Critics, ed. George H. Ford and Lauriat Lane, Jr. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1963. Pp. 38-46.

Woodcock, George. "Introduction" to Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970.

** Published in its entirety in the B. C. [British Columbia, Can- ada] English Teachers' Professional Journal (1991).

146 A Tale of Two Cities: Abridged Version were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster. Answer the discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of Book 1, Chapter 1: years, after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this very year last past (supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped THE PERIOD out theirs. Mere messages in the earthly order of events had IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was lately come to the English Crown and People, from a congress the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the ep- of British subjects in America: which, strange to relate, have och of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season proved more important to the human race than any communi- of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of cations yet received through any of the chickens of the Cock- hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before lane brood. us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to France, less favoured on the whole as to matters spiritual Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the than her sister of the shield and trident, rolled with exceeding period was so far like the present period, that some of its smoothness down hill, making paper money and spending it. noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or Under the guidance of her Christian pastors, she entertained for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. herself, besides, with such humane achievements as sentenc- There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain ing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large pincers, and his body burned alive, because he had not jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In kneeled down in the rain to do honour to a dirty procession of both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the monks which passed within his view, at a distance of some State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general fifty or sixty yards. It is likely enough that, rooted in the were settled for ever. woods of France and Norway, there were growing trees, when that sufferer was put to death, already marked by the Wood- It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred man, Fate, to come down and be sawn into boards, to make a and seventy- five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to Eng- certain movable framework with a sack and a knife in it, terri- land at that favoured period, as at this. Mrs. Southcott had re- ble in history. It is likely enough that in the rough outhouses cently attained her five-and- twentieth blessed birthday, of of some tillers of the heavy lands adjacent to Paris, there were whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded sheltered from the weather that very day, rude carts, bespat- the sublime appearance by announcing that arrangements tered with rustic mire, snuffed about by pigs, and roosted in

147 by poultry, which the Farmer, Death, had already set apart to musketeers fired on the mob, and nobody thought any of be his tumbrels of the Revolution. But that Woodman and these occurrences much out of the common way. In the midst that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and of them, the hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread: the was in constant requisition; now, stringing up long rows of rather, forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a housebreaker on Sat- awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous. urday who had been taken on Tuesday; now, burning people in the hand at Newgate by the dozen, and now burning pam- In England, there was scarcely an amount of order and pro- phlets at the door of Westminster Hall; to-day, taking the life tection to justify much national boasting. Daring burglaries by of an atrocious murderer, and to-morrow of a wretched pil- armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital ferer who had robbed a farmer's boy of sixpence. itself every night; families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town without removing their furniture to upholsterers' All these things, and a thousand like them, came to pass in warehouses for security; the highwayman in the dark was a and close upon the dear old year one thousand seven hundred City tradesman in the light, and, being recognised and chal- and seventy-five. Environed by them, while the Woodman and lenged by his fellow-tradesman whom he stopped in his char- the Farmer worked unheeded, those two of the large jaws, and acter of "the Captain," gallantly shot him through the head those other two of the plain and the fair faces, trod with stir and rode away; the mall was waylaid by seven robbers, and enough, and carried their divine rights with a high hand. Thus the guard shot three dead, and then got shot dead himself by did the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five con- the other four, "in consequence of the failure of his ammuni- duct their Greatnesses, and myriads of small creatures -- the tion:" after which the mall was robbed in peace; that magnifi- creatures of this chronicle among the rest -- along the roads cent potentate, the Lord Mayor of London, was made to stand that lay before them. and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman, who de- ______spoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue; prisoners in London gaols fought battles with their turnkeys, and In what year does the novel begin? the majesty of the law fired blunderbusses in among them, What is the attitude of British and French nobility concerning their rule? loaded with rounds of shot and ball; thieves snipped off diamond crosses from the necks of noble lords at Court drawing- In France, what was a common punishment for not kneeling to honor monks? rooms; musketeers went into St. Giles's, to search for contra- Describe the crime situation in England at the time. band goods, and the mob fired on the musketeers, and the What is Dickens’ attitude about royalty? How do you know?

148 Look up the word blunderbuss. What is its dual meaning? eternal frost, when the light was playing on its surface, and I

The opening paragraph of the novel employs a literary device known as parallel- stood in ignorance on the shore. My friend is dead, my neigh- ism. How does Dickens use parallelism to foreshadow potential themes? Explain. bour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the

______inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in ***Book 1, Chapter 2: Mr. Lorry, a banker traveling on the Do- mine to my life's end. In any of the burial-places of this city ver Mail receives a message from Tellson’s Bank’s odd job through which I pass, is there a sleeper more inscrutable than man, Jerry Cruncher.** its busy inhabitants are, in their innermost personality, to me, or than I am to them?

As to this, his natural and not to be alienated inheritance, Book 1, Chapter 3 the messenger on horseback had exactly the same possessions THE NIGHT SHADOWS as the King, the first Minister of State, or the richest merchant in London. So with the three passengers shut up in the narrow A WONDERFUL FACT to reflect upon, that every human compass of one lumbering old mail coach; they were myster- creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery ies to one another, as complete as if each had been in his own to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great coach and six, or his own coach and sixty, with the breadth of city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses a county between him and the next. encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hun- The messenger rode back at an easy trot, stopping pretty of- dreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imagin- ten at ale- houses by the way to drink, but evincing a tendency ings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awful- to keep his own counsel, and to keep his hat cocked over his ness, even of Death itself, is referable to this. No more can I eyes. He had eyes that assorted very well with that decoration, turn the leaves of this dear book that I loved, and vainly hope being of a surface black, with no depth in the colour or form, in time to read it all. No more can I look into the depths of this and much too near together -- as if they were afraid of being unfathomable water, wherein, as momentary lights glanced found out in something, singly, if they kept too far apart. They into it, I have had glimpses of buried treasure and other had a sinister expression, under an old cocked-hat like a things submerged. It was appointed that the book should shut three-cornered spittoon, and over a great muffler for the chin with a spring, for ever and for ever, when I had read but a and throat, which descended nearly to the wearer's knees. page. It was appointed that the water should be locked in an When he stopped for drink, he moved this muffler with his left

149 hand, only while he poured his liquor in with his right; as Tellson's Bank had a run upon it in the mail. As the bank pas- soon as that was done, he muffled again. senger -- with an arm drawn through the leathern strap, which did what lay in it to keep him from pounding against "No, Jerry, no!" said the messenger, harping on one theme the next passenger, and driving him into his corner, whenever as he rode. "It wouldn't do for you, Jerry. Jerry, you honest the coach got a special jolt -- nodded in his place, with half- tradesman, it wouldn't suit your line of business! Recalled -- ! shut eyes, the little coach-windows, and the coach-lamp dimly Bust me if I don't think he'd been a drinking!" gleaming through them, and the bulky bundle of opposite pas- His message perplexed his mind to that degree that he was senger, became the bank, and did a great stroke of business. fain, several times, to take off his hat to scratch his head. Ex- The rattle of the harness was the chink of money, and more cept on the crown, which was raggedly bald, he had stiff, black drafts were honoured in five minutes than even Tellson's, with hair, standing jaggedly all over it, and growing down hill al- all its foreign and home connection, ever paid in thrice the most to his broad, blunt nose. It was so like Smith's work, so time. Then the strong-rooms underground, at Tellson's, with much more like the top of a strongly spiked wall than a head such of their valuable stores and secrets as were known to the of hair, that the best of players at leap-frog might have de- passenger (and it was not a little that he knew about them), clined him, as the most dangerous man in the world to go opened before him, and he went in among them with the great over. keys and the feebly-burning candle, and found them safe, and strong, and sound, and still, just as he had last seen them. While he trotted back with the message he was to deliver to the night watchman in his box at the door of Tellson's Bank, But, though the bank was almost always with him, and by Temple Bar, who was to deliver it to greater authorities though the coach (in a confused way, like the presence of pain within, the shadows of the night took such shapes to him as under an opiate) was always with him, there was another cur- arose out of the message, and took such shapes to the mare as rent of impression that never ceased to run, all through the arose out of her private topics of uneasiness. They seemed to night. He was on his way to dig some one out of a grave. be numerous, for she shied at every shadow on the road. Now, which of the multitude of faces that showed them- What time, the mail-coach lumbered, jolted, rattled, and selves before him was the true face of the buried person, the bumped upon its tedious way, with its three fellow- shadows of the night did not indicate; but they were all the inscrutables inside. To whom, likewise, the shadows of the faces of a man of five-and-forty by years, and they differed night revealed themselves, in the forms their dozing eyes and principally in the passions they expressed, and in the ghastli- wandering thoughts suggested. ness of their worn and wasted state. Pride, contempt, defi- 150 ance, stubbornness, submission, lamentation, succeeded one key, now with his hands -- to dig this wretched creature out. another; so did varieties of sunken cheek, cadaverous colour, Got out at last, with earth hanging about his face and hair, he emaciated hands and figures. But the face was in the main one would suddenly fan away to dust. The passenger would then face, and every head was prematurely white. A hundred times start to himself, and lower the window, to get the reality of the dozing passenger inquired of this spectre: mist and rain on his cheek.

"Buried how long?" Yet even when his eyes were opened on the mist and rain, on the moving patch of light from the lamps, and the hedge at the The answer was always the same: "Almost eighteen years." roadside retreating by jerks, the night shadows outside the "You had abandoned all hope of being dug out?" coach would fall into the train of the night shadows within. The real Banking-house by Temple Bar, the real business of "Long ago." the past day, the real strong rooms, the real express sent after him, and the real message returned, would all be there. Out of "You know that you are recalled to life?" the midst of them, the ghostly face would rise, and he would "They tell me so." accost it again.

"I hope you care to live?" "Buried how long?"

"I can't say." "Almost eighteen years."

"Shall I show her to you? Will you come and see her?" "I hope you care to live?"

The answers to this question were various and contradic- "I can't say." tory. Sometimes the broken reply was, "Wait! It would kill me Dig -- dig -- dig -- until an impatient movement from one of if I saw her too soon." Sometimes, it was given in a tender rain the two passengers would admonish him to pull up the win- of tears, and then it was, "Take me to her." Sometimes it was dow, draw his arm securely through the leathern strap, and staring and bewildered, and then it was, "I don't know her. I speculate upon the two slumbering forms, until his mind lost don't understand." its hold of them, and they again slid away into the bank and After such imaginary discourse, the passenger in his fancy the grave. would dig, and dig, dig -- now with a spade, now with a great "Buried how long?" 151 "Almost eighteen years."

"You had abandoned all hope of being dug out?" **Book 1, Chapter 4: Mr. Lorry arrives in Dover and meets Lu- cie Manette. Mr. Lorry brought Lucie from Paris to London "Long ago." when she was two years old, after being orphaned. He reveals The words were still in his hearing as just spoken -- dis- that her father has been found alive in Paris and they must tinctly in his hearing as ever spoken words had been in his life travel to “recall him to life.”** -- when the weary passenger started to the consciousness of daylight, and found that the shadows of the night were gone. Book 1, Chapter 5 He lowered the window, and looked out at the rising sun. There was a ridge of ploughed land, with a plough upon it THE WINE-SHOP where it had been left last night when the horses were un- A LARGE CASK of wine had been dropped and broken, in yoked; beyond, a quiet coppice-wood, in which many leaves of the street. The accident had happened in getting it out of a burning red and golden yellow still remained upon the trees. cart; the cask had tumbled out with a run, the hoops had Though the earth was cold and wet, the sky was clear, and the burst, and it lay on the stones just outside the door of the sun rose bright, placid, and beautiful. wine-shop, shattered like a walnut-shell. "Eighteen years!" said the passenger, looking at the sun. All the people within reach had suspended their business, or "Gracious Creator of day! To be buried alive for eighteen their idleness, to run to the spot and drink the wine. The years!" rough, irregular stones of the street, pointing every way, and ______designed, one might have thought, expressly to lame all living creatures that approached them, had dammed it into little Why do you think every “human creature” is a mystery and secret to every other? Explain. pools; these were surrounded, each by its own jostling group or crowd, according to its size. Some men kneeled down, What is Jarvis Lorry on his way to do? Explain the details. made scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped, or tried to What question does Mr. Lorry ask the spectre? What is the answer and what do help women, who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the you think this means? wine had all run out between their fingers. Others, men and ______women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs of mutilated

152 earthenware, or even with handkerchiefs from women's had been trying to soften the pain in her own starved fingers heads, which were squeezed dry into infants' mouths; others and toes, or in those of her child, returned to it; men with bare made small mud-embankments, to stem the wine as it ran; arms, matted locks, and cadaverous faces, who had emerged others, directed by lookers-on up at high windows, darted into the winter light from cellars, moved away, to descend here and there, to cut off little streams of wine that started again; and a gloom gathered on the scene that appeared more away in new directions; others devoted themselves to the sod- natural to it than sunshine. den and lee-dyed pieces of the cask, licking, and even champ- The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the ing the moister wine-rotted fragments with eager relish. There narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was no drainage to carry off the wine, and not only did it all was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, get taken up, but so much mud got taken up along with it, that and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of there might have been a scavenger in the street, if anybody ac- the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; quainted with it could have believed in such a miraculous pres- and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was ence. stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head A shrill sound of laughter and of amused voices -- voices of again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, men, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall women, and children -- resounded in the street while this joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag wine game lasted. There was little roughness in the sport, and of a nightcap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger much playfulness. There was a special companionship in it, an dipped in muddy wine-lees -- BLOOD. observable inclination on the part of every one to join some The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled other one, which led, especially among the luckier or lighter- on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red hearted, to frolicsome embraces, drinking of healths, shaking upon many there. of hands, and even joining of hands and dancing, a dozen together. When the wine was gone, and the places where it had And now that the cloud settled on Saint Antoine, which a mo- been most abundant were raked into a gridiron-pattern by fin- mentary gleam had driven from his sacred countenance, the gers, these demonstrations ceased, as suddenly as they had darkness of it was heavy -- cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, and broken out. The man who had left his saw sticking in the fire- want, were the lords in waiting on the saintly presence -- no- wood he was cutting, set it in motion again; the women who bles of great power all of them; but, most especially the last. had left on a door-step the little pot of hot ashes, at which she Samples of a people that had undergone a terrible grinding

153 and regrinding in the mill, and certainly not in the fabulous brooding look upon them that looked ill. In the hunted air of mill which ground old people young, shivered at every corner, the people there was yet some wild-beast thought of the possi- passed in and out at every doorway, looked from every win- bility of turning at bay. Depressed and slinking though they dow, fluttered in every vestige of a garment that the wind were, eyes of fire were not wanting among them; nor com- shook. The mill which had worked them down, was the mill pressed lips, white with what they suppressed; nor foreheads that grinds young people old; the children had ancient faces knitted into the likeness of the gallows-rope they mused about and grave voices; and upon them, and upon the grown faces, enduring, or inflicting. The trade signs (and they were almost and ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, as many as the shops) were, all, grim illustrations of Want. was the sigh, Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. Hunger The butcher and the porkman painted up, only the leanest was pushed out of the tall houses, in the wretched clothing scrags of meat; the baker, the coarsest of meagre loaves. The that hung upon poles and lines; Hunger was patched into people rudely pictured as drinking in the wine-shops, croaked them with straw and rag and wood and paper; Hunger was re- over their scanty measures of thin wine and beer, and were peated in every fragment of the small modicum of firewood gloweringly confidential together. Nothing was represented in that the man sawed off; Hunger stared down from the smoke- a flourishing condition, save tools and weapons; but, the cut- less chimneys, and started up from the filthy street that had ler's knives and axes were sharp and bright, the smith's ham- no offal, among its refuse, of anything to eat. Hunger was the mers were heavy, and the gunmaker's stock was murderous. inscription on the baker's shelves, written in every small loaf The crippling stones of the pavement, with their many little of his scanty stock of bad bread; at the sausage-shop, in every reservoirs of mud and water, had no footways, but broke off dead-dog preparation that was offered for sale. Hunger rattled abruptly at the doors. The kennel, to make amends, ran down its dry bones among the roasting chestnuts in the turned cylin- the middle of the street -- when it ran at all: which was only der; Hunger was shred into atomics in every farthing porrin- after heavy rains, and then it ran, by many eccentric fits, into ger of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops the houses. Across the streets, at wide intervals, one clumsy of oil. lamp was slung by a rope and pulley; at night, when the lamplighter had let these down, and lighted, and hoisted them again, a feeble grove of dim wicks swung in a sickly manner Its abiding place was in all things fitted to it. A narrow wind- overhead, as if they were at sea. Indeed they were at sea, and ing street, full of offence and stench, with other narrow wind- the ship and crew were in peril of tempest. ing streets diverging, all peopled by rags and nightcaps, and all smelling of rags and nightcaps, and all visible things with a

154 For, the time was to come, when the gaunt scarecrows of In his expostulation he dropped his cleaner hand (perhaps that region should have watched the lamplighter, in their idle- accidentally, perhaps not) upon the joker's heart. The joker ness and hunger, so long, as to conceive the idea of improving rapped it with his own, took a nimble spring upward, and on his method, and hauling up men by those ropes and pul- came down in a fantastic dancing attitude, with one of his leys, to flare upon the darkness of their condition. But, the stained shoes jerked off his foot into his hand, and held out. A time was not come yet; and every wind that blew over France joker of an extremely, not to say wolfishly practical character, shook the rags of the scarecrows in vain, for the birds, fine of he looked, under those circumstances. song and feather, took no warning. "Put it on, put it on," said the other. "Call wine, wine; and fin- The wine-shop was a corner shop, better than most others in ish there." With that advice, he wiped his soiled hand upon its appearance and degree, and the master of the wine-shop the joker's dress, such as it was -- quite deliberately, as having had stood outside it, in a yellow waistcoat and green breeches, dirtied the hand on his account; and then recrossed the road looking on at the struggle for the lost wine. "It's not my affair," and entered the wine-shop. said he, with a final shrug of the shoulders. "The people from This wine-shop keeper was a bull-necked, martial-looking the market did it. Let them bring another." man of thirty, and he should have been of a hot temperament, There, his eyes happening to catch the tall joker writing up for, although it was a bitter day, he wore no coat, but carried his joke, he called to him across the way: one slung over his shoulder.

"Say, then, my Gaspard, what do you do there?"

The fellow pointed to his joke with immense significance, as His shirt-sleeves were rolled up, too, and his brown arms were is often the way with his tribe. It missed its mark, and com- bare to the elbows. Neither did he wear anything more on his pletely failed, as is often the way with his tribe too. head than his own crisply-curling short dark hair. He was a dark man altogether, with good eyes and a good bold breadth "What now? Are you a subject for the mad hospital?" said between them. Good-humoured looking on the whole, but the wine- shop keeper, crossing the road, and obliterating the implacable-looking, too; evidently a man of a strong resolu- jest with a handful of mud, picked up for the purpose, and tion and a set purpose; a man not desirable to be met, rushing smeared over it. "Why do you write in the public streets? Is down a narrow pass with a gulf on either side, for nothing there -- tell me thou -- is there no other place to write such would turn the man. words in?"

155 "What the devil do you do in that galley there?" said Mon- sieur Defarge to himself; "I don't know you." Madame Defarge, his wife, sat in the shop behind the counter as he came in. Madame Defarge was a stout woman of But, he feigned not to notice the two strangers, and fell into about his own age, with a watchful eye that seldom seemed to discourse with the triumvirate of customers who were drink- look at anything, a large hand heavily ringed, a steady face, ing at the counter. strong features, and great composure of manner. There was a "How goes it, Jacques?" said one of these three to Monsieur character about Madame Defarge, from which one might have Defarge. "Is all the spilt wine swallowed?" predicated that she did not often make mistakes against herself in any of the reckonings over which she presided. Ma- "Every drop, Jacques," answered Monsieur Defarge. dame Defarge being sensitive to cold, was wrapped in fur, and had a quantity of bright shawl twined about her head, though When this interchange of Christian name was effected, Ma- not to the concealment of her large ear-rings. Her knitting was dame Defarge, picking her teeth with her toothpick, coughed before her, but she had laid it down to pick her teeth with a another grain of cough, and raised her eyebrows by the toothpick. Thus engaged, with her right elbow supported by breadth of another line. her left hand, Madame Defarge said nothing when her lord "It is not often," said the second of the three, addressing came in, but coughed just one grain of cough. This, in combi- Monsieur Defarge, "that many of these miserable beasts know nation with the lifting of her darkly defined eyebrows over her the taste of wine, or of anything but black bread and death. Is toothpick by the breadth of a line, suggested to her husband it not so, Jacques?" that he would do well to look round the shop among the customers, for any new customer who had dropped in while he "It is so, Jacques," Monsieur Defarge returned. stepped over the way. At this second interchange of the Christian name, Madame The wine-shop keeper accordingly rolled his eyes about, un- Defarge, still using her toothpick with profound composure, til they rested upon an elderly gentleman and a young lady, coughed another grain of cough, and raised her eyebrows by who were seated in a corner. Other company were there: two the breadth of another line. playing cards, two playing dominoes, three standing by the counter lengthening out a short supply of wine. As he passed The last of the three now said his say, as he put down his behind the counter, he took notice that the elderly gentleman empty drinking vessel and smacked his lips. said in a look to the young lady, "This is our man."

156 "Ah! So much the worse! A bitter taste it is that such poor They paid for their wine, and left the place. The eyes of Mon- cattle always have in their mouths, and hard lives they live, sieur Defarge were studying his wife at her knitting when the Jacques. Am I right, Jacques?" elderly gentleman advanced from his corner, and begged the favour of a word. "You are right, Jacques," was the response of Monsieur De- farge. "Willingly, sir," said Monsieur Defarge, and quietly stepped with him to the door. This third interchange of the Christian name was completed at the moment when Madame Defarge put her toothpick by, Their conference was very short, but very decided. Almost at kept her eyebrows up, and slightly rustled in her seat. the first word, Monsieur Defarge started and became deeply attentive. It had not lasted a minute, when he nodded and "Hold then! True!" muttered her husband. "Gentlemen -- went out. The gentleman then beckoned to the young lady, my wife!" and they, too, went out. Madame Defarge knitted with nimble The three customers pulled off their hats to Madame De- fingers and steady eyebrows, and saw nothing. farge, with three flourishes. She acknowledged their homage by bending her head, and giving them a quick look. Then she glanced in a casual manner round the wine-shop, took up her Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Miss Manette, emerging from the knitting with great apparent calmness and repose of spirit, wine-shop thus, joined Monsieur Defarge in the doorway to and became absorbed in it. which he had directed his own company just before. It opened from a stinking little black courtyard, and was the general pub- "Gentlemen," said her husband, who had kept his bright eye lic entrance to a great pile of houses, inhabited by a great num- observantly upon her, "good day. The chamber, furnished ber of people. In the gloomy tile-paved entry to the gloomy bachelor-fashion, that you wished to see, and were inquiring tile-paved staircase, Monsieur Defarge bent down on one knee for when I stepped out, is on the fifth floor. The doorway of to the child of his old master, and put her hand to his lips. It the staircase gives on the little courtyard close to the left was a gentle action, but not at all gently done; a very remark- here," pointing with his hand, "near to the window of my es- able transformation had come over him in a few seconds. He tablishment. But, now that I remember, one of you has al- had no good-humour in his face, nor any openness of aspect ready been there, and can show the way. Gentlemen, adieu!" left, but had become a secret, angry, dangerous man.

157 "It is very high; it is a little difficult. Better to begin slowly." high building -- that is to say, the room or rooms within every Thus, Monsieur Defarge, in a stem voice, to Mr. Lorry, as they door that opened on the general staircase -- left its own heap began ascending the stairs. of refuse on its own landing, besides flinging other refuse from its own windows. The uncontrollable and hopeless mass "Is he alone?" the latter whispered. of decomposition so engendered, would have polluted the air, "Alone! God help him, who should be with him!" said the even if poverty and deprivation had not loaded it with their in- other, in the same low voice. tangible impurities; the two bad sources combined made it almost insupportable. Through such an atmosphere, by a steep "Is he always alone, then?" dark shaft of dirt and poison, the way lay. Yielding to his own disturbance of mind, and to his young companion's agitation, 'Yes. which became greater every instant, Mr. Jarvis Lorry twice "Of his own desire?" stopped to rest. Each of these stoppages was made at a doleful grating, by which any languishing good airs that were left un- "Of his own necessity. As he was, when I first saw him after corrupted, seemed to escape, and all spoilt and sickly vapours they found me and demanded to know if I would take him, seemed to crawl in. Through the rusted bars, tastes, rather and, at my peril be discreet -- as he was then, so he is now." than glimpses, were caught of the jumbled neighbourhood; "He is greatly changed?" and nothing within range, nearer or lower than the summits of the two great towers of Notre-Dame, had any promise on it "Changed!" of healthy life or wholesome aspirations.

The keeper of the wine-shop stopped to strike the wall with At last, the top of the staircase was gained, and they stopped his hand, and mutter a tremendous curse. No direct answer for the third time. There was yet an upper staircase, of a could have been half so forcible. Mr. Lorry's spirits grew heav- steeper inclination and of contracted dimensions, to be as- ier and heavier, as he and his two companions ascended cended, before the garret story was reached. The keeper of the higher and higher. wine-shop, always going a little in advance, and always going on the side which Mr. Lorry took, as though he dreaded to be Such a staircase, with its accessories, in the older and more asked any question by the young lady, turned himself about crowded parts of Paris, would be bad enough now; but, at that here, and, carefully feeling in the pockets of the coat he car- time, it was vile indeed to unaccustomed and unhardened ried over his shoulder, took out a key. senses. Every little habitation within the great foul nest of one

158 "The door is locked then, my friend?" said Mr. Lorry, sur- "Courage, dear miss! Courage! Business! The worst will be prised. over in a moment; it is but passing the room-door, and the worst is over. Then, all the good you bring to him, all the re- "Ay. Yes," was the grim reply of Monsieur Defarge. lief, all the happiness you bring to him, begin. Let our good "You think it necessary to keep the unfortunate gentleman friend here, assist you on that side. That's well, friend Defarge. so retired?" Come, now. Business, business!"

"I think it necessary to turn the key." Monsieur Defarge whis- They went up slowly and softly. The staircase was short, and pered it closer in his ear, and frowned heavily. they were soon at the top. There, as it had an abrupt turn in it, they came all at once in sight of three men, whose heads were "Why?" bent down close together at the side of a door, and who were intently looking into the room to which the door belonged, "Why! Because he has lived so long, locked up, that he would through some chinks or holes in the wall. On hearing foot- be frightened -- rave -- tear himself to pieces -- die -- come to steps close at hand, these three turned, and rose, and showed I know not what harm -- if his door was left open." themselves to be the three of one name who had been drink- "Is it possible!" exclaimed Mr. Lorry. ing in the wine-shop.

"Is it possible!" repeated Defarge, bitterly. "Yes. And a beauti- "I forgot them in the surprise of your visit," explained Mon- ful world we live in, when it is possible, and when many other sieur Defarge. "Leave us, good boys; we have business here." such things are possible, and not only possible, but done -- The three glided by, and went silently down. done, see you! -- under that sky there, every day. Long live the Devil. Let us go on." There appearing to be no other door on that floor, and the keeper of the wine-shop going straight to this one when they This dialogue had been held in so very low a whisper, that were left alone, Mr. Lorry asked him in a whisper, with a little not a word of it had reached the young lady's ears. But, by this anger: time she trembled under such strong emotion, and her face expressed such deep anxiety, and, above all, such dread and ter- "Do you make a show of Monsieur Manette?" ror, that Mr. Lorry felt it incumbent on him to speak a word or two of reassurance. "I show him, in the way you have seen, to a chosen few." "Is that well?" 159 "I think it is well." "Of it? What?"

"Who are the few? How do you choose them?" "I mean of him. Of my father."

"I choose them as real men, of my name -- Jacques is my Rendered in a manner desperate, by her state and by the name -- to whom the sight is likely to do good. Enough; you beckoning of their conductor, he drew over his neck the arm are English; that is another thing. Stay there, if you please, a that shook upon his shoulder, lifted her a little, and hurried little moment." her into the room. He sat her down just within the door, and held her, clinging to him. With an admonitory gesture to keep them back, he stooped, and looked in through the crevice in the wall. Soon raising his Defarge drew out the key, closed the door, locked it on the head again, he struck twice or thrice upon the door -- evi- inside, took out the key again, and held it in his hand. All this dently with no other object than to make a noise there. With he did, methodically, and with as loud and harsh an accompa- the same intention, he drew the key across it, three or four niment of noise as he could make. Finally, he walked across times, before he put it clumsily into the lock, and turned it as the room with a measured tread to where the window was. He heavily as he could. stopped there, and faced round.

The door slowly opened inward under his hand, and he The garret, built to be a depository for firewood and the like, looked into the room and said something. A faint voice an- was dim and dark: for, the window of dormer shape, was in swered something. Little more than a single syllable could truth a door in the roof, with a little crane over it for the hoist- have been spoken on either side. ing up of stores from the street: unglazed, and closing up the middle in two pieces, like any other door of French construc- He looked back over his shoulder, and beckoned them to en- tion. To exclude the cold, one half of this door was fast closed, ter. Mr. Lorry got his arm securely round the daughter's waist, and the other was opened but a very little way. Such a scanty and held her; for he felt that she was sinking. portion of light was admitted through these means, that it was "A -- a -- a -- business, business!" he urged, with a moisture difficult, on first coming in, to see anything; and long habit that was not of business shining on his cheek. "Come in, come alone could have slowly formed in any one, the ability to do in!" any work requiring nicety in such obscurity. Yet, work of that kind was being done in the garret; for, with his back towards "I am afraid of it," she answered, shuddering. the door, and his face towards the window where the keeper of the wine-shop stood looking at him, a white-haired man sat 160 on a low bench, stooping forward and very busy, making "Good day!" shoes. "You are still hard at work, I see?" ______After a long silence, the head was lifted for another moment, What does the incident of the wine spilling in the streets suggest about life in and the voice replied, "Yes -- I am working." This time, a pair France during this time? Explain. of haggard eyes had looked at the questioner, before the face What does the wine symbolize or foreshadow? had dropped again.

Further explain the conditions in France as evidenced by this chapter by describing The faintness of the voice was pitiable and dreadful. It was St. Antoine using words from the text. not the faintness of physical weakness, though confinement Describe Defarge and his wife. and hard fare no doubt had their part in it. Its deplorable pecu- Look up the word jacquerie. Why do the men in the wine shop keep referring to liarity was, that it was the faintness of solitude and disuse. It one another as “Jacques”? was like the last feeble echo of a sound made long and long

Why have Mr. Lorry and Miss Manette come to Defarge’s wine shop? Why was De- ago. So entirely had it lost the life and resonance of the human farge chosen for this duty? voice, that it affected the senses like a once beautiful colour

Describe Miss Manette’s feelings when she is approaching the top of the stairs. faded away into a poor weak stain. So sunken and suppressed Why is she feeling this way? it was, that it was like a voice underground. So expressive it was, of a hopeless and lost creature, that a famished traveller, Why do you think Defarge has kept Dr. Manette locked in a secluded room? wearied out by lonely wandering in a wilderness, would have ______remembered home and friends in such a tone before lying Book 1, Chapter 6 down to die.

THE SHOEMAKER Some minutes of silent work had passed: and the haggard eyes had looked up again: not with any interest or curiosity, "GOOD DAY!" said Monsieur Defarge, looking down at the but with a dull mechanical perception, beforehand, that the white head that bent low over the shoemaking. spot where the only visitor they were aware of had stood, was not yet empty. It was raised for a moment, and a very faint voice responded to the salutation, as if it were at a distance:

161 "I want," said Defarge, who had not removed his gaze from light and air, faded down to such a dull uniformity of parch- the shoemaker, "to let in a little more light here. You can bear ment- yellow, that it would have been hard to say which was a little more?" which.

He had put up a hand between his eyes and the light, and the very bones of it seemed transparent. So he sat, with a The shoemaker stopped his work; looked with a vacant air of steadfastly vacant gaze, pausing in his work. He never looked listening, at the floor on one side of him; then similarly, at the at the figure before him, without first looking down on this floor on the other side of him; then, upward at the speaker. side of himself, then on that, as if he had lost the habit of asso- "What did you say?" ciating place with sound; he never spoke, without first wandering in this manner, and forgetting to speak. "You can bear a little more light?" "Are you going to finish that pair of shoes to-day?" asked De- "I must bear it, if you let it in." (Laying the palest shadow of farge, motioning to Mr. Lorry to come forward. a stress upon the second word.) "What did you say?" The opened half-door was opened a little further, and secured at that angle for the time. A broad ray of light fell into "Do you mean to finish that pair of shoes to-day?" the garret, and showed the workman with an unfinished shoe "I can't say that I mean to. I suppose so. I don't know." upon his lap, pausing in his labour. His few common tools and various scraps of leather were at his feet and on his bench. He But, the question reminded him of his work, and he bent had a white beard, raggedly cut, but not very long, a hollow over it again. face, and exceedingly bright eyes. The hollowness and thin- Mr. Lorry came silently forward, leaving the daughter by the ness of his face would have caused them to look large, under door. When he had stood, for a minute or two, by the side of his yet dark eyebrows and his confused white hair, though Defarge, the shoemaker looked up. He showed no surprise at they had been really otherwise; but, they were naturally large, seeing another figure, but the unsteady fingers of one of his and looked unnaturally so. His yellow rags of shirt lay open at hands strayed to his lips as he looked at it (his lips and his the throat, and showed his body to be withered and worn. He, nails were of the same pale lead-colour), and his old canvas frock, and his loose stockings, and all his and then the hand dropped to his work, and he once more poor tatters of clothes, had, in a long seclusion from direct

162 bent over the shoe. The look and the action had occupied but "And the maker's name?" said Defarge. an instant. Now that he had no work to hold, he laid the knuckles of the "You have a visitor, you see," said Monsieur Defarge. right hand in the hollow of the left, and then the knuckles of the left hand in the hollow of the right, and then passed a "What did you say?" hand across his bearded chin, and so on in regular changes, "Here is a visitor." without a moment's intermission. The task of recalling him from the vagrancy into which he always sank when he had spo- The shoemaker looked up as before, but without removing a ken, was like recalling some very weak person from a swoon, hand from his work. or endeavouring, in the hope of some disclosure, to stay the spirit of a fast-dying man. "Come!" said Defarge. "Here is monsieur, who knows a well- made shoe when he sees one. Show him that shoe you are "Did you ask me for my name?" working at. Take it, monsieur." "Assuredly I did." Mr. Lorry took it in his hand. "One Hundred and Five, North Tower." "Tell monsieur what kind of shoe it is, and the maker's name." "Is that all?"

There was a longer pause than usual, before the shoemaker "One Hundred and Five, North Tower." replied: With a weary sound that was not a sigh, nor a groan, he bent "I forget what it was you asked me. What did you say?" to work again, until the silence was again broken.

"I said, couldn't you describe the kind of shoe, for mon- "You are not a shoemaker by trade?" said Mr. Lorry, looking sieur's information?" steadfastly at him.

"It is a lady's shoe. It is a young lady's walking-shoe. It is in His haggard eyes turned to Defarge as if he would have trans- the present mode. I never saw the mode. I have had a pattern ferred the in my hand." He glanced at the shoe with some little passing question to him: but as no help came from that quarter, they touch of pride.

163 turned back on the questioner when they had sought the As the captive of many years sat looking fixedly, by turns, at ground. Mr. Lorry and at Defarge, some long obliterated marks of an actively intent intelligence in the middle of the forehead, gradually forced themselves through the black mist that had "I am not a shoemaker by trade? No, I was not a shoemaker fallen on him. They were overclouded again, they were fainter, by trade. I -- I learnt it here. I taught myself. I asked leave to -- they were gone; but they had been there. And so exactly was " the expression repeated on the fair young face of her who had crept along the wall to a point where she could see him, and He lapsed away, even for minutes, ringing those measured where she now stood looking at him, with hands which at first changes on his hands the whole time. His eyes came slowly had been only raised in frightened compassion, if not even to back, at last, to the face from which they had wandered; when keep him off and shut out the sight of him, but which were they rested on it, he started, and resumed, in the manner of a now extending towards him, trembling with eagerness to lay sleeper that moment awake, reverting to a subject of last the spectral face upon her warm young breast, and love it back night. to life and hope -- so exactly was the expression repeated (though in stronger characters) on her fair young face, that it "I asked leave to teach myself, and I got it with much diffi- looked as though it had passed like a moving light, from him culty after a long while, and I have made shoes ever since." to her. As he held out his hand for the shoe that had been taken Darkness had fatten on him in its place. He looked at the from him, Mr. Lorry said, still looking steadfastly in his face: two, less and less attentively, and his eyes in gloomy abstrac- "Monsieur Manette, do you remember nothing of me?" tion sought the ground and looked about him in the old way. Finally, with a deep long sigh, he took the shoe up, and re- The shoe dropped to the ground, and he sat looking fixedly sumed his work. at the questioner. "Have you recognised him, monsieur?" asked Defarge in a "Monsieur Manette"; Mr. Lorry laid his hand upon Defarge's whisper. arm; "do you remember nothing of this man? Look at him. Look at me. Is there no old banker, no old business, no old servant, no old time, rising in your mind, Monsieur Manette?"

164 "Yes; for a moment. At first I thought it quite hopeless, but I "You are not the gaoler's daughter?" have unquestionably seen, for a single moment, the face that I She sighed "No." once knew so well. Hush! Let us draw further back. Hush!" "Who are you?" She had moved from the wall of the garret, very near to the bench on which he sat. There was something awful in his un- Not yet trusting the tones of her voice, she sat down on the consciousness of the figure that could have put out its hand bench beside him. He recoiled, but she laid her hand upon his and touched him as he stooped over his labour. arm. A strange thrill struck him when she did so, and visibly passed over his frame; he laid the knife down' softly, as he sat Not a word was spoken, not a sound was made. She stood, staring at her. like a spirit, beside him, and he bent over his work. Her golden hair, which she wore in long curls, had been hur- It happened, at length, that he had occasion to change the riedly pushed aside, and fell down over her neck. Advancing instrument in his hand, for his shoemaker's knife. It lay on his hand by little and little, he took it up and looked at it. In that side of him which was not the side on which she stood. the midst of the action he went astray, and, with another deep He had taken it up, and was stooping to work again, when his sigh, fell to work at his shoemaking. eyes caught the skirt of her dress. He raised them, and saw her face. The two spectators started forward, but she stayed them But not for long. Releasing his arm, she laid her hand upon with a motion of her hand. She had no fear of his striking at his shoulder. After looking doubtfully at it, two or three times, her with the knife, though they had. as if to be sure that it was really there, he laid down his work, put his hand to his neck, and took off a blackened string with He stared at her with a fearful look, and after a while his lips a scrap of folded rag attached to it. He opened this, carefully, began to form some words, though no sound proceeded from on his knee, and it contained a very little quantity of hair: not them. By degrees, in the pauses of his quick and laboured more than one or two long golden hairs, which he had, in breathing, he was heard to say: some old day, wound off upon his finger. "What is this?" He took her hair into his hand again, and looked closely at it. With the tears streaming down her face, she put her two "It is the same. How can it be! When was it! How was it!" hands to her lips, and kissed them to him; then clasped them on her breast, as if she laid his ruined head there.

165 As the concentrated expression returned to his forehead, he "No, no, no; you are too young, too blooming. It can't be. See seemed to become conscious that it was in hers too. He turned what the prisoner is. These are not the hands she knew, this is her full to the light, and looked at her. not the face she knew, this is not a voice she ever heard. No, no. She was -- and He was -- before the slow years of the "She had laid her head upon my shoulder, that night when I North Tower -- ages ago. What is your name, my gentle an- was summoned out -- she had a fear of my going, though I had gel?" none -- and when I was brought to the North Tower they found these upon my sleeve. 'You will leave me them? They Hailing his softened tone and manner, his daughter fell can never help me to escape in the body, though they may in upon her knees before him, with her appealing hands upon the spirit.' Those were the words I said. I remember them very his breast. well." "O, sir, at another time you shall know my name, and who He formed this speech with his lips many times before he my mother was, and who my father, and how I never knew could utter it. But when he did find spoken words for it, they their hard, hard history. But I cannot tell you at this time, and came to him coherently, though slowly. I cannot tell you here. All that I may tell you, here and now, is, that I pray to you to touch me and to bless me. Kiss me, kiss "How was this? -- Was it you?" me! O my dear, my dear!" Once more, the two spectators started, as he turned upon His cold white head mingled with her radiant hair, which her with a frightful suddenness. But she sat perfectly still in warmed and lighted it as though it were the light of Freedom his grasp, and only said, in a low voice, "I entreat you, good shining on him. gentlemen, do not come near us, do not speak, do not move!" "If you hear in my voice -- I don't know that it is so, but I "Hark!" he exclaimed. "Whose voice was that?" hope it is -- if you hear in my voice any resemblance to a voice His hands released her as he uttered this cry, and went up to that once was sweet music in your ears, weep for it, weep for his white hair, which they tore in a frenzy. It died out, as every- it! If you touch, in touching my hair, anything that recalls a be- thing but his shoemaking did die out of him, and he refolded loved head that lay on your breast when you were young and his little packet and tried to secure it in his breast; but he still free, weep for it, weep for it! If, when I hint to you of a Home looked at her, and gloomily shook his head. that is before us, where I will be true to you with all my duty and with all my faithful service, I bring back the remembrance

166 of a Home long desolate, while your poor heart pined away, and lay there in a lethargy, worn out. She had nestled down weep for it, weep for it!" with him, that his head might lie upon her arm; and her hair drooping over him curtained him from the light. She held him closer round the neck, and rocked him on her breast like a child. "If, without disturbing him," she said, raising her hand to Mr. Lorry "If, when I tell you, dearest dear, that your agony is over, as he stooped over them, after repeated blowings of his nose, and that I have come here to take you from it, and that we go "all could be arranged for our leaving Paris at once, so that, to England to be at peace and at rest, I cause you to think of from the, very door, he could be taken away -- " your useful life laid waste, and of our native France so wicked to you, weep for it, weep for it! And if, when I shall tell you of "But, consider. Is he fit for the journey?" asked Mr. Lorry. my name, and of my father who is living, and of my mother "More fit for that, I think, than to remain in this city, so who is dead, you learn that I have to kneel to my honoured fa- dreadful to him." ther, and implore his pardon for having never for his sake striven all day and lain awake and wept all night, because the "It is true," said Defarge, who was kneeling to look on and love of my poor mother hid his torture from me, weep for it, hear. "More than that; Monsieur Manette is, for all reasons, weep for it! Weep for her, then, and for me! Good gentlemen, best out of France. Say, shall I hire a carriage and post- thank God! I feel his sacred tears upon my face, and his sobs horses?" strike against my heart. O, see! Thank God for us, thank God!" "That's business," said Mr. Lorry, resuming on the shortest He had sunk in her arms, and his face dropped on her notice his methodical manners; "and if business is to be done, breast: a sight so touching, yet so terrible in the tremendous I had better do it." wrong and suffering which had gone before it, that the two beholders covered their faces. "Then be so kind," urged Miss Manette, "as to leave us here. You see how composed he has become, and you cannot be When the quiet of the garret had been long undisturbed, and afraid to leave him with me now. Why should you be? If you his heaving breast and shaken form had long yielded to the will lock the door to secure us from interruption, I do not calm that must follow all storms -- emblem to humanity, of doubt that you will find him, when you come back, as quiet as the rest and silence into which the storm called Life must you leave him. In any case, I will take care of him until you re- hush at last -- they came forward to raise the father and daugh- turn, and then we will remove him straight." ter from the ground. He had gradually dropped to the floor, 167 Both Mr. Lorry and Defarge were rather disinclined to this occasionally clasping his head in his hands, that had not been course, and in favour of one of them remaining. But, as there seen in him before; yet, he had some pleasure in the mere were not only carriage and horses to be seen to, but travelling sound of his daughter's voice, and invariably turned to it when papers; and as time pressed, for the day was drawing to an she spoke. end, it came at last to their hastily dividing the business that In the submissive way of one long accustomed to obey under was necessary to be done, and hurrying away to do it. coercion, he ate and drank what they gave him to eat and Then, as the darkness closed in, the daughter laid her head drink, and put on the cloak and other wrappings, that they down on the hard ground close at the father's side, and gave him to wear. He readily responded to his daughter's draw- watched him. The darkness deepened and deepened, and they ing her arm through his, and took -- and kept -- her hand in both lay quiet, until a light gleamed through the chinks in the both his own. wall. They began to descend; Monsieur Defarge going first with Mr. Lorry and Monsieur Defarge had made all ready for the the lamp, Mr. Lorry closing the little procession. They had not journey, and had brought with them, besides travelling cloaks traversed many steps of the long main staircase when he and wrappers, bread and meat, wine, and hot coffee. Mon- stopped, and stared at the roof and round at the wails. sieur Defarge put this provender, and the lamp he carried, on "You remember the place, my father? You remember coming the shoemaker's bench (there was nothing else in the garret up here?" but a pallet bed), and he and Mr. Lorry roused the captive, and assisted him to his feet. "What did you say?"

No human intelligence could have read the mysteries of his But, before she could repeat the question, he murmured an mind, in the scared blank wonder of his face. Whether he answer as if she had repeated it. knew what had happened, whether he recollected what they had said to him, whether he knew that he was free, were ques- "Remember? No, I don't remember. It was so very long ago." tions which no sagacity could have solved. They tried speaking That he had no recollection whatever of his having been to him; but, he was so confused, and so very slow to answer, brought from his prison to that house, was apparent to them. that they took fright at his bewilderment, and agreed for the They beard him mutter, "One Hundred and Five, North time to tamper with him no more. He had a wild, lost manner Tower;" and when he looked about him, it evidently was for of the strong fortress-walls which had long encompassed him. 168 On their reaching the courtyard he instinctively altered his at the guard-house there. "Your papers, travellers!" "See here tread, as being in expectation of a drawbridge; and when there then, Monsieur the Officer," said Defarge, getting down, and was no drawbridge, and he saw the carriage waiting in the taking him gravely apart, "these are the papers of monsieur in- open street, he dropped his daughter's hand and clasped his side, with the white head. They were consigned to me, with head again. him, at the -- " He dropped his voice, there was a flutter among the military lanterns, and one of them being handed No crowd was about the door; no people were discernible at into the coach by an arm in uniform, the eyes connected with any of the many windows; not even a chance passerby was in the arm looked, not an every day or an every night look, at the street. An unnatural silence and desertion reigned there. monsieur with the white head. "It is well. Forward!" from the Only one soul was to be seen, and that was Madame Defarge uniform. "Adieu!" from Defarge. And so, under a short grove -- who leaned against the door-post, knitting, and saw noth- of feebler and feebler over-swinging lamps, out under the ing. great grove of stars. The prisoner had got into a coach, and his daughter had fol- Beneath that arch of unmoved and eternal lights; some, so lowed him, when Mr. Lorry's feet were arrested on the step by remote from this little earth that the learned tell us it is doubt- his asking, miserably, for his shoemaking tools and the unfin- ful whether their rays have even yet discovered it, as a point in ished shoes. Madame Defarge immediately called to her hus- space where anything is suffered or done: the shadows of the band that she would get them, and went, knitting, out of the night were broad and black. All through the cold and restless lamplight, through the courtyard. She quickly brought them interval, until dawn, they once more whispered in the ears of down and handed them in; -- and immediately afterwards Mr. Jarvis Lorry -- sitting opposite the buried man who had leaned against the door-post, knitting, and saw nothing. been dug out, and wondering what subtle powers were for Defarge got upon the box, and gave the word "To the Bar- ever lost to him, and what were capable of restoration -- the rier!" The old inquiry: postilion cracked his whip, and they clattered away under the "I hope you care to be recalled to life?" feeble over- swinging lamps. And the old answer: Under the over-swinging lamps -- swinging ever brighter in the better streets, and ever dimmer in the worse -- and by "I can't say." lighted shops, gay crowds, illuminated coffee-houses, and theatre-doors, to one of the city gates. Soldiers with lanterns, 169 THE END OF THE FIRST BOOK. **Book 2, Chapter 3: Charles Darnay’s lawyer, Mr. Stryver, is able to defame the two patriots who speak out against Darnay, ______Roger Cly and John Barsad. It is revealed that Lucie met Dar- What is Dr. Manette doing when they enter the room? nay five years ago when she and Manette were returning to England with Mr. Lorry. She hopes that her testimony won’t Describe the Doctor’s physical appearance. hurt him. Sydney Carton, Stryver’s disheveled co-council no- When asked his name, what is his response? What does he say about his prison ex- tices the remarkable likeness between himself and Darnay. perience? Bringing this likeness up introduces reasonable doubt. Darnay Does seclusion and isolation have the power to drive a person insane? Explain. is acquitted of treason which is a disappointment for the

What physical characteristic tells us that Lucie is indeed the Doctor’s daughter? crowd who hoped they would get to see an execution.**

When he sees the golden hair, what is his first conclusion? Does he figure out the Book 2, Chapter 4: truth? CONGRATULATORY In your opinion, is it possible for Dr. Manette to be “recalled to life”?

______FROM the dimly-lighted passages of the court, the last sedi- ment of the human stew that had been boiling there all day, **Book 2, Chapter 1: 5 years have passed since book the first. was straining off, when Doctor Manette, Lucie Manette, his We meet Jerry Cruncher again as he is yelling at his wife for daughter, Mr. Lorry, the solicitor for the defense, and its coun- praying against him and his night profession. Jerry’s son re- sel, Mr. Stryver, stood gathered round Mr. Charles Darnay -- marks on the odd occurrence of his father’s boots being clean just released -- congratulating him on his escape from death. when he goes to bed but dirty in the morning. He also notices that his father’s hands are always rusty.** It would have been difficult by a far brighter light, to recognise in Doctor Manette, intellectual of face and upright of bear- **Book 2, Chapter 2: A treason case is taking place in the ing, the shoemaker of the garret in Paris. Yet, no one could court, the Old Bailey. Charles Darnay is being accused of shar- have looked at him twice, without looking again: even though ing English military secrets with the French. Jerry Cruncher the opportunity of observation had not extended to the mourn- notices that Lucie Manette and Dr. Manette are present at ful cadence of his low grave voice, and to the abstraction that court as witness against Charles Darnay.** overclouded him fitfully, without any apparent reason. While one external cause, and that a reference to his long lingering agony, would always -- as on the trial -- evoke this condition 170 from the depths of his soul, it was also in its nature to arise of "You have laid me under an obligation to you for life -- in itself, and to draw a gloom over him, as incomprehensible to two senses," said his late client, taking his hand. those unacquainted with his story as if they had seen the "I have done my best for you, Mr. Darnay; and my best is as shadow of the actual Bastille thrown upon him by a summer good as another man's, I believe." sun, when the substance was three hundred miles away. It clearly being incumbent on some one to say, "Much bet- Only his daughter had the power of charming this black ter," Mr. Lorry said it; perhaps not quite disinterestedly, but brooding from his mind. She was the golden thread that with the interested object of squeezing himself back again. united him to a Past beyond his misery, and to a Present beyond his misery: and the sound of her voice, the light of her "You think so?" said Mr. Stryver. "Well! you have been preface, the touch of her hand, had a strong beneficial influence sent all day, and you ought to know. You are a man of busi- with him almost always. Not absolutely always, for she could ness, too." recall some occasions on which her power had failed; but they were few and slight, and she believed them over. "And as such," quoth Mr. Lorry, whom the counsel learned in the law had now shouldered back into the group, just as he Mr. Darnay had kissed her hand fervently and gratefully, had previously shouldered him out of it -- "as such I will ap- and had turned to Mr. Stryver, whom he warmly thanked. Mr. peal to Doctor Manette, to break up this conference and order Stryver, a man of little more than thirty, but looking twenty us all to our homes. Miss Lucie looks ill, Mr. Darnay has had a years older than he was, stout, loud, red, bluff, and free from terrible day, we are worn out." any drawback of delicacy, had a pushing way of shouldering himself (morally and physically) into companies and conversa- "Speak for yourself, Mr. Lorry," said Stryver; "I have a tions, that argued well for his shouldering his way up in life. night's work to do yet. Speak for yourself."

He still had his wig and gown on, and he said, squaring him- "I speak for myself," answered Mr. Lorry, "and for Mr. Dar- self at his late client to that degree that he squeezed the inno- nay, and for Miss Lucie, and -- Miss Lucie, do you not think I cent Mr. Lorry clean out of the group: "I am glad to have may speak for us all?" He asked her the question pointedly, brought you off with honour, Mr. Darnay. It was an infamous and with a glance at her father. prosecution, grossly infamous; but not the less likely to suc- His face had become frozen, as it were, in a very curious look ceed on that account." at Darnay: an intent look, deepening into a frown of dislike

171 and distrust, not even unmixed with fear. With this strange ex- "So, Mr. Lorry! Men of business may speak to Mr. Darnay pression on him his thoughts had wandered away. now?"

"My father," said Lucie, softly laying her hand on his. Nobody had made any acknowledgment of Mr. Carton's part in the day's proceedings; nobody had known of it. He was un- He slowly shook the shadow off, and turned to her. robed, and was none the better for it in appearance. "Shall we go home, my father?" "If you knew what a conflict goes on in the business mind, With a long breath, he answered "Yes." when the business mind is divided between good-natured impulse and business appearances, you would be amused, Mr. The friends of the acquitted prisoner had dispersed, under Darnay." the impression -- which he himself had originated -- that he would not be released that night. The lights were nearly all ex- Mr. Lorry reddened, and said, warmly, "You have mentioned tinguished in the passages, the iron gates were being closed that before, sir. We men of business, who serve a House, are with a jar and a rattle, and the dismal place was deserted until not our own masters. We have to think of the House more to-morrow morning's interest of gallows, pillory, whipping- than ourselves." post, and branding-iron, should repeople it. Walking between "I know, I know," rejoined Mr. Carton, carelessly. "Don't be her father and Mr. Darnay, Lucie Manette passed into the nettled, Mr. Lorry. You are as good as another, I have no open air. A hackney-coach was called, and the father and doubt: better, I dare say." daughter departed in it. "And indeed, sir," pursued Mr. Lorry, not minding him, "I Mr. Stryver had left them in the passages, to shoulder his really don't know what you have to do with the matter. If way back to the robing-room. Another person, who had not you'll excuse me, as very much your elder, for saying so, I joined the group, or interchanged a word with any one of really don't know that it is your business." them, but who had been leaning against the wall where its shadow was darkest, had silently strolled out after the rest, "Business! Bless you, I have no business," said Mr. Carton. and had looked on until the coach drove away. He now "It is a pity you have not, sir." stepped up to where Mr. Lorry and Mr. Darnay stood upon the pavement. "I think so, too."

172 "If you had," pursued Mr. Lorry, "perhaps you would attend "Then why the devil don't you dine? I dined, myself, while to it." those numskulls were deliberating which world you should belong to -- this, or some other. Let me show you the nearest tav- "Lord love you, no! -- I shouldn't," said Mr. Carton. ern to dine well at." "Well, sir!" cried Mr. Lorry, thoroughly heated by his indif- Drawing his arm through his own, he took him down ference, "business is a very good thing, and a very respectable Ludgate-hill to Fleet-street, and so, up a covered way, into a thing. And, sir, if business imposes its restraints and its si- tavern. Here, they were shown into a little room, where Char- lences and impediments, Mr. Darnay as a young gentleman of les Darnay was soon recruiting his strength with a good plain generosity knows how to make allowance for that circum- dinner and good wine: while Carton sat opposite to him at the stance. Mr. Darnay, good night, God bless you, sir! I hope you same table, with his separate bottle of port before him, and his have been this day preserved for a prosperous and happy life. fully half-insolent manner upon him. -- Chair there!" "Do you feel, yet, that you belong to this terrestrial scheme Perhaps a little angry with himself, as well as with the barris- again, Mr. Darnay?" ter, Mr. Lorry bustled into the chair, and was carried off to Tellson's. Carton, who smelt of port wine, and did not appear "I am frightfully confused regarding time and place; but I to be quite sober, laughed then, and turned to Darnay: am so far mended as to feel that."

"This is a strange chance that throws you and me together. "It must be an immense satisfaction!" This must be a strange night to you, standing alone here with He said it bitterly, and filled up his glass again: which was a your counterpart on these street stones?" large one. "I hardly seem yet," returned Charles Darnay, "to belong to "As to me, the greatest desire I have, is to forget that I be- this world again." long to it. It has no good in it for me -- except wine like this -- "I don't wonder at it; it's not so long since you were pretty nor I for it. So we are not much alike in that particular. In- far advanced on your way to another. You speak faintly." deed, I begin to think we are not much alike in any particular, you and l." "I begin to think I am faint." Confused by the emotion of the day, and feeling his being there with this Double of coarse deportment, to be like a 173 dream, Charles Darnay was at a loss how to answer; finally, an- "She was mightily pleased to have your message, when I swered not at all. gave it her. Not that she showed she was pleased, but I suppose she was." "Now your dinner is done," Carton presently said, "why don't you call a health, Mr. Darnay; why don't you give your The allusion served as a timely reminder to Darnay that this toast?" disagreeable companion had, of his own free will, assisted him in the strait of the day. He turned the dialogue to that point, "What health? What toast?" and thanked him for it. "Why, it's on the tip of your tongue. It ought to be, it must "I neither want any thanks, nor merit any," was the careless be, I'll swear it's there." rejoinder. "It was nothing to do, in the first place; and I don't "Miss Manette, then!" know why I did it, in the second. Mr. Darnay, let me ask you a question." "Miss Manette, then!" "Willingly, and a small return for your good offices." Looking his companion full in the face while he drank the toast, Carton flung his glass over his shoulder against the wall, "Do you think I particularly like you?" where it shivered to pieces; then, rang the bell, and ordered in "Really, Mr. Carton," returned the other, oddly disconcerted, another. "I have not asked myself the question." "That's a fair young lady to hand to a coach in the dark, Mr. "But ask yourself the question now." Darnay!" he said, ruing his new goblet. "You have acted as if you do; but I don't think you do." A slight frown and a laconic "Yes," were the answer. "I don't think I do," said Carton. "I begin to have a very good "That's a fair young lady to be pitied by and wept for by! opinion of your understanding." How does it feel? Is it worth being tried for one's life, to be the object of such sympathy and compassion, Mr. Darnay?" "Nevertheless," pursued Darnay, rising to ring the bell, "there is nothing in that, I hope, to prevent my calling the reck- Again Darnay answered not a word. oning, and our parting without ill-blood on either side."

174 Carton rejoining, "Nothing in life!" Darnay rang. "Do you "Do you particularly like the man?" he muttered, at his own call the whole reckoning?" said Carton. On his answering in image; "why should you particularly like a man who resembles the affirmative, "Then bring me another pint of this same you? There is nothing in you to like; you know that. Ah, con- wine, drawer, and come and wake me at ten." found you! What a change you have made in yourself! A good reason for taking to a man, that he shows you what you have The bill being paid, Charles Darnay rose and wished him fallen away from, and what you might have been! Change good night. Without returning the wish, Carton rose too, with places with him, and would you have been looked at by those something of a threat of defiance in his manner, and said, "A blue eyes as he was, and commiserated by that agitated face as last word, Mr. Darnay: you think I am drunk?" he was? Come on, and have it out in plain words! You hate the "I think you have been drinking, Mr. Carton." fellow."

"Think? You know I have been drinking." He resorted to his pint of wine for consolation, drank it all in a few minutes, and fell asleep on his arms, with his hair strag- "Since I must say so, I know it." gling over the table, and a long winding-sheet in the candle dripping down upon him. "Then you shall likewise know why. I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth ______cares for me." How is Dr. Manette doing now as compared to book the first? What helps him? "Much to be regretted. You might have used your talents bet- What do you think Darnay and Carton’s toast foreshadows? ter." Do the two men like each other? Explain. "May be so, Mr. Darnay; may be not. Don't let your sober What is Sydney Carton’s opinion of himself? face elate you, however; you don't know what it may come to. Good night!" ______

When he was left alone, this strange being took up a candle, Book 2, Chapter 5: went to a glass that hung against the wall, and surveyed him- THE JACKAL self minutely in it. THOSE WERE drinking days, and most men drank hard. So very great is the improvement Time has brought about in such

175 habits, that a moderate statement of the quantity of wine and punch which one man would swallow in the course of a night, Sydney Carton, idlest and most unpromising of men, was without any detriment to his reputation as a perfect gentle- Stryver's great ally. What the two drank together, between man, would seem, in these days, a ridiculous exaggeration. Hilary Term and Michaelmas, might have floated a king's The learned profession of the law was certainly not behind ship. Stryver never had a case in hand, anywhere, but Carton any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian propensities; was there, with his hands in his pockets, staring at the ceiling neither was Mr. Stryver, already fast shouldering his way to a of the court; they went the same Circuit, and even there they large and lucrative practice, behind his compeers in this par- prolonged their usual orgies late into the night, and Carton ticular, any more than in the drier parts of the legal race. was rumoured to be seen at broad day, going home stealthily A favourite at the Old Bailey, and eke at the Sessions, Mr. and unsteadily to his lodgings, like a dissipated cat. At last, it Stryver had begun cautiously to hew away the lower staves of began to get about, among such as were interested in the mat- the ladder on which he mounted. Sessions and Old Bailey had ter, that although Sydney Carton would never be a lion, he now to summon their favourite, specially, to their longing was an amazingly good jackal, and that he rendered suit and arms; and shouldering itself towards the visage of the Lord service to Stryver in that humble capacity. Chief Justice in the Court of King's Bench, the florid counte- "Ten o'clock, sir," said the man at the tavern, whom he had nance of Mr. Stryver might be daily seen, bursting out of the charged to wake him -- "ten o'clock, sir." bed of wigs, like a great sunflower pushing its way at the sun from among a rank garden-full of flaring companions. "What's the matter?"

It had once been noted at the Bar, that while Mr. Stryver was "Ten o'clock, sir." a glib man, and an unscrupulous, and a ready, and a bold, he had not that faculty of extracting the essence from a heap of "What do you mean? Ten o'clock at night?" statements, which is among the most striking and necessary "Yes, sir. Your honour told me to call you." of the advocate's accomplishments. But, a remarkable improvement came upon him as to this. The more business he "Oh! I remember. Very well, very well." got, the greater his power seemed to grow of getting at its pith and marrow; and however late at night he sat carousing with After a few dull efforts to get to sleep again, which the man Sydney Carton, he always had his points at his fingers' ends in dexterously combated by stirring the fire continuously for five the morning. minutes, he got up, tossed his hat on, and walked out. He

176 turned into the Temple, and, having revived himself by twice "I thought he was rather a handsome fellow, and I thought I pacing the pavements of King's Bench-walk and Paper- should have been much the same sort of fellow, if I had had buildings, turned into the Stryver chambers. any luck."

The Stryver clerk, who never assisted at these conferences, Mr. Stryver laughed till he shook his precocious paunch. had gone home, and the Stryver principal opened the door. He "You and your luck, Sydney! Get to work, get to work." had his slippers on, and a loose bed-gown, and his throat was bare for his greater ease. He had that rather wild, strained, Sullenly enough, the jackal loosened his dress, went into an seared marking about the eyes, which may be observed in all adjoining room, and came back with a large jug of cold water, free livers of his class, from the portrait of Jeffries downward, a basin, and a towel or two. Steeping the towels in the water, and which can be traced, under various disguises of Art, and partially wringing them out, he folded them on his head through the portraits of every Drinking Age. in a manner hideous to behold, sat down at the table, and said, "Now I am ready!" "You are a little late, Memory," said Stryver. "Not much boiling down to be done to-night, Memory," said "About the usual time; it may be a quarter of an hour later." Mr. Stryver, gaily, as he looked among his papers. They went into a dingy room lined with books and littered "How much?" with papers, where there was a blazing fire. A kettle steamed upon the hob, and in the midst of the wreck of papers a table "Only two sets of them." shone, with plenty of wine upon it, and brandy, and rum, and sugar, and lemons. "Give me the worst first."

"You have had your bottle, I perceive, Sydney." "There they are, Sydney. Fire away!"

"Two to-night, I think. I have been dining with the day's cli- The lion then composed himself on his back on a sofa on one ent; or seeing him dine -- it's all one!" side of the drinking-table, while the jackal sat at his own paper-bestrewn table proper, on the other side of it, with the "That was a rare point, Sydney, that you brought to bear bottles and glasses ready to his hand. Both resorted to the upon the identification. How did you come by it? When did it drinking-table without stint, but each in a different way; the strike you?" lion for the most part reclining with his hands in his waist-

177 band, looking at the fire, or occasionally flirting with some "You were very sound, Sydney, in the matter of those crown lighter document; the jackal, with knitted brows and intent witnesses to-day. Every question told." face, so deep in his task, that his eyes did not even follow the "I always am sound; am I not?" hand he stretched out for his glass -- which often groped about, for a minute or more, before it found the glass for his "I don't gainsay it. What has roughened your temper? Put lips. Two or three times, the matter in hand became so knotty, some punch to it and smooth it again." that the jackal found it imperative on him to get up, and steep his towels anew. From these pilgrimages to the jug and basin, With a deprecatory grunt, the jackal again complied. he returned with such eccentricities of damp headgear as no "The old Sydney Carton of old Shrewsbury School," said Stry- words can describe; which were made the more ludicrous by ver, nodding his head over him as he reviewed him in the pre- his anxious gravity. sent and the past, "the old seesaw Sydney. Up one minute and At length the jackal had got together a compact repast for down the next; now in spirits and now in despondency!" the lion, and proceeded to offer it to him. The lion took it with "Ah!" returned the other, sighing: "yes! The same Sydney, care and caution, made his selections from it, and his remarks with the same luck. Even then, I did exercises for other boys, upon it, and the jackal assisted both. When the repast was and seldom did my own.)) fully discussed, the lion put his hands in his waistband again, and lay down to mediate. The jackal then invigorated himself "And why not?" with a bumper for his throttle, and a fresh application to his head, and applied himself to the collection of a second meal; "God knows. It was my way, I suppose." this was administered to the lion in the same manner, and He sat, with his hands in his pockets and his legs stretched was not disposed of until the clocks struck three in the morn- out before him, looking at the fire. ing. "Carton," said his friend, squaring himself at him with a bul- "And now we have done, Sydney, fill a bumper of punch," lying air, as if the fire-grate had been the furnace in which sus- said Mr. Stryver. tained endeavour was forged, and the one delicate thing to be The jackal removed the towels from his head, which had done for the old Sydney Carton of old Shrewsbury School was been steaming again, shook himself, yawned, shivered, and to shoulder him into it, "your way is, and always was, a lame complied. way. You summon no energy and purpose. Look at me."

178 "Oh, botheration!" returned Sydney, with a lighter and more repose. It's a gloomy thing, however, to talk about one's own good- humoured laugh, "don't you be moral!" past, with the day breaking. Turn me in some other direction before I go." "How have I done what I have done?" said Stryver; "how do I do what I do?" "Well then! Pledge me to the pretty witness," said Stryver, holding up his glass. "Are you turned in a pleasant direction?" "Partly through paying me to help you, I suppose. But it's not worth your while to apostrophise me, or the air, about it; Apparently not, for he became gloomy again. what you want to do, you do. You were always in the front "Pretty witness," he muttered, looking down into his glass. "I rank, and I was always behind." have had enough of witnesses to-day and to-night; who's your "I had to get into the front rank; I was not born there, was pretty witness?" I?" "The picturesque doctor's daughter, Miss Manette."

"She pretty?" "I was not present at the ceremony; but my opinion is you were," said Carton. At this, he laughed again, and they both "Is she not?" laughed. "No." "Before Shrewsbury, and at Shrewsbury, and ever since Shrewsbury," pursued Carton, "you have fallen into your rank, "Why, man alive, she was the admiration of the whole and I have fallen into mine. Even when we were fellow- Court!" students in the Student-Quarter of Paris, picking up French, "Rot the admiration of the whole Court! Who made the Old and French law, and other French crumbs that we didn't get Bailey a judge of beauty? She was a golden-haired doll!" much good of, you were always somewhere, and I was always -- nowhere." "Do you know, Sydney," said Mr. Stryver, looking at him with sharp eyes, and slowly drawing a hand across his florid "And whose fault was that?" face: "do you know, I rather thought, at the time, that you sym- "Upon my soul, I am not sure that it was not yours. You were pathised with the golden-haired doll, and were quick to see always driving and riving and shouldering and passing, to that what happened to the golden-haired doll?" restless degree that I had no chance for my life but in rust and 179 "Quick to see what happened! If a girl, doll or no doll, ______swoons within a yard or two of a man's nose, he can see it with- What is a jackal? out a perspective-glass. I pledge you, but I deny the beauty. And now I'll have no more drink; I'll get to bed." In the novel, who is the jackal? Where does he work and for whom? Is this ironic considering his past?

When his host followed him out on the staircase with a can- Explain the significance of the last paragraph. dle, to light him down the stairs, the day was coldly looking in through its grimy windows. When he got out of the house, the ______air was cold and sad, the dull sky overcast, the river dark and **Book 2, Chapter 6: Miss Pross, Lucie’s caretaker, exagger- dim, the whole scene like a lifeless desert. And wreaths of dust ates that “hundreds of people,” come to the house wanting to were spinning round and round before the morning blast, as if date Lucie. In reality, the only visitors are Mr. Lorry, Mr. Dar- the desert-sand had risen far away, and the first spray of it in nay, and Mr. Carton. Miss Pross reveals that Dr. Manette its advance had begun to overwhelm the city. paces at night, upset from his 18 year imprisonment. At dinner, Darnay tells the story of finding the word “dig” written on Waste forces within him, and a desert all around, this man a prison wall in the Tower of London. Dr. Manette is clearly stood still on his way across a silent terrace, and saw for a mo- upset by this story. ** ment, lying in the wilderness before him, a mirage of honourable ambition, self-denial, and perseverance. In the fair city of Book 2, Chapter 7: this vision, there were airy galleries from which the loves and graces looked upon him, gardens in which the fruits of life MONSEIGNEUR IN TOWN hung ripening, waters of Hope that sparkled in his sight. A mo- MONSEIGNEUR, one of the great lords in power at the ment, and it was gone. Climbing to a high chamber in a well of Court, held his fortnightly reception in his grand hotel in houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected Paris. Monseigneur was in his inner room, his sanctuary of bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears. sanctuaries, the Holiest of Holiests to the crowd of worship- Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than pers in the suite of rooms without. Monseigneur was about to the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of take his chocolate. Monseigneur could swallow a great many their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own things with ease, and was by some few sullen minds supposed happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning him- to be rather rapidly swallowing France; but, his morning's self to let it eat him away.

180 chocolate could not so much as get into the throat of Monseig- with attention, its capacity of helping such a look was to be neur, without the aid of four strong men besides the Cook. found in the line of the mouth, and the lines of the orbits of the eyes, being much too horizontal and thin; still, in the ef- Yes. It took four men, all four ablaze with gorgeous decora- fect of the face made, it was a handsome face, and a remark- tion, and the Chief of them unable to exist with fewer than two able one. gold watches in his pocket, emulative of the noble and chaste fashion set by Monseigneur, to conduct the happy chocolate to Its owner went down-stairs into the courtyard, got into his Monseigneur's lips. One lacquey carried the chocolate-pot carriage, and drove away. Not many people had talked with into the sacred presence; a second, milled and frothed the him at the reception; he had stood in a little space apart, and chocolate with the little instrument he bore for that function; Monseigneur might have been warmer in his manner. It ap- a third, presented the favoured napkin; a fourth (he of the two peared, under the circumstances, rather agreeable to him to gold watches), poured the chocolate out. It was impossible for see the common people dispersed before his horses, and often Monseigneur to dispense with one of these attendants on the barely escaping from being run down. His man drove as if he chocolate and hold his high place under the admiring Heav- were charging an enemy, and the furious recklessness of the ens. Deep would have been the blot upon his escutcheon if his man brought no check into the face, or to the lips, of the mas- chocolate had been ignobly waited on by only three men; he ter. The complaint had sometimes made itself audible, even in must have died of two. that deaf city and dumb age, that, in the narrow streets without footways, the fierce patrician custom of hard driving en- ... (skipped) dangered and maimed the mere vulgar in a barbarous man- He was a man of about sixty, handsomely dressed, haughty ner. But, few cared enough for that to think of it a second in manner, and with a face like a fine mask. A face of a trans- time, and, in this matter, as in all others, the common parent paleness; every feature in it clearly defined; one set ex- wretches were left to get out of their difficulties as they could. pression on it. The nose, beautifully formed otherwise, was With a wild rattle and clatter, and an inhuman abandon- very slightly pinched at the top of each nostril. In those two ment of consideration not easy to be understood in these days, compressions, or dints, the only little change that the face the carriage dashed through streets and swept round corners, ever showed, resided. They persisted in changing colour some- with women screaming before it, and men clutching each times, and they would be occasionally dilated and contracted other and clutching children out of its way. At last, swooping by something like a faint pulsation; then, they gave a look of at a street corner by a fountain, one of its wheels came to a treachery, and cruelty, to the whole countenance. Examined

181 sickening little jolt, and there was a loud cry from a number of "Killed!" shrieked the man, in wild desperation, extending voices, and the horses reared and plunged. both arms at their length above his head, and staring at him. "Dead!" But for the latter inconvenience, the carriage probably would not The people closed round, and looked at Monsieur the Mar- have stopped; carriages were often known to drive on, and quis. There was nothing revealed by the many eyes that leave their wounded behind, and why not? But the frightened looked at him but watchfulness and eagerness; there was no valet had got down in a hurry, and there were twenty hands at visible menacing or anger. Neither did the people say any- the horses' bridles. thing; after the first cry, they had been silent, and they remained so. The voice of the submissive man who had spoken, "What has gone wrong?" said Monsieur, calmly looking out. was flat and tame in its extreme submission. Monsieur the A tall man in a nightcap had caught up a bundle from among Marquis ran his eyes over them all, as if they had been mere the feet of the horses, and had laid it on the basement of the rats come out of their holes. fountain, and was down in the mud and wet, howling over it He took out his purse. like a wild animal. "It is extraordinary to me," said he, "that you people cannot "Pardon, Monsieur the Marquis!" said a ragged and submis- take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of sive man, "it is a child." you is for ever in the, way. How do I know what injury you "Why does he make that abominable noise? Is it his child?" have done my horses. See! Give him that."

"Excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis -- it is a pity -- yes." He threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up, and all the heads craned forward that all the eyes might look down at it The fountain was a little removed; for the street opened, as it fell. The tall man called out again with a most unearthly where it was, into a space some ten or twelve yards square. As cry, "Dead!" the tall man suddenly got up from the ground, and came running at the carriage, Monsieur the Marquis clapped his hand He was arrested by the quick arrival of another man, for for an instant on his sword-hilt. whom the rest made way. On seeing him, the miserable creature fell upon his shoulder, sobbing and crying, and pointing to the fountain, where some women were stooping over the

182 motionless bundle, and moving gently about it. They were as He looked to the spot where Defarge the vendor of wine had silent, however, as the men. stood, a moment before; but the wretched father was grovel- ling on his face on the pavement in that spot, and the figure "I know all, I know all," said the last comer. "Be a brave that stood beside him was the figure of a dark stout woman, man, my Gaspard! It is better for the poor little plaything to knitting. die so, than to live. It has died in a moment without pain. Could it have lived an "You dogs!" said the Marquis, but smoothly, and with an un- hour as happily?" changed front, except as to the spots on his nose: "I would ride over any of you very willingly, and exterminate you from "You are a philosopher, you there," said the, Marquis, smil- the earth. If I knew which rascal threw at the carriage, and if ing. "How do they call you?" that brigand were sufficiently near it, he should be crushed un- "They call me Defarge." der the wheels."

"Of what trade?" So cowed was their condition, and so long and hard their experience of what such a man could do to them, within the law "Monsieur the Marquis, vendor of wine." and beyond it, that not a voice, or a hand, or even an eye was raised. Among the men, not one. But the woman who stood "Pick up that, philosopher and vendor of wine," said the Mar- knitting looked up steadily, and looked the Marquis in the quis, throwing him another gold coin, "and spend it as you face. It was not for his dignity to notice it; his contemptuous will. The horses there; are they right?" eyes passed over her, and over all the other rats; and he Without deigning to look at the assemblage a second time, leaned back in his seat again, and gave the word "Go on!" Monsieur the Marquis leaned back in his seat, and was just be- He was driven on, and other carriages came whirling by in ing driven away with the air of a gentleman who had acciden- quick succession; the Minister, the State-Projector, the tally broke some common thing, and had paid for it, and could Farmer-General, the Doctor, the Lawyer, the Ecclesiastic, the afford to pay for it; when his ease was suddenly disturbed by a Grand Opera, the Comedy, the whole Fancy Ball in a bright coin flying into his carriage, and ringing on its floor. continuous flow, came whirling by. The rats had crept out of "Hold!" said Monsieur the Marquis. "Hold the horses! Who their holes to look on, and they remained looking on for threw that?" hours; soldiers and police often passing between them and the spectacle, and making a barrier behind which they slunk, and

183 through which they peeped. The father had long ago taken up Book 2, Chapter 9: his bundle and bidden himself away with it, when the women THE GORGON'S HEAD who had tended the bundle while it lay on the base of the fountain, sat there watching the running of the water and the roll- IT WAS a heavy mass of building, that chateau of Monsieur ing of the Fancy Ball -- when the one woman who had stood the Marquis, with a large stone courtyard before it, and two conspicuous, knitting, still knitted on with the steadfastness of stone sweeps of staircase meeting in a stone terrace before the Fate. The water of the fountain ran, the swift river ran, the day principal door. A stony business altogether, with heavy stone ran into evening, so much life in the city ran into death accord- balustrades, and stone urns, and stone flowers, and stone ing to rule, time and tide waited for no man, the rats were faces of men, and stone heads of lions, in all directions. As if sleeping close together in their dark holes again, the Fancy the Gorgon's head had surveyed it, when it was finished, two Ball was lighted up at supper, all things ran their course. centuries ago.

______Up the broad flight of shallow steps, Monsieur the Marquis,

Describe “Monseigneur.” Why does Dickens spend so much time discussing this flambeau preceded, went from his carriage, sufficiently dis- seemingly unimportant character? turbing the darkness to elicit loud remonstrance from an owl

Describe the Monsieur the Marquis, thinking about looks, personality, actions, etc. in the roof of the great pile of stable building away among the trees. All else was so quiet, What happens on the streets of Paris? What does this tell us about nobility in that the flambeau carried up the steps, and the other flambeau France at the time? held at the great door, burnt as if they were in a close room of Where is the chapter set? What purpose does it serve for the reader? state, instead of being in the open night-air. Other sound than ______the owl's voice there was none, save the failing of a fountain into its stone basin; for, it was one of those dark nights that **Book 2, Chapter 8: The Marquis stops the carriage and ques- hold their breath by the hour together, and then heave a long tions a mender of roads for staring at the bottom on his car- low sigh, and hold their breath again. riage. It is revealed that a tall man was hanging on underneath the carriage. The Maquis returns home to his chateau The great door clanged behind him, and Monsieur the Mar- where he asks a servant if his nephew, Charles, has arrived quis crossed a hall grim with certain old boar-spears, swords, yet.** and knives of the chase; grimmer with certain heavy riding- rods and riding-whips, of which many a peasant, gone to his benefactor Death, had felt the weight when his lord was angry. 184 Avoiding the larger rooms, which were dark and made fast was raising his glass of Bordeaux to his lips, when he put it for the night, Monsieur the Marquis, with his flambeau-bearer down. going on before, went up the staircase to a door in a corridor. "What is that?" he calmly asked, looking with attention at This thrown open, admitted him to his own private apartment the horizontal lines of black and stone colour. of three rooms: his bed-chamber and two others. High vaulted rooms with cool uncarpeted floors, great dogs upon the "Monseigneur? That?" hearths for the burning of wood in winter time, and all luxu- ries befitting the state of a marquis in a luxurious age and "Outside the blinds. Open the blinds." country. The fashion of the last Louis but one, of the line that It was done. was never to break -- the fourteenth Louis -- was conspicuous in their rich furniture; but, it was diversified by many objects "Well?" that were illustrations of old pages in the history of France. "Monseigneur, it is nothing. The trees and the night are all A supper-table was laid for two, in the third of the rooms; a that are here." round room, in one of the chateau's four extinguisher-topped towers. A small lofty room, with its window wide open, and The servant who spoke, had thrown the blinds wide, had the wooden jalousie-blinds closed, so that the dark night only looked out into the vacant darkness, and stood with that blank showed in slight horizontal lines of black, alternating with behind him, looking round for instructions. their broad lines of stone colour. "Good," said the imperturbable master. "Close them again."

"My nephew," said the Marquis, glancing at the supper That was done too, and the Marquis went on with his sup- preparation; "they said he was not arrived." per. He was half way through it, when he again stopped with Nor was he; but, he had been expected with Monseigneur. his glass in his hand, hearing the sound of wheels. It came on briskly, and came up to the front of the chateau. "Ah! It is not probable he will arrive to-night; nevertheless, leave the table as it is. I shall be ready in a quarter of an hour." "Ask who is arrived."

In a quarter of an hour Monseigneur was ready, and sat It was the nephew of Monseigneur. He had been some few down alone to his sumptuous and choice supper. His chair leagues behind Monseigneur, early in the afternoon. He had was opposite to the window, and he had taken his soup, and diminished the distance rapidly, but not so rapidly as to come

185 up with Monseigneur on the road. He had heard of Monseig- So long as a servant was present, no other words passed be- neur, at the posting-houses, as being before him. tween them. When coffee had been served and they were alone together, the nephew, looking at the uncle and meeting He was to be told (said Monseigneur) that supper awaited the eyes of the face that was like a fine mask, opened a conver- him then and there, and that he was prayed to come to it. In a sation. little while he came. He had been known in England as Char- les Darnay. "I have come back, sir, as you anticipate, pursuing the object that took me away. It carried me into great and unexpected Monseigneur received him in a courtly manner, but they did peril; but it is a sacred object, and if it had carried me to death not shake hands. I hope it would have sustained me." "You left Paris yesterday, sir?" he said to Monseigneur, as he "Not to death," said the uncle; "it is not necessary to say, to took his seat at table. death." "Yesterday. And you?" "I doubt, sir," returned the nephew, "whether, if it had car- "I come direct." ried me to the utmost brink of death, you would have cared to stop me there." "From London?" The deepened marks in the nose, and the lengthening of the "Yes." fine straight lines in the cruel face, looked ominous as to that; the uncle made a graceful gesture of protest, which was so "You have been a long time coming," said the Marquis, with clearly a slight form of good breeding that it was not reassur- a smile. ing. "On the contrary; I come direct." "Indeed, sir," pursued the nephew, "for anything I know, you "Pardon me! I mean, not a long time on the journey; a long may have expressly worked to give a more suspicious appear- time intending the journey." ance to the suspicious circumstances that surrounded me."

"I have been detained by" -- the nephew stopped a moment "No, no, no," said the uncle, pleasantly. in his answer -- "various business." "But, however that may be," resumed the nephew, glancing "Without doubt," said the polished uncle. at him with deep distrust, "I know that your diplomacy would 186 stop me by any means, and would know no scruple as to "I perceive that, happily for me, the Reception of the day be- means." fore yesterday was, as usual, a cold one," observed the nephew. "My friend, I told you so," said the uncle, with a fine pulsation in the two marks. "Do me the favour to recall that I told "I would not say happily, my friend," returned the uncle, you so, long ago." with refined politeness; "I would not be sure of that. A good opportunity for consideration, surrounded by the advantages "I recall it." of solitude, might influence your destiny to far greater advan- "Thank you," said the Marquis -- very sweetly indeed. tage than you influence it for yourself. But it is useless to discuss the question. I am, as you say, at a disadvantage. These His tone lingered in the air, almost like the tone of a musical little instruments of correction, these gentle aids to the power instrument. and honour of families, these slight favours that might so incommode you, are only to be obtained now by interest and im- "In effect, sir," pursued the nephew, "I believe it to be at portunity. They are sought by so many, and they are granted once your bad fortune, and my good fortune, that has kept me (comparatively) to so few! It used not to be so, but France in out of a prison in France here." all such things is changed for the worse. Our not remote ances- "I do not quite understand," returned the uncle, sipping his tors held the right of life and death over the surrounding vul- coffee. "Dare I ask you to explain?" gar. From this room, many such dogs have been taken out to be hanged; in the next room (my bedroom), one fellow, to our "I believe that if you were not in disgrace with the Court, and knowledge, was poniarded on the spot for professing some in- had not been overshadowed by that cloud for years past, a let- solent delicacy respecting his daughter -- his daughter? We ter de cachet would have sent me to some fortress indefi- have lost many privileges; a new philosophy has become the nitely." mode; and the assertion of our station, in these days, might (I "It is possible," said the uncle, with great calmness. "For the do not go so far as to say would, but might) cause us real in- honour of the family, I could even resolve to incommode you convenience. All very bad, very bad!" to that extent. Pray excuse me!" The Marquis took a gentle little pinch of snuff, and shook his head; as elegantly despondent as he could becomingly be of a country still containing himself, that great means of regeneration.

187 "We have so asserted our station, both in the old time and in could have been shown to him that night, he might have been the modern time also," said the nephew, gloomily, "that I beat a loss to claim his own from the ghastly, fire-charred, lieve our name to be more detested than any name in France." plunder-wrecked rains. As for the roof he vaunted, he might have found that shutting out the sky in a new way -- to wit, for "Let us hope so," said the uncle. "Detestation of the high is ever, from the eyes of the bodies into which its lead was fired, the involuntary homage of the low." out of the barrels of a hundred thousand muskets. "There is not," pursued the nephew, in his former tone, "a "Meanwhile," said the Marquis, "I will preserve the honour face I can look at, in all this country round about us, which and repose of the family, if you will not. But you must be fa- looks at me with any deference on it but the dark deference of tigued. Shall we terminate our conference for the night?" fear and slavery." "A moment more." "A compliment," said the Marquis, "to the grandeur of the family, merited by the manner in which the family has sus- "An hour, if you please." tained its grandeur. Hah!" And he took another gentle little "Sir," said the nephew, "we have done wrong, and are reap- pinch of snuff, and lightly crossed his legs. ing the fruits of wrong." But, when his nephew, leaning an elbow on the table, cov- "We have done wrong?" repeated the Marquis, with an in- ered his eyes thoughtfully and dejectedly with his hand, the quiring smile, and delicately pointing, first to his nephew, fine mask looked at him sideways with a stronger concentra- then to himself. tion of keenness, closeness, and dislike, than was comportable with its wearer's assumption of indifference. "Our family; our honourable family, whose honour is of so much account to both of us, in such different ways. Even in "Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark defer- my father's time, we did a world of wrong, injuring every hu- ence of fear and slavery, my friend," observed the Marquis, man creature who came between us and our pleasure, what- "will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof," ever it was. Why need I speak of my father's time, when it is looking up to it, "shuts out the sky." equally yours? Can I separate my father's twin- brother, joint That might not be so long as the Marquis supposed. If a pic- inheritor, and next successor, from himself?" ture of the chateau as it was to be a very few years hence, and "Death has done that!" said the Marquis. of fifty like it as they too were to be a very few years hence,

188 "And has left me," answered the nephew, "bound to a system "Are they both yours to renounce? France may be, but is the that is frightful to me, responsible for it, but powerless in it; property? It is scarcely worth mentioning; but, is it yet?" seeking to execute the last request of my dear mother's lips, "I had no intention, in the words I used, to claim it yet. If it and obey the last look of my dear mother's eyes, which im- passed to me from you, to-morrow -- " plored me to have mercy and to redress; and tortured by seeking assistance and power in vain." "Which I have the vanity to hope is not probable."

"Seeking them from me, my nephew," said the Marquis, " -- or twenty years hence -- " touching him on the breast with his forefinger -- they were now standing by the hearth -- "you will for ever seek them in "You do me too much honour," said the Marquis; "still, I pre- vain, be assured." fer that supposition."

Every fine straight line in the clear whiteness of his face, was " -- I would abandon it, and live otherwise and elsewhere. It cruelly, craftily, and closely compressed, while he stood look- is little to relinquish. What is it but a wilderness of misery and ing quietly at his nephew, with his snuff-box in his hand. Once ruin!" again he touched him on the breast, as though his finger were "Hah!" said the Marquis, glancing round the luxurious the fine point of a small sword, with which, in delicate finesse, room. he ran him through the body, and said, "To the eye it is fair enough, here; but seen in its integrity, "My friend, I will die, perpetuating the system under which I under the sky, and by the daylight, it is a crumbling tower of have lived." waste, mismanagement, extortion, debt, mortgage, oppres- When he had said it, he took a culminating pinch of snuff, sion, hunger, nakedness, and suffering." and put his box in his pocket. "Hah!" said the Marquis again, in a well-satisfied manner. "Better to be a rational creature," he added then, after ring- "If it ever becomes mine, it shall be put into some hands bet- ing a small bell on the table, "and accept your natural destiny. ter qualified to free it slowly (if such a thing is possible) from But you are lost, Monsieur Charles, I see." the weight that drags it down, so that the miserable people "This property and France are lost to me," said the nephew, who cannot leave it and who have been long wrung to the last sadly; "I renounce them."

189 point of endurance, may, in another generation, suffer less; "With a daughter?" but it is not for me. There is a curse on it, and on all this land." "Yes." "And you?" said the uncle. "Forgive my curiosity; do you, un- "Yes," said the Marquis. "You are fatigued. Good night!" der your new philosophy, graciously intend to live?" As he bent his head in his most courtly manner, there was a "I must do, to live, what others of my countrymen, even with secrecy in his smiling face, and he conveyed an air of mystery nobility at their backs, may have to do some day-work." to those words, which struck the eyes and ears of his nephew "In England, for example?" forcibly. At the same time, the thin straight lines of the setting of the eyes, and the thin straight lips, and the markings in the "Yes. The family honour, sir, is safe from me in this country. nose, curved with a sarcasm that looked handsomely diabolic. The family name can suffer from me in no other, for I bear it in no other." "Yes," repeated the Marquis. "A Doctor with a daughter. Yes. So commences the new philosophy! You are fatigued. Good The ringing of the bell had caused the adjoining bed- night!" chamber to be lighted. It now shone brightly, through the door of communication. The Marquis looked that way, and lis- It would have been of as much avail to interrogate any stone tened for the retreating step of his valet. face outside the chateau as to interrogate that face of his. The nephew looked at him, in vain, in passing on to the door. "England is very attractive to you, seeing how indifferently you have prospered there," he observed then, turning his calm "Good night!" said the uncle. "I look to the pleasure of seeing face to his nephew with a smile. you again in the morning. Good repose! Light Monsieur my nephew to his chamber there! -- And burn Monsieur my "I have already said, that for my prospering there, I am sensi- nephew in his bed, if you will," he added to himself, before he ble I may be indebted to you, sir. For the rest, it is my Refuge." rang his little ben again, and summoned his valet to his own "They say, those boastful English, that it is the Refuge of bedroom. many. You know a compatriot who has found a Refuge there? The valet come and gone, Monsieur the Marquis walked to A Doctor?" and fro in his loose chamber-robe, to prepare himself gently "Yes." for sleep, that hot still night. Rustling about the room, his softly-slippered feet making no noise on the floor, he moved 190 like a refined tiger: -- looked like some enchanted marquis of For three heavy hours, the stone faces of the chateau, lion the impenitently wicked sort, in story, whose periodical and human, stared blindly at the night. Dead darkness lay on change into tiger form was either just going off, or just coming all the landscape, dead darkness added its own hush to the on. hushing dust on all the roads. The burial-place had got to the pass that its little heaps of poor grass were undistinguishable He moved from end to end of his voluptuous bedroom, look- from one another; the figure on the Cross might have come ing again at the scraps of the day's journey that came unbid- down, for anything that could be seen of it. In the village, tax- den into his mind; the slow toil up the hill at sunset, the set- ers and taxed were fast asleep. Dreaming, perhaps, of ban- ting sun, the descent, the mill, the prison on the crag, the little quets, as the starved usually do, and of ease and rest, as the village in the hollow, the peasants at the fountain, and the driven slave and the yoked ox may, its lean inhabitants slept mender of roads with his blue cap pointing out the chain un- soundly, and were fed and freed. der the carriage. That fountain suggested the Paris fountain, the little bundle lying on the step, the women bending over it, The fountain in the village flowed unseen and unheard, and and the tall man with his arms up, crying, "Dead!" the fountain at the chateau dropped unseen and unheard -- both melting away, like the minutes that were falling from the "I am cool now," said Monsieur the Marquis, "and may go to spring of Time -- through three dark hours. Then, the grey wa- bed." ter of both began to be ghostly in the light, and the eyes of the So, leaving only one light burning on the large hearth, he let stone faces of the chateau were opened. his thin gauze curtains fa]J around him, and heard the night Lighter and lighter, until at last the sun touched the tops of break its silence with a long sigh as he composed himself to the still trees, and poured its radiance over the hill. In the sleep. glow, the water of the chateau fountain seemed to turn to The stone faces on the outer wails stared blindly at the black blood, and the stone faces crimsoned. The carol of the birds night for three heavy hours; for three heavy hours, the horses was loud and high, and, on the weather-beaten sill of the great in the stables rattled at their racks, the dogs barked, and the window of the bed-chamber of Monsieur the Marquis, one owl made a noise with very little resemblance in it to the noise little bird sang its sweetest song with all its might. At this, the conventionally assigned to the owl by men- poets. But it is the nearest stone face seemed to stare amazed, and, with open obstinate custom of such creatures hardly ever to say what is mouth and dropped under-jaw, looked awe-stricken. set down for them.

191 Now, the sun was full up, and movement began in the vil- What winds conveyed this hurry to the grizzled mender of lage. Casement windows opened, crazy doors were unbarred, roads, already at work on the hill-top beyond the village, with and people came forth shivering -- chilled, as yet, by the new his day's dinner (not much to carry) lying in a bundle that it sweet air. Then began the rarely lightened toil of the day was worth no crow's while to peck at, on a heap of stones? among the village population. Some, to the fountain; some, to Had the birds, carrying some grains of it to a distance, the fields; men and women here, to dig and delve; men and dropped one over him as they sow chance seeds? Whether or women there, to see to the poor live stock, and lead the bony no, the mender of roads ran, on the sultry morning, as if for cows out, to such pasture as could be found by the roadside. his life, down the hill, knee-high in dust, and never stopped In the church and at the Cross, a kneeling figure or two; atten- till he got to the fountain. dant on the latter prayers, the led cow, trying for a breakfast All the people of the village were at the fountain, standing among the weeds at its foot. about in their depressed manner, and whispering low, but The chateau awoke later, as became its quality, but awoke showing no other emotions than grim curiosity and surprise. gradually and surely. First, the lonely boar-spears and knives The led cows, hastily brought in and tethered to anything that of the chase had been reddened as of old; then, had gleamed would hold them, were looking stupidly on, or lying down trenchant in the morning sunshine; now, doors and windows chewing the cud of nothing particularly repaying their trouble, were thrown open, horses in their stables looked round over which they had picked up in their interrupted saunter. Some their shoulders at the light and freshness pouring in at door- of the people of the chateau, and some of those of the posting- ways, leaves sparkled and rustled at iron-grated windows, house, and dogs pulled hard at their chains, and reared impatient to be all the taxing authorities, were armed more or less, and were loosed. crowded on the other side of the little street in a purposeless way, that was highly fraught with nothing. Already, the All these trivial incidents belonged to the routine of life, and mender of roads had penetrated into the midst of a group of the return of morning. Surely, not so the ringing of the great fifty particular friends, and was smiting himself in the breast bell of the chateau, nor the running up and down the stairs; with his blue cap. What did all this portend, and what por- nor the hurried figures on the terrace; nor the booting and tended the swift hoisting-up of Monsieur Gabelle behind a ser- tramping here and there and everywhere, nor the quick sad- vant on horseback, and the conveying away of the said Gabelle dling of horses and riding away? (double-laden though the horse was), at a gallop, like a new version of the German ballad of Leonora?

192 Manette that if he and Lucie marry, he will reveal his real name the morning of the wedding.** It portended that there was one stone face too many, up at the chateau. **Book 2, Chapter 11: Mr. Stryver tells Carton that he plans to marry Lucie Manette.** The Gorgon had surveyed the building again in the night, and had added the one stone face wanting; the stone face for **Book 2, Chapter 12: Mr. Stryver is disappointed to learn which it had waited through about two hundred years. that Lucie does not want to marry him. He tries to cover his bruised ego by saying he didn’t really want to marry her.** It lay back on the pillow of Monsieur the Marquis. It was like a fine mask, suddenly startled, made angry, and petrified. Book 2, Chapter 13: Driven home into the heart of the stone figure attached to it, THE FELLOW OF NO DELICACY was a knife. Round its hilt was a frill of paper, on which was scrawled: IF SYDNEY CARTON ever shone anywhere, he certainly never shone in the house of Doctor Manette. He had been "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from JACQUES." there often, during a whole year, and had always been the ______same moody and morose lounger there. When he cared to talk, he talked well; but, the cloud of caring for nothing, which Describe the Marquis’ chateau using the specific images from the text. How is this setting appropriate for the home of the Marquis? overshadowed him with such a fatal darkness, was very rarely pierced by the light within him. What is the Marquis’ philosophy of keeping the “common people” under control?

What is Darnay’s opinion of his family’s behavior and what does he plan to do And yet he did care something for the streets that environed about it? that house, and for the senseless stones that made their pavements. Many a night he vaguely and unhappily wandered What happens to the Marquis? Who might have done it? How do you know? there, when wine had brought no transitory gladness to him; ______many a dreary daybreak revealed his solitary figure lingering **Book 2, Chapter 10: Charles Darnay visits Dr. Manette and there, and still lingering there when the first beams of the sun reveals his love for Lucie. Darnay asks Manette to promise to brought into strong relief, removed beauties of architecture in never say anything negative against Darnay. Darnay promises spires of churches and lofty buildings, as perhaps the quiet time brought some sense of better things, else forgotten and

193 unattainable, into his mind. Of late, the neglected bed in the "God knows it is a shame!" Temple Court had known him more scantily than ever; and of- "Then why not change it?" ten when he had thrown himself upon it no longer than a few minutes, he had got up again, and haunted that neighbour- Looking gently at him again, she was surprised and sad- hood. dened to see that there were tears in his eyes. There were tears in his voice too, as he answered:

On a day in August, when Mr. Stryver (after notifying to his "It is too late for that. I shall never be better than I am. I jackal that "he had thought better of that marrying matter") shall sink lower, and be worse." had carried his delicacy into Devonshire, and when the sight and scent of flowers in the City streets had some waifs of good- He leaned an elbow on her table, and covered his eyes with ness in them for the worst, of health for the sickliest, and of his hand. The table trembled in the silence that followed. youth for the oldest, Sydney's feet still trod those stones. From She had never seen him softened, and was much distressed. being irresolute and purposeless, his feet became animated by He knew her to be so, without looking at her, and said: an intention, and, in the working out of that intention, they took him to the Doctor's door. "Pray forgive me, Miss Manette. I break down before the knowledge of what I want to say to you. Will you hear me?" He was shown up-stairs, and found Lucie at her work, alone. She had never been quite at her ease with him, and received "If it will do you any good, Mr. Carton, if it would make you him with some little embarrassment as he seated himself near happier, it would make me very glad!" her table. But, looking up at his face in the interchange of the first few common-places, she observed a change in it. "God bless you for your sweet compassion!"

"I fear you are not well, Mr. Carton!" He unshaded his face after a little while, and spoke steadily.

"No. But the life I lead, Miss Manette, is not conducive to "Don't be afraid to hear me. Don't shrink from anything I health. What is to be expected of, or by, such profligates?" say. I am like one who died young. All my life might have been." "Is it not -- forgive me; I have begun the question on my lips -- a pity to live no better life?"

194 "No, Mr. Carton. I am sure that the best part of it might still "To none. No, Miss Manette, to none. If you will hear me be; I am sure that you might be much, much worthier of your- through a very little more, all you can ever do for me is done. I self." wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul. In my degradation I have not been so degraded but that "Say of you, Miss Manette, and although I know better -- al- the sight of you with your father, and of this home made such though in the mystery of my own wretched heart I know bet- a home by you, has stirred old shadows that I thought had ter -- I shall never forget it!" died out of me. Since I knew you, I have been troubled by a re- She was pale and trembling. He came to her relief with a morse that I thought would never reproach me again, and fixed despair of himself which made the interview unlike any have heard whispers from old voices impelling me upward, other that could have been holden. that I thought were silent for ever. I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensu- "If it had been possible, Miss Manette, that you could have ality, and fighting out the abandoned fight. A dream, all a returned the love of the man you see before you -- self-flung dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he away, wasted, drunken, poor creature of misuse as you know lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it." him to be -- he would have been conscious this day and hour, in spite of his happiness, that he would bring you to misery, "Will nothing of it remain? O Mr. Carton, think again! Try bring you to sorrow and repentance, blight you, disgrace you, again!" pull you down with him. I know very well that you can have no "No, Miss Manette; all through it, I have known myself to be tenderness for me; I ask for none; I am even thankful that it quite undeserving. And yet I have had the weakness, and have cannot be." still the weakness, to wish you to know with what a sudden "Without it, can I not save you, Mr. Carton? Can I not recall mastery you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire -- a you -- forgive me again! -- to a better course? Can I in no way fire, however, inseparable in its nature from myself, quicken- repay your confidence? I know this is a confidence," she mod- ing nothing, lighting nothing, doing no service, idly burning estly said, after a little hesitation, and in earnest tears, "I away." know you would say this to no one else. Can I turn it to no "Since it is my misfortune, Mr. Carton, to have made you good account for yourself, Mr. Carton?" more unhappy than you were before you knew me -- " He shook his head.

195 "Don't say that, Miss Manette, for you would have reclaimed "Thank you. And again, God bless you." me, if anything could. you will not be the cause of my becom- He put her hand to his lips, and moved towards the door. ing worse." "Be under no apprehension, Miss Manette, of my ever resum- "Since the state of your mind that you describe, is, at all ing this conversation by so much as a passing word. I will events, attributable to some influence of mine -- this is what I never refer to it again. If I were dead, that could not be surer mean, if I can make it plain -- can I use no influence to serve than it is henceforth. in the hour of my death, I shall hold sa- you? Have I no power for good, with you, at all?" cred the one good remembrance -- and shall thank and bless "The utmost good that I am capable of now, Miss Manette, I you for it -- that my last avowal of myself was made to you, have come here to realise. Let me carry through the, rest of and that my name, and faults, and miseries were gently car- my misdirected life, the remembrance that I opened my heart ried in your heart. May it otherwise be light and happy!" to you, last of all the world; and that there was something left He was so unlike what he had ever shown himself to be, and in me at this time which you could deplore and pity." it was so sad to think how much he had thrown away, and how "Which I entreated you to believe, again and again, most fer- much he every day kept down and perverted, that Lucie Ma- vently, with all my heart, was capable of better things, Mr. Car- nette wept mournfully for him as he stood looking back at her. ton!" "Be comforted!" he said, "I am not worth such feeling, Miss "Entreat me to believe it no more, Miss Manette. I have Manette. An hour or two hence, and the low companions and proved myself, and I know better. I distress you; I draw fast to low habits that I an end. Will you let me believe, when I recall this day, that the scorn but yield to, will render me less worth such tears as last confidence of my life was reposed in your pure and inno- those, than any wretch who creeps along the streets. Be com- cent breast, and that it lies there alone, and will be shared by forted! But, within myself, I shall always be, towards you, no one?" what I am now, though outwardly I shall be what you have heretofore seen me. The last supplication but one I make to "If that will be a consolation to you, yes." you, is, that you will believe this of me." "Not even by the dearest one ever to be known to you?" "I will, Mr. Carton." "Mr. Carton," she answered, after an agitated pause, "the secret is yours, not mine; and I promise to respect it." 196 "My last supplication of all, is this; and with it, I will relieve you of a visitor with whom I well know you have nothing in **Book 2, Chapter 14: Roger Cly’s funeral procession is in- unison, and between whom and you there is an impassable vaded by an angry mob. Later, Young Jerry follows his father space. It is useless to say it, I know, but it rises out of my soul. at night and discovers that he is a grave robber, selling the For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my bodies to doctors. ** career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for Book 2, Chapter 15: you and for those dear to you. Try to hold me in your mind, at some quiet times, as ardent and sincere in this one thing. The KNITTING time will come, the time will not be long in coming, when new THERE HAD BEEN earlier drinking than usual in the wine- ties will be formed about you -- ties that will bind you yet shop of Monsieur Defarge. As early as six o'clock in the morn- more tenderly and strongly to the home you so adorn -- the ing, sallow faces peeping through its barred windows had de- dearest ties that will ever grace and gladden you. O Miss Ma- scried other faces within, bending over measures of wine. nette, when the little picture of a happy father's face looks up Monsieur Defarge sold a very thin wine at the best of times, in yours, when you see your own bright beauty springing up but it would seem to have been an unusually thin wine that he anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who sold at this time. A sour wine, moreover, or a souring, for its would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!" influence on the mood of those who drank it was to make He said, "Farewell!" said a last "God bless you!" and left her. them gloomy. No vivacious Bacchanalian flame leaped out of the pressed grape of Monsieur Defarge: but, a smouldering ______fire that burnt in the dark, lay hidden in the dregs of it.

Explain the changes you have seen in Carton’s character. This had been the third morning in succession, on which What does Carton say he would do if Lucie should love him? there had been early drinking at the wine-shop of Monsieur

Why does Carton reveal himself to Lucie if he thinks that there is an “impassable Defarge. It had begun on Monday, and here was Wednesday space” between them? come. There had been more of early brooding than drinking; for, many men had listened and whispered and slunk about What is ironic about the chapter title? there from the time of the opening of the door, who could not What is the purpose of this chapter? What might it foreshadow? have laid a piece of money on the counter to save their souls. ______These were to the full as interested in the place, however, as if

197 they could have commanded whole barrels of wine; and they flickered in flames of faces at most doors and windows. Yet, glided from seat to seat, and from corner to corner, swallow- no one had followed them, and no man spoke when they en- ing talk in lieu of drink, with greedy looks. tered the wine-shop, though the eyes of every man there were turned upon them. Notwithstanding an unusual flow of company, the master of the wine- shop was not visible. He was not missed; for, no- "Good day, gentlemen!" said Monsieur Defarge. body who crossed the threshold looked for him, nobody asked It may have been a signal for loosening the general tongue. for him, nobody wondered to see only Madame Defarge in her It elicited an answering chorus of "Good day!" seat, presiding over the distribution of wine, with a bowl of battered small coins before her, as much defaced "It is bad weather, gentlemen," said Defarge, shaking his and beaten out of their original impress as the small coinage head. of humanity from whose ragged pockets they had come. Upon which, every man looked at his neighbour, and then A suspended interest and a prevalent absence of mind, were an cast down their eyes and sat silent. Except one man, who perhaps observed by the spies who looked in at the wine-shop, got up and went out. as they looked in at every place, high and low, from the kings palace to the criminal's gaol. Games at cards languished, play- "My wife," said Defarge aloud, addressing Madame Defarge: ers at dominoes musingly built towers with them, drinkers "I have travelled certain leagues with this good mender of drew figures on the tables with spilt drops of wine, Madame roads, called Jacques. I met him -- by accident -- a day and Defarge herself picked out the pattern on her sleeve with her half's journey out of Paris. He is a good child, this mender of toothpick, and saw and heard something inaudible and invisi- roads, called Jacques. Give him to drink, my wife!" ble a long way off. A second man got up and went out. Madame Defarge set Thus, Saint Antoine in this vinous feature of his, until mid- wine before the mender of roads called Jacques, who doffed day. It was high noontide, when two dusty men passed his blue cap to the company, and drank. In the breast of his through his streets and under his swinging lamps: of whom, blouse he carried some coarse dark bread; he ate of this be- one was Monsieur Defarge: the other a mender of roads in a tween whiles, and sat munching and drinking near Madame blue cap. All adust and athirst, the two entered the wine-shop. Defarge's counter. A third man got up and went out. Their arrival had lighted a kind of fire in the breast of Saint An- Defarge refreshed himself with a draught of wine -- but, he toine, fast spreading as they came along, which stirred and took less than was given to the stranger, as being himself a 198 man to whom it was no rarity -- and stood waiting until the The mender of roads, blue cap in hand, wiped his swarthy countryman had made his breakfast. He looked at no one pre- forehead with it, and said, "Where shall I commence, mon- sent, and no one now looked at him; not even Madame De- sieur?" farge, who had taken up her knitting, and was at work. "Commence," was Monsieur Defarge's not unreasonable re- "Have you finished your repast, friend?" he asked, in due sea- ply, "at the commencement." son. "I saw him then, messieurs," began the mender of roads, "a "Yes, thank you." year ago this running summer, underneath the carriage of the Marquis, hanging by the chain. Behold the manner of it. I leav- "Come, then! You shall see the apartment that I told you you ing my work on the road, the sun going to bed, the carriage of could occupy. It will suit you to a marvel." the Marquis slowly ascending the hill, he hanging by the chain Out of the wine-shop into the street, out of the street into a -- like this." courtyard, out of the courtyard up a steep staircase, out of the Again the mender of roads went through the whole perform- staircase into a garret, -- formerly the garret where a white- ance; in which he ought to have been perfect by that time, see- haired man sat on a low bench, stooping forward and very ing that it had been the infallible resource and indispensable busy, making shoes. entertainment of his village during a whole year. No white-haired man was there now; but, the three men Jacques One struck in, and asked if he had ever seen the were there who had gone out of the wine-shop singly. And be- man before? tween them and the white-haired man afar off, was the one small link, that they had once looked in at him through the "Never," answered the mender of roads, recovering his per- chinks in the wall. pendicular.

Defarge closed the door carefully, and spoke in a subdued Jacques Three demanded how he afterwards recognised him voice: then?

"Jacques One, Jacques Two, Jacques Three! This is the wit- "By his tall figure," said the mender of roads, softly, and with ness encountered by appointment, by me, Jacques Four. He his finger at his nose. "When Monsieur the Marquis demands will tell you all. Speak, Jacques Five!" that evening, 'Say, what is he like?' I make response, 'Tall as a spectre.'" 199 "You should have said, short as a dwarf," returned Jacques "I stand aside, messieurs, by my heap of stones, to see the Two. soldiers and their prisoner pass (for it is a solitary road, that, where any spectacle is well worth looking at), and at first, as "But what did I know? The deed was not then accomplished, they approach, I see no more than that they are six soldiers neither did he confide in me. Observe! Under those circum- with a tall man bound, and that they are almost black to my stances even, I do not offer my testimony. Monsieur the Mar- sight -- except on the side of the sun going to bed, where they quis indicates me with his finger, have a red edge, messieurs. Also, I see that their long shadows standing near our little fountain, and says, 'To me! Bring that are on the hollow ridge on the opposite side of the road, and rascal!' My faith, messieurs, I offer nothing." are on the hill above it, and are like the shadows of giants. "He is right there, Jacques," murmured Defarge, to him who Also, I see that they are covered with dust, and that the dust had interrupted. "Go on!" moves with them as they come, tramp, tramp! But when they advance quite near to me, I recognise the tall man, and he rec- "Good!" said the mender of roads, with an air of mystery. ognises me. Ah, but he would be well content to precipitate "The tall man is lost, and he is sought -- how many months? himself over the hill-side once again, as on the evening when Nine, ten, eleven?" he and I first encountered, close to the same spot!"

"No matter, the number," said Defarge. "He is well hidden, He described it as if he were there, and it was evident that he but at last he is unluckily found. Go on!" saw it vividly; perhaps he had not seen much in his life.

"I am again at work upon the hill-side, and the sun is again "I do not show the soldiers that I recognise the tall man; he about to go to bed. I am collecting my tools to descend to my does not show the soldiers that he recognises me; we do it, cottage down in the village below, where it is already dark, and we know it, with our eyes. 'Come on!' says the chief of that when I raise my eyes, and see coming over the hill six soldiers. company, pointing to the village, 'bring him fast to his tomb!' In the midst of them is a tall man with his arms bound -- tied and they bring him faster. I follow. His arms are swelled be- to his sides -- like this!" cause of being bound so tight, his wooden shoes are large and clumsy, and he is lame. Because he is lame, and consequently With the aid of his indispensable cap, he represented a man slow, they drive him with their guns -- like this!" with his elbows bound fast at his hips, with cords that were knotted behind him. He imitated the action of a man's being impelled forward by the butt-ends of muskets.

200 "As they descend the hill like madmen running a race, he old pallet-bed, each with his chin resting on his hand, and his falls. They laugh and pick him up again. His face is bleeding eyes intent on the road-mender; Jacques Three, equally in- and covered with dust, but he cannot touch it; thereupon they tent, on one knee behind them, with his agitated hand always laugh again. They bring him into the village; all the village gliding over the network of fine nerves about his mouth and runs to look; they take him past the mill, and up to the prison; nose; Defarge standing between them and the narrator, whom all the village sees the prison gate open in the darkness of the he had stationed in the light of the window, by turns looking night, and swallow him -- like this!" from him to them, and from them to him.

He opened his mouth as wide as he could, and shut it with a "Go on, Jacques," said Defarge. sounding snap of his teeth. Observant of his unwillingness to "He remains up there in his iron cage some days. The village mar the effect by opening it again, Defarge said, "Go on, Jac- looks at him by stealth. for it is afraid. But it always looks up, ques." from a distance, at the prison on the crag; and in the evening, "All the village," pursued the mender of roads, on tiptoe and when the work of the day is achieved and it assembles to gos- in a low voice, "withdraws; all the village whispers by the foun- sip at the fountain, all faces are turned towards the prison. For- tain; all the village sleeps; all the village dreams of that un- merly, they were turned towards the posting-house; now, they happy one, within the locks and bars of the prison on the crag, are turned towards the prison. They whisper at the fountain, and never to come out of it, except to perish. In the morning, that although condemned to death he will not be executed; with my tools upon my shoulder, eating my morsel of black they say that petitions have been presented in Paris, showing bread as I go, I make a circuit by the prison, on my way to my that work. There I see him, high up, behind the bars of a lofty iron he was enraged and made mad by the death of his child; they cage, bloody and dusty as last night, looking through. He has say that a petition has been presented to the King himself. no hand free, to wave to me; I dare not call to him; he regards What do I know? It is possible. Perhaps yes, perhaps no." me like a dead man."

Defarge and the three glanced darkly at one another. The "Listen then, Jacques," Number One of that name sternly in- looks of all of them were dark, repressed, and revengeful, as terposed. "Know that a petition was presented to the King and they listened to the countryman's story; the manner of all of Queen. All here, yourself excepted, saw the King take it, in his them, while it was secret, was authoritative too. They had the carriage in the street, sitting beside the Queen. It is Defarge air of a rough tribunal; Jacques One and Two sitting on the

201 whom you see here, who, at the hazard of his life, darted out "Listen once again then, Jacques!" said the man with the before the horses, with the petition in his hand." restless hand and the craving air. "The name of that prisoner was Damiens, and it was all done in open day, in the open "And once again listen, Jacques!" said the kneeling Number streets of this city of Paris; and nothing was more noticed in Three: his fingers ever wandering over and over those fine the vast concourse that saw it done, than the crowd of ladies nerves, with a strikingly greedy air, as if he hungered for some- of quality and fashion, who were full of eager attention to the thing -- that was neither food nor drink; "the guard, horse and last -- to the last, Jacques, prolonged until nightfall, when he foot, surrounded the petitioner, and struck him blows. You had lost two legs and an arm, and still breathed! And it was hear?" done -- why, how old are you?" "I hear, messieurs." "Thirty-five," said the mender of roads, who looked sixty. "Go on then," said Defarge. "It was done when you were more than ten years old; you "Again; on the other hand, they whisper at the fountain," re- might have seen it. " sumed the countryman, "that he is brought down into our "Enough!" said Defarge, with grim impatience. "Long live country to be executed on the spot, and that he will very cer- the Devil! Go on." tainly be executed. They even whisper that because he has slain Monseigneur, and because Monseigneur was the father "Well! Some whisper this, some whisper that; they speak of of his tenants -- serfs -- what you will -- he will -- be executed nothing else; even the fountain appears to fall to that tune. At as a parricide. One old man says at the fountain, that his right length, on Sunday night when all the village is asleep, come hand, armed with the knife, will be burnt off before his face; soldiers, winding down from the prison, and their guns ring that, into wounds which will be made in his arms, his breast, on the stones of the little street. Workmen dig, workmen ham- and his legs, there will be poured boiling oil, melted lead, hot mer, soldiers laugh and sing; in the morning, by the fountain, resin, wax, and sulphur; finally, that he will be tom limb from there is raised a gallows forty feet high, poisoning the water." limb by four strong horses. That old man says, all this was ac- The mender of roads looked through rather than at the low tually done to a prisoner who made an attempt on the life of ceiling, and pointed as if he saw the gallows somewhere in the the late King, Louis Fifteen. But how do I know if he lies? I am sky. not a scholar."

202 "All work is stopped, all assemble there, nobody leads the came on, now riding and now walking, through the rest of yes- cows out, the cows are there with the rest. At midday, the roll terday and through last night. And here you see me!" of drums. Soldiers have marched into the prison in the night, After a gloomy silence, the first Jacques said, "Good! You and he is in the midst of many soldiers. He is bound as before, have acted and recounted faithfully. Will you wait for us a lit- and in his mouth there is a gag -- tied so, with a tight string, tle, outside the door?" making him look almost as if he laughed." He suggested it, by creasing his face with his two thumbs, from the corners of his "Very willingly," said the mender of roads. Whom Defarge mouth to his ears. "On the top of the gallows is fixed the knife, escorted to the top of the stairs, and, leaving seated there, re- blade upwards, with its point in the air. He is hanged there turned. forty feet high -- and is left hanging, poisoning the water." The three had risen, and their heads were together when he They looked at one another, as he used his blue cap to wipe came back to the garret. his face, on which the perspiration had started afresh while he recalled the spectacle. "How say you, Jacques?" demanded Number One. "To be registered?" "It is frightful, messieurs. How can the women and the children draw water! Who can gossip of an evening, under that "To be registered, as doomed to destruction," returned De- shadow! Under it, have I said? When I left the village, Monday farge. evening as the sun was going to bed, and looked back from the "Magnificent!" croaked the man with the craving. hill, the shadow struck across the church, across the mill, across the prison -- seemed to strike across the earth, mes- "The chateau, and all the race?" inquired the first. sieurs, to where the sky rests upon it!" "The chateau and all the race," returned Defarge. "Extermi- The hungry man gnawed one of his fingers as he looked at nation." the other three, and his finger quivered with the craving that was on him. The hungry man repeated, in a rapturous croak, "Magnifi- cent!" and began gnawing another finger. "That's all, messieurs. I left at sunset (as I had been warned to do), and I walked on, that night and half next day, until I "Are you sure," asked Jacques Two, of Defarge, "that no em- met (as I was warned I should) this comrade. With him, I barrassment can arise from our manner of keeping the register? Without doubt it is safe, for no one beyond ourselves can

203 decipher it; but shall we always be able to decipher it -- or, I Nothing more was said, and the mender of roads, being ought to say, will she?" found already dozing on the topmost stair, was advised to lay himself down on the pallet-bed and take some rest. He needed "Jacques," returned Defarge, drawing himself up, "if ma- no persuasion, and was soon asleep. dame my wife undertook to keep the register in her memory alone, she would not lose a word of it -- not a syllable of it. Worse quarters than Defarge's wine-shop, could easily have Knitted, in her own stitches and her own symbols, it will al- been found in Paris for a provincial slave of that degree. Sav- ways be as plain to her as the sun. Confide in Madame De- ing for a mysterious dread of madame by which he was con- farge. It would be easier for the weakest poltroon that lives, to stantly haunted, his life was very new and agreeable. But, ma- erase himself from existence, than to erase one letter of his dame sat all day at her counter, so expressly unconscious of name or crimes from the knitted register of Madame De- him, and so particularly determined not to perceive that his farge." being there had any connection with anything below the surface, that he shook in his wooden shoes whenever his eye There was a murmur of confidence and approval, and then lighted on her. For, he contended with himself that it was im- the man who hungered, asked: "Is this rustic to be sent back possible to foresee what that lady might pretend next; and he soon? I hope so. He is very simple; is he not a little danger- felt assured that if she should take it into her brightly orna- ous?" mented head to pretend that she had seen him do a murder "He knows nothing," said Defarge; "at least nothing more and afterwards flay the victim, she would infallibly go through than would easily elevate himself to a gallows of the same with it until the play was played out. height. I charge myself with him; let him remain with me; I Therefore, when Sunday came, the mender of roads was not will take care of him, and set him on his road. He wishes to enchanted (though he said he was) to find that madame was see the fine world -- the King, the Queen, and Court; let him to accompany monsieur and himself to Versailles. It was addi- see them on Sunday." tionally disconcerting to have madame knitting all the way "What?" exclaimed the hungry man, staring. "Is it a good there, in a public conveyance; it was additionally disconcert- sign, that he wishes to see Royalty and Nobility?" ing yet, to have madame in the crowd in the afternoon, still with her knitting in her hands as the crowd waited to see the "Jacques," said Defarge; "judiciously show a cat milk, if you carriage of the King and Queen. wish her to thirst for it. Judiciously show a dog his natural prey, if you wish him to bring it down one day." "You work hard, madame," said a man near her.

204 "Yes," answered Madame Defarge; "I have a good deal to held him by the collar, as if to restrain him from flying at the do." objects of his brief devotion and tearing them to pieces.

"What do you make, madame?" "Bravo!" said Defarge, clapping him on the back when it was over, like a patron; "you are a good boy!" "Many things." The mender of roads was now coming to himself, and was "For instance -- " mistrustful of having made a mistake in his late demonstra- "For instance," returned Madame Defarge, composedly, tions; but no. "shrouds." "You are the fellow we want," said Defarge, in his ear; "you The man moved a little further away, as soon as he could, make these fools believe that it will last for ever. Then, they and the mender of roads fanned himself with his blue cap: feel- are the more insolent, and it is the nearer ended." ing it mightily close and oppressive. If he needed a King and "Hey!" cried the mender of roads, reflectively; "that's true." Queen to restore him, he was fortunate in having his remedy at hand; for, soon the large-faced King and the fair-faced "These fools know nothing. While they despise your breath, Queen came in their golden coach, attended by the shining and would stop it for ever and ever, in you or in a hundred like Bull's Eye of their Court, a glittering multitude of laughing la- you rather than in one of their own horses or dogs, they only dies and fine lords; and in jewels and silks and powder and know what your breath tells them. Let it deceive them, then, a splendour and elegantly spurning figures and handsomely dis- little longer; it cannot deceive them too much." dainful faces of both sexes, the mender of roads bathed him- Madame Defarge looked superciliously at the client, and nod- self, so much to his temporary intoxication, that he cried Long ded in confirmation. live the King, Long live the Queen, Long live everybody and everything! as if he had never heard of ubiquitous Jacques in "As to you," said she, "you would shout and shed tears for his time. Then, there were gardens, courtyards, terraces, foun- anything, if it made a show and a noise. Say! Would you not?" tains, green banks, more King and Queen, more Bull's Eye, more lords and ladies, more Long live they all! until he abso- "Truly, madame, I think so. For the moment." lutely wept with sentiment. During the whole of this scene, "If you were shown a great heap of dolls, and were set upon which lasted some three hours, he had plenty of shouting and them to pluck them to pieces and despoil them for your own weeping and sentimental company, and throughout Defarge

205 advantage, you would pick out the richest and gayest. Say! blue cap toiled through the darkness, and through the dust, Would you not?" and down the weary miles of avenue by the wayside, slowly tending towards that point of the compass where the chateau "Truly yes, madame." of Monsieur the Marquis, now in his grave, listened to the "Yes. And if you were shown a flock of birds, unable to fly, whispering trees. Such ample leisure had the stone faces, now, and were set upon them to strip them of their feathers for for listening to the trees and to the fountain, that the few vil- your own advantage, you would set upon the birds of the fin- lage scarecrows who, in their quest for herbs to eat and frag- est feathers; would you not?" ments of dead stick to bum, strayed within sight of the great stone courtyard and terrace staircase, had it borne in upon "It is true, madame." their starved fancy that the expression of the faces was altered. A rumour just lived in the village -- had a faint and bare "You have seen both dolls and birds to-day," said Madame existence there, as its people had -- that when the knife struck Defarge, with a wave of her hand towards the place where home, the faces changed, from faces of pride to faces of anger they had last been apparent; "now, go home!" and pain; also, that when that dangling figure was hauled up ______forty feet above the fountain, they changed again, and bore a cruel look of being avenged, which they would henceforth What was the fate of the Marquis’ killer? Who reports this to Defarge? bear for ever. In the stone face over the great window of the What is the sentence that Defarge and his compatriots give after hearing the fate of bed-chamber where the murder was done, two fine dints were the Marquis’ killer? What are the future implications of this sentence? pointed out in the sculptured nose, which everybody recog- How are these sentences recorded so that they will be kept secrets until the appro- nised, and which nobody had seen of old; and on the scarce oc- priate time? casions when two or three ragged peasants emerged from the Why does Defarge compliment his guest for cheering the king and the queen? crowd to take a hurried peep at Monsieur the Marquis petrified, a skinny finger would not have pointed to it for a minute, ______before they all started away among the moss and leaves, like Book 2, Chapter 16: the more fortunate hares who could find a living there.

STILL KNITTING Chateau and hut, stone face and dangling figure, the red stain on MADAME DEFARGE and monsieur her husband returned the stone floor, and the pure water in the village well -- thou- amicably to the bosom of Saint Antoine, while a speck in a

206 sands of acres of land -- a whole province of France -- all "Eh well!" said Madame Defarge, raising her eyebrows with France itself -- lay under the night sky, concentrated into a a cool business air. "It is necessary to register him. How do faint hair-breadth line. So does a whole world, with all its they call that man?" greatnesses and littlenesses, he in a twinkling star. And as "He is English." mere human knowledge can split a ray of light and analyse the manner of its composition, so, sublimer intelligences may "So much the better. His name?" read in the feeble shining of this earth of ours, every thought and act, every vice and virtue, of every responsible creature on "Barsad," said Defarge, making it French by pronunciation. it. But, he had been so careful to get it accurately, that he then spelt it with perfect correctness. The Defarges, husband and wife, came lumbering under the starlight, in their public vehicle, to that gate of Paris where- "Barsad," repeated madame. "Good. Christian name?" unto their journey naturally tended. There was the usual stop- "John." page at the barrier guard- house, and the usual lanterns came glancing forth for the usual examination and inquiry. Mon- "John Barsad," repeated madame, after murmuring it once sieur Defarge alighted; knowing one or two of the soldiery to herself. "Good. His appearance; is it known?" there, and one of the police. The latter he was intimate with, and affectionately embraced. "Age, about forty years; height, about five feet nine; black hair; complexion dark; generally, rather handsome visage; When Saint Antoine had again enfolded the Defarges in his eyes dark, face thin, long, and sallow; nose aquiline, but not dusky wings, and they, having finally alighted near the Saint's straight, having a peculiar inclination towards the left cheek; boundaries, were picking their way on foot through the black expression, therefore, sinister." mud and offal of his streets, Madame Defarge spoke to her husband: "Eh my faith. It is a portrait!" said madame, laughing. "He "Say then, my friend; what did Jacques of the police tell shall be registered to-morrow." thee?" They turned into the wine-shop, which was closed (for it was "Very little to-night, but all he knows. There is another spy midnight), and where Madame Defarge immediately took her commissioned for our quarter. There may be many more, for post at her desk, counted the small moneys that had been all that he can say, but he knows of one." 207 taken during her absence, examined the stock, went through "But my dear!" repeated madame, nodding firmly; "but my the entries in the book, made other entries of her own, dear! You are faint of heart to-night, my dear!" checked the serving man in every possible way, and finally dis- "Well, then," said Defarge, as if a thought were wrung out of missed him to bed. Then she turned out the contents of the his breast, "it is a long time." bowl of money for the second time, and began knotting them up in her handkerchief, in a chain of separate knots, for safe "It is a long time," repeated his wife; "and when is it not a keeping through the night. All this while, Defarge, with his long time? Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is pipe in his mouth, walked up and down, complacently admir- the rule." ing, but never interfering; in which condition, indeed, as to the business and his domestic affairs, he walked up and down "It does not take a long time to strike a man with Lightning," through life. said Defarge.

The night was hot, and the shop, close shut and surrounded "How long," demanded madame, composedly, "does it take by so foul a neighbourhood, was ill-smelling. Monsieur De- to make and store the lightning? Tell me." farge's olfactory sense was by no means delicate, but the stock Defarge raised his head thoughtfully, as if there were some- of wine smelt much stronger than it ever tasted, and so did the thing in that too. stock of rum and brandy and aniseed. He whiffed the com- pound of scents away, as he put down his smoked-out pipe. "It does not take a long time," said madame, "for an earthquake to swallow a town. Eh well! Tell me how long it takes to "You are fatigued," said madame, raising her glance as she prepare the earthquake?" knotted the money. "There are only the usual odours." "A long time, I suppose," said Defarge. "I am a little tired," her husband acknowledged. "But when it is ready, it takes place, and grinds to pieces eve- "You are a little depressed, too," said madame, whose quick rything before it. In the meantime, it is always preparing, eyes had never been so intent on the accounts, but they had though it is not seen or heard. That is your consolation. Keep had a ray or two for him. "Oh, the men, the men!" it." "But my dear!" began Defarge. She tied a knot with flashing eyes, as if it throttled a foe.

208 "I tell thee," said madame, extending her right hand, for em- "Hold!" cried Defarge, reddening a little as if he felt charged phasis, "that although it is a long time on the road, it is on the with cowardice; "I too, my dear, will stop at nothing." road and coming. I tell thee it never retreats, and never stops. "Yes! But it is your weakness that you sometimes need to see I tell thee it is always advancing. Look around and consider your victim and your opportunity, to sustain you. Sustain your- the Eves of all the world that we know, consider the faces of self without that. When the time comes, let loose a tiger and a all the world that we know, consider the rage and discontent devil; but wait for the time with the tiger and the devil chained to which the Jacquerie addresses itself with more and more of -- not shown -- yet always ready." certainty every hour. Can such things last? Bah! I mock you." Madame enforced the conclusion of this piece of advice by "My brave wife," returned Defarge, standing before her with striking her little counter with her chain of money as if she his head a little bent, and his hands clasped at his back, like a knocked its brains out, and then gathering the heavy handker- docile and attentive pupil before his catechist, "I do not ques- chief under her arm in a serene manner, and observing that it tion all this. But it has lasted a long time, and it is possible -- was time to go to bed. you know well, my wife, it is possible -- that it may not come, during our lives." Next noontide saw the admirable woman in her usual place in the wine-shop, knitting away assiduously. A rose lay beside "Eh well! How then?" demanded madame, tying another her, and if she now and then glanced at the flower, it was with knot, as if there were another enemy strangled. no infraction of her usual preoccupied air. There were a few "Well!" said Defarge, with a half complaining and half apolo- customers, drinking or not drinking, standing or seated, sprin- getic shrug. "We shall not see the triumph." kled about. The day was very hot, and heaps of flies, who were extending their inquisitive and adventurous perquisitions into "We shall have helped it," returned madame, with her ex- all the glutinous little glasses near madame, fell dead at the tended hand in strong action. "Nothing that we do, is done in bottom. Their decease made no impression on the other flies vain. I believe, with all my soul, that we shall see the triumph. out promenading, who looked at them in the coolest manner But even if not, even if I knew certainly not, show me the neck (as if they themselves were elephants, or something as far re- of an aristocrat and tyrant, and still I would -- " moved), until they met the same fate. Curious to consider how Then madame, with her teeth set, tied a very terrible knot in- heedless flies are! -- perhaps they thought as much at Court deed. that sunny summer day.

209 A figure entering at the door threw a shadow on Madame De- ments, and took the opportunity of observing the place in gen- farge which she felt to be a new one. She laid down her knit- eral. ting, and began to pin her rose in her head-dress, before she "You knit with great skill, madame." looked at the figure. "I am accustomed to it." It was curious. The moment Madame Defarge took up the rose, the customers ceased talking, and began gradually to "A pretty pattern too!" drop out of the wine- shop. "You think so?" said madame, looking at him with a smile. "Good day, madame," said the new-comer. "Decidedly. May one ask what it is for?" "Good day, monsieur." "Pastime," said madame, still looking at him with a smile She said it aloud, but added to herself, as she resumed her while her fingers moved nimbly. knitting: "Hah! Good day, age about forty, height about five feet nine, black hair, generally rather handsome visage, com- "Not for use?" plexion dark, eyes dark, thin, long and sallow face, aquiline "That depends. I may find a use for it one day. If I do -- nose but not straight, having a peculiar inclination towards Well," said madame, drawing a breath and nodding her head the left cheek which imparts a sinister expression! Good day, with a stem kind of coquetry, "I'll use it!" one and all!" It was remarkable; but, the taste of Saint Antoine seemed to "Have the goodness to give me a little glass of old cognac, be decidedly opposed to a rose on the head-dress of Madame and a mouthful of cool fresh water, madame." Defarge. Two men had entered separately, and had been Madame complied with a polite air. about to order drink, when, catching sight of that novelty, they faltered, made a pretence of looking about as if for some "Marvellous cognac this, madame!" friend who was not there, and went away. Nor, of those who had been there when this visitor entered, was there one left. It was the first time it had ever been so complemented, and They had all dropped off. The spy had kept his eyes open, but Madame Defarge knew enough of its antecedents to know bet- had been able to detect no sign. They had lounged away in a ter. She said, however, that the cognac was flattered, and took up her knitting. The visitor watched her fingers for a few mo-

210 poverty- stricken, purposeless, accidental manner, quite natu- think about, without embarrassing our heads concerning oth- ral and unimpeachable. ers. I think for others? No, no."

"JOHN," thought madame, checking off her work as her fingers knitted, and her eyes looked at the stranger. "Stay long The spy, who was there to pick up any crumbs he could find enough, and I shall knit 'BARSAD' before you go." or make, did not allow his baffled state to express itself in his "You have a husband, madame?" sinister face; but, stood with an air of gossiping gallantry, leaning his elbow on Madame Defarge's little counter, and occa- "I have." sionally sipping his cognac. "Children?" "A bad business this, madame, of Gaspard's execution. Ah! "No children." the poor Gaspard!" With a sigh of great compassion.

"Business seems bad?" "My faith!" returned madame, coolly and lightly, "if people use knives for such purposes, they have to pay for it. He knew "Business is very bad; the people are so poor." beforehand what the price of his luxury was; he has paid the price." "Ah, the unfortunate, miserable people! So oppressed, too -- as you say." "I believe," said the spy, dropping his soft voice to a tone that invited confidence, and expressing an injured revolution- "As you say," madame retorted, correcting him, and deftly ary susceptibility in every muscle of his wicked face: "I believe knitting an extra something into his name that boded him no there is much compassion and anger in this neighbourhood, good. touching the poor fellow? Between ourselves." "Pardon me; certainly it was I who said so, but you naturally "Is there?" asked madame, vacantly. think so. Of course." "Is there not?" "I think?" returned madame, in a high voice. "I and my husband have enough to do to keep this wine-shop open, without " -- Here is my husband!" said Madame Defarge. thinking. All we think, here, is how to live. That is the subject we think of, and it gives us, from morning to night, enough to

211 As the keeper of the wine-shop entered at the door, the spy saluted him by touching his hat, and saying, with an engaging The spy, well used to his business, did not change his uncon- smile, "Good day, Jacques!" Defarge stopped short, and stared scious attitude, but drained his little glass of cognac, took a sip at him. of fresh water, and asked for another glass of cognac. Madame "Good day, Jacques!" the spy repeated; with not quite so Defarge poured it out for him, took to her knitting again, and much confidence, or quite so easy a smile under the stare. hummed a little song over it.

"You deceive yourself, monsieur," returned the keeper of the "You seem to know this quarter well; that is to say, better wine- shop. "You mistake me for another. That is not my than I do?" observed Defarge. name. I am Ernest Defarge." "Not at all, but I hope to know it better. I am so profoundly "It is all the same," said the spy, airily, but discomfited too: interested in its miserable inhabitants." "good day!" "Hah!" muttered Defarge. "Good day!" answered Defarge, drily. "The pleasure of conversing with you, Monsieur Defarge, re- "I was saying to madame, with whom I had the pleasure of calls to me," pursued the spy, "that I have the honour of cher- chatting when you entered, that they tell me there is -- and no ishing some interesting associations with your name." wonder! -- much sympathy and anger in Saint Antoine, touch- "Indeed!" said Defarge, with much indifference. ing the unhappy fate of poor Gaspard." "Yes, indeed. When Doctor Manette was released, you, his "No one has told me so," said Defarge, shaking his head. "I old domestic, had the charge of him, I know. He was delivered know nothing of it." to you. You see I am informed of the circumstances?" Having said it, he passed behind the little counter, and stood "Such is the fact, certainly," said Defarge. He had had it con- with veyed to him, in an accidental touch of his wife's elbow as she his hand on the back of his wife's chair, looking over that bar- knitted and warbled, that he would do best to answer, but al- rier at the person to whom they were both opposed, and ways with brevity. whom either of them would have shot with the greatest satisfaction.

212 "It was to you," said the spy, "that his daughter came; and it He did not take the identification as a compliment; but he was from your care that his daughter took him, accompanied made the best of it, and turned it off with a laugh. After sip- by a neat brown monsieur; how is he called? -- in a little wig -- ping his cognac to the end, he added: "Yes, Miss Manette is go- Lorry -- of the bank of Tellson and Company -- over to Eng- ing to be married. But not to an Englishman; to one who, like land." herself, is French by birth. And speaking of Gaspard (ah, poor Gaspard! It was cruel, cruel!), it is a curious thing that she is "Such is the fact," repeated Defarge. going to marry the nephew of Monsieur the Marquis, for "Very interesting remembrances!" said the spy. "I have whom Gaspard was exalted to that height of so many feet; in known Doctor Manette and his daughter, in England." other words, the present Marquis. But he lives unknown in England, he is no Marquis there; he is Mr. Charles Darnay. "Yes?" said Defarge. D'Aulnais is the name of his mother's family."

"You don't hear much about them now?" said the spy. Madame Defarge knitted steadily, but the intelligence had a palpable effect upon her husband. Do what he would, behind "No," said Defarge. the little counter, as to the striking of a light and the lighting "In effect," madame struck in, looking up from her work and of his pipe, he was troubled, and his hand was not trustwor- her little song, "we never hear about them. We received the thy. The spy would have been no spy if he had failed to see it, news of their safe arrival, and perhaps another letter, or per- or to record it in his mind. haps two; but, since then, they have gradually taken their road Having made, at least, this one hit, whatever it might prove in life -- we, ours -- and we have held no correspondence." to be worth, and no customers coming in to help him to any "Perfectly so, madame," replied the spy. "She is going to be other, Mr. Barsad paid for what he had drunk, and took his married." leave: taking occasion to say, in a genteel manner, before he "Going?" echoed madame. "She was pretty enough to have departed, that he looked forward to the pleasure of seeing been married long ago. You English are cold, it seems to me." Monsieur and Madame Defarge again. For some minutes after he had emerged into the outer presence of Saint Antoine, the "Oh! You know I am English." husband and wife remained exactly as he had left them, lest "I perceive your tongue is," returned madame; "and what he should come back. the tongue is, I suppose the man is."

213 "Can it be true," said Defarge, in a low voice, looking down She roiled up her knitting when she had said those words, at his wife as he stood smoking with his hand on the back of and presently took the rose out of the handkerchief that was her chair: "what he has said of Ma'amselle Manette?" wound about her head. Either Saint Antoine had an instinctive sense that the objectionable decoration was gone, or Saint "As he has said it," returned madame, lifting her eyebrows a Antoine was on the watch for its disappearance; howbeit, the little, "it is probably false. But it may be true." Saint took courage to lounge in, very shortly afterwards, and "If it is -- " Defarge began, and stopped. the wine-shop recovered its habitual aspect.

"If it is?" repeated his wife. In the evening, at which season of all others Saint Antoine turned himself inside out, and sat on door-steps and window- " -- And if it does come, while we live to see it triumph -- I ledges, and came to the corners of vile streets and courts, for a hope, for her sake, Destiny will keep her husband out of breath of air, Madame Defarge with her work in her hand was France." accustomed to pass from place to place and from group to group: a Missionary -- there were many like her -- such as the "Her husband's destiny," said Madame Defarge, with her world will do well never to breed again. All the women knit- usual composure, "will take him where he is to go, and will ted. They knitted worthless things; but, the mechanical work lead him to the end that is to end him. That is all I know." was a mechanical substitute for eating and drinking; the hands moved for the jaws and the digestive apparatus: if the bony fingers had been still, the stomachs would have been "But it is very strange -- now, at least, is it not very strange" more famine-pinched. -- said Defarge, rather pleading with his wife to induce her to admit it, "that, after all our sympathy for Monsieur her father, But, as the fingers went, the eyes went, and the thoughts. and herself, her husband's name should be proscribed under And as Madame Defarge moved on from group to group, all your hand at this moment, by the side of that infernal dog's three went quicker and fiercer among every little knot of who has just left us?" women that she had spoken with, and left behind.

"Stranger things than that will happen when it does come," Her husband smoked at his door, looking after her with ad- answered madame. "I have them both here, of a certainty; and miration. "A great woman," said he, "a strong woman, a grand they are both here for their merits; that is enough." woman, a frightfully grand woman!"

214 Darkness closed around, and then came the ringing of **Book 2, Chapter 18: The morning of Darnay & Lucie’s wed- church bells and the distant beating of the military drums in ding, Dr. Manette is seen coming out of a room with Darnay, the Palace Courtyard, as the women sat knitting, knitting. pale as a ghost. After leaving for their honeymoon, Miss Pross Darkness encompassed them. Another darkness was closing and Mr. Lorry find Dr. Manette completely relapsed and mak- in as surely, when the church bells, then ringing pleasantly in ing shoes. ** many an airy steeple over France, should be melted into **Book 2, Chapter 19: After nine days of relapse, Mr. Lorry de- thundering cannon; when the military drums should be beat- cides to appeal to the medical-mind of Dr. Manette and ask ing to drown a wretched voice, that night all potent as the about a “friend” who is suffering from relapses. After some voice of Power and Plenty, Freedom and Life. So much was hesitation, Dr. Manette agrees that Mr. Lorry should get rid of closing in about the women who sat knitting, knitting, that the “old companion” (shoe making bench and tools) to help they their very selves were closing in around a structure yet un- the “friend” recover. That night, Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry de- built, where they were to sit knitting, knitting, counting drop- stroy the shoemaking bench and tools. ** ping heads. **Book 2, Chapter 20: Carton tries to redeem his relationship ______with Darnay. He asks Darnay if he would be allowed to stop What information does Defarge get from Jacques on the police force? Where have over unannounced throughout the year. ** you heard of this man before?

Why is Defarge depressed? How does Madame Defarge comfort him? Book 2, Chapter 21

What is the significance of Madame Defarge pinning a rose in her hair? ECHOING FOOTSTEPS

What does the spy learn from the Defarges, and what do they learn from him? Why A WONDERFUL CORNER for echoes, it has been remarked, does the spy’s information disturb them? that corner where the Doctor lived. Ever busily winding the ______golden thread which bound her husband, and her father, and herself, and her old directress and companion, in a life of quiet bliss, Lucie sat in the still house in the tranquilly re- **Book 2, Chapter 17: Dr. Manette and Lucie sit together the sounding corner, listening to the echoing footsteps of years. night before her wedding.**

215 At first, there were times, though she was a perfectly happy charger, whip-corrected, snorting and pawing the earth under young wife, when her work would slowly fall from her hands, the plane-tree in the garden! and her eyes would be dimmed. For, there was something com- Even when there were sounds of sorrow among the rest, ing in the echoes, something light, afar off, and scarcely audi- they were not harsh nor cruel. Even when golden hair, like her ble yet, that stirred her heart too much. Fluttering hopes and own, lay in a halo on a pillow round the worn face of a little doubts -- hopes, of a love as yet unknown to her: doubts, of boy, and he said, with a radiant smile, "Dear papa and her remaining upon earth, to enjoy that new delight -- divided mamma, I am very sorry to leave you both, and to leave my her breast. Among the echoes then, there would arise the pretty sister; but I am called, and I must go!" those were not sound of footsteps at her own early grave; and thoughts of the tears all of agony that wetted his young mother's cheek, as the husband who would be left so desolate, and who would mourn spirit departed from her embrace that had been entrusted to for her so much, swelled to her eyes, and broke like waves. it. Suffer them and forbid them not. They see my Father's face. That time passed, and her little Lucie lay on her bosom. O Father, blessed words! Then, among the advancing echoes, there was the tread of her Thus, the rustling of an Angel's wings got blended with the tiny feet and the sound of her prattling words. Let greater ech- other echoes, and they were not wholly of earth, but had in oes resound as they would, the young mother at the cradle them that breath of Heaven. Sighs of the winds that blew over side could always hear those coming. They came, and the a little garden-tomb were shady house was sunny with a child's laugh, and the Divine mingled with them also, and both were audible to Lucie, in a friend of children, to whom in her trouble she had confided hushed murmur -- like the breathing of a summer sea asleep hers, seemed to take her child in his arms, as He took the upon a sandy shore -- as the little Lucie, comically studious at child of old, and made it a sacred joy to her. the task of the morning, or dressing a doll at her mother's foot- Ever busily winding the golden thread that bound them all stool, chattered in the tongues of the Two Cities that were together, weaving the service of her happy influence through blended in her life. the tissue of all their lives, and making it predominate nowhere, Lucie heard in the echoes of years none but friendly and soothing sounds. Her husband's step was strong and pros- The Echoes rarely answered to the actual tread of Sydney perous among them; her father's firm and equal. Lo, Miss Carton. Some half-dozen times a year, at most, he claimed his Pross, in harness of string, awakening the echoes, as an unruly privilege of coming in uninvited, and would sit among them through the evening, as he had once done often. He never 216 came there heated with wine. And one other thing regarding before him like three sheep to the quiet corner in Soho, and him was whispered in the echoes, which has been whispered had offered as pupils to Lucie's husband: delicately saying by all true echoes for ages and ages. "Halloa! here are three lumps of bread-and- cheese towards your matrimonial picnic, Darnay!" The polite rejection of the No man ever really loved a woman, lost her, and knew her three lumps of bread-and-cheese had quite bloated Mr. Stry- with a blameless though an unchanged mind, when she was a ver with indignation, which he afterwards turned to account wife and a mother, but her children had a strange sympathy in the training of the young gentlemen, by directing them to with him -- an instinctive delicacy of pity for him. What fine beware of the pride of Beggars, like that tutor-fellow. He was hidden sensibilities are touched in such a case, no echoes tell; also in the habit of declaiming to Mrs. Stryver, over his full- but it is so, and it was so here. Carton was the first stranger to bodied wine, on the arts Mrs. Darnay had once put in practice whom little Lucie held out her chubby arms, and he kept his to "catch" him, and on the diamond-cut-diamond arts in him- place with her as she grew. The little boy had spoken of him, self, madam, which had rendered him "not to be caught." almost at the last. "Poor Carton! Kiss him for me!" Some of his King's Bench familiars, who were occasionally par- Mr. Stryver shouldered his way through the law, like some ties to the full-bodied wine and the lie, excused him for the lat- great engine forcing itself through turbid water, and dragged ter by saying that he had told it so often, that he believed it his useful friend in his wake, like a boat towed astern. As the himself -- which is surely such an incorrigible aggravation of boat so favoured is usually in a rough plight, and mostly under an originally bad offence, as to justify any such offender's be- water, so, Sydney had a swamped life of it. But, easy and ing carried off to some suitably retired spot, and there hanged strong custom, unhappily so much easier and stronger in him out of the way. than any stimulating sense of desert or disgrace, made it the These were among the echoes to which Lucie, sometimes life he was to lead; and he no more thought of emerging from pensive, sometimes amused and laughing, listened in the echo- his state of lion's jackal, than any real jackal may be supposed ing corner, until her little daughter was six years old. How to think of rising to be a lion. Stryver was rich; had married a near to her heart the echoes of her child's tread came, and florid widow with property and three boys, who had nothing those of her own dear father's, always active and self- particularly shining about them but the straight hair of their possessed, and those of her dear husband's, need not be told. dumpling heads. Nor, how the lightest echo of their united home, directed by These three young gentlemen, Mr. Stryver, exuding patron- herself with such a wise and elegant thrift that it was more age of the most offensive quality from every pore, had walked abundant than any waste, was music to her. Nor, how there

217 were echoes all about her, sweet in her ears, of the many times among some of them for sending it to England." her father had told her that he found her more devoted to him married (if that could be) than single, and of the many times "That has a bad look," said Darnay -- her husband had said to her that no cares and duties seemed to divide her love for him or her help to him, and asked her "A bad look, you say, my dear Darnay? Yes, but we don't "What is the magic secret, my darling, of your being every- know what reason there is in it. People are so unreasonable! thing to all of us, as if there were only one of us, yet never Some of us at Tellson's are getting old, and we really can't be seeming to be hurried, or to have too much to do?" troubled out of the ordinary course without due occasion."

But, there were other echoes, from a distance, that rumbled "Still," said Darnay, "you know how gloomy and threatening menacingly in the corner all through this space of time. And it the sky is." was now, about little Lucie's sixth birthday, that they began to have an awful sound, as of a great storm in France with a "I know that, to be sure," assented Mr. Lorry, trying to per- dreadful sea rising. suade himself that his sweet temper was soured, and that he grumbled, "but I am determined to be peevish after my long On a night in mid-July, one thousand seven hundred and day's botheration. Where is Manette?" eighty-nine, Mr. Lorry came in late, from Tellson's, and sat himself down by Lucie and her husband in the dark window. "Here he is," said the Doctor, entering the dark room at the It was a hot, wild night, and they were all three reminded of moment. the old Sunday night when they had looked at the lightning "I am quite glad you are at home; for these hurries and fore- from the same place. bodings by which I have been surrounded all day long, have "I began to think," said Mr. Lorry, pushing his brown wig made me nervous without reason. You are not going out, I back, "that I should have to pass the night at Tellson's. We hope?" have been so full of business all day, that we have not known "No; I am going to play backgammon with you, if you like," what to do first, or which way to turn. There is such an uneasi- said the Doctor. ness in Paris, that we have actually a run of confidence upon us! Our customers over there, seem not to be able to confide "I don't think I do like, if I may speak my mind. I am not fit their property to us fast enough. There is positively a mania to be pitted against you to-night. Is the teaboard still there, Lu- cie? I can't see."

218 "Of course, it has been kept for you." weapon that was thrown up from the depths below, no matter how far off. "Thank ye, my dear. The precious child is safe in bed?" Who gave them out, whence they last came, where they be- "And sleeping soundly." gan, through what agency they crookedly quivered and jerked, "That's right; all safe and well! I don't know why anything scores at a time, over the heads of the crowd, like a kind of should be otherwise than safe and well here, thank God; but I lightning, no eye in the throng could have told; but, muskets have been so put out all day, and I am not as young as I was! were being distributed -- so were cartridges, powder, and ball, My tea, my dear! Thank ye. Now, come and take your place in bars of iron and wood, knives, axes, pikes, every weapon that the circle, and let us sit quiet, and hear the echoes about distracted ingenuity could discover or devise. People who which you have your theory." could lay hold of nothing else, set themselves with bleeding hands to force stones and bricks out of their places in walls. "Not a theory; it was a fancy." Every pulse and heart in Saint Antoine was on high-fever strain and at high-fever heat. Every living creature there held "A fancy, then, my wise pet," said Mr. Lorry, patting her life as of no account, and was demented with a passionate hand. "They are very numerous and very loud, though, are readiness to sacrifice it. they not? Only hear them!" As a whirlpool of boiling waters has a centre point, so, all Headlong, mad, and dangerous footsteps to force their way this raging circled round Defarge's wine-shop, and every hu- into anybody's life, footsteps not easily made clean again if man drop in the caldron had a tendency to be sucked towards once stained red, the footsteps raging in Saint Antoine afar the vortex where Defarge himself, already begrimed with gun- off, as the little circle sat in the dark London window. powder and sweat, issued orders, issued arms, thrust this man Saint Antoine had been, that morning, a vast dusky mass of back, dragged this man forward, disarmed one to arm an- scarecrows heaving to and fro, with frequent gleams of light other, laboured and strove in the thickest of the uproar. above the billowy heads, where steel blades and bayonets "Keep near to me, Jacques Three," cried Defarge; "and do shone in the sun. A tremendous roar arose from the throat of you, Jacques One and Two, separate and put yourselves at the Saint Antoine, and a forest of naked arms struggled in the air head of as many of these patriots as you can. Where is my like shrivelled branches of trees in a winter wind: all the fin- wife?" gers convulsively clutching at every weapon or semblance of a

219 "Eh, well! Here you see me!" said madame, composed as the Angels or the Devils -- which you prefer -- work!" Thus De- ever, but not knitting to-day. Madame's resolute right hand farge of the wine-shop, still at his gun, which had long gown was occupied with an axe, in place of the usual softer imple- hot. ments, and in her girdle were a pistol and a cruel knife. "To me, women!" cried madame his wife. "What! We can kill "Where do you go, my wife?" as well as the men when the place is taken!" And to her, with a shrill thirsty cry, trooping women variously armed, but all "I go," said madame, "with you at present. You shall see me armed age in hunger and revenge. at the head of women, by-and-bye." Cannon, muskets, fire and smoke; but, still the deep ditch, "Come, then!" cried Defarge, in a resounding voice. "Patriots the single drawbridge, the massive stone wails, and the eight and friends, we are ready! The Bastille!" great towers. Slight displacements of the raging sea, made by With a roar that sounded as if all the breath in France had the falling wounded. Flashing weapons, blazing torches, smok- been shaped into the detested word, the living sea rose, wave ing waggonloads of wet straw, hard work at neighbouring baron wave, depth on depth, and overflowed the city to that ricades in all directions, shrieks, volleys, execrations, bravery point. Alarm-bells ringing, drums beating, the sea raging and without stint, boom smash and rattle, and the furious sound- thundering on its new beach, the attack began. ing of the living sea; but, still the deep ditch, and the single drawbridge, and the massive stone walls, and the eight great Deep ditches, double drawbridge, massive stone walls, eight towers, and still Defarge of the wine-shop at his gun, grown great towers, cannon, muskets, fire and smoke. Through the doubly hot by the service of Four fierce hours. fire and through the smoke -- in the fire and in the smoke, for the sea cast him up against a cannon, and on the instant he be- A white flag from within the fortress, and a parley -- this came a cannonier -- Defarge of the wine- shop worked like a dimly perceptible through the raging storm, nothing audible manful soldier, Two fierce hours. in it -- suddenly the sea rose immeasurably wider and higher, and swept Defarge of the wine-shop over the lowered draw- Deep ditch, single drawbridge, massive stone walls, eight bridge, past the massive stone outer walls, in among the eight great towers, cannon, muskets, fire and smoke. One draw- great towers surrendered! bridge down! "Work, comrades all, work! Work, Jacques One, Jacques Two, Jacques One Thousand, Jacques Two Thou- So resistless was the force of the ocean bearing him on, that sand, Jacques Five-and-Twenty Thousand; in the name of all even to draw his breath or turn his head was as impracticable as if he had been struggling in the surf at the South Sea, until 220 he was landed in the outer courtyard of the Bastille. There, "I will faithfully," replied the man, "if you will come with me. against an angle of a wall, he made a struggle to look about But there is no one there." him. Jacques Three was nearly at his side; Madame Defarge, "What is the meaning of One Hundred and Five, North still heading some of her women, was visible in the inner dis- Tower?" asked Defarge. "Quick!" tance, and her knife was in her hand. Everywhere was tumult, exultation, deafening and maniacal bewilderment, astounding "The meaning, monsieur?" noise, yet furious dumb-show. "Does it mean a captive, or a place of captivity? Or do you "The Prisoners!" mean that I shall strike you dead?"

"The Records!" "Kill him!" croaked Jacques Three, who had come close up.

"The secret cells!" "Monsieur, it is a cell."

"The instruments of torture!" "Show it me!"

"The Prisoners!" "Pass this way, then."

Of all these cries, and ten thousand incoherences, "The Pris- Jacques Three, with his usual craving on him, and evidently oners!" was the cry most taken up by the sea that rushed in, as disappointed by the dialogue taking a turn that did not seem if there were an eternity of people, as well as of time and to promise bloodshed, held by Defarge's arm as he held by the space. When the foremost billows rolled past, bearing the turnkey's. Their three heads had been close together during prison officers with them, and threatening them all with in- this brief discourse, and it had been as much as they could do stant death if any secret nook remained undisclosed, Defarge to hear one another, even then: so tremendous was the noise laid his strong hand on the breast of one of these men -- a of the living ocean, in its irruption into the Fortress, and its in- man with a grey head, who had a lighted torch in his hand -- undation of the courts and passages and staircases. All around separated him from the rest, and got him between himself and outside, too, it beat the walls with a deep, hoarse roar, from the wall. which, occasionally, some partial shouts of tumult broke and leaped into the air like spray. "Show me the North Tower!" said Defarge. "Quick!"

221 Through gloomy vaults where the light of day had never The man obeyed, and Defarge followed the light closely with shone, past hideous doors of dark dens and cages, down cav- his eyes. ernous flights of steps, and again up steep rugged ascents of "Stop! -- Look here, Jacques!" stone and brick, more like dry waterfalls than staircases, De- farge, the turnkey, and Jacques Three, linked hand and arm, "A. M.!" croaked Jacques Three, as he read greedily. went with all the speed they could make. Here and there, especially at first, the inundation started on them and swept by; "Alexandre Manette," said Defarge in his ear, following the but when they had done descending, and were winding and letters with his swart forefinger, deeply engrained with gun- climbing up a tower, they were alone. Hemmed in here by the powder. "And here he wrote 'a poor physician.' And it was he, massive thickness of walls and arches, the storm within the without doubt, who scratched a calendar on this stone. What fortress and without was only audible to them in a dull, sub- is that in your hand? A crowbar? Give it me!" dued way, as if the noise out of which they had come had al- He had still the linstock of his gun in his own hand. He most destroyed their sense of hearing. made a sudden exchange of the two instruments, and turning The turnkey stopped at a low door, put a key in a clashing on the worm-eaten stool and table, beat them to pieces in a lock, swung the door slowly open, and said, as they all bent few blows. their heads and passed in: "Hold the light higher!" he said, wrathfully, to the turnkey. "One hundred and five, North Tower!" "Look among those fragments with care, Jacques. And see! Here is my knife," throwing it to him; "rip open that bed, and There was a small, heavily-grated, unglazed window high in search the straw. Hold the light higher, you!" the wall, with a stone screen before it, so that the sky could be only seen by stooping low and looking up. There was a small With a menacing look at the turnkey he crawled upon the chimney, heavily barred across, a few feet within. There was a hearth, and, peering up the chimney, struck and prised at its heap of old feathery wood-ashes on the hearth. There was a sides with the crowbar, and worked at the iron grating across stool, and table, and a straw bed. There were the four black- it. In a few minutes, some mortar and dust came dropping ened walls, and a rusted iron ring in one of them. down, which he averted his face to avoid; and in it, and in the old wood-ashes, and in a crevice in the chimney into which his "Pass that torch slowly along these walls, that I may see weapon had slipped or wrought itself, he groped with a cau- them," said Defarge to the turnkey. tious touch.

222 "Nothing in the wood, and nothing in the straw, Jacques?" and began to be struck at from behind; remained immovable close to him when the long-gathering rain of stabs and blows "Nothing." fell heavy; was so close to him when he dropped dead under it, "Let us collect them together, in the middle of the cell. So! that, suddenly animated, she put her foot upon his neck, and Light them, you!" with her cruel knife -- long ready -- hewed off his head.

The turnkey fired the little pile, which blazed high and hot. The hour was come, when Saint Antoine was to execute his Stooping again to come out at the low-arched door, they left it horrible idea of hoisting up men for lamps to show what he burning, and retraced their way to the courtyard; seeming to could be and do. Saint Antoine's blood was up, and the blood recover their sense of hearing as they came down, until they of tyranny and domination by the iron hand was down -- were in the raging flood once more. down on the steps of the Hotel de Ville where the governor's body lay -- down on the sole of the shoe of Madame Defarge They found it surging and tossing, in quest of Defarge him- where she had trodden on the body to steady it for mutilation. self. Saint Antoine was clamorous to have its wine-shop "Lower the lamp yonder!" cried Saint Antoine, after glaring keeper foremost in the guard upon the governor who had de- round for a new means of death; "here is one of his soldiers to fended the Bastille and shot the people. Otherwise, the gover- be left on guard!" The swinging sentinel was posted, and the nor would not be marched to the Hotel de Ville for judgment. sea rushed on. Otherwise, the governor would escape, and the people's blood (suddenly of some value, after many years of worthlessness) The sea of black and threatening waters, and of destructive be unavenged. upheaving of wave against wave, whose depths were yet un- fathomed and whose forces were yet unknown. The remorse- In the howling universe of passion and contention that less sea of turbulently swaying shapes, voices of vengeance, seemed to encompass this grim old officer conspicuous in his and faces hardened in the furnaces of suffering until the touch grey coat and red decoration, there was but one quite steady of pity could make no mark on them. figure, and that was a woman's. "See, there is my husband!" she cried, pointing him out. "See Defarge!" She stood immov- But, in the ocean of faces where every fierce and furious ex- able close to the grain old officer, and remained immovable pression was in vivid life, there were two groups of faces -- close to him; remained immovable close to him through the each seven in number -- so fixedly contrasting with the rest, streets, as Defarge and the rest bore him along; remained im- that never did sea roll which bore more memorable wrecks movable close to him when he was got near his destination, with it. Seven faces of prisoners, suddenly released by the

223 storm that had burst their tomb, were carried high overhead: How does Madame Defarge show her merciless strength? all scared, all lost, all wondering and amazed, as if the Last What image is given to describe the moving mob of revolutionaries storming the Day were come, and those who rejoiced around them were Bastille? Why does Dickens utilize this image? lost spirits. Other seven faces there were, carried higher, seven Explain how the following quotes are examples of foreshadowing: “For, there was dead faces, whose drooping eyelids and half-seen eyes awaited something coming in the echoes, something light, afar off, and scarcely audible yet, the Last Day. Impassive faces, yet with a suspended -- not an that stirred her heart too much.” AND “Now, heaven defeat the fancy of Lucie Dar- nay and keep these feet far out of her life.” abolished -- expression on them; faces, rather, in a fearful pause, as having yet to raise the dropped lids of the eyes, and ______bear witness with the bloodless lips, "THOU DIDST IT!" **Book 2, Chapter 22: The angry mob of peasants decapitate a Seven prisoners released, seven gory heads on pikes, the man named Foulon who told them that if they were hungry, keys of the accursed fortress of the eight strong towers, some they should eat grass. The peasants are becoming more and discovered letters and other memorials of prisoners of old more destructive.** time, long dead of broken hearts, -- such, and such-like, the **Book 2, Chapter 23: Despite the fact that the revolution has loudly echoing footsteps of Saint Antoine escort through the begun, the peasants are still starving. A group of Jacques burn Paris streets in mid-July, one thousand seven hundred and down the Marquis’ chateau. ** eighty-nine. Now, Heaven defeat the fancy of Lucie Darnay, and keep these feet far out of her life! For, they are headlong, Book 2, Chapter 24 mad, and dangerous; and in the years so long after the break- DRAWN TO THE LOADSTONE ROCK ing of the cask at Defarge's wine-shop door, they are not easily purified when once stained red. IN SUCH RISINGS of fire and risings of sea -- the firm earth shaken by the rushes of an angry ocean which had now no ______ebb, but was always on the flow, higher and higher, to the ter- What is the significance of the “echoing footsteps”? ror and wonder of the beholders on the shore -- three years of

What sad thing befell Charles and Lucie during this chapter? tempest were consumed. Three more birthdays of little Lucie had been woven by the golden thread into the peaceful tissue What has happened to Stryver and Carton over the years? of the life of her home. What happens in Paris on July 14, 1789? Describe in depth. Many a night and many a day had its inmates listened to the Where does Defarge demand to be taken? Why? echoes in the corner, with hearts that failed them when they 224 heard the thronging feet. For, the footsteps had become to As was natural, the head-quarters and great gathering-place their minds as the footsteps of a people, tumultuous under a of Monseigneur, in London, was Tellson's Bank. Spirits are red flag and with their country declared in danger, changed supposed to haunt the places where their bodies most re- into wild beasts, by terrible enchantment long persisted in. sorted, and Monseigneur without a guinea haunted the spot where his guineas used to be. Moreover, it was the spot to Monseigneur, as a class, had dissociated himself from the which such French intelligence as was most to be relied upon, phenomenon of his not being appreciated: of his being so little came quickest. Again: Tellson's was a munificent house, and wanted in France, as to incur considerable danger of receiving extended great liberality to old customers who had fallen from his dismissal from it, and this fife together. Like the fabled rus- their high estate. Again: those nobles who had seen the com- tic who raised the Devil with infinite pains, and was so terri- ing storm in time, and anticipating plunder or confiscation, fied at the sight of him that he could ask the Enemy no ques- had made provident remittances to Tellson's, were always to tion, but immediately fled; so, Monseigneur, after boldly read- be heard of there by their needy brethren. To which it must be ing the Lord's Prayer backwards for a great number of years, added that every new-comer from France reported himself and performing many other potent spells for compelling the and his tidings at Tellson's, almost as a matter of course. For Evil One, no sooner beheld him in his terrors than he took to such variety of reasons, Tellson's was at that time, as to his noble heels. French intelligence, a kind of High Exchange; and this was so The shining Bull's Eye of the Court was gone, or it would well known to the public, and the inquiries made there were in have been the mark for a hurricane of national bullets. It had consequence so numerous, that Tellson's sometimes wrote the never been a good eye to see with -- had long had the mote in latest news out in a line or so and posted it in the Bank win- it of Lucifer's pride, Sardanapalus's luxury, and a mole's blind- dows, for all who ran through Temple Bar to read. ness -- but it had dropped out and was gone. The Court, from On a steaming, misty afternoon, Mr. Lorry sat at his desk, that exclusive inner circle to its outermost rotten ring of in- and Charles Darnay stood leaning on it, talking with him in a trigue, corruption, and dissimulation, was an gone together. low voice. The penitential den once set apart for interviews Royalty was gone; had been besieged in its Palace and "sus- with the House, was now the news-Exchange, and was filled to pended," when the last tidings came over. overflowing. It was within half an hour or so of the time of The August of the year one thousand seven hundred and closing. ninety-two was come, and Monseigneur was by this time scattered far and wide.

225 "But, although you are the youngest man that ever lived," "My dear Mr. Lorry, it is because I am a Frenchman born, said Charles Darnay, rather hesitating, "I must still suggest to that the thought (which I did not mean to utter here, however) you -- " has passed through my mind often. One cannot help thinking, having had some sympathy for the miserable people, and hav- "I understand. That I am too old?" said Mr. Lorry. ing abandoned something to them," he spoke here in his for- "Unsettled weather, a long journey, uncertain means of trav- mer thoughtful manner, "that one might be listened to, and elling, a disorganised country, a city that may not be even safe might have the power to persuade to some restraint. Only last for you." night, after you had left us, when I was talking to Lucie -- "

"My dear Charles," said Mr. Lorry, with cheerful confidence, "When you were talking to Lucie," Mr. Lorry repeated. "Yes. "you touch some of the reasons for my going: not for my stay- I wonder you are not ashamed to mention the name of Lucie! ing away. It is safe enough for me; nobody will care to inter- Wishing you were going to France at this time of day!" fere with an old fellow of hard upon fourscore when there are "However, I am not going," said Charles Darnay, with a so many people there much better worth interfering with. As smile. "It is more to the purpose that you say you are." to its being a disorganised city, if it were not a disorganised city there would be no occasion to send somebody from our "And I am, in plain reality. The truth is, my dear Charles," House here to our House there, who knows the city and the Mr. Lorry glanced at the distant House, and lowered his voice, business, of old, and is in Tellson's confidence. As to the uncer- "you can have no conception of the difficulty with which our tain travelling, the long journey, and the winter weather, if I business is transacted, and of the peril in which our books and were not prepared to submit myself to a few inconveniences papers over yonder are involved. The for the sake of Tellson's, after all these years, who ought to Lord above knows what the compromising consequences be?" would be to numbers of people, if some of our documents were seized or destroyed; and they might be, at any time, you "I wish I were going myself," said Charles Darnay, somewhat know, for who can say that Paris is not set afire to-day, or restlessly, and like one thinking aloud. sacked to-morrow! Now, a judicious selection from these with "Indeed! You are a pretty fellow to object and advise!" ex- the least possible delay, and the burying of them, or otherwise claimed Mr. Lorry. "You wish you were going yourself? And getting of them out of harm's way, is within the power (with- you a Frenchman born? You are a wise counsellor." out loss of precious time) of scarcely any one but myself, if any one. And shall I hang back, when Tellson's knows this and

226 says this -- Tellson's, whose bread I have eaten these sixty being anything but an English bull-dog, or of having any de- years -- because I am a little stiff about the joints? Why, I am a sign in his head but to fly at anybody who touches his master." boy, sir, to half a dozen old codgers here!" "I must say again that I heartily admire your gallantry and "How I admire the gallantry of your youthful spirit, Mr. youthfulness." Lorry." "I must say again, nonsense, nonsense! When I have exe- "Tut! Nonsense, sir! -- And, my dear Charles," said Mr. cuted this little commission, I shall, perhaps, accept Tellson's Lorry, glancing at the House again, "you are to remember, proposal to retire and live at my ease. Time enough, then, to that getting things out of Paris at this present time, no matter think about growing old." what things, is next to an impossibility. Papers and precious This dialogue had taken place at Mr. Lorry's usual desk, with matters were this very day brought to us here (I speak in strict Monseigneur swarming within a yard or two of it, boastful of confidence; it is not business-like to whisper it, even to you), what he would do to avenge himself on the rascal-people be- by the strangest bearers you can imagine, every one of whom fore long. It was too much the way of Monseigneur under his had his head hanging on by a single hair as he passed the Bar- reverses as a refugee, and it was much too much the way of na- riers. At another time, our parcels would come and go, as eas- tive British orthodoxy, to talk of this terrible Revolution as if it ily as in business-like Old England; but now, everything is were the only harvest ever known under the skies that had not stopped." been sown -- as if nothing had ever been done, or omitted to "And do you really go to-night?" be done, that had led to it -- as if observers of the wretched millions in France, and of the misused and perverted re- "I really go to-night, for the case has become too pressing to sources that should have made them prosperous, had not seen admit of delay." it inevitably coming, years before, and had not in plain words "And do you take no one with you?" recorded what they saw. Such vapouring, combined with the extravagant plots of Monseigneur for the restoration of a state "All sorts of people have been proposed to me, but I will of things that had utterly exhausted itself, and worn out have nothing to say to any of them. I intend to take Jerry. Heaven and earth as well as itself, was hard to be endured Jerry has been my body- guard on Sunday nights for a long without some remonstrance by any sane man who knew the time past and I am used to him. Nobody will suspect Jerry of truth. And it was such vapouring all about his ears, like a troublesome confusion of blood in his own head, added to a latent

227 uneasiness in his mind, which had already made Charles Dar- knew it to be his name; his own wife had no suspicion of the nay restless, and which still kept him so. fact; Mr. Lorry could have none.

Among the talkers, was Stryver, of the King's Bench Bar, far "No," said Mr. Lorry, in reply to the House; "I have referred on his way to state promotion, and, therefore, loud on the it, I think, to everybody now here, and no one can tell me theme: broaching to Monseigneur, his devices for blowing the where this gentleman is to be found." people up and exterminating them from the face of the earth, The hands of the clock verging upon the hour of closing the and doing without them: and for accomplishing many similar Bank, there was a general set of the current of talkers past Mr. objects akin in their nature to the abolition of eagles by sprin- Lorry's desk. He kling salt on the tails of the race. Him, Darnay heard with a held the letter out inquiringly; and Monseigneur looked at it, particular feeling of objection; and Darnay stood divided be- in the person of this plotting and indignant refugee; and Mon- tween going away that he might hear no more, and remaining seigneur looked at it in the person of that plotting and indig- to interpose his word, when the thing that was to be, went on nant refugee; and This, That, and The Other, all had some- to shape itself out. thing disparaging to say, in French or in English, concerning The House approached Mr. Lorry, and laying a soiled and un- the Marquis who was not to be found. opened letter before him, asked if he had yet discovered any "Nephew, I believe -- but in any case degenerate successor -- traces of the person to whom it was addressed? The House of the polished Marquis who was murdered," said one. laid the letter down so close to Darnay that he saw the direc- "Happy to say, I never knew him." tion -- the more quickly because it was his own right name. The address, turned into English, ran: "A craven who abandoned his post," said another -- this Monseigneur had been got out of Paris, legs uppermost and "Very pressing. To Monsieur heretofore the Marquis St. half suffocated, in a load of hay -- "some years ago." Evrémonde, of France. Confided to the cares of Messrs. Tell- son and Co., Bankers, London, England." "Infected with the new doctrines," said a third, eyeing the direction through his glass in passing; "set himself in opposition On the marriage morning, Doctor Manette bad made it his to the last Marquis, abandoned the estates when he inherited one urgent and express request to Charles Darnay, that the se- them, and left them to the ruffian herd. They will recompense cret of this name should be -- unless he, the Doctor, dissolved him now, I hope, as he deserves." the obligation -- kept inviolate between them. Nobody else

228 "Hey?" cried the blatant Stryver. "Did he though? Is that the "I understand how to put you in a corner, Mr. Darnay," said sort of fellow? Let us look at his infamous name. D -- n the fel- Bully Stryver, "and I'll do it. If this fellow is a gentleman, I low!" don't understand him. You may tell him so, with my compliments. You may also tell him, from me, that after abandoning Darnay, unable to restrain himself any longer, touched Mr. his worldly goods and position to this butcherly mob, I won- Stryver on the shoulder, and said: der he is not at the head of them. But, no, gentlemen," said "I know the fellow." Stryver, looking all round, and snapping his fingers, "I know something of human nature, and I tell you that you'll never "Do you, by Jupiter?" said Stryver. "I am sorry for it." find a fellow like this fellow, trusting himself to the mercies of such precious proteges. No, gentlemen; he'll always show 'em "Why?" a clean pair of heels very early in the scuffle, and sneak away." "Why, Mr. Darnay? D'ye hear what he did? Don't ask, why, With those words, and a final snap of his fingers, Mr. Stryver in these times." shouldered himself into Fleet-street, amidst the general appro- "But I do ask why?" bation of his hearers. Mr. Lorry and Charles Darnay were left alone at the desk, in the general departure from the Bank. "Then I tell you again, Mr. Darnay, I am sorry for it. I am sorry to hear you putting any such extraordinary questions. "Will you take charge of the letter?" said Mr. Lorry. "You Here is a fellow, who, infected by the most pestilent and blas- know where to deliver it?" phemous code of devilry that ever was known, abandoned his "I do." property to the vilest scum of the earth that ever did murder by wholesale, and you ask me why I am sorry that a man who "Will you undertake to explain, that we suppose it to have instructs youth knows him? Well, but I'll answer you. I am been addressed here, on the chance of our knowing where to sorry because I believe there is contamination in such a scoun- forward it, and that it has been here some time?" drel. That's why." "I will do so. Do you start for Paris from here?" Mindful of the secret, Darnay with great difficulty checked himself, and said: "You may not understand the gentleman." "From here, at eight." "I will come back, to see you off."

229 Very ill at ease with himself, and with Stryver and most "Ah! most gracious Monsieur heretofore the Marquis, where other men, Darnay made the best of his way into the quiet of is that emigrant? I cry in my sleep where is he? I demand of the Temple, opened the letter, and read it. These were its con- Heaven, will he not come to deliver me? No answer. Ah Mon- tents: sieur heretofore the Marquis, I send my desolate cry across the sea, hoping it may perhaps reach your ears through the "Prison of the Abbaye, Paris. great bank of Tilson known at Paris! "June 21, 1792. "For the love of Heaven, of justice, of generosity, of the hon- "MONSIEUR HERETOFORE THE MARQUIS. our of your noble name, I supplicate you, Monsieur heretofore "After having long been in danger of my life at the bands of the Marquis, to succour and release me. My fault is, that I the village, I have been seized, with great violence and indig- have been true to you. Oh Monsieur heretofore the Marquis, I nity, and brought a long journey on foot to Paris. On the road pray you be you true to me! I have suffered a great deal. Nor is that all; my house has been "From this prison here of horror, whence I every hour tend destroyed -- razed to the ground. nearer and nearer to destruction, I send you, Monsieur hereto- "The crime for which I am imprisoned, Monsieur heretofore fore the Marquis, the assurance of my dolorous and unhappy the Marquis, and for which I shall be summoned before the tri- service. "Your afflicted, bunal, and shall lose my life (without your so generous help), "GABELLE." is, they tell me, treason against the majesty of the people, in The latent uneasiness in Darnay's mind was roused to vig- that I have acted against them for an emigrant. It is in vain I ourous life by this letter. The peril of an old servant and a represent that I have acted for them, and not against, accord- good one, whose only crime was fidelity to himself and his ing to your commands. It is in vain I represent that, before the family, stared him so reproachfully in the face, that, as he sequestration of emigrant property, I had remitted the im- walked to and fro in the Temple considering what to do, he al- posts they had ceased to pay; that I had collected no rent; that most hid his face from the passersby. I had had recourse to no process. The only response is, that I have acted for an emigrant, and where is He knew very well, that in his horror of the deed which had that emigrant? culminated the bad deeds and bad reputation of the old family house, in his resentful suspicions of his uncle, and in the aver- sion with which his conscience regarded the crumbling fabric that he was supposed to uphold, he had acted imperfectly. He 230 knew very well, that in his love for Lucie, his renunciation of the winter, and such produce as could be saved from the same his social place, though by no means new to his own mind, grip in the summer -- and no doubt he had put the fact in plea had been hurried and incomplete. He knew that he ought to and proof, for his own safety, so that it could not but appear have systematically worked it out and supervised it, and that now. he had meant to do it, and that it had never been done. This favoured the desperate resolution Charles Darnay had The happiness of his own chosen English home, the neces- begun to make, that he would go to Paris. sity of being always actively employed, the swift changes and Yes. Like the mariner in the old story, the winds and streams troubles of the time which bad followed on one another so had driven him within the influence of the Loadstone Rock, fast, that the events of this week annihilated the immature and it was drawing him to itself, and he must go. Everything plans of last week, and the events of the week following made that arose before his mind drifted him on, faster and faster, all new again; he knew very well, that to the force of these cir- more and more steadily, to the terrible attraction. His latent cumstances he had yielded: -- not without disquiet, but still uneasiness had been, that bad aims were being worked out in without continuous and accumulating resistance. That he had his own unhappy land by bad instruments, and that he who watched the times for a time of action, and that they had could not fail to know that he was better than they, was not shifted and struggled until the time had gone by, and the nobil- there, trying to do something to stay bloodshed, and assert the ity were trooping from France by every highway and byway, claims of mercy and humanity. With this uneasiness half sti- and their property was in course of confiscation and destruc- fled, and half reproaching him, he had been brought to the tion, and their very names were blotting out, was as well pointed comparison of himself with the brave old gentleman known to himself as it could be to any new authority in France in whom duty was so strong; upon that comparison (injurious that might impeach him for it. to himself) had instantly followed the sneers of Monseigneur, But, he had oppressed no man, he had imprisoned no man; which had stung him bitterly, and those of Stryver, which he was so far from having harshly exacted payment of his above all were coarse and galling, for old reasons. Upon those, dues, that he had relinquished them of his own will, thrown had followed Gabelle's letter: the appeal of an innocent pris- himself on a world with no favour in it, won his own private oner, in danger of death, to his justice, honour, and good place there, and earned his own bread. Monsieur Gabelle had name. held the impoverished and involved estate on written instruc- His resolution was made. He must go to Paris. tions, to spare the people, to give them what little there was to give -- such fuel as the heavy creditors would let them have in

231 Yes. The Loadstone Rock was drawing him, and he must sail A carriage with post-horses was ready at the Bank door, and on, until he struck. He knew of no rock; he saw hardly any dan- Jerry was booted and equipped. ger. The intention with which he had done what he had done, "I have delivered that letter," said Charles Darnay to Mr. even although he had left it Lorry. "I would not consent to your being charged with any incomplete, presented it before him in an aspect that would be written answer, but perhaps you will take a verbal one?" gratefully acknowledged in France on his presenting himself to assert it. Then, that glorious vision of doing good, which is "That I will, and readily," said Mr. Lorry, "if it is not danger- so often the sanguine mirage of so many good minds, arose be- ous." fore him, and he even saw himself in the illusion with some influence to guide this raging Revolution that was running so "Not at all. Though it is to a prisoner in the Abbaye." fearfully wild. "What is his name?" said Mr. Lorry, with his open pocket- As he walked to and fro with his resolution made, he consid- book in his hand. ered that neither Lucie nor her father must know of it until he "Gabelle." was gone. Lucie should be spared the pain of separation; and her father, always reluctant to turn his thoughts towards the "Gabelle. And what is the message to the unfortunate Ga- dangerous ground of old, should come to the knowledge of the belle in prison?" step, as a step taken, and not in the balance of suspense and doubt. How much of the incompleteness of his situation was "Simply, 'that he has received the letter, and will come.'" referable to her father, through the painful anxiety to avoid re- "Any time mentioned?" viving old associations of France in his mind, he did not discuss with himself. But, that circumstance too, had had its influ- "He will start upon his journey to-morrow night." ence in his course. "Any person mentioned?" He walked to and fro, with thoughts very busy, until it was "No." time to return to Tellson's and take leave of Mr. Lorry. As soon as he arrived in Paris he would present himself to this He helped Mr. Lorry to wrap himself in a number of coats old friend, but he must say nothing of his intention now. and cloaks, and went out with him from the warm atmosphere of the old Bank, into the misty air of Fleet-street. "My love to Lucie, and to little Lucie," said 232 Mr. Lorry at parting, "and take precious care of them till I it. He left his two letters with a trusty porter, to be delivered come back." Charles Darnay shook his head and doubtfully half an hour before midnight, and no sooner; took horse for smiled, as the carriage rolled away. Dover; and began his journey -- "For the love of Heaven, of justice, of generosity, of the honour of your noble name!" was the That night -- it was the fourteenth of August -- he sat up late, poor prisoner's cry with which he strengthened his sinking and wrote two fervent letters; one was to Lucie, explaining the heart, as he left all that was dear on earth behind him, and strong obligation he was under to go to Paris, and showing floated away for the Loadstone Rock. her, at length, the reasons that he had, for feeling confident that he could become involved in no personal danger there; the other was to the Doctor, confiding Lucie and their dear THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK. child to his care, and dwelling on the same topics with the strongest assurances. To both, he wrote that he would des- ______patch letters in proof of his safety, immediately after his arrival. In the year 1792, where was the headquarters for the “Monseigneur” in Paris? Why is Mr. Lorry going to France? What is his mission? It was a hard day, that day of being among them, with the first reservation of their joint lives on his mind. It was a hard What is Gabelle’s urgent plea? matter to preserve the innocent deceit of which they were pro- What is Darnay’s decision? Why does he decide this course of action? What does foundly unsuspicious. But, an affectionate glance at his wife, this say about his character? Are you surprised? Explain. so happy and busy, made him resolute not to tell her what im- Explain the significance of the chapter title citing specific points from the text. pended (he had been half moved to do it, so strange it was to ______him to act in anything without her quiet aid), and the day passed quickly. Early in the evening he embraced her, and her **In Book 3, Chapter 1: Charles Darnay is imprisoned for be- scarcely less dear namesake, pretending that he would return ing an “emigrant”** by-and-bye (an imaginary engagement took him out, and he had secreted a valise of clothes ready), and so he emerged into **In Book 3, Chapter 2: Lucie and Dr. Manette arrive in Paris. the heavy mist of the heavy streets, with a heavier heart. Dr. Manette proves very helpful and is invigorated by his usefulness.** The unseen force was drawing him fast to itself, now, and an the tides and winds were setting straight and strong towards

233 Book 3, Chapter 3: the other windows of a high melancholy square of buildings marked deserted homes. THE SHADOW To this lodging he at once removed Lucie and her child, and ONE of the first considerations which arose in the business Miss Pross: giving them what comfort he could, and much mind of Mr. Lorry when business hours came round, was this: more than he had himself. He left Jerry with them, as a figure -- that he had no right to imperil Tellson's by sheltering the to fill a doorway that would bear considerable knocking on the wife of an emigrant prisoner under the Bank roof, His own head, and retained to his own occupations. A disturbed and possessions, safety, life, he would have hazarded for Lucie and doleful mind he brought to bear upon them, and slowly and her child, without a moment's demur; but the great trust he heavily the day lagged on with him. held was not his own, and as to that business charge he was a strict man of business. It wore itself out, and wore him out with it, until the Bank closed. He was again alone in his room of the previous night, At first, his mind reverted to Defarge, and he thought of find- considering what to do next, when he heard a foot upon the ing out the wine-shop again and taking counsel with its mas- stair. In a few moments, a man stood in his presence, who, ter in reference to the safest dwelling-place in the distracted with a keenly observant look at him, addressed him by his state of the city. But, the same consideration that suggested name. him, repudiated him; he lived in the most violent Quarter, and doubtless was influential there, and deep in its dangerous "Your servant," said Mr. Lorry. "Do you know me?" workings. He was a strongly made man with dark curling hair, from Noon coming, and the Doctor not returning, and every min- forty-five to fifty years of age. For answer he repeated, without ute's delay tending to compromise Tellson's, Mr. Lorry ad- any change of emphasis, the words: vised with Lucie. She said that her father had spoken of hiring "Do you know me?" a lodging for a short term, in that Quarter, near the Banking- house. As there was no business objection to this, and as he "I have seen you somewhere." foresaw that even if it were all well with Charles, and he were to be released, he could not hope to leave the city, Mr. Lorry "Perhaps at my wine-shop?" went out in quest of such a lodging, and found a suitable one, Much interested and agitated, Mr. Lorry said: "You come high up in a removed by-street where the closed blinds in all from Doctor Manette?"

234 "Yes. I come from Doctor Manette." "Does Madame go with us?" inquired Mr. Lorry, seeing that she moved as they moved. "And what says he? What does he send me?" "Yes. That she may be able to recognise the faces and know Defarge gave into his anxious hand, an open scrap of paper. the persons. It is for their safety." It bore the words in the Doctor's writing: Beginning to be struck by Defarge's manner, Mr. Lorry "Charles is safe, but I cannot safely leave this place yet. I looked dubiously at him, and led the way. Both the women fol- have lowed; the second woman being The Vengeance. obtained the favour that the bearer has a short note from They passed through the intervening streets as quickly as Charles to they might, ascended the staircase of the new domicile, were his wife. Let the bearer see his wife." admitted by Jerry, and found Lucie weeping, alone. She was thrown into a transport by the tidings Mr. Lorry gave her of It was dated from La Force, within an hour. her husband, and clasped the hand that delivered his note -- little thinking what it had been doing near him in the night, "Will you accompany me," said Mr. Lorry, joyfully relieved and might, but for a chance, have done to him. after reading this note aloud, "to where his wife resides?" "DEAREST, -- Take courage. I am well, and your father has influence around me. You cannot answer this. Kiss our child "Yes," returned Defarge. for me." Scarcely noticing as yet, in what a curiously reserved and me- That was all the writing. It was so much, however, to her chanical way Defarge spoke, Mr. Lorry put on his hat and they who received it, that she turned from Defarge to his wife, and went down into the courtyard. There, they found two women; kissed one of the hands that knitted. It was a passionate, lov- one, knitting. ing, thankful, womanly action, but the hand made no re- "Madame Defarge, surely!" said Mr. Lorry, who had left her sponse -- dropped cold and heavy, and took to its knitting in exactly the same attitude some seventeen years ago. again.

"It is she," observed her husband. There was something in its touch that gave Lucie a check. She stopped in the act of putting the note in her bosom, and,

235 with her hands yet at her neck, looked terrified at Madame De- "Is that his child?" said Madame Defarge, stopping in her farge. Madame Defarge met the lifted eyebrows and forehead work for the first time, and pointing her knitting-needle at lit- with a cold, impassive stare. tle Lucie as if it were the finger of Fate.

"My dear," said Mr. Lorry, striking in to explain; "there are "Yes, madame," answered Mr. Lorry; "this is our poor pris- frequent risings in the streets; and, although it is not likely oner's darling daughter, and only child." they will ever trouble you, Madame Defarge wishes to see The shadow attendant on Madame Defarge and her party those whom she has the power to protect at such times, to the seemed to fall so threatening and dark on the child, that her end that she may know them -- that she may identify them. I mother instinctively kneeled on the ground beside her, and believe," said Mr. Lorry, rather halting in his reassuring held her to her breast. The shadow attendant on Madame De- words, as the stony manner of all the three impressed itself farge and her party seemed then to fall, threatening and dark, upon him more and more, "I state the case, Citizen Defarge?" on both the mother and the child. Defarge looked gloomily at his wife, and gave no other an- "It is enough, my husband," said Madame Defarge. "I have swer than a gruff sound of acquiescence. seen them. We may go." "You had better, Lucie," said Mr. Lorry, doing all he could to But, the suppressed manner had enough of menace in it -- propitiate, by tone and manner, "have the dear child here, and not visible and presented, but indistinct and withheld -- to our good Pross. Our good Pross, Defarge, is an English lady, alarm Lucie into saying, as she laid her appealing hand on Ma- and knows no French." dame Defarge's dress: The lady in question, whose rooted conviction that she was "You will be good to my poor husband. You will do him no more than a match for any foreigner, was not to be shaken by harm. You will help me to see him if you can?" distress and, danger, appeared with folded arms, and observed in English to The Vengeance, whom her eyes first en- "Your husband is not my business here," returned Madame countered, "Well, I am sure, Boldface! I hope you are pretty Defarge, looking down at her with perfect composure. "It is well!" She also bestowed a British cough on Madame Defarge; the daughter of your father who is my business here." but, neither of the two took much heed of her. "For my sake, then, be merciful to my husband. For my child's sake! She will put her hands together and pray you to be merciful. We are more afraid of you than of these others." 236 Madame Defarge received it as a compliment, and looked at and in their children, poverty, nakedness, hunger, thirst, sick- her husband. Defarge, who had been uneasily biting his ness, misery, oppression and neglect of all kinds?" thumb-nail and looking at her, collected his face into a sterner "We have seen nothing else," returned The Vengeance. expression. "We have borne this a long time," said Madame Defarge, "What is it that your husband says in that little letter?" turning her eyes again upon Lucie. "Judge you! Is it likely that asked Madame the trouble of one wife and mother would be much to us Defarge, with a lowering smile. "Influence; he says something now?" touching influence?" She resumed her knitting and went out. The Vengeance fol- "That my father," said Lucie, hurriedly taking the paper lowed. Defarge went last, and closed the door. from her breast, but with her alarmed eyes on her questioner and not on it, "has much influence around him." "Courage, my dear Lucie," said Mr. Lorry, as he raised her. "Courage, courage! So far all goes well with us -- much, much "Surely it will release him!" said Madame Defarge. "Let it do better than it has of late gone with many poor souls. Cheer up, so." and have a thankful heart." "As a wife and mother," cried Lucie, most earnestly, "I im- "I am not thankless, I hope, but that dreadful woman seems plore you to have pity on me and not to exercise any power to throw a shadow on me and on all my hopes." that you possess, against my innocent husband, but to use it in his behalf. O sister-woman, think of me. As a wife and "Tut, tut!" said Mr. Lorry; "what is this despondency in the mother!" brave little breast? A shadow indeed! No substance in it, Lu- cie." Madame Defarge looked, coldly as ever, at the suppliant, and said, turning to her friend The Vengeance: But the shadow of the manner of these Defarges was dark upon himself, for all that, and in his secret mind it troubled "The wives and mothers we have been used to see, since we him greatly. were as little as this child, and much less, have not been greatly considered? We have known their husbands and fa- ______thers laid in prison and kept from them, often enough? All our lives, we have seen our sister-women suffer, in themselves Who is the messenger that comes to Mr. Lorry? What is his message?

237 Why does Madame Defarge say she visits Mr. Lorry and what is her true reason? she had been true to her duties. She was truest to them in the

What does Lucie ask of Madame Defarge and how does she respond? season of trial, as all the quietly loyal and good will always be.

What is the significance of the chapter title? As soon as they were established in their new residence, and

______her father had entered on the routine of his avocations, she arranged the little household as exactly as if her husband had **Book 3, Chapter 4: Dr. Manette uses his influence to keep been there. Everything had its appointed place and its ap- Darnay away from the guillotine.** pointed time. Little Lucie she taught, as regularly, as if they had all been united in their English home. The slight devices Book 3, Chapter 5: with which she cheated herself into the show of a belief that THE WOOD-SAWYER they would soon be reunited -- the little preparations for his speedy return, the setting aside of his chair and his books -- ONE YEAR and three months. During all that time Lucie these, and the solemn prayer at was never sure, from hour to hour, but that the Guillotine night for one dear prisoner especially, among the many un- would strike off her husband's head next day. Every day, happy souls in prison and the shadow of death -- were almost through the stony streets, the tumbrels now jolted heavily, the only outspoken reliefs of her heavy mind. filled with Condemned. Lovely girls; bright women, brown- haired, black-haired, and grey; youths; stalwart men and old; She did not greatly alter in appearance. The plain dark gentle born and peasant born; all red wine for La Guillotine, dresses, akin to mourning dresses, which she and her child all daily brought into light from the dark cellars of the loath- wore, were as neat and as well attended to as the brighter some prisons, and carried to her through the streets to slake clothes of happy days. She lost her colour, and the old and in- her devouring thirst. Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; -- tent expression was a constant, not an occasional, thing; other- the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine! wise, she remained very pretty and comely. Sometimes, at night on kissing her father, she would burst into the grief she If the suddenness of her calamity, and the whirling wheels of had repressed all day, and would say that her sole reliance, un- the time, had stunned the Doctor's daughter into awaiting the der Heaven, was on him. He always resolutely answered: result in idle despair, it would but have been with her as it was "Nothing can happen to him without my knowledge, and I with many. But, from the hour when she had taken the white know that I can save him, Lucie." head to her fresh young bosom in the garret of Saint Antoine,

238 They had not made the round of their changed life many This mode of address was now prescribed by decree. It had weeks, when her father said to her, on coming home one eve- been established voluntarily some time ago, among the more ning: thorough patriots; but, was now law for everybody.

"My dear, there is an upper window in the prison, to which "Walking here again, citizeness?" Charles can sometimes gain access at three in the afternoon. "You see me, citizen!" When he can get to it -- which depends on many uncertainties and incidents -- he might see you in the street, he thinks, if The wood-sawyer, who was a little man with a redundancy you stood in a certain place that I can show you. But you will of gesture (he had once been a mender of roads), cast a glance not be able to see him, my poor child, and even if you could, it at the prison, would be unsafe for you to make a sign of recognition." pointed at the prison, and putting his ten fingers before his face to represent bars, peeped through them jocosely. "O show me the place, my father, and I will go there every day." "But it's not my business," said he. And went on sawing his wood. From that time, in all weathers, she waited there two hours. As the clock struck two, she was there, and at four she turned Next day he was looking out for her, and accosted her the resignedly away. When it was not too wet or inclement for her moment she appeared. child to be with her, they went together; at other times she was alone; but, she never missed a single day. "What? Walking here again, citizeness?"

It was the dark and dirty corner of a small winding street. "Yes, citizen." The hovel of a cutter of wood into lengths for burning, was the "Ah! A child too! Your mother, is it not, my little citizeness?" only house at that end; all else was wall. On the third day of her being there, he noticed her. "Do I say yes, mamma?" whispered little Lucie, drawing close to her. "Good day, citizeness." "Yes, dearest." "Good day, citizen." "Yes, citizen."

239 "Ah! But it's not my business. My work is my business. See times: it might be twice or thrice running: it might be, not for my saw! I call it my Little Guillotine. La, la, la; La, la, la! And a week or a fortnight together. It was enough that he could off his head comes!" and did see her when the chances served, and on that possibility she would have waited out the day, seven days a week. The billet fell as he spoke, and he threw it into a basket. These occupations brought her round to the December "I call myself the Samson of the firewood guillotine. See here month, wherein her father walked among the terrors with a again! Loo, loo, loo; Loo, loo, loo! And off her head comes! steady head. On a lightly-snowing afternoon she arrived at the Now, a child. Tickle, tickle; Pickle, pickle! And off its head usual corner. It was a day of comes. all the family!" some wild rejoicing, and a festival. She had seen the houses, Lucie shuddered as he threw two more billets into his bas- as she came along, decorated with little pikes, and with little ket, but it was impossible to be there while the wood-sawyer red caps stuck upon them; also, with tricoloured ribbons; also, was at work, and not be in his sight. Thenceforth, to secure his with the standard inscription (tricoloured letters were the fa- good will, she always spoke to him first, and often gave him vourite), Republic One and Indivisible. Liberty, Equality, Fra- drink-money, which he readily received. ternity, or Death!

He was an inquisitive fellow, and sometimes when she had The miserable shop of the wood-sawyer was so small, that quite forgotten him in gazing at the prison roof and grates, its whole surface furnished very indifferent space for this leg- and in lifting her heart up to her husband, she would come to end. He had got somebody to scrawl it up for him, however, herself to find him looking at her, with his knee on his bench who had squeezed Death in with most inappropriate diffi- and his saw stopped in its work. "But it's not my business!" he culty. On his house-top, he displayed pike and cap, as a good would generally say at those times, and would briskly fall to citizen must, and in a window he had stationed his saw in- his sawing again. scribed as his "Little Sainte Guillotine" -- for the great sharp female was by that time popularly canonised. His shop was In all weathers, in the snow and frost of winter, in the bitter shut and he was not there, which was a relief to Lucie, and left winds of spring, in the hot sunshine of summer, in the rains of her quite alone. autumn, and again in the snow and frost of winter, Lucie passed two hours of every day at this place; and every day on But, he was not far off, for presently she heard a troubled leaving it, she kissed the prison wall. Her husband saw her (so movement and a shouting coming along, which filled her with she learned from her father) it might be once in five or six fear. A moment afterwards, and a throng of people came pour-

240 ing round the corner by the prison wall, in the midst of whom perverted all things good by nature were become. The maid- was the wood-sawyer hand in hand with The Vengeance. enly bosom bared to this, the pretty almost-child's head thus There could not be fewer than five hundred people, and they distracted, the delicate foot mincing in this slough of blood were dancing like five thousand demons. There was no other and dirt, were types of the disjointed time. music than their own singing. They danced to the popular This was the Carmagnole. As it passed, leaving Lucie fright- Revolution song, keeping a ferocious time that was like a ened and bewildered in the doorway of the wood-sawyer's gnashing of teeth in unison. Men and women danced to- house, the feathery snow fell as quietly and lay as white and gether, women danced together, men danced together, as haz- soft, as if it had never been. ard had brought them together. At first, they were a mere storm of coarse red caps and coarse woollen rags; but, as they "O my father!" for he stood before her when she lifted up the filled the place, and stopped to dance about Lucie, some eyes she had momentarily darkened with her hand; "such a ghastly apparition of a dance-figure gone raving mad arose cruel, bad sight." among them. They advanced, retreated, struck at one another's hands, clutched at one another's heads, spun round "I know, my dear, I know. I have seen it many times. Don't alone, caught one another and spun round in pairs, until be frightened! Not one of them would harm you." many of them dropped. While those were down, the rest "I am not frightened for myself, my father. But when I think linked hand in hand, and all spun round together: then the of my husband, and the mercies of these people -- " ring broke, and in separate rings of two and four they turned and turned until they all stopped at once, began again, struck, "We will set him above their mercies very soon. I left him clutched, and tore, and then reversed the spin, and all spun climbing to the window, and I came to tell you. There is no round another way. Suddenly they stopped again, paused, one here to see. You may kiss your hand towards that highest struck out the time afresh, formed into lines the width of the shelving roof." public way, and, with their heads low down and their hands high up, swooped screaming off. No fight could have been half "I do so, father, and I send him my Soul with it!" so terrible as this dance. It was so emphatically a fallen sport "You cannot see him, my poor dear?" -- a something, once innocent, delivered over to all devilry -- a healthy pastime changed into a means of angering the blood, "No, father," said Lucie, yearning and weeping as she kissed bewildering the senses, and steeling the heart. Such grace as her hand, "no." was visible in it, made it the uglier, showing how warped and

241 A footstep in the snow. Madame Defarge. "I salute you, citi- "I must see Lorry," the Doctor repeated, turning her another zeness," from the Doctor. "I salute you, citizen." This in pass- way. ing. Nothing more. Madame Defarge gone, like a shadow over The staunch old gentleman was still in his trust; had never the white road. left it. He and his books were in frequent requisition as to "Give me your arm, my love. Pass from here with an air of property confiscated and made national. What he could save cheerfulness and courage, for his sake. That was well done;" for the owners, he saved. No better man living to hold fast by they had left the spot; "it shall not be in vain. Charles is sum- what Tellson's had in keeping, and to hold his peace. moned for to-morrow." A murky red and yellow sky, and a rising mist from the "For to-morrow! " Seine, denoted the approach of darkness. It was almost dark when they arrived at the Bank. The stately residence of Mon- "There is no time to lose. I am well prepared, but there are seigneur was altogether blighted and deserted. Above a heap precautions to be taken, that could not be taken until he was of dust and ashes in the court, ran the letters: National Prop- actually summoned before the Tribunal. He has not received erty. Republic One and Indivisible. Liberty, Equality, Frater- the notice yet, but I know that he will presently be summoned nity, or Death! for to-morrow, and removed to the Conciergerie; I have timely information. You are not afraid?" Who could that be with Mr. Lorry -- the owner of the riding- coat upon the chair -- who must not be seen? From whom She could scarcely answer, "I trust in you." newly arrived, did he come out, agitated and surprised, to take "Do so, implicitly. Your suspense is nearly ended, my dar- his favourite in his arms? To whom did he appear to repeat ling; he shall be restored to you within a few hours; I have en- her faltering words, when, raising his voice and turning his compassed him with every protection. I must see Lorry." head towards the door of the room from which he had issued, he said: "Removed to the Conciergerie, and summoned for to- He stopped. There was a heavy lumbering of wheels within morrow?" hearing. They both knew too well what it meant. One. Two. Three. ______

Three tumbrils faring away with their dread loads over the Explain what Lucie does every day for a year. Use specific details. What does this hushing snow. say about her?

What small amount of good news does the Doctor bring her?

242 Explain the title of the chapter. Her father, cheering her, showed a compassionate superior-

What is the Carmagnole? Why does Lucie think it is so terrible? ity to this woman's weakness, which was wonderful to see. No garret, no shoemaking, no One Hundred and Five, North By the end of the chapter, who has arrived in France? Tower, now! He had accomplished the task he had set himself, ______his promise was redeemed, he had saved Charles. Let them all lean upon him. **Book 3, Chapter 6: Initially, the angry mob calls for Dar- nay’s execution. However, after Dr. Manette speaks, they Their housekeeping was of a very frugal kind: not only be- quickly acquit him and carry him home on their shoulders.** cause that was the safest way of life, involving the least offence to the people, but because they were not rich, and Charles, Book 3, Chapter 7: throughout his imprisonment, had had to pay heavily for his A KNOCK AT THE DOOR bad food, and for his guard, and towards the living of the poorer prisoners. Partly on this account, and partly to avoid a "I HAVE SAVED HIM." It was not another of the dreams in domestic spy, they kept no servant; the citizen and citizeness which he had often come back; he was really here. And yet his who acted as porters at the courtyard gate, rendered them oc- wife trembled, and a vague but heavy fear was upon her. casional service; and Jerry (almost wholly transferred to them All the air round was so thick and dark, the people were so by Mr. Lorry) had become their daily retainer, and had his passionately revengeful and fitful, the innocent were so con- bed there every night. stantly put to death on vague suspicion and black malice, it It was an ordinance of the Republic One and Indivisible of was so impossible to forget that many as blameless as her hus- Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death, that on the door or band and as dear to others as he was to her, every day shared doorpost of every house, the name of every inmate must be the fate from which he had been clutched, that her heart could legibly inscribed in letters of a certain size, at a certain conven- not be as lightened of its load as she felt it ought to be. The ient height from the ground. Mr. Jerry Cruncher's name, there- shadows of the wintry afternoon were beginning to fall, and fore, duly embellished the doorpost down below; and, as the even now the dreadful carts were rolling through the streets. afternoon shadows deepened, the owner of that name himself Her mind pursued them, looking for him among the Con- appeared, from overlooking a painter whom Doctor Manette demned; and then she clung closer to his real presence and had employed to add to the list the name of Charles trembled more. Evrémonde, called Darnay.

243 In the universal fear and distrust that darkened the time, all Jerry hoarsely professed himself at Miss Pross's service. He the usual harmless ways of life were changed. In the Doctor's had worn all his rust off long ago, but nothing would file his little household, as in very many others, the articles of daily spiky head down. consumption that were wanted were purchased every evening, "There's all manner of things wanted," said Miss Pross, "and in small quantities and at various small shops. To avoid at- we shall have a precious time of it. We want wine, among the tracting notice, and to give as little occasion as possible for rest. Nice toasts these Redheads will be drinking, wherever we talk and envy, was the general desire. buy it." For some months past, Miss Pross and Mr. Cruncher had dis- "It will be much the same to your knowledge, miss, I should charged the office of purveyors; the former carrying the think," retorted Jerry, "whether they drink your health or the money; the latter, the basket. Every afternoon at about the Old Un's." time when the public lamps were lighted, they fared forth on this duty, and made and brought home such purchases as "Who's he?" said Miss Pross. were needful. Although Miss Pross, through her long association with a French family, might have known as much of their Mr. Cruncher, with some diffidence, explained himself as language as of her own, if she had had a mind, she had no meaning "Old Nick's." mind in that direction; consequently she knew no more of that "Ha!" said Miss Pross, "it doesn't need an interpreter to ex- "nonsense" (as she was pleased to call it) than Mr. Cruncher plain the meaning of these creatures. They have but one, and did. So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun- it's Midnight Murder, and Mischief." substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article, and, if it happened not to be "Hush, dear! Pray, pray, be cautious!" cried Lucie. the name of the thing she wanted, to look round for that thing, lay hold of it, and hold on by it until the bargain was con- "Yes, yes, yes, I'll be cautious," said Miss Pross; "but I may cluded. She always made a bargain for it, by holding up, as a say among ourselves, that I do hope there will be no oniony statement of its just price, one finger less than the merchant and tobaccoey smotherings in the form of embracings all held up, whatever his number might be. round, going on in the streets. Now, Ladybird, never you stir from that fire till I come back! Take care of the dear husband "Now, Mr. Cruncher," said Miss Pross, whose eyes were red you have recovered, and don't move your pretty head from his with felicity; "if you are ready, I am." shoulder as you have it now, till you see me again! May I ask a question, Doctor Manette, before I go?" 244 "I think you may take that liberty," the Doctor answered, used to say. Now, Mr. Cruncher! -- Don't you move, Lady- smiling. bird!"

"For gracious sake, don't talk about Liberty; we have quite They went out, leaving Lucie, and her husband, her father, enough of that," said Miss Pross. and the child, by a bright fire. Mr. Lorry was expected back presently from the Banking House. Miss Pross had lighted the "Hush, dear! Again?" Lucie remonstrated. lamp, but had put it aside in a corner, that they might enjoy "Well, my sweet," said Miss Pross, nodding her head em- the fire-light undisturbed. Little Lucie sat by her grandfather phatically, "the short and the long of it is, that I am a subject with her hands clasped through his arm: and he, in a tone not of His Most Gracious Majesty King George the Third;" Miss rising much above a whisper, began to ten her a story of a Pross curtseyed at the name; "and as such, my maxim is, Con- great and powerful Fairy who had opened a prison-wall and found their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On him our let out a captive who had once done the Fairy a service. All hopes we fix, God save the King!" was subdued and quiet, and Lucie was more at ease than she had been. Mr. Cruncher, in an access of loyalty, growlingly repeated the words after Miss Pross, Re somebody at church. "What is that?" she cried, all at once.

"I am glad you have so much of the Englishman in you, "My dear!" said her father, stopping in his story, and laying though I wish you had never taken that cold in your voice," his hand on hers, "command yourself. What a disordered state said Miss Pross, approvingly. "But the question, Doctor Ma- you are in! The least thing -- nothing -- startles you! You, your nette. Is there" -- it was the good creature's way to affect to father's daughter!" make light of anything that was a great anxiety with them all, "I thought, my father," said Lucie, excusing herself, with a and to come at it in this chance manner -- "is there any pros- pale face and in a faltering voice, "that I heard strange feet pect yet, of our getting out of this place?" upon the stairs." "I fear not yet. It would be dangerous for Charles yet." "My love, the staircase is as still as Death." "Heigh-ho-hum!" said Miss Pross, cheerfully repressing a As he said the word, a blow was struck upon the door. sigh as she glanced at her darling's golden hair in the light of the fire, "then we must have patience and wait: that's all. We "Oh father, father. What can this be! Hide Charles. Save must hold up our heads and fight low, as my brother Solomon him!" 245 "My child," said the Doctor, rising, and laying his hand upon "You know him, you have said. Do you know me?" her shoulder, "I have saved him. What weakness is this, my "Yes, I know you, Citizen Doctor." dear! Let me go to the door." "We all know you, Citizen Doctor," said the other three. He took the lamp in his hand, crossed the two intervening outer rooms, and opened it. A rude clattering of feet over the He looked abstractedly from one to another, and said, in a floor, and four rough men in red caps, armed with sabres and lower voice, after a pause: pistols, entered the room. "Will you answer his question to me then? How does this "The Citizen Evrémonde, called Darnay," said the first. happen?"

"Who seeks him?" answered Darnay. "Citizen Doctor," said the first, reluctantly, "he has been denounced to the Section of Saint Antoine. This citizen," point- "I seek him. We seek him. I know you, Evrémonde; I saw ing out the second who had entered, "is from Saint Antoine." you before the Tribunal to-day. You are again the prisoner of the Republic." The citizen here indicated nodded his head, and added:

The four surrounded him, where he stood with his wife and "He is accused by Saint Antoine." child clinging to him. "Of what?" asked the Doctor. "Tell me how and why am I again a prisoner?" "Citizen Doctor," said the first, with his former reluctance, "It is enough that you return straight to the Conciergerie, "ask no more. If the Republic demands sacrifices from you, and will know to-morrow. You are summoned for to-morrow." without doubt you as a good patriot will be happy to make them. The Republic goes before all. The People is supreme. Doctor Manette, whom this visitation had so turned into Evrémonde, we are pressed." stone, that be stood with the lamp in his band, as if be woe a statue made to hold it, moved after these words were spoken, "One word," the Doctor entreated. "Will you tell me who de- put the lamp down, and confronting the speaker, and taking nounced him?" him, not ungently, by the loose front of his red woollen shirt, said: "It is against rule," answered the first; "but you can ask Him of Saint Antoine here."

246 The Doctor turned his eyes upon that man. Who moved un- her mind the number of indispensable purchases she had to easily on his feet, rubbed his beard a little, and at length said: make. Mr. Cruncher, with the basket, walked at her side. They both looked to the right and to the left into most of the shops "Well! Truly it is against rule. But he is denounced -- and they passed, had a wary eye for all gregarious assemblages of gravely -- by the Citizen and Citizeness Defarge. And by one people, and turned out of their road to avoid any very excited other." group of talkers. It was a raw evening, and the misty river, "What other?" blurred to the eye with blazing lights and to the ear with harsh noises, showed where the barges were stationed in which the "Do you ask, Citizen Doctor?" smiths worked, making guns for the Army of the Republic. Woe to the man who played tricks with that Army, or got unde- "Yes." served promotion in it! Better for him that his beard had "Then," said he of Saint Antoine, with a strange look, "you never grown, for the National Razor shaved him close. will be answered to-morrow. Now, I am dumb!" Having purchased a few small articles of grocery, and a meas- ______ure of oil for the lamp, Miss Pross bethought herself of the wine they wanted. After peeping into several wine-shops, she Why do Charles and his family stay in France, and what is their style of living there? stopped at the sign of the Good Republican Brutus of Antiq- uity, not far from the National Palace, once (and twice) the Who knocks on the door? Tuileries, where the aspect of things rather took her fancy. It What happens to Darnay during his first night of freedom? had a quieter look than any other place of the same descrip-

What does the Doctor ask at the end of the chapter? What is the response? tion they had passed, and, though red with patriotic caps, was not so red as the rest. Sounding Mr. Cruncher, and finding ______him of her opinion, Miss Pross resorted to the Good Republi- Book 3, Chapter 8: can Brutus of Antiquity, attended by her cavalier.

A HAND AT CARDS Slightly observant of the smoky lights; of the people, pipe in mouth, playing with limp cards and yellow dominoes; of the HAPPILY UNCONSCIOUS of the new calamity at home, one bare-breasted, Miss Pross threaded her way along the narrow streets and bare-armed, soot-begrimed workman reading a journal aloud, crossed the river by the bridge of the Pont-Neuf, reckoning in and of the others listening to him; of the weapons worn, or

247 laid aside to be resumed; of the two or three customers fallen "What is the matter?" said the man who had caused Miss forward asleep, who in the popular high-shouldered shaggy Pross to scream; speaking in a vexed, abrupt voice (though in black spencer looked, in that attitude, like slumbering bears a low tone), and in English. or dogs; the two outlandish customers approached the "Oh, Solomon, dear Solomon!" cried Miss Pross, clapping counter, and showed what they wanted. her hands again. "After not setting eyes upon you or hearing As their wine was measuring out, a man parted from an- of you for so long a time, do I find you here!" other man in a corner, and rose to depart. In going, he had to "Don't call me Solomon. Do you want to be the death of face Miss Pross. No sooner did he face her, than Miss Pross ut- me?" asked the man, in a furtive, frightened way. tered a scream, and clapped her hands. "Brother, brother!" cried Miss Pross, bursting into tears. In a moment, the whole company were on their feet. That "Have I ever been so hard with you that you ask me such a somebody was assassinated by somebody vindicating a differ- cruel question?" ence of opinion was the likeliest occurrence. Everybody looked to see somebody fall, but only saw a man and a woman "Then hold your meddlesome tongue," said Solomon, "and standing staring at each other; the man with all the outward come out, if you want to speak to me. Pay for your wine, and aspect of a Frenchman and a thorough Republican; the come out. Who's this man?" woman, evidently English. Miss Pross, shaking her loving and dejected head at her by What was said in this disappointing anti-climax, by the disci- no means affectionate brother, said through her tears, "Mr. ples of the Good Republican Brutus of Antiquity, except that it Cruncher." was something very voluble and loud, would have been as so much Hebrew or Chaldean to Miss Pross and her protector, though they had been all ears. But, they bad no ears for any- "Let him come out too," said Solomon. "Does he think me a thing in their surprise. For, it must be recorded, that not only ghost?" was Miss Pross lost in amazement and agitation, but, Mr. Apparently, Mr. Cruncher did, to judge from his looks. He Cruncher -- though it seemed on his own separate and individ- said not a word, however, and Miss Pross, exploring the ual account -- was in a state of the greatest wonder. depths of her reticule through her tears with great difficulty paid for her wine. As she did so, Solomon turned to the followers of the Good Republican Brutus of Antiquity, and offered a 248 few words of explanation in the French language, which "The gracious and merciful Heavens forbid!" cried Miss caused them all to relapse into their former places and pur- Pross. "Far rather would I never see you again, dear Solomon, suits. though I have ever loved you truly, and ever shall. Say but one affectionate word to me, and tell me there is nothing angry or "Now," said Solomon, stopping at the dark street corner, estranged between us, and I will detain you no longer." "what do you want?" Good Miss Pross! As if the estrangement between them had "How dreadfully unkind in a brother nothing has ever come of any culpability of hers. As if Mr. Lorry had not known turned my love away from!" cried Miss Pross, "to give me such it for a fact, years ago, in the quiet corner in Soho, that this a greeting, and show me no affection." precious brother had spent her money and left her! "There. Con-found it! There," said Solomon, making a dab at He was saying the affectionate word, however, with a far Miss Pross's lips with his own. "Now are you content?" more grudging condescension and patronage than he could Miss Pross only shook her head and wept in silence. have shown if their relative merits and positions had been reversed (which is invariably the case, all the world over), when "If you expect me to be surprised," said her brother Solo- Mr. Cruncher, touching him on the shoulder, hoarsely and un- mon, "I am not surprised; I knew you were here; I know of expectedly interposed with the following singular question: most people who are here. If you really don't want to endan- ger my existence -- which I half believe you do -- go your ways "I say! Might I ask the favour? As to whether your name is as soon as possible, and let me go mine. I am busy. I am an of- John Solomon, or Solomon John?" ficial." The official turned towards him with sudden distrust. He "My English brother Solomon," mourned Miss Pross, casting had not previously uttered a word. up her tear-fraught eyes, "that had the makings in him of one "Come!" said Mr. Cruncher. "Speak out, you know." (Which, of the best and greatest of men in his native country, an offi- by the way, was more than he could do himself.) "John Solo- cial among foreigners, and such foreigners! I would almost mon, or Solomon John? She calls you Solomon, and she must sooner have seen the dear boy lying in his -- " know, being your sister. And I know you're John, you know. "I said so!" cried her brother, interrupting. "I knew it. You Which of the two goes first? And regarding that name of want to be the death of me. I shall be rendered Suspected, by Pross, likewise. That warn't your name over the water." my own sister. Just as I am getting on!" 249 "What do you mean?" Sheep was a cant word of the time for a spy, under the gaol- ers. The spy, who was pale, turned paler, and asked him how "Well, I don't know all I mean, for I can't call to mind what he dared -- your name was, over the water." "I'll tell you," said Sydney. "I lighted on you, Mr. Barsad, "No?" coming out of the prison of the Conciergerie while I was con- "No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables." templating the walls, an hour or more ago. You have a face to be remembered, and I remember faces well. Made curious by "Indeed?" seeing you in that connection, and having a reason, to which you are no stranger, for associating you with the misfortunes "Yes. T'other one's was one syllable. I know you. You was a of a friend now very unfortunate, I walked in your direction. I spy- witness at the Bailey. What, in the name of the Father of walked into the wine-shop here, close after you, and sat near Lies, own father to yourself, was you called at that time?" you. I had no difficulty in deducing from your unreserved con- "Barsad," said another voice, striking in. versation, and the rumour openly going about among your admirers, the nature of your calling. And gradually, what I had "That's the name for a thousand pound!" cried Jerry. done at random, seemed to shape itself into a purpose, Mr. The speaker who struck in, was Sydney Carton. He had his Barsad." hands behind him under the skirts of his riding-coat, and he "What purpose?" the spy asked. stood at Mr. Cruncher's elbow as negligently as he might have stood at the Old Bailey itself. "It would be troublesome, and might be dangerous, to explain in the street. Could you favour me, in confidence, with "Don't be alarmed, my dear Miss Pross. I arrived at Mr. some minutes of your company -- at the office of Tellson's Lorry's, to his surprise, yesterday evening; we agreed that I Bank, for instance?" would not present myself elsewhere until all was well, or unless I could be useful; I present myself here, to beg a little talk "Under a threat?" with your brother. I wish you had a better employed brother "Oh! Did I say that?" than Mr. Barsad. I wish for your sake Mr. Barsad was not a Sheep of the Prisons." "Then, why should I go there?"

"Really, Mr. Barsad, I can't say, if you can't." 250 "Do you mean that you won't say, sir?" the spy irresolutely manner, but changed and raised the man. She was too much asked. occupied then with fears for the brother who so little deserved her affection, and with Sydney's friendly reassurances, ade- "You apprehend me very clearly, Mr. Barsad. I won't." quately to heed what she observed. Carton's negligent recklessness of manner came powerfully They left her at the corner of the street, and Carton led the in aid of his quickness and skill, in such a business as be had way to Mr. Lorry's, which was within a few minutes' walk. in his secret mind, and with such a man as he had to do with. John Barsad, or Solomon Pross, walked at his side. His practised eye saw it, and made the most of it. Mr. Lorry had just finished his dinner, and was sitting be- "Now, I told you so," said the spy, casting a reproachful look fore a cheery little log or two of fire -- perhaps looking into at his sister; "if any trouble comes of this, it's your doing." their blaze for the picture of that younger elderly gentleman "Come, come, Mr. Barsad!" exclaimed Sydney. "Don't be un- from Tellson's, who had looked into the red coals at the Royal grateful. But for my great respect for your sister, I might not George at Dover, now a good many years ago. He turned his have led up so pleasantly to a little proposal that I wish to head as they entered, and showed the surprise with which he make for our mutual satisfaction. Do you go with me to the saw a stranger. Bank?" "Miss Pross's brother, sir," said Sydney. "Mr. Barsad." "I'll hear what you have got to say. Yes, I'll go with you." "Barsad?" repeated the old gentleman, "Barsad? I have an "I propose that we first conduct your sister safely to the cor- association with the name -- and with the face." ner of her own street. Let me take your arm, Miss Pross. This "I told you you had a remarkable face, Mr. Barsad," observed is not a good city, at this time, for you to be out in, unpro- Carton, coolly. "Pray sit down." tected; and as your escort knows Mr. Barsad, I will invite him to Mr. Lorry's with us. Are we ready? Come then! " As he took a chair himself, he supplied the link that Mr. Lorry wanted, by saying to him with a frown, "Witness at that Miss Pross recalled soon afterwards, and to the end of her trial." Mr. Lorry immediately remembered, and regarded his life remembered, that as she pressed her hands on Sydney's new visitor with an undisguised look of abhorrence. arm and looked up in his face, imploring him to do no hurt to Solomon, there was a braced purpose in the arm and a kind of "Mr. Barsad has been recognised by Miss Pross as the affec- inspiration in the eyes, which not only contradicted his light tionate brother you have heard of," said Sydney, "and has ac- 251 knowledged the relationship. I pass to worse news. Darnay " -- In as good stead to-morrow as to-day. But it may not be has been arrested again." so. I own to you, I am shaken, Mr. Lorry, by Doctor Manette's not having had the power to prevent this arrest." Struck with consternation, the old gentleman exclaimed, "What do you tell me! I left him safe and free within these two "He may not have known of it beforehand," said Mr. Lorry. hours, and am about to return to him!" "But that very circumstance would be alarming, when we re- "Arrested for all that. When was it done, Mr. Barsad?" member how identified he is with his son-in-law."

"Just now, if at all." "That's true," Mr. Lorry acknowledged, with his troubled hand at his chin, and his troubled eyes on Carton. "Mr. Barsad is the best authority possible, sir," said Sydney, "and I have it from Mr. Barsad's communication to a friend "In short," said Sydney, "this is a desperate time, when des- and brother Sheep over a bottle of wine, that the arrest has perate games are played for desperate stakes. Let the Doctor taken place. He left the messengers at the gate, and saw them play the winning game; I will play the losing one. No man's admitted by the porter. There is no earthly doubt that he is re- life here is worth purchase. Any one carried home by the peo- taken." ple to-day, may be condemned to- morrow. Now, the stake I have resolved to play for, in case of the worst, is a friend in the Mr. Lorry's business eye read in the speaker's face that it Conciergerie. And the friend I purpose to myself to win, is Mr. was loss of time to dwell upon the point. Confused, but sensi- Barsad." ble that something might depend on his presence of mind, he commanded him- "You need have good cards, sir," said the spy. self, and was silently attentive. "I'll run them over. I'll see what I hold, -- Mr. Lorry, you "Now, I trust," said Sydney to him, "that the name and influ- know what a brute I am; I wish you'd give me a little brandy." ence of Doctor Manette may stand him in as good stead to- It was put before him, and he drank off a glassful -- drank morrow -- you said he would be before the Tribunal again to- off another glassful -- pushed the bottle thoughtfully away. morrow, Mr. Barsad? -- " "Mr. Barsad," he went on, in the tone of one who really was "Yes; I believe so." looking over a hand at cards: "Sheep of the prisons, emissary of Republican committees, now turnkey, now prisoner, always

252 spy and secret informer, so much the more valuable here for It was a poorer hand than he suspected. Mr. Barsad saw los- being English that an Englishman is less open to suspicion of ing cards in it that Sydney Carton knew nothing of. Thrown subornation in those characters than a Frenchman, represents out of his honourable employment in England, through too himself to his employers under a false name. That's a very much unsuccessful hard swearing there -- not because he was good card. Mr. Barsad, now in the employ of the republican not wanted there; our English reasons for vaunting our superi- French government, was formerly in the employ of the aristo- ority to secrecy and spies are of very modern date -- he knew cratic English government, the enemy of France and freedom. that he had crossed the Channel, and accepted service in That's an excellent card. Inference clear as day in this region France: first, as a tempter and an eavesdropper among his of suspicion, that Mr. Barsad, still in the pay of the aristocratic own countrymen there: gradually, as a tempter and an eaves- English government, is the spy of Pitt, the treacherous foe of dropper among the natives. He knew that under the over- the Republic crouching in its bosom, the English traitor and thrown government he had been a spy upon Saint Antoine agent of all mischief so much spoken of and so difficult and Defarge's wine-shop; had received from the watchful po- to find. That's a card not to be beaten. Have you followed my lice such heads of information concerning Doctor Manette's hand, Mr. Barsad?" imprisonment, release, and history, as should serve him for an introduction to familiar conversation with the Defarges; and "Not to understand your play," returned the spy, somewhat tried them on Madame Defarge, and had broken down with uneasily. them signally. He always remembered with fear and trem- "I play my Ace, Denunciation of Mr. Barsad to the nearest bling, that that terrible woman had knitted when he talked Section Committee. Look over your hand, Mr. Barsad, and see with her, and had looked ominously at him as her fingers what you have. Don't hurry." moved. He had since seen her, in the Section of Saint Antoine, over and over again produce her knitted registers, and de- He drew the bottle near, poured out another glassful of nounce people whose lives the guillotine then surely swal- brandy, and drank it off. He saw that the spy was fearful of his lowed up. He knew, as every one employed as he was did, that drinking himself into a fit state for the immediate denuncia- he was never safe; that flight was impossible; that he was tied tion of him. Seeing it, he poured out and drank another glass- fast under the shadow of the axe; and that in spite of his ut- ful. most tergiversation and treachery in furtherance of the reigning terror, a word might bring it down upon him. Once de- "Look over your hand carefully, Mr. Barsad. Take time." nounced, and on such grave grounds as had just now been suggested to his mind, he foresaw that the dreadful woman of

253 whose unrelenting character he had seen many proofs, would "You think not, sir?" produce against him that fatal register, and would quash his "I have thoroughly made up my mind about it." last chance of life. Besides that all secret men are men soon terrified, here were surely cards enough of one black suit, to The smooth manner of the spy, curiously in dissonance with justify the holder in growing rather livid as he turned them his ostentatiously rough dress, and probably with his usual de- over. meanour, received such a check from the inscrutability of Car- ton, -- who was a mystery to wiser and honester men than he, "You scarcely seem to like your hand," said Sydney, with the -- that it faltered here and failed him. While he was at a loss, greatest composure. "Do you play?" Carton said, resuming his former air of contemplating cards: "I think, sir," said the spy, in the meanest manner, as he "And indeed, now I think again, I have a strong impression turned to Mr. Lorry, "I may appeal to a gentleman of your that I have another good card here, not yet enumerated. That years and benevolence, to put it to this other gentleman, so friend and fellow-Sheep, who spoke of himself as pasturing in much your junior, whether he can under any circumstances the country prisons; who was he?" reconcile it to his station to play that Ace of which he has spoken. I admit that I am a spy, and that it is considered a discred- "French. You don't know him," said the spy, quickly. itable station -- though it must be filled by somebody; but this gentleman is no spy, and why should he so demean himself as "French, eh?" repeated Carton, musing, and not appearing to make himself one?" to notice him at all, though he echoed his word. "Well; he may be." "I play my Ace, Mr. Barsad," said Carton, taking the answer on himself, and looking at his watch, "without any scruple, in "Is, I assure you," said the spy; "though it's not important." a very few minutes." "Though it's not important," repeated Carton, in the same "I should have hoped, gentlemen both," said the spy, always mechanical way -- "though it's not important -- No, it's not im- striving to hook Mr. Lorry into the discussion, "that your re- portant. No. Yet I know the face." spect for my sister -- " "I think not. I am sure not. It can't be," said the spy. "I could not better testify my respect for your sister than by "It -- can't -- be," muttered Sydney Carton, retrospectively, finally relieving her of her brother," said Sydney Carton. and idling his glass (which fortunately was a small one) again.

254 "Can't -- be. Spoke good French. Yet like a foreigner, I There it is. Oh, look at it, look at it! You may take it in your thought?" hand; it's no forgery."

"Provincial," said the spy. Here, Mr. Lorry perceived the reflection on the wall to elon- gate, and Mr. Cruncher rose and stepped forward. His hair "No. Foreign!" cried Carton, striking his open hand on the could not have been more violently on end, if it had been that table, as a light broke clearly on his mind. "Cly! Disguised, but moment dressed by the Cow with the crumpled horn in the the same man. We had that man before us at the Old Bailey." house that Jack built. "Now, there you are hasty, sir," said Barsad, with a smile Unseen by the spy, Mr. Cruncher stood at his side, and that gave his aquiline nose an extra inclination to one side; touched him on the shoulder like a ghostly bailiff. "there you really give me an advantage over you. Cly (who I will unreservedly admit, at this distance of time, was a partner "That there Roger Cly, master," said Mr. Cruncher, with a of mine) has been dead several years. I attended him in his taciturn and iron-bound visage. "So you put him in his cof- last illness. He was buried in London, at the church of Saint fin?" Pancras-in-the-Fields. His unpopularity with the blackguard "I did." multitude at the moment prevented my following his remains, but I helped to lay him in his coffin." "Who took him out of it?"

Here, Mr. Lorry became aware, from where he sat, of a most Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, "What do remarkable goblin shadow on the wall. Tracing it to its source, you mean?" he discovered it to be caused by a sudden extraordinary rising and stiffening of all the risen and stiff hair on Mr. Cruncher's "I mean," said Mr. Cruncher, "that he warn't never in it. No! head. Not he! I'll have my head took off, if he was ever in it."

"Let us be reasonable," said the spy, "and let us be fair. To The spy looked round at the two gentlemen; they both show you how mistaken you are, and what an unfounded as- looked in unspeakable astonishment at Jerry. sumption yours is, I will lay before you a certificate of Cly's burial, which I happened to have carried in my pocket-book," with a hurried hand he produced and opened it, "ever since.

255 "I tell you," said Jerry, "that you buried paving-stones and "No!" returned the spy. "I throw up. I confess that we were earth in that there coffin. Don't go and tell me that you buried so unpopular with the outrageous mob, that I only got away Cly. It was a take in. Me and two more knows it." from England at the risk of being ducked to death, and that Cly was so ferreted up and down, that he never would have got "How do you know it?" away at all but for that sham. Though how this man knows it "What's that to you? Ecod!" growled Mr. Cruncher, "it's you was a sham, is a wonder of wonders to me." I have got a old grudge again, is it, with your shameful imposi- "Never you trouble your head about this man," retorted the tions upon tradesmen! I'd catch hold of your throat and choke contentious Mr. Cruncher; "you'll have trouble enough with you for half a guinea." giving your attention to that gentleman. And look here! Once Sydney Carton, who, with Mr. Lorry, had been lost in amaze- more!" -- Mr. Cruncher could not be restrained from making ment at this turn of the business, here requested Mr. Crun- rather an ostentatious parade of his liberality -- "I'd catch hold cher to moderate and explain himself. of your throat and choke you for half a guinea."

"At another time, sir," he returned, evasively, "the present The Sheep of the prisons turned from him to Sydney Carton, time is ill- conwenient for explainin'. What I stand to, is, that and said, with more decision, "It has come to a point. I go on he knows well wot that there Cly was never in that there cof- duty soon, and can't overstay my time. You told me you had a fin. Let him say he was, in so much as a word of one syllable, proposal; what is it? Now, it is of no use asking too much of and I'll either catch hold of his throat and choke him for half a me. Ask me to do anything in my office, putting my head in guinea;" Mr. Cruncher dwelt upon this as quite a liberal offer; great extra danger, and I had better trust my life to the "or I'll out and announce him." chances of a refusal than the chances of consent. In short, I should make that choice. You talk of desperation. We are all "Humph! I see one thing," said Carton. "I hold another card, desperate here. Remember! I may denounce you if I think Mr. Barsad. Impossible, here in raging Paris, with Suspicion proper, and I can swear my way through stone walls, and so filling the air, for you to outlive denunciation, when you are in can others. Now, what do you want with me?" communication with another aristocratic spy of the same antecedents as yourself, who, moreover, has the mystery about "Not very much. You are a turnkey at the Conciergerie?" him of having feigned death and come to life again! A plot in "I tell you once for all, there is no such thing as an escape the prisons, of the foreigner against the Republic. A strong possible," said the spy, firmly. card -- a certain Guillotine card! Do you play?"

256 "Why need you tell me what I have not asked? You are a turnkey at the Conciergerie?" He sat down in a chair on the hearth, over against Mr. Lorry. "I am sometimes." When they were alone, Mr. Lorry asked him what he had done? "You can be when you choose?" "Not much. If it should go ill with the prisoner, I have en- "I can pass in and out when I choose." sured access to him, once." Sydney Carton filled another glass with brandy, poured it Mr. Lorry's countenance fell. slowly out upon the hearth, and watched it as it dropped. It being all spent, he said, rising: "It is all I could do," said Carton. "To propose too much, would be to put this man's head under the axe, and, as he him- "So far, we have spoken before these two, because it was as self said, nothing worse could happen to him if he were de- well that the merits of the cards should not rest solely between nounced. It was obviously the weakness of the position. There you and me. Come into the dark room here, and let us have is no help for it." one final word alone." "But access to him," said Mr. Lorry, "if it should go ill before ______the Tribunal, will not save him." Who do Jerry Cruncher and Miss Pross run into while shopping? "I never said it would." Who does Carton know this man as? What is revealed? Mr. Lorry's eyes gradually sought the fire; his sympathy with How does Carton get this man to help him? his darling, and the heavy disappointment of his second ar- Why is this chapter titled “A Hand at Cards”? What is the metaphor here? rest, gradually weakened them; he was an old man now, over-

______borne with anxiety of late, and his tears fell.

Book 3, Chapter 9: "You are a good man and a true friend," said Carton, in an altered voice. "Forgive me if I notice that you are affected. I THE GAME MADE could not see my father weep, and sit by, careless. And I could not respect your sorrow more, if you were my father. You are **Mr. Lorry scolds Jerry Cruncher for his dishonest trade as free from that misfortune, however." grave robber.**

257 Though he said the last words, with a slip into his usual man- It was a long, grieving sound, like a sigh -- almost like a sob. ner, there was a true feeling and respect both in his tone and It attracted Mr. Lorry's eyes to Carton's face, which was in his touch, that Mr. Lorry, who had never seen the better turned to the fire. A light, or a shade (the old gentleman could side of him, was wholly unprepared for. He gave him his band, not have said which), passed from it as swiftly as a change will and Carton gently pressed it. sweep over a hill-side on a wild bright day, and he lifted his foot to put back one of the little flaming logs, which was tum- "To return to poor Darnay," said Carton. "Don't tell Her of bling forward. He wore the white riding-coat and top-boots, this interview, or this arrangement. It would not enable Her to then in vogue, and the light of the fire touching their light sur- go to see him. She might think it was contrived, in case of the faces made him look very pale, with his long brown hair, all worse, to convey to him the means of anticipating the sen- untrimmed, hanging loose about him. His indifference to fire tence." was sufficiently remarkable to elicit a word of remonstrance Mr. Lorry had not thought of that, and he looked quickly at from Mr. Lorry; his boot was still upon the hot embers of the Carton to see if it were in his mind. It seemed to be; he re- flaming log, when it had broken under the weight of Ms foot. turned the look, and evidently understood it. "I forgot it," he said. "She might think a thousand things," Carton said, "and any Mr. Lorry's eyes were again attracted to his face. Taking note of them would only add to her trouble. Don't speak of me to of the wasted air which clouded the naturally handsome fea- her. As I said to you when I first came, I had better not see tures, and having the expression of prisoners' faces fresh in her. I can put my hand out, to do any little helpful work for his mind, he was strongly reminded of that expression. her that my hand can find to do, without that. You are going to her, I hope? She must be very desolate to-night." "And your duties here have drawn to an end, sir?" said Car- ton, turning to him. "I am going now, directly." "Yes. As I was telling you last night when Lucie came in so "I am glad of that. She has such a strong attachment to you unexpectedly, I have at length done all that I can do here. I and reliance on you. How does she look?" hoped to have left them in perfect safety, and then to have "Anxious and unhappy, but very beautiful." quitted Paris. I have my Leave to Pass. I was ready to go."

"Ah!" They were both silent.

258 "Yours is a long life to look back upon, sir?" said Carton, wist- bered by!' your seventy- eight years would be seventy-eight fully. heavy curses; would they not?"

"I am in my seventy-eighth year." "You say truly, Mr. Carton; I think they would be."

"You have been useful all your life; steadily and constantly Sydney turned his eyes again upon the fire, and, after a si- occupied; trusted, respected, and looked up to?" lence of a few moments, said:

"I have been a man of business, ever since I have been a "I should like to ask you: -- Does your childhood seem far man. indeed, I may say that I was a man of business when a off? Do the days when you sat at your mother's knee, seem boy." days of very long ago?"

"See what a place you fill at seventy-eight. How many people Responding to his softened manner, Mr. Lorry answered: will miss you when you leave it empty!" "Twenty years back, yes; at this time of my life, no. For, as I "A solitary old bachelor," answered Mr. Lorry, shaking his draw closer and closer to the end, I travel in the circle, nearer head. "There is nobody to weep for me." and nearer to the beginning. It seems to be one of the kind smoothings and preparings of the way. My heart is touched "How can you say that? Wouldn't She weep for you? now, by many remembrances that had long fallen asleep, of Wouldn't her child?" my pretty young mother (and I so old!), and by many associa- "Yes, yes, thank God. I didn't quite mean what I said." tions of the days when what we call the World was not so real with me, and my faults were not confirmed in me." "It is a thing to thank God for; is it not?" "I understand the feeling!" exclaimed Carton, with a bright "Surely, surely." flush. "And you are the better for it?"

"If you could say, with truth, to your own solitary heart, to- "I hope so." night, 'I have secured to myself the love and attachment, the gratitude or respect, Carton terminated the conversation here, by rising to help of no human creature; I have won myself a tender place in no him on with his outer coat; "But you," said Mr. Lorry, revert- regard; I have done nothing good or serviceable to be remem- ing to the theme, "you are young."

259 "Yes," said Carton. "I am not old, but my young way was "Good night, citizen," said Sydney Carton, pausing in going never the way to age. Enough of me." by; for, the man eyed him inquisitively.

"And of me, I am sure," said Mr. Lorry. "Are you going out?" "Good night, citizen."

"I'll walk with you to her gate. You know my vagabond and "How goes the Republic?" restless habits. If I should prowl about the streets a long time, "You mean the Guillotine. Not ill. Sixty-three to-day. We don't be uneasy; I shall reappear in the morning. You go to the shall mount to a hundred soon. Samson and his men com- Court to-morrow?" plain sometimes, of being exhausted. Ha, ha, ha! He is so "Yes, unhappily." droll, that Samson. Such a Barber!"

"I shall be there, but only as one of the crowd. My Spy will "Do you often go to see him -- " find a place for me. Take my arm, sir." "Shave? Always. Every day. What a barber! You have seen Mr. Lorry did so, and they went down-stairs and out in the him at work?" streets. A few minutes brought them to Mr. Lorry's destina- "Never." tion. Carton left him there; but lingered at a little distance, and turned back to the gate again when it was shut, and "Go and see him when he has a good batch. Figure this to touched it. He had heard of her going to the prison every day. yourself, citizen; he shaved the sixty-three to-day, in less than "She came out here," he said, looking about him, "turned this two pipes! Less than two pipes. Word of honour!" way, must have trod on these stones often. Let me follow in her steps." As the grinning little man held out the pipe he was smoking, to explain how he timed the executioner, Carton was so sensi- It was ten o'clock at night when he stood before the prison of ble of a rising desire to strike the life out of him, that he La turned away. Force, where she had stood hundreds of times. A little wood- sawyer, having closed his shop, was smoking his pipe at his "But you are not English," said the wood-sawyer, "though shop-door. you wear English dress?"

"Yes," said Carton, pausing again, and answering over his shoulder.

260 "You speak like a Frenchman." "Perfectly."

"I am an old student here." Certain small packets were made and given to him. He put them, one by one, in the breast of his inner coat, counted out "Aha, a perfect Frenchman! Good night, Englishman." the money for them, and deliberately left the shop. "There is "Good night, citizen." nothing more to do," said he, glancing upward at the moon, "until to-morrow. I can't sleep." "But go and see that droll dog," the little man persisted, calling after him. "And take a pipe with you!" It was not a reckless manner, the manner in which he said these words aloud under the fast-sailing clouds, nor was it Sydney had not gone far out of sight, when he stopped in the more expressive of negligence than defiance. It was the settled middle of the street under a glimmering lamp, and wrote with manner of a tired man, who had wandered and struggled and his pencil on a scrap of paper. Then, traversing with the de- got lost, but who at length struck into his road and saw its cided step of one who remembered the way well, several dark end. and dirty streets -- much dirtier than usual, for the best public thoroughfares remained uncleansed in those times of terror -- Long ago, when he had been famous among his earliest com- he stopped at a chemist's shop, which the owner was closing petitors as a youth of great promise, be had followed his father with his own hands. A small, dim, crooked shop, kept in a tor- to the grave. His mother had died, years before. These solemn tuous, up-hill thoroughfare, by a small, dim, crooked man. words, which had been read at his father's grave, arose in his mind as he went down the dark streets, among the heavy shad- Giving this citizen, too, good night, as he confronted him at ows, with the moon and the clouds sailing on high above him. his counter, he laid the scrap of paper before him. "Whew!" "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that be- the chemist whistled softly, as he read it. "Hi! hi! hi!" lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." Sydney Carton took no heed, and the chemist said: In a city dominated by the axe, alone at night, with natural "For you, citizen?" sorrow rising in him for the sixty-three who had been that day "For me." put to death, and for to-morrow's victims then awaiting their doom in the prisons, and still of to-morrow's and to-morrow's, "You will be careful to keep them separate, citizen? You the chain of association that brought the words home, like a know the consequences of mixing them?"

261 rusty old ship's anchor from the deep, might have been easily "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that be- found. He did not seek it, but repeated them and went on. lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." With a solemn interest in the lighted windows where the people were going to rest, forgetful through a few calm hours of Now, that the streets were quiet, and the night wore on, the the horrors surrounding them; in the towers of the churches, words were in the echoes of his feet, and were in the air. Per- where no prayers were said, for the popular revulsion had fectly calm and steady, he sometimes repeated them to him- even travelled that length of self- destruction from years of self as he walked; but, he heard them always. priestly impostors, plunderers, and profligates; in the distant The night wore out, and, as he stood upon the bridge listen- burial-places, reserved, as they wrote upon the gates, for Eter- ing to the water as it splashed the river-walls of the Island of nal Sleep; in the abounding gaols; and in the streets along Paris, where the picturesque confusion of houses and cathe- which the sixties rolled to a death which had become so com- dral shone bright in the light of the moon, the day came mon and material, that no sorrowful story of a haunting Spirit coldly, looking like a dead face out of the sky. Then, the night, ever arose among the people out of all the working of the Guil- with the moon and the stars, turned pale and died, and for a lotine; with a solemn interest in the whole life and death of little while it seemed as if Creation were delivered over to the city settling down to its short nightly pause in fury; Sydney Death's dominion. Carton crossed the Seine again for the lighter streets. But, the glorious sun, rising, seemed to strike those words, that burden of the night, straight and warm to his heart in its Few coaches were abroad, for riders in coaches were liable to long bright rays. And looking along them, with reverently be suspected, and gentility hid its head in red nightcaps, and shaded eyes, a bridge of light appeared to span the air be- put on heavy shoes, and trudged. But, the theatres were all tween him and the sun, while the river sparkled under it. well filled, and the people poured cheerfully out as he passed, The strong tide, so swift, so deep, and certain, was like a con- and went chatting home. At one of the theatre doors, there genial friend, in the morning stillness. He walked by the was a little girl with a mother, looking for a way across the stream, far from the houses, and in the light and warmth of street through the mud. He carried the child over, and before, the sun fell asleep on the bank. When he awoke and was afoot the timid arm was loosed from his neck asked her for a kiss. again, he lingered there yet a little longer, watching an eddy that turned and turned purposeless, until the stream absorbed it, and carried it on to the sea. -- "Like me!" 262 A trading-boat, with a sail of the softened colour of a dead abused, that the suicidal vengeance of the Revolution was to leaf, then glided into his view, floated by him, and died away. scatter them all to the winds. As its silent track in the water disappeared, the prayer that Every eye was turned to the jury. The same determined patri- had broken up out of his heart for a merciful consideration of ots and good republicans as yesterday and the day before, and all his poor blindnesses and errors, ended in the words, "I am to-morrow and the day after. Eager and prominent among the resurrection and the life." them, one man with a craving face, and his fingers perpetually Mr. Lorry was already out when he got back, and it was easy hovering about his lips, whose appearance gave great satisfac- to surmise where the good old man was gone. Sydney Carton tion to the spectators. A life-thirsting, cannibal- looking, drank nothing but a tittle coffee, ate some bread, and, having bloody-minded juryman, the Jacques Three of St. Antoine. washed and changed to refresh himself, went out to the place The whole jury, as a jury of dogs empannelled to try the deer. of trial. Every eye then turned to the five judges and the public prose- The court was all astir and a-buzz, when the black sheep -- cutor. No favourable leaning in that quarter to-day. A fell, un- whom many fell away from in dread -- pressed him into an ob- compromising, murderous business-meaning there. Every eye scure corner among the crowd. Mr. Lorry was there, and Doc- then sought some other eye in the crowd, and gleamed at it ap- tor Manette was there. She was there, sitting beside her fa- provingly; and heads nodded at one another, before bending ther. forward with a strained attention. When her husband was brought in, she turned a look upon Charles Evrémonde, called Darnay. Released yesterday. Re- him, so sustaining, so encouraging, so full of admiring love accused and retaken yesterday. Indictment delivered to him and pitying tenderness, yet so courageous for his sake, that it last night. Suspected and Denounced enemy of the Republic, called the healthy blood into his face, brightened his glance, Aristocrat, one of a family of tyrants, one of a race proscribed, and animated his heart. If there had been any eyes to notice for that they had used their abolished privileges to the infa- the influence of her look, on Sydney Carton, it would have mous oppression of the people. Charles Evrémonde, called been seen to be the same influence exactly. Darnay, in right of such proscription, absolutely Dead in Law. Before that unjust Tribunal, there was little or no order of To this effect, in as few or fewer words, the Public Prosecu- procedure, ensuring to any accused person any reasonable tor. hearing. There could have been no such Revolution, if all laws, forms, and ceremonies, had not first been so monstrously

263 The President asked, was the Accused openly denounced or Loud acclamations hailed this rebuke. The President rang secretly? his bell, and with warmth resumed.

"Openly, President." "If the Republic should demand of you the sacrifice of your child herself, you would have no duty but to sacrifice her. Lis- "By whom?" ten to what is to follow. In the meanwhile, be silent!" "Three voices. Ernest Defarge, wine-vendor of St. Antoine." Frantic acclamations were again raised. Doctor Manette sat "Good." down, with his eyes looking around, and his lips trembling; his daughter drew closer to him. The craving man on the jury "Therese Defarge, his wife." rubbed his hands together, and restored the usual hand to his mouth. "Good." Defarge was produced, when the court was quiet enough to "Alexandre Manette, physician." admit of his being heard, and rapidly expounded the story of A great uproar took place in the court, and in the midst of it, the imprisonment, and of his having been a mere boy in the Doctor Manette was seen, pale and trembling, standing where Doctor's service, and of the release, and of the state of the pris- he had been seated. oner when released and delivered to him. This short examination followed, for the court was quick with its work. "President, I indignantly protest to you that this is a forgery and a fraud. You know the accused to be the husband of my "You did good service at the taking of the Bastille, citizen?" daughter. My daughter, and those dear to her, are far dearer "I believe so." to me than my life. Who and where is the false conspirator who says that I denounce the husband of my child!" Here, an excited woman screeched from the crowd: "You were one of the best patriots there. Why not say so? You were "Citizen Manette, be tranquil. To fail in submission to the a cannoneer that day authority of the Tribunal would be to put yourself out of Law. there, and you were among the first to enter the accursed for- As to what is dearer to you than life, nothing can be so dear to tress when it fell. Patriots, I speak the truth!" a good citizen as the Republic."

264 It was The Vengeance who, amidst the warm commenda- eyes fixed on the reader, Madame Defarge never taking hers tions of the audience, thus assisted the proceedings. The Presi- from the prisoner, Defarge never taking his from his feasting dent rang his bell; but, The Vengeance, warming with encour- wife, and all the other eyes there intent upon the Doctor, who agement, shrieked, "I defy that bell!" wherein she was likewise saw none of them -- the paper was read, as follows. much commended. ______"Inform the Tribunal of what you did that day within the Bas- What is Barsad going to do for Carton? What do you think Carton’s plan is? tille, citizen." What memory gives Carton comfort as he wanders the Paris streets, and what does "I knew," said Defarge, looking down at his wife, who stood it tell us of why he turned out the way he did? at the bottom of the steps on which he was raised, looking Explain why the mood changes from dark to light. steadily up at him; "I knew that this prisoner, of whom I speak, had been confined in a cell known as One Hundred and Explain the following quotation: “I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whoso- Five, North Tower. I knew it from himself. He knew himself ever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die” (305). by no other name than One Hundred and Five, North Tower, Who are Darnay’s accusers? Why is one of them surprising? when he made shoes under my care. As I serve my gun that day, I resolve, when the place shall fall, to examine that cell. It What is the form of Dr. Manette’s accusation? falls. I mount to the cell, with a fellow-citizen who is one of How does Dickens use weather/nature in this chapter? the Jury, directed by a gaoler. I examine it, very closely. In a ______hole in the chimney, where a stone has been worked out and replaced, I find a written paper. This is that written paper. I Book 3, Chapter 10 have made it my business to examine some specimens of the THE SUBSTANCE OF THE SHADOW writing of Doctor Manette. This is the writing of Doctor Ma- nette. I confide this paper, in the writing of Doctor Manette, to "I, ALEXANDRE MANETTE, unfortunate physician, native the hands of the President." of Beauvais, and afterwards resident in Paris, write this melancholy paper in my doleful cell in the Bastille, during the last "Let it be read." month of the year, 1767. I write it at stolen intervals, under In a dead silence and stillness -- the prisoner under trial every difficulty. I design to secrete it in the wall of the chim- looking lovingly at his wife, his wife only looking from him to ney, where I have slowly and laboriously made a place of con- look with solicitude at her father, Doctor Manette keeping his 265 cealment for it. Some pitying hand may find it there, when I cloaks, and appeared to conceal themselves. As they stood and my sorrows are dust. side by side near the carriage door, I also observed that they both looked of about my own age, or rather younger, and that "These words are formed by the rusty iron point with which they were greatly alike, in stature, manner, voice, and (as far I write with difficulty in scrapings of soot and charcoal from as I could see) face too. the chimney, mixed with blood, in the last month of the tenth year of my captivity. Hope has quite departed from my breast. "'You are Doctor Manette?' said one. I know from terrible warnings I have noted in myself that my "I am." reason will not long remain unimpaired, but I solemnly de- clare that I am at this time in the possession of my right mind "'Doctor Manette, formerly of Beauvais,' said the other; 'the -- that my memory is exact and circumstantial -- and that I young physician, originally an expert surgeon, who within the write the truth as I shall answer for these my last recorded last year or two has made a rising reputation in Paris?' words, whether they be ever read by men or not, at the Eter- nal Judgment-seat. "'Gentlemen,' I returned, 'I am that Doctor Manette of whom you speak so graciously.' "One cloudy moonlight night, in the third week of December (I think the twenty-second of the month) in the year 1757, I "'We have been to your residence,' said the first, 'and not be- was walking on a retired part of the quay by the Seine for the ing so fortunate as to find you there, and being informed that refreshment of the frosty air, at an hour's distance from my you were probably walking in this direction, we followed, in place of residence in the Street of the School of Medicine, the hope of overtaking you. Will you please to enter the car- when a carriage came along behind me, driven very fast. As I riage?' stood aside to let that carriage pass, apprehensive that it "The manner of both was imperious, and they both moved, might otherwise run me down, a head was put out at the win- as these words were spoken, so as to place me between them- dow, and a voice called to the driver to stop. selves and the carriage door. They were armed. I was not. "The carriage stopped as soon as the driver could rein in his "'Gentlemen,' said I, 'pardon me; but I usually inquire who horses, and the same voice called to me by my name. I an- does me the honour to seek my assistance, and what is the na- swered. The carriage was then so far in advance of me that ture of the case to which I am summoned.' two gentlemen had time to open the door and alight before I came up with it. I observed that they were both wrapped in

266 "The reply to this was made by him who had spoken second. "There was nothing in this action to attract my particular at- 'Doctor, your clients are people of condition. As to the nature tention, for I had seen common people struck more commonly of the case, our confidence in your skill assures us that you than dogs. But, the other of the two, being angry likewise, will ascertain it for yourself better than we can describe it. struck the man in like manner with his arm; the look and bear- Enough. Will you please to enter the carriage?' ing of the brothers were then so exactly alike, that I then first perceived them to be twin brothers. "I could do nothing but comply, and I entered it in silence. They both entered after me -- the last springing in, after put- "From the time of our alighting at the outer gate (which we ting up the steps. The carriage turned about, and drove on at found locked, and which one of the brothers had opened to ad- its former speed. mit us, and had relocked), I had heard cries proceeding from an upper chamber. I was conducted to this chamber straight, "I repeat this conversation exactly as it occurred. I have no the cries growing louder as we ascended the stairs, and I doubt that it is, word for word, the same. I describe everything found a patient in a high fever of the brain, lying on a bed. exactly as it took place, constraining my mind not to wander from the task. Where I make the broken marks that follow "The patient was a woman of great beauty, and young; assur- here, I leave off for the time, and put my paper in its hiding- edly not much past twenty. Her hair was torn and ragged, and place. * * * * her arms were bound to her sides with sashes and handkerchiefs. I noticed that these bonds were all portions of a gentle- "The carriage left the streets behind, passed the North Bar- man's dress. On one of them, which was a fringed scarf for a rier, and dress of ceremony, I saw the armorial bearings of a Noble, and emerged upon the country road. At two-thirds of a league the letter E. from the Barrier -- I did not estimate the distance at that time, but afterwards when I traversed it -- it struck out of the main "I saw this, within the first minute of my contemplation of avenue, and presently stopped at a solitary house, We all three the patient; for, in her restless strivings she had turned over alighted, and walked, by a damp soft foot- path in a garden on her face on the edge of the bed, had drawn the end of the where a neglected fountain had overflowed, to the door of the scarf into her mouth, and was in danger of suffocation. My house. It was not opened immediately, in answer to the ring- first act was to put out my hand to relieve her breathing; and ing of the bell, and one of my two conductors struck the man in moving the scarf aside, the embroidery in the corner caught who opened it, with his heavy riding glove, across the face. my sight.

267 "I turned her gently over, placed my hands upon her breast "'See, gentlemen,' said I, still keeping my hands upon her to calm her and keep her down, and looked into her face. Her breast, 'how useless I am, as you have brought me! If I had eyes were dilated and wild, and she constantly uttered pierc- known what I was coming to see, I could have come provided. ing shrieks, and repeated the words, 'My husband, my father, As it is, time must be lost. There are no medicines to be ob- and my brother!' and then counted up to twelve, and said, tained in this lonely place.' 'Hush!' For an instant, and no more, she would pause to lis- "The elder brother looked to the younger, who said haugh- ten, and then the piercing shrieks would begin again, and she tily, 'There is a case of medicines here;' and brought it from a would repeat the cry, 'My husband, my father, and my closet, and put it on the table. * * * * brother!' and would count up to twelve, and say, 'Hush!' There was no variation in the "I opened some of the bottles, smelt them, and put the stop- order, or the manner. There was no cessation, but the regular pers to my lips. If I had wanted to use anything save narcotic moment's pause, in the utterance of these sounds. medicines that were poisons in themselves, I would not have administered any of those. "'How long,' I asked, 'has this lasted?' "'Do you doubt them?' asked the younger brother. "To distinguish the brothers, I will call them the elder and the younger; by the elder, I mean him who exercised the most "'You see, monsieur, I am going to use them,' I replied, and authority. It was the elder who replied, 'Since about this hour said no more. last night.' "I made the patient swallow, with great difficulty, and after "'She has a husband, a father, and a brother?' many efforts, the dose that I desired to give. As I intended to repeat it after a while, and as it was necessary to watch its in- "'A brother.' fluence, I then sat down by the side of the bed. There was a "'I do not address her brother?' timid and suppressed woman in attendance (wife of the man down-stairs), who had retreated into a corner. The house was "He answered with great contempt, 'No.' damp and decayed, indifferently furnished -- evidently, re- "'She has some recent association with the number twelve?' cently occupied and temporarily used. Some thick old hang- ings had been nailed up before the windows, to deaden the "The younger brother impatiently rejoined, 'With twelve sound of the shrieks. They continued to be uttered in their o'clock?' regular succession, with the cry, 'My husband, my father, and

268 my brother!' the counting up to twelve, and 'Hush!' The frenzy "On some hay on the ground, with a cushion thrown under was so violent, that I had not unfastened the bandages re- his head, lay a handsome peasant boy -- a boy of not more straining the arms; but, I had looked to them, to see that they than seventeen at the most. He lay on his back, with his teeth were not painful. The only spark of encouragement in the set, his right hand clenched on his breast, and his glaring eyes case, was, that my hand upon the sufferer's breast had this looking straight upward. I could not see where his wound was, much soothing influence, that for minutes at a time it tranquil- as I kneeled on one knee over him; but, I could see that he was lised the figure. It had no effect upon the cries; no pendulum dying of a wound from a sharp point. could be more regular. "'I am a doctor, my poor fellow,' said I. 'Let me examine it.' "For the reason that my hand had this effect (I assume), I "'I do not want it examined,' he answered; 'let it be.' had sat by the side of the bed for half an hour, with the two brothers looking on, before the elder said: "It was under his hand, and I soothed him to let me move his hand away. The wound was a sword-thrust, received from "'There is another patient.' twenty to twenty- four hours before, but no skill could have "I was startled, and asked, 'Is it a pressing case?' saved him if it had been looked to without delay. He was then dying fast. As I turned my eyes to the elder brother, I saw him "'You had better see,' he carelessly answered; and took up a looking down at this handsome boy whose life was ebbing out, light. * * * as if he were a wounded bird, or hare, or rabbit; not at all as if "The other patient lay in a back room across a second stair- he were a fellow-creature. case, which was a species of loft over a stable. There was a low "'How has this been done, monsieur?' said I. plastered ceiling to a part of it; the rest was open, to the ridge of the tiled roof, and there were beams across. Hay and straw "'A crazed young common dog! A serf! Forced my brother to were stored in that portion of the place, fagots for firing, and a draw upon him, and has fallen by my brother's sword -- like a heap of apples in sand. I had to pass through that part, to get gentleman.' at the other. My memory is circumstantial and unshaken. I try "There was no touch of pity, sorrow, or kindred humanity, in it with these details, and I see them all, in this my cell in the this answer. The speaker seemed to acknowledge that it was Bastille, near the close of the tenth year of my captivity, as I inconvenient to have that different order of creature dying saw them all that night. there, and that it would have

269 been better if he had died in the usual obscure routine of his without mercy, obliged to work for him without pay, obliged vermin kind. He was quite incapable of any compassionate to grind our com at his mill, obliged to feed scores of his tame feeling about the boy, or about his fate. birds on our wretched crops, and forbidden for our lives to keep a single tame bird of our own, pillaged and plundered to "The boy's eyes had slowly moved to him as he had spoken, that degree that when we chanced to have a bit of meat, we ate and they now slowly moved to me. it in fear, with the door barred and the shutters closed, that "'Doctor, they are very proud, these Nobles; but we common his people should not see it and take it from us -- I say, we dogs are proud too, sometimes. They plunder us, outrage us, were so robbed, and hunted, and were made so poor, that our beat us, kill us; but we have a little pride left, sometimes. She father told us it was a dreadful thing to bring a child into the -- have you seen her, Doctor?' world, and that what we should most pray for, was, that our women might be barren and our miserable race die out!' "The shrieks and the cries were audible there, though subdued by the distance. He referred to them, as if she were lying "I had never before seen the sense of being oppressed, burst- in our presence. ing forth like a fire. I had supposed that it must be latent in the people somewhere; but, I had never seen it break out, un- "I said, 'I have seen her.' til I saw it in the dying boy.

"'She is my sister, Doctor. They have had their shameful "'Nevertheless, Doctor, my sister married. He was ailing at rights, these Nobles, in the modesty and virtue of our sisters, that time, poor fellow, and she married her lover, that she many years, but we have had good girls among us. I know it, might tend and comfort him in our cottage -- our dog-hut, as and have heard my father say so. She was a good girl. She was that man would call it. She had not been married many weeks, betrothed to a good young man, too: a tenant of his. We were when that man's brother saw her and admired her, and asked all tenants of his -- that man's who stands there. The other is that man to lend her to him -- for what are husbands among his brother, the worst of a bad race.' us! He was willing enough, but my sister was good and virtuous, "It was with the greatest difficulty that the boy gathered bod- and hated his brother with a hatred as strong as mine. What ily force to speak; but, his spirit spoke with a dreadful empha- did the two then, to persuade her husband to use his influence sis. with her, to make her willing?' "'We were so robbed by that man who stands there, as an we common dogs are by those superior Beings -- taxed by him 270 "The boy's eyes, which had been fixed on mine, slowly it. I took my young sister (for I have another) to a place be- turned to the looker-on, and I saw in the two faces that all he yond the reach of this man, and where, at least, she will never said was true. The two opposing kinds of pride confronting be his vassal. Then, I tracked the brother here, and last night one another, I can see, even in this Bastille; the gentleman's, climbed in -- a common dog, but sword in hand. -- Where is all negligent indifference; the peasants, all trodden-down sen- the loft window? It was somewhere here?' timent, and passionate revenge. "The room was darkening to his sight; the world was narrow- "'You know, Doctor, that it is among the Rights of these No- ing around him. I glanced about me, and saw that the hay and bles to harness us common dogs to carts, and drive us. They straw were trampled over the floor, as if there had been a so harnessed him and drove him. You know that it is among struggle. their Rights to keep us in their grounds all night, quieting the "'She heard me, and ran in. I told her not to come near us till frogs, in order that their noble sleep may not be disturbed. he was dead. He came in and first tossed me some pieces of They kept him out in the unwholesome mists at night, and or- money; then struck at me with a whip. But I, though a com- dered him back into his harness in the day. But he was not per- mon dog, so struck at him as to make him draw. Let him suaded. No! Taken out of harness one day at noon, to feed -- if break into as many pieces as he will, the sword he could find food -- he sobbed twelve times, once for every that he stained with my common blood; he drew to defend stroke of the bell, and died on her bosom.' himself -- thrust at me with all his skill for his life.' "Nothing human could have held life in the boy but his deter- "My glance had fallen, but a few moments before, on the frag- mination to tell all his wrong. He forced back the gathering ments of a broken sword, lying among the hay. That weapon shadows of death, as he forced his clenched right hand to re- was a gentleman's. In another place, lay an old sword that main clenched, and to cover his wound. seemed to have been a soldier's. "'Then, with that man's permission and even with his aid, "'Now, lift me up, Doctor; lift me up. Where is he?' his brother took her away; in spite of what I know she must have told his brother -- and what that is, will not be long un- "'He is not here,' I said, supporting the boy, and thinking known to you, Doctor, if it is now -- his brother took her away that he referred to the brother. -- for his pleasure and diversion, for a little while. I saw her pass me on the road. When I took the tidings home, our fa- "'He! Proud as these nobles are, he is afraid to see me. ther's heart burst; he never spoke one of the words that fined Where is the man who was here? turn my face to him.'

271 "I did so, raising the boy's head against my knee. But, in- "This lasted twenty-six hours from the time when I first saw vested for the moment with extraordinary power, he raised her. I had come and gone twice, and was again sitting by her, himself completely: obliging me to rise too, or I could not when she began to falter. I did what little could be done to as- have still supported him. sist that opportunity, and by-and-bye she sank into a lethargy, and lay lie the dead. "'Marquis,' said the boy, turned to him with his eyes opened wide, and his right hand raised, 'in the days when all these "It was as if the wind and rain had lulled at last, after a long things are to be answered for, I summon you and yours, to the and fearful last of your bad race, to answer for them. I mark this cross of storm. I released her arms, and called the woman to assist me blood upon you, as a sign that I do it. In the days when all to compose her figure and the dress she had tom. It was then these things are to be answered for, I summon your brother, that I knew her condition to be that of one in whom the first the worst of the bad race, to answer for them separately. I expectations of being a mother have arisen; and it was then mark this cross of blood upon him, as a sign that I do it.' that I lost the little hope I had had of her.

"Twice, he put his hand to the wound in his breast, and with his forefinger drew a cross in the air. He stood for an instant "'Is she dead?' asked the Marquis, whom I will still describe with the finger yet raised, and as it dropped, he dropped with as the elder brother, coming booted into the room from his it, and I laid him down dead. * * * * horse. "When I returned to the bedside of the young woman, I "'Not dead,' said I; 'but Re to die.' found her raving in precisely the same order of continuity. I knew that this might last for many hours, and that it would "'What strength there is in these common bodies!' he said, probably end in the silence of the grave. looking down at her with some curiosity.

"I repeated the medicines I had given her, and I sat at the "'There is prodigious strength,' I answered him, 'in sorrow side of the bed until the night was far advanced. She never and despair.' abated the piercing quality of her shrieks, never stumbled in the distinctness or the order of her words. They were always "He first laughed at my words, and then frowned at them. 'My husband, my father, and my brother! One, two, three, He moved a chair with his foot near to mine, ordered the four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Hush!' woman away, and said in a subdued voice,

272 "'Doctor, finding my brother in this difficulty with these her; who I was, and I told her. It was in vain that I asked her hinds, I recommended that your aid should be invited. Your for her family name. She faintly shook her head upon the pil- reputation is high, and, as a young man with your fortune to low, and kept her secret, as the boy had done. make, you are probably mindful of your interest. The things "I had no opportunity of asking her any question, until I had that you see here, are things to be seen, and not spoken of.' told the "I listened to the patient's breathing, and avoided answer- brothers she was sinking fast, and could not live another day. ing. Until then, though no one was ever presented to her consciousness save the woman and myself, one or other of them had al- "'Do you honour me with your attention, Doctor?' ways jealously sat behind the curtain at the head of the bed "'Monsieur,' said I, 'in my profession, the communications of when I was there. But when it came to that, they seemed care- patients are always received in confidence.' I was guarded in less what communication I might hold with her; as if -- the my answer, for I was troubled in my mind with what I had thought passed through my mind -- I were dying too. heard and seen. "I always observed that their pride bitterly resented the "Her breathing was so difficult to trace, that I carefully tried younger brother's (as I call him) having crossed swords with a the pulse and the heart. There was life, and no more. Looking peasant, and that peasant a boy. The only consideration that round as I resumed my seat, I found both the brothers intent appeared to affect the mind of either of them was the consid- upon me. * * * * eration that this was highly degrading to the family, and was ridiculous. As often as I caught the younger brother's eyes, "I write with so much difficulty, the cold is so severe, I am so their expression reminded me that he disliked me deeply, for fearful of being detected and consigned to an underground knowing what I knew from the boy. He was smoother and cell and total darkness, that I must abridge this narrative. more polite to me than the elder; but I saw this. I also saw There is no confusion or failure in my memory; it can recall, that I was an incumbrance in the mind of the elder, too. and could detail, every word that was ever spoken between me and those brothers. "My patient died, two hours before midnight -- at a time, by my watch, answering almost to the minute when I had first "She lingered for a week. Towards the last, I could under- seen her. I was alone with her, when her forlorn young head stand some few syllables that she said to me, by placing my drooped gently on one side, and all her earthly wrongs and sor- ear close to her lips. She asked me where she was, and I told rows ended.

273 "The brothers were waiting in a room down-stairs, impatient circumstances. I knew what Court influence was, and what the to ride away. I had heard them, alone at the bedside, striking immunities of the Nobles were, and I expected that the matter their boots with their riding-whips, and loitering up and would never be heard of; but, I wished to relieve my own down. mind. I had kept the matter a profound secret, even from my wife; and this, too, I resolved to state in my letter. I had no ap- "'At last she is dead?' said the elder, when I went in. prehension whatever of my real danger; but I was conscious "'She is dead,' said I. that there might be danger for others, if others were compro- mised by possessing the knowledge that I possessed. "'I congratulate you, my brother,' were his words as he turned round. "I was much engaged that day, and could not complete my letter that night. I rose long before my usual time next morn- "He had before offered me money, which I had postponed ing to finish it. It was the last day of the year. The letter was taking. He now gave me a rouleau of gold. I took it from his lying before me just completed, when I was told that a lady hand, but laid it on the table. I had considered the question, waited, who wished to see me. * * * * and had resolved to accept nothing. "I am growing more and more unequal to the task I have set "'Pray excuse me,' said I. 'Under the circumstances, no.' myself. It is so cold, so dark, my senses are so benumbed, and the gloom upon me is so dreadful. "They exchanged looks, but bent their heads to me as I bent mine to them, and we parted without another word on either "The lady was young, engaging, and handsome, but not side. * * * * marked for long life. She was in great agitation. She presented herself to me as the wife of the Marquis St. Evrémonde. I con- "I am weary, weary, weary-worn down by misery. I cannot nected the title by which the boy had addressed the elder read what I have written with this gaunt hand. brother, with the initial letter embroidered on the scarf, and "Early in the morning, the rouleau of gold was left at my had no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that I had seen door in a little box, with my name on the outside. From the that nobleman very lately. first, I had anxiously considered what I ought to do. I decided, "My memory is still accurate, but I cannot write the words of that day, to write privately to the Minister, stating the nature our conversation. I suspect that I am watched more closely of the two cases to which I had been summoned, and the place than I was, and I know not at what times I may be watched. to which I had gone: in effect, stating all the She had in part suspected, and in part discovered, the main 274 facts of the cruel story, of her husband's share in it, and my be- own -- it is little beyond the worth of a few jewels -- I will ing resorted to. She did not know that the girl was dead. Her make it the first charge of his life to bestow, with the compas- hope had been, she said in great distress, to show her, in se- sion and lamenting of his dead mother, on this injured family, cret, a woman's sympathy. Her hope had been to avert the if the sister can be discovered.' wrath of Heaven from a House that had long been hateful to "She kissed the boy, and said, caressing him, 'It is for thine the suffering many. own dear sake. Thou wilt be faithful, little Charles?' The child "She had reasons for believing that there was a young sister answered her bravely, 'Yes!' I kissed her hand, and she took living, and her greatest desire was, to help that sister. I could him in her arms, and went away caressing him. I never saw tell her nothing but that there was such a sister; beyond that, I her more. knew nothing. Her inducement to come to me, relying on my "As she had mentioned her husband's name in the faith that confidence, had been the hope that I could tell her the name I knew it, I added no mention of it to my letter. I sealed my let- and place of abode. Whereas, to this wretched hour I am igno- ter, and, not trusting it out of my own hands, delivered it my- rant of both. * * * * self that day. "These scraps of paper fail me. One was taken from me, with "That night, the last night of the year, towards nine o'clock, a a warning, yesterday. I must finish my record to-day. man in a black dress rang at my gate, demanded to see me, "She was a good, compassionate lady, and not happy in her and softly followed my servant, Ernest Defarge, a youth, up- marriage. How could she be! The brother distrusted and dis- stairs. When my servant came into the room where I sat with liked her, and his influence was all opposed to her; she stood my wife -- O my wife, beloved of my heart! My fair young Eng- in dread of him, and in dread lish wife! -- we saw the man, who was supposed to be at the of her husband too. When I handed her down to the door, gate, standing silent behind him. there was a child, a pretty boy from two to three years old, in "An urgent case in the Rue St. Honore, he said. It would not her carriage. detain me, he had a coach in waiting. "'For his sake, Doctor,' she said, pointing to him in tears, 'I "It brought me here, it brought me to my grave. When I was would do all I can to make what poor amends I can. He will clear of the house, a black muffler was drawn tightly over my never prosper in his inheritance otherwise. I have a presenti- mouth from behind, and my arms were pinioned. The two ment that if no other innocent atonement is made for this, it brothers crossed the road from a dark corner, and identified will one day be required of him. What I have left to call my 275 me with a single gesture. The Marquis took from his pocket never trod ground whose virtues and services would have sus- the letter I had written, showed it me, burnt it in the light of a tained him in that place that day, against such denunciation. lantern that was held, and extinguished the ashes with his And all the worse for the doomed man, that the denouncer foot. Not a word was spoken. I was brought here, I was was a well-known citizen, his own attached friend, the father brought to my living grave. of his wife. One of the frenzied aspirations of the populace "If it had pleased GOD to put it in the hard heart of either of was, for imitations of the questionable public virtues of antiq- the brothers, in all these frightful years, to grant me any tid- uity, and for sacrifices and self-immolations on the people's ings of my dearest wife -- so much as to let me know by a word altar. Therefore when the President said (else had his own whether alive or dead -- I might have thought that He had not head quivered on his shoulders), that the good physician of quite abandoned them. But, now I believe that the mark of the the Republic would deserve better still of the Republic by root- red cross is fatal to them, and that they have no part in His ing out an obnoxious family of Aristocrats, and would doubt- mercies. And them and their descendants, to the last of their less feel a sacred glow and joy in making his daughter a widow race, I, Alexandre Manette, unhappy prisoner, do this last and her child an orphan, there was wild excitement, patriotic night of the year 1767, in my unbearable agony, denounce to fervour, not a touch of human sympathy. the times when all these things shall be answered for. I de- "Much influence around him, has that Doctor?" murmured nounce them to Heaven and to earth." Madame Defarge, smiling to The Vengeance. "Save him now, A terrible sound arose when the reading of this document my Doctor, save him I " was done. A sound of craving and eagerness that had nothing At every juryman's vote, there was a roar. Another and an- articulate in it but blood. The narrative called up the most re- other. Roar and roar. vengeful passions of the time, and there was not a head in the nation but must have dropped before it. Unanimously voted. At heart and by descent an Aristocrat, an enemy of the Republic, a notorious oppressor of the Peo- Little need, in presence of that tribunal and that auditory, to ple. Back to the Conciergerie, and Death within four-and- show how the Defarges had not made the paper public, with twenty hours! the other captured Bastille memorials borne in procession, and had kept it, biding their time. Little need to show that this ______detested family name had long been anathematised by Saint Antoine, and was wrought into the fatal register. The man Who are the twin brothers who need the Doctor's services?

276 Who is the sick woman, and what is wrong with her? "If I might touch him! If I might embrace him once! O, good

What does this say about the brothers' character? citizens, if you would have so much compassion for us!"

What was the boy's last act, and how has it turned out? There was but a gaoler left, along with two of the four men

What was the Marquis St. Evremonde's wife's request of the Doctor? Whose who had taken him last night, and Barsad. The people had all mother was she? poured out to the show in the streets. Barsad proposed to the rest, "Let her embrace him then; it is but a moment." It was Who had the Doctor put in prison and why? silently acquiesced in, and they passed her over the seats in What was the last thing the Doctor wrote in his account, and what effect does its the hall to a raised place, where he, by leaning over the dock, reading have? could fold her in his arms. What is decided at the end of the chapter? "Farewell, dear darling of my soul. My parting blessing on ______my love. We shall meet again, where the weary are at rest!" Book 3, Chapter 11: They were her husband's words, as he held her to his bosom. DUSK "I can bear it, dear Charles. I am supported from above: THE WRETCHED WIFE of the innocent man thus doomed don't suffer for me. A parting blessing for our chad." to die, fell under the sentence, as if she had been mortally "I send it to her by you. I kiss her by you. I say farewell to stricken. But, she uttered no sound; and so strong was the her by you." voice within her, representing that it was she of all the world who must uphold him in his misery and not augment it, that it "My husband. No! A moment!" He was tearing himself apart quickly raised her, even from that shock. from her. "We shall not be separated long. I feel that this will break my heart by-and-bye; but I will do my duty while I can, The Judges having to take part in a public demonstration and when I leave her, God will raise up friends for her, as He out of doors, the Tribunal adjourned. The quick noise and did for me." movement of the court's emptying itself by many passages had not ceased, when Lucie stood stretching out her arms towards Her father had followed her, and would have fallen on his her husband, with nothing in her face but love and consola- knees to both of them, but that Darnay put out a hand and tion. seized him, crying:

277 "No, no! What have you done, what have you done, that you about him that was not all of pity -- that had a flush of pride in should kneel to us! We know now, what a struggle you made it. of old. We know, now what you underwent when you sus- "Shall I take her to a coach? I shall never feel her weight." pected my descent, and when you knew it. We know now, the natural antipathy you strove against, and conquered, for her He carried her lightly to the door, and laid her tenderly dear sake. We thank you with all our hearts, and all our love down in a coach. Her father and their old friend got into it, and duty. Heaven be with you!" and he took his seat beside the driver.

Her father's only answer was to draw his hands through his When they arrived at the gateway where he had paused in white hair, and wring them with a shriek of anguish. the dark not many hours before, to picture to himself on which of the rough stones of the street her feet had trodden, "It could not be otherwise," said the prisoner. "All things he lifted her again, and carried her up the staircase to their have worked together as they have fallen out. it was the rooms. There, he laid her down on a couch, where her child always-vain endeavour to discharge my poor mother's trust and Miss Pross wept over her. that first brought my fatal presence near you. Good could never come of such evil, a happier end was not in nature to so "Don't recall her to herself," he said, softly, to the latter, "she unhappy a beginning. Be comforted, and forgive me. Heaven is better so. Don't revive her to consciousness, while she only bless you!" faints."

As he was drawn away, his wife released him, and stood look- "Oh, Carton, Carton, dear Carton!" cried little Lucie, springing after him with her hands touching one another in the atti- ing up and throwing her arms passionately round him, in a tude of prayer, and with a radiant look upon her face, in which burst of grief. "Now that you have come, I think you will do there was even a comforting smile. As he went out at the pris- something to help mamma, something to save papa! O, look at oners' door, she turned, laid her head lovingly on her father's her, dear Carton! Can you, of all the people who love her, bear breast, tried to speak to him, and fell at his feet. to see her so?"

Then, issuing from the obscure corner from which he had He bent over the child, and laid her blooming cheek against never moved, Sydney Carton came and took her up. Only her his face. He put her gently from him, and looked at her uncon- father and Mr. Lorry were with her. His arm trembled as it scious mother. raised her, and supported her head. Yet, there was an air "Before I go," he said, and paused -- "I may kiss her?" 278 It was remembered afterwards that when he bent down and to name. I will write too, and -- But stay! There is a Celebra- touched her face with his lips, he murmured some words. The tion in the streets, and no one will be accessible until dark." child, who was nearest to him, told them afterwards, and told "That's true. Well! It is a forlorn hope at the best, and not her grandchildren when she was a handsome old lady, that much the forlorner for being delayed till dark. I should like to she heard him say, "A life you love." know how you speed; though, mind! I expect nothing! When When he had gone out into the next room, he turned sud- are you likely to have seen these dread powers, Doctor Ma- denly on Mr. Lorry and her father, who were following, and nette?" said to the latter: "Immediately after dark, I should hope. Within an hour or "You had great influence but yesterday, Doctor Manette; let two from this." it at least be tried. These judges, and all the men in power, are "It will be dark soon after four. Let us stretch the hour or very friendly to you, and very recognisant of your services; are two. If I go to Mr. Lorry's at nine, shall I hear what you have they not?" done, either from our friend or from yourself?" "Nothing connected with Charles was concealed from me. I "Yes." had the strongest assurances that I should save him; and I did." He returned the answer in great trouble, and very slowly. "May you prosper!"

"Try them again. The hours between this and to-morrow af- Mr. Lorry followed Sydney to the outer door, and, touching ternoon are few and short, but try." him on the shoulder as he was going away, caused him to turn. "I intend to try. I will not rest a moment." "I have no hope," said Mr. Lorry, in a low and sorrowful "That's well. I have known such energy as yours do great whisper. things before now -- though never," he added, with a smile and a sigh together, "such great things as this. But try! Of little "Nor have I." worth as life is when we misuse it, it is worth that effort. It would cost nothing to lay down if it were not." "If any one of these men, or all of these men, were disposed to spare him -- which is a large supposition; for what is his "I will go," said Doctor Manette, "to the Prosecutor and the President straight, and I will go to others whom it is better not 279 life, or any man's to them! -- I doubt if they durst spare him with a musing face. "Shall I do well, in the mean time, to show after the demonstration in the court." myself? I think so. It is best that these people should know there is such a man as I here; it is a sound precaution, and "And so do I. I heard the fall of the axe in that sound." may be a necessary preparation. But care, care, care! Let me Mr. Lorry leaned his arm upon the door-post, and bowed his think it out!" face upon it. Checking his steps which had begun to tend towards an ob- "Don't despond," said Carton, very gently; "don't grieve. I en- ject, he took a turn or two in the already darkening street, and couraged Doctor Manette in this idea, because I felt that it traced the thought in his mind to its possible consequences. might one day be consolatory to her. Otherwise, she might His first impression was confirmed. "It is best," he said, finally think 'his life was wantonly thrown away or wasted,' and that resolved, "that these people should know there is such a man might trouble her." as I here." And he turned his face towards Saint Antoine.

"Yes, yes, yes," returned Mr. Lorry, drying his eyes, "you are Defarge had described himself, that day, as the keeper of a right. But he will perish; there is no real hope." wine-shop in the Saint Antoine suburb. It was not difficult for one who knew the city well, to find his house without asking "Yes. He will perish: there is no real hope," echoed Carton. any question. Having ascertained its situation, Carton came And walked with a settled step, down-stairs. out of those closer streets again, and dined at a place of refreshment and fell sound asleep after dinner. For the first ______time in many years, he had no strong drink. Since last night Explain how Carton’s actions and interactions with little Lucie are examples of fore- he had taken nothing but a little light thin wine, and last night shadowing. he had dropped the brandy slowly down on Mr. Lorry's hearth What is the significance of the title? like a man who had done with it.

______It was as late as seven o'clock when he awoke refreshed, and Book 3, Chapter 12: went out into the streets again. As he passed along towards Saint Antoine, he stopped at a shop-window where there was DARKNESS a mirror, and slightly altered the disordered arrangement of his loose cravat, and his coat-collar, and his wild hair. This SYDNEY CARTON paused in the street, not quite decided done, he went on direct to Defarge's, and went in. where to go. "At Tellson's banking-house at nine," he said, 280 There happened to be no customer in the shop but Jacques "Good evening." Three, of the restless fingers and the croaking voice. This "Oh! Good evening, citizen," filling his glass. "Ah! and good man, whom he had seen upon the Jury, stood drinking at the wine. I drink to the Republic." little counter, in conversation with the Defarges, man and wife. The Vengeance assisted in the conversation, like a regu- Defarge went back to the counter, and said, "Certainly, a lit- lar member of the establishment. tle like." Madame sternly retorted, "I tell you a good deal like." Jacques Three pacifically remarked, "He is so much in your As Carton walked in, took his seat and asked (in very indiffer- mind, see you, madame." The amiable Vengeance added, with ent French) for a small measure of wine, Madame Defarge a laugh, "Yes, my faith! And you are looking forward with so cast a careless glance at him, and then a keener, and then a much pleasure to seeing him once more to-morrow!" keener, and then advanced to him herself, and asked him what it was he had ordered. Carton followed the lines and words of his paper, with a slow forefinger, and with a studious and absorbed face. They were He repeated what he had already said. all leaning their arms on the counter close together, speaking "English?" asked Madame Defarge, inquisitively raising her low. After a silence of a few moments, during which they all dark eyebrows. looked towards him without disturbing his outward attention from the Jacobin editor, they resumed their conversation. After looking at her, as if the sound of even a single French word were slow to express itself to him, he answered, in his "It is true what madame says," observed Jacques Three. former strong foreign accent. "Yes, madame, yes. I am Eng- "Why stop? There is great force in that. Why stop?" lish!" "Well, well," reasoned Defarge, "but one must stop some- Madame Defarge returned to her counter to get the wine, where. After all, the question is still where?" and, as he took up a Jacobin journal and feigned to pore over "At extermination," said madame. it puzzling out its meaning, he heard her say, "I swear to you, like Evrémonde!" "Magnificent!" croaked Jacques Three. The Vengeance, also, highly approved. Defarge brought him the wine, and gave him Good Evening. "Extermination is good doctrine, my wife," said Defarge, "How?" rather troubled; "in general, I say nothing against it. But this

281 Doctor has suffered much; you have seen him to-day; you "See you then, Jacques," said Madame Defarge, wrathfully; have observed his face when the paper was read." "and see you, too, my little Vengeance; see you both! Listen! For other crimes as tyrants and oppressors, I have this race a "I have observed his face!" repeated madame, contemptu- long time on my register, doomed to destruction and extermi- ously and angrily. "Yes. I have observed his face. I have ob- nation. Ask my husband, is that so." served his face to be not the face of a true friend of the Repub- lic. Let him take care of his f ace! " "It is so," assented Defarge, without being asked.

"And you have observed, my wife," said Defarge, in a depre- "In the beginning of the great days, when the Bastille falls, catory manner, "the anguish of his daughter, which must be a he finds this paper of to-day, and he brings it home, and in the dreadful anguish to him!" middle of the night when this place is clear and shut, we read it, here on this spot, by the light of this lamp. Ask him, is that "I have observed his daughter," repeated madame; "yes, I so." have observed his daughter, more times than one. I have observed her to-day, and I have observed her other days. I have "It is so," assented Defarge. observed her in the court, and I have observed her in the "That night, I tell him, when the paper is read through, and street by the prison. Let me but lift my finger -- !" She seemed the lamp is burnt out, and the day is gleaming in above those to raise it (the listener's eyes were always on his paper), and to shutters and between let it fall with a rattle on the ledge before her, as if the axe had those iron bars, that I have now a secret to communicate. Ask dropped. him, is that so." "The citizeness is superb!" croaked the Juryman. "It is so," assented Defarge again. "She is an Angel!" said The Vengeance, and embraced her. "I communicate to him that secret. I smite this bosom with "As to thee," pursued madame, implacably, addressing her these two hands as I smite it now, and I tell him, 'Defarge, I husband, "if it depended on thee -- which, happily, it does not was brought up among the fishermen of the sea-shore, and -- thou wouldst rescue this man even now." that peasant family so injured by the two Evrémonde brothers, as that Bastille paper describes, is my family. Defarge, "No!" protested Defarge. "Not if to lift this glass would do it! that sister of the mortally wounded boy upon the ground was But I would leave the matter there. I say, stop there." my sister, that husband was my sister's husband, that unborn

282 child was their child, that brother was my brother, that father left her for a few minutes, to come and keep his appointment. was my father, those dead are my dead, and that summons to Her father had not been seen, since he quitted the banking- answer for those things descends to me!' Ask him, is that so." house towards four o'clock. She had some faint hopes that his mediation might save Charles, but they were very slight. He "It is so," assented Defarge once more. had been more than five hours gone: where could he be? "Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop," returned madame; Mr. Lorry waited until ten; but, Doctor Manette not return- "but don't tell me." ing, and he being unwilling to leave Lucie any longer, it was Both her hearers derived a horrible enjoyment from the arranged that he deadly nature of her wrath -- the listener could feel how white should go back to her, and come to the banking-house again she was, without seeing her -- and both highly commended it. at midnight. In the meanwhile, Carton would wait alone by Defarge, a weak minority, interposed a few words for the mem- the fire for the Doctor. ory of the compassionate wife of the Marquis; but only elicited He waited and waited, and the clock struck twelve; but Doc- from his own wife a repetition of her last reply. "Tell the Wind tor Manette did not come back. Mr. Lorry returned, and found and the Fire where to stop; not me!" no tidings of him, and brought none. Where could he be? Customers entered, and the group was broken up. The Eng- They were discussing this question, and were almost build- lish customer paid for what he had had, perplexedly counted ing up some weak structure of hope on his prolonged absence, his change, and asked, as a stranger, to be directed towards when they heard him on the stairs. The instant he entered the the National Palace. Madame Defarge took him to the door, room, it was plain that all was lost. and put her arm on his, in pointing out the road. The English customer was not without his reflections then, that it might be Whether he had really been to any one, or whether be had a good deed to seize that arm, lift it, and strike under it sharp been all that time traversing the streets, was never known. As and deep. he stood staring at them, they asked him no question, for his face told them everything. But, he went his way, and was soon swallowed up in the shadow of the prison wan. At the appointed hour, he emerged "I cannot find it," said he, "and I must have it. Where is it?" from it to present himself in Mr. Lorry's room again, where he found the old gentleman walking to and fro in restless anxiety. He said he had been with Lucie until just now, and had only

283 His head and throat were bare, and, as he spoke with a help- Affected, and impressed with terror as they both were, by less look straying all around, he took his coat off, and let it this spectacle of ruin, it was not a time to yield to such emo- drop on the floor. tions. His lonely daughter, bereft of her final hope and reliance, appealed to them both too strongly. "Where is my bench? I have been looking everywhere for my bench, and I can't find it. What have they done with my work? Time presses: I must finish those shoes." Again, as if by agreement, they looked at one another with one meaning in their faces. Carton was the first to speak: They looked at one another, and their hearts died within them.

"Come, come!" said he, in a whimpering miserable way; "let "The last chance is gone: it was not much. Yes; he had better me get to work. Give me my work." be taken to her. But, before you go, will you, for a moment, steadily attend to me? Don't ask me why I make the stipula- Receiving no answer, he tore his hair, and beat his feet upon tions I am going to make, and exact the promise I am going to the ground, like a distracted child. exact; I have a reason -- a good one." "Don't torture a poor forlorn wretch," he implored them, "I do not doubt it," answered Mr. Lorry. "Say on." with a dreadful cry; "but give me my work! What is to become of us, if those shoes are not done to-night?" The figure in the chair between them, was all the time mo- notonously rocking itself to and fro, and moaning. They spoke Lost, utterly lost! in such a tone as they would have used if they had been watch- It was so clearly beyond hope to reason with him, or try to ing by a sick-bed in the night. restore him, -- that -- as if by agreement -- they each put a Carton stooped to pick up the coat, which lay almost entan- hand upon his shoulder, and soothed him to sit down before gling his feet. As he did so, a small case in which the Doctor the fire, with a promise that he should have his work pres- was accustomed to carry the lists of his day's duties, fen lightly ently. He sank into the chair, and brooded over the embers, on the floor. Carton took it up, and there was a folded paper in and shed tears. As if all that had happened since the garret it. "We should look at this!" he said. Mr. Lorry nodded his con- time were a momentary fancy, or a dream, Mr. Lorry saw him sent. He opened it, and exclaimed, "Thank GOD!" shrink into the exact figure that Defarge had had in keeping. "What is it?" asked Mr. Lorry, eagerly. 284 "A moment! Let me speak of it in its place. First," he put his their danger to me in strong colours. I have lost no time, and hand in his coat, and took another paper from it, "that is the since then, I have seen the spy. He confirms me. He knows certificate which enables me to pass out of this city. Look at it. that a wood-sawyer, living by the prison wall, is under the con- You see -- Sydney Carton, an Englishman?" trol of the Defarges, and has been rehearsed by Madame De- farge as to his having seen Her" -- he never mentioned Lucie's Mr. Lorry held it open in his hand, gazing in his earnest face. name -- "making signs and signals to prisoners. It is easy to "Keep it for me until to-morrow. I shall see him to-morrow, foresee that the pretence will be the common one, a prison you remember, and I had better not take it into the prison." plot, and that it will involve her life -- and perhaps her child's -- and perhaps her father's -- for both have been seen with her "Why not?" at that place. Don't look so horrified. You will save them all."

"I don't know; I prefer not to do so. Now, take this paper "Heaven grant I may, Carton! But how?" that Doctor Manette has carried about him. It is a similar certificate, enabling him and his daughter and her child, at any "I am going to tell you how. It will depend on you, and it time, to pass the barrier and the frontier! You see?" could depend on no better man. This new denunciation will certainly not take place until after to-morrow; probably not un- "Yes!" til two or three days afterwards; more probably a week afterwards. You know it is a capital crime, to mourn for, or sympa- "Perhaps he obtained it as his last and utmost precaution thise with, a victim of the Guillotine. She and her father would against evil, yesterday. When is it dated? But no matter; don't unquestionably be guilty of this crime, and this woman (the stay to look; put it up carefully with mine and your own. Now, inveteracy of whose pursuit cannot be described) would wait observe! I never doubted until within this hour or two, that he to add that strength to her case, and make herself doubly sure. had, or could have such a paper. It is good, until recalled. But You follow me?" it may be soon recalled, and, I have reason to think, will be." "So attentively, and with so much confidence in what you "They are not in danger?" say, that for the moment I lose sight," touching the back of the "They are in great danger. They are in danger of denuncia- Doctor's chair, even of this distress." tion by "You have money, and can buy the means of travelling to the Madame Defarge. I know it from her own lips. I have over- sea- coast as quickly as the journey can be made. Your prepara- heard words of that woman's, to-night, which have presented tions have been completed for some days, to return to Eng- 285 land. Early to-morrow have your horses ready, so that they "Why, then," said Mr. Lorry, grasping his eager but so firm may be in starting trim at two o'clock in the afternoon." and steady hand, "it does not all depend on one old man, but I shall have a young and ardent man at my side." "It shall be done!" "By the help of Heaven you shall! Promise me solemnly that His manner was so fervent and inspiring, that Mr. Lorry nothing will influence you to alter the course on which we now caught the flame, and was as quick as youth. stand pledged to one another." "You are a noble heart. Did I say we could depend upon no "Nothing, Carton." better man? Tell her, to-night, what you know of her danger as involving her child and her father. Dwell upon that, for she "Remember these words to-morrow: change the course, or would lay her own fair head beside her husband's cheerfully." delay in it -- for any reason -- and no life can possibly be He faltered for an instant; then went on as before. "For the saved, and many lives must inevitably be sacrificed." sake of her child and her father, press upon her the necessity "I will remember them. I hope to do my part faithfully." of leaving Paris, with them and you, at that hour. Tell her that it was her husband's last arrangement. Tell her that more de- "And I hope to do mine. Now, good bye!" pends upon it than she dare believe, or hope. You think that her father, even in this sad state, will submit himself to her; Though he said it with a grave smile of earnestness, and do you not?" though he even put the old man's hand to his lips, he did not part from him then. He helped him so far to arouse the rock- "I am sure of it." ing figure before the dying embers, as to get a cloak and hat put upon it, and to tempt it forth to find where the bench and "I thought so. Quietly and steadily have all these arrange- work were hidden that it still moaningly besought to have. He ments made in the courtyard here, even to the taking of your walked on the other side of it and protected it to the courtyard own seat in the carriage. The moment I come to you, take me of the house where the afflicted heart -- so happy in the memo- in, and drive away." rable time when he had revealed his own desolate heart to it -- "I understand that I wait for you under all circumstances?" out- watched the awful night. He entered the courtyard and remained there for a few moments alone, looking up at the "You have my certificate in your hand with the rest, you light in the window of her room. Before he went away, he know, and will reserve my place. Wait for nothing but to have breathed a blessing towards it, and a Farewell. my place occupied, and then for England!" 286 ______pression, and heartless indifference, smote equally without distinction. Why does Carton decide to show up at the wine shop?

What new information do we learn about Madame Defarge that perhaps helps us Charles Darnay, alone in a cell, had sustained himself with understand her evil ways? no flattering delusion since he came to it from the Tribunal. In

Are Lucie and her family in danger? Explain. every line of the narrative he had heard, he had heard his condemnation. He had fully comprehended that no personal influ- What happens to Dr. Manette? Explain. ence could possibly save him, that he was virtually sentenced What plan do Jarvis Lorry and Carton make at the end of chapter twelve? What is by the millions, and that units could avail him nothing. the rush? Nevertheless, it was not easy, with the face of his beloved Why does the chapter end with Carton saying goodbye to Lucie’s window? wife fresh before him, to compose his mind to what it must ______bear. His hold on life was strong, and it was very, very hard, to Book 3, Chapter 13: loosen; by gradual efforts and degrees unclosed a little here, it clenched the tighter there; and when he brought his strength FIFTY-TWO to bear on that hand and it yielded, this was closed again. There was a hurry, too, in all his thoughts, a turbulent and IN THE BLACK PRISON Of the Conciergerie, the doomed of heated working of his heart, that contended against resigna- the day awaited their fate. They were in number as the weeks tion. If, for a moment, he did feel resigned, then his wife and of the year. Fifty- two were to roll that afternoon on the life- child who had to live after him, seemed to protest and to make tide of the city to the boundless everlasting sea. Before their it a selfish thing. cells were quit of them, new occupants were appointed; before their blood ran into the blood spilled yesterday, the blood that But, all this was at first. Before long, the consideration that was to mingle with theirs to-morrow was already set apart. there was no disgrace in the fate he must meet, and that numbers went the same road wrongfully, and trod it firmly every Two score and twelve were told off. From the farmer-general day, sprang up to stimulate him. Next followed the thought of seventy, whose riches could not buy his life, to the seam- that much of the future peace of mind enjoyable by the dear stress of twenty, whose poverty and obscurity could not save ones, depended on his quiet fortitude. So, by degrees he her. Physical diseases, engendered in the vices and neglects of calmed into the better state, when he could raise his thoughts men, will seize on victims of all degrees; and the frightful much higher, and draw comfort down. moral disorder, born of unspeakable suffering, intolerable op- 287 Before it had set in dark on the night of his condemnation, grateful love and blessing, and her overcoming of her sorrow, he had travelled thus far on his last way. Being allowed to pur- to devote herself to their dear child, he adjured her, as they chase the means of writing, and a light, he sat down to write would meet in Heaven, to comfort her father. until such time as the prison lamps should be extinguished. To her father himself, he wrote in the same strain; but, he He wrote a long letter to Lucie, showing her that he had told her father that he expressly confided his wife and child to known nothing of her father's imprisonment, until he had his care. And he told him this, very strongly, with the hope of heard of it from herself, and that he had been as ignorant as rousing him from any despondency or dangerous retrospect she of his father's and uncle's responsibility for that misery, towards which he foresaw he might be tending. until the paper had been read. He had already explained to To Mr. Lorry, he commended them all, and explained his her that his concealment from herself of the name he had re- worldly affairs. That done, with many added sentences of linquished, was the one condition -- fully intelligible now -- grateful friendship and warm attachment, all was done. He that her father had attached to their betrothal, and was the never thought of Carton. His mind was so full of the others, one promise he had still exacted on the morning of their mar- that he never once thought of him. riage. He entreated her, for her father's sake, never to seek to know whether her father had become oblivious of the exis- He had time to finish these letters before the lights were put tence of the paper, or had had it recalled to him (for the mo- out. When he lay down on his straw bed, he thought he had ment, or for good), by the story of the Tower, on that old Sun- done with this world. day under the dear old plane-tree in the garden. If he had preserved any definite remembrance of it, there could be no But, it beckoned him back in his sleep, and showed itself in doubt that he had supposed it destroyed with the Bastille, shining forms. Free and happy, back in the old house in Soho when he had found no mention of it among the relics of prison- (though it had nothing in it like the real house), unaccounta- ers which the populace had discovered there, and which had bly released and light of heart, he was with Lucie again, and been described to all the world. He besought her -- though he she told him it was all a dream, and he had never gone away. added that he knew it was needless -- to console her father, by A pause of forgetfulness, and then he had even suffered, and impressing him through every tender means she could think had come back to her, dead and at peace, and yet there was no of, with the truth that he had done nothing for which he could difference in him. Another pause of oblivion, and he awoke in justly reproach himself, but had uniformly forgotten himself the sombre morning, unconscious where he was or what had for their joint sakes. Next to her preservation of his own last happened, until it flashed upon his mind, "this is the day of my death!" 288 Thus, had he come through the hours, to the day when the Twelve gone for ever. fifty-two heads were to fall. And now, while he was composed, He had been apprised that the final hour was Three, and be and hoped that he could meet the end with quiet heroism, a knew he would be summoned some time earlier, inasmuch as new action began in his waking thoughts, which was very diffi- the tumbrils jolted heavily and slowly through the streets. cult to master. Therefore, he resolved to keep Two before his mind, as the He had never seen the instrument that was to terminate his hour, and so to strengthen himself in the interval that he life. How high it was from the ground, how many steps it had, might be able, after that time, to strengthen others. where he would be stood, bow he would be touched, whether Walking regularly to and fro with his arms folded on his the touching hands would be dyed red, which way his face breast, a very different man from the prisoner, who had would be turned, whether he would be the first, or might be walked to and fro at La Force, he heard One struck away from the last: these and many similar questions, in nowise directed him, without surprise. The hour had measured like most other by his will, obtruded themselves over and over again, count- hours. Devoutly thankful to Heaven for his recovered self- less times. Neither were they connected with fear: he was con- possession, he thought, "There is but another now," and scious of no fear. Rather, they originated in a strange beset- turned to walk again. ting desire to know what to do when the time came; a desire gigantically disproportionate to the few swift moments to Footsteps in the stone passage outside the door. He stopped. which it referred; a wondering that was more like the wondering of some other spirit within his, than his own. The key was put in the lock, and turned. Before the door was opened, or as it opened, a man said in a low voice, in English: The hours went on as he walked to and fro, and the clocks "He has never seen me here; I have kept out of his way. Go struck the numbers he would never hear again. Nine gone for you in alone; I wait near. Lose no time!" ever, ten gone for ever, eleven gone for ever, twelve coming on to pass away. After a hard contest with that eccentric action of The door was quickly opened and closed, and there stood bethought which had last perplexed him, he had got the better of fore him face to face, quiet, intent upon him, with the light of it. He walked up and down, softly repeating their names to a smile on his features, and a cautionary finger on his lip, Syd- himself. The worst of the strife was over. He could walk up ney Carton. and down, free from distracting fancies, praying for himself There was something so bright and remarkable in his look, and for them. that, for the first moment, the prisoner misdoubted him to be

289 an apparition of his own imagining. But, he spoke, and it was There was a chair against the wall of the cell, behind the pris- his voice; he took the prisoner's hand, and it was his real oner. Carton, pressing forward, had already, with the speed of grasp. lightning, got him down into it, and stood over him, barefoot.

"Of all the people upon earth, you least expected to see me?" "Draw on these boots of mine. Put your hands to them; put be said. your will to them. Quick!"

"I could not believe it to be you. I can scarcely believe it now. "Carton, there is no escaping from this place; it never can be You are not" -- the apprehension came suddenly into his mind done. You will only die with me. It is madness." -- "a prisoner?" "It would be madness if I asked you to escape; but do I? "No. I am accidentally possessed of a power over one of the When I ask you to pass out at that door, tell me it is madness keepers here, and in virtue of it I stand before you. I come and remain here. Change that cravat for this of mine, that coat from her -- your wife, dear Darnay." for this of mine. While you do it, let me take this ribbon from your hair, and shake out your hair like this of mine!" The prisoner wrung his hand. With wonderful quickness, and with a strength both of will "I bring you a request from her." and action, that appeared quite supernatural, he forced all "What is it?" these changes upon him. The prisoner was like a young child in his hands. "A most earnest, pressing, and emphatic entreaty, addressed to you in the most pathetic tones of the voice so dear to you, "Carton! Dear Carton! It is madness. It cannot be accom- that you well remember." plished, it never can be done, it has been attempted, and has always failed. I implore you not to add your death to the bitter- The prisoner turned his face partly aside. ness of mine."

"You have no time to ask me why I bring it, or what it "Do I ask you, my dear Darnay, to pass the door? When I ask means; I have no time to tell you. You must comply with it -- that, refuse. There are pen and ink and paper on this table. Is take off those boots you wear, and draw on these of mine." your hand steady enough to write?"

"It was when you came in."

290 "Steady it again, and write what I shall dictate. Quick, friend, "What is it in your hand?" quick!" "You shall know directly. Write on; there are but a few words Pressing his hand to his bewildered head, Darnay sat down more." He dictated again. "'I am thankful that the time has at the table. Carton, with his right hand in his breast, stood come, when I can prove them. That I do so is no subject for re- close beside him. gret or grief."' As he said these words with his eyes fixed on the writer, his hand slowly and softly moved down close to the "Write exactly as I speak." writer's face. "To whom do I address it?" The pen dropped from Darnay's fingers on the table, and he "To no one." Carton still had his hand in his breast. looked about him vacantly.

"Do I date it?" "What vapour is that?" he asked.

"No." "Vapour?"

The prisoner looked up, at each question. Carton, standing "Something that crossed me?" over him with his hand in his breast, looked down. "I am conscious of nothing; there can be nothing here. Take "'If you remember,'" said Carton, dictating, "'the words that up the pen and finish. Hurry, hurry!" passed between us, long ago, you will readily comprehend this As if his memory were impaired, or his faculties disordered, when you see it. You do remember them, I know. It is not in the prisoner made an effort to rally his attention. As he looked your nature to forget them."' at Carton with clouded eyes and with an altered manner of He was drawing his hand from his breast; the prisoner breathing, Carton -- his hand again in his breast -- looked chancing to look up in his hurried wonder as he wrote, the steadily at him. hand stopped, closing upon something. "Hurry, hurry!" "Have you written 'forget them'?" Carton asked. The prisoner bent over the paper, once more. "I have. Is that a weapon in your hand?" "'If it had been otherwise;"' Carton's hand was again watch- "No; I am not armed." fully and softly stealing down; "'I never should have used the 291 longer opportunity. If it had been otherwise;"' the hand was at "You must be, Mr. Carton, if the tale of fifty-two is to be the prisoner's face; " 'I should but have had so much the more right. Being made right by you in that dress, I shall have no to answer for. ff it had been otherwise -- "' Carton looked at fear." the pen and saw it was trailing off into unintelligible signs. "Have no fear! I shall soon be out of the way of harming you, Carton's hand moved back to his breast no more. The pris- and the rest will soon be far from here, please God! Now, get oner sprang up with a reproachful look, but Carton's hand was assistance and take me to the coach." close and firm at his nostrils, and Carton's left arm caught him "You?" said the Spy nervously. round the waist. For a few seconds he faintly struggled with the man who had come to lay down his life for him; but, "Him, man, with whom I have exchanged. You go out at the within a minute or so, he was stretched insensible on the gate by which you brought me in?" ground. "Of course." Quickly, but with hands as true to the purpose as his heart was, Carton dressed himself in the clothes the prisoner bad "I was weak and faint when you brought me in, and I am laid aside, combed back his hair, and tied it with the ribbon fainter now you take me out. The parting interview has over- the prisoner had worn. Then, he softly called, "Enter there! powered me. Such a thing has happened here, often, and too Come in!" and the Spy presented himself. often. Your life is in your own hands. Quick! Call assistance!"

"You see?" said Carton, looking up, as he kneeled on one "You swear not to betray me?" said the trembling Spy, as he knee beside the insensible figure, putting the paper in the paused for a last moment. breast: "is your hazard very great?" "Man, man!" returned Carton, stamping his foot; "have I "Mr. Carton," the Spy answered, with a timid snap of his fin- sworn by no solemn vow already, to go through with this, that gers, "my hazard is not that, in the thick of business here, if you waste the precious moments now? Take him yourself to you are true to the whole of your bargain." the courtyard you know of, place him yourself in the carriage, show him yourself to Mr. Lorry, tell him yourself to give him "Don't fear me. I will be true to the death." no restorative but air, and to remember my words of last night, and his promise of last night, and drive away!"

292 The Spy withdrew, and Carton seated himself at the table, Sounds that he was not afraid of, for he divined their mean- resting his forehead on his hands. The Spy returned immedi- ing, then began to be audible. Several doors were opened in ately, with two men. succession, and finally his own. A gaoler, with a list in his hand, looked in, merely saying, "Follow me, Evrémonde!" and "How, then?" said one of them, contemplating the fallen fig- he followed into a large dark room, at a distance. It was a dark ure. "So afflicted to find that his friend has drawn a prize in winter day, and what with the shadows within, and what with the lottery of Sainte Guillotine?" the shadows without, he could but dimly discern the others "A good patriot," said the other, "could hardly have been who were brought there to have their arms bound. Some were more afflicted if the Aristocrat had drawn a blank." standing; some seated. Some were lamenting, and in restless motion; but, these were few. The great majority were silent They raised the unconscious figure, placed it on a litter they and still, looking fixedly at the ground. had brought to the door, and bent to carry it away. As he stood by the wall in a dim corner, while some of the "The time is short, Evrémonde," said the Spy, in a warning fifty-two were brought in after him, one man stopped in pass- voice. ing, to embrace him, as having a knowledge of him. It thrilled him with a great dread of discovery; but the man went on. A "I know it well," answered Carton. "Be careful of my friend, I very few moments after that, a young woman, with a slight girl- entreat you, and leave me." ish form, a sweet spare face in which there was no vestige of "Come, then, my children," said Barsad. "Lift him, and come colour, and large widely opened patient eyes, rose from the away!" seat where he had observed her sitting, and came to speak to him. The door closed, and Carton was left alone. Straining his powers of listening to the utmost, he listened for any sound "Citizen Evrémonde," she said, touching him with her cold that might denote suspicion or alarm. There was none. Keys hand. "I am a poor little seamstress, who was with you in La turned, doors clashed, footsteps passed along distant pas- Force." sages: no cry was raised, or hurry made, that seemed unusual. He murmured for answer: "True. I forget what you were ac- Breathing more freely in a little while, he sat down at the ta- cused of?" ble, and listened again until the clock struck Two.

293 "Plots. Though the just Heaven knows that I am innocent of "O you will let me hold your brave hand, stranger?" any. Is it likely? Who would think of plotting with a poor little "Hush! Yes, my poor sister; to the last." weak creature like me?" The same shadows that are falling on the prison, are falling, The forlorn smile with which she said it, so touched him, in that same hour of the early afternoon, on the Barrier with that tears started from his eyes. the crowd about it, when a coach going out of Paris drives up "I am not afraid to die, Citizen Evrémonde, but I have done to be examined. nothing. I am not unwilling to die, if the Republic which is to "Who goes here? Whom have we within? Papers!" do so much good to us poor, will profit by my death; but I do not know how that can be, Citizen Evrémonde. Such a poor The papers are handed out, and read. weak little creature!" "Alexandre Manette. Physician. French. Which is he?" As the last thing on earth that his heart was to warm and soften to, it warmed and softened to this pitiable girl. This is he; this helpless, inarticulately murmuring, wandering old man pointed out. "I heard you were released, Citizen Evrémonde. I hoped it was true?" "Apparently the Citizen-Doctor is not in his right mind? The Revolution- fever will have been too much for him?" "It was. But, I was again taken and condemned." Greatly too much for him. "If I may ride with you, Citizen Evrémonde, will you let me hold your hand? I am not afraid, but I am little and weak, and "Hah! Many suffer with it. Lucie. His daughter. French. it will give me more courage." Which is she?"

As the patient eyes were lifted to his face, he saw a sudden This is she. doubt in them, and then astonishment. He pressed the work- "Apparently it must be. Lucie, the wife of Evrémonde; is it worn, hunger-worn young fingers, and touched his lips. not?" "Are you dying for him?" she whispered. It is. "And his wife and child. Hush! Yes."

294 "Hah! Evrémonde has an assignation elsewhere. Lucie, her has its short arm held out for it, that it may touch the wife of child. English. This is she?" an aristocrat who has gone to the Guillotine.

She and no other. "Behold your papers, Jarvis Lorry, countersigned."

"Kiss me, child of Evrémonde. Now, thou hast kissed a good "One can depart, citizen?" Republican; something new in thy family; remember it! Syd- "One can depart. Forward, my postilions! A good journey!" ney Carton. Advocate. English. Which is he?" "I salute you, citizens. -- And the first danger passed!" He lies here, in this corner of the carriage. He, too, is pointed out. These are again the words of Jarvis Lorry, as he clasps his hands, and looks upward. There is terror in the carriage, there "Apparently the English advocate is in a swoon?" is weeping, there is the heavy breathing of the insensible trav- It is hoped he will recover in the fresher air. It is represented eller. that he is not in strong health, and has separated sadly from a "Are we not going too slowly? Can they not be induced to go friend who is under the displeasure of the Republic. faster?" asks Lucie, clinging to the old man. "Is that all? It is not a great deal, that! Many are under the "It would seem like flight, my darling. I must not urge them displeasure too much; it would rouse suspicion." of the Republic, and must look out at the little window. Jarvis Lorry. Banker. English. Which is he?" "Look back, look back, and see if we are pursued!"

"I am he. Necessarily, being the last." "The road is clear, my dearest. So far, we are not pursued."

It is Jarvis Lorry who has replied to all the previous ques- Houses in twos and threes pass by us, solitary farms, ruin- tions. It is Jarvis Lorry who has alighted and stands with his ous buildings, dye-works, tanneries, and the like, open coun- hand on the coach door, replying to a group of officials. They try, avenues of leafless trees. The hard uneven pavement is un- leisurely walk round the carriage and leisurely mount the box, der us, the soft deep mud is on either side. Sometimes, we to look at what little luggage it carries on the roof; the strike into the skirting mud, to avoid the stones that clatter us country-people hanging about, press nearer to the coach and shake us; sometimes, we stick in ruts and sloughs there. doors and greedily stare in; a little child, carried by its mother, The agony of our impatience is then so great, that in our wild

295 alarm and hurry we are for getting out and running -- hiding "What is it?" asks Mr. Lorry, looking out at window. -- doing anything but stopping. "How many did they say?" Out of the open country, in again among ruinous buildings, "I do not understand you." solitary farms, dye-works, tanneries, and the like, cottages in twos and threes, avenues of leafless trees. Have these men de- " -- At the last post. How many to the Guillotine to-day?" ceived us, and taken us back by another road? Is not this the same place twice over? Thank Heaven, no. A village. Look "Fifty-two." back, look back, and see if we are pursued! Hush! the posting- "I said so! A brave number! My fellow-citizen here would house. have it forty-two; ten more heads are worth having. The Guillo- Leisurely, our four horses are taken out; leisurely, the coach tine goes handsomely. I love it. Hi forward. Whoop!" stands in The night comes on dark. He moves more; he is beginning to the little street, bereft of horses, and with no likelihood upon revive, and to speak intelligibly; he thinks they are still to- it of ever moving again; leisurely, the new horses come into gether; he asks him, by his name, what he has in his hand. O visible existence, one by one; leisurely, the new postilions fol- pity us, kind Heaven, and help us! Look out, look out, and see low, sucking and plaiting the lashes of their whips; leisurely, if we are pursued. the old postilions count their money, make wrong additions, and arrive at dissatisfied results. All the time, our overfraught The wind is rushing after us, and the clouds are flying after hearts are beating at a rate that would far outstrip the fastest us, and the moon is plunging after us, and the whole wild gallop of the fastest horses ever foaled. night is in pursuit of us; but, so far, we are pursued by nothing else. At length the new postilions are in their saddles, and the old are left behind. We are through the village, up the hill, and ______down the hill, and on the low watery grounds. Suddenly, the What is the title’s significance? postilions exchange speech with animated gesticulation, and the horses are pulled up, almost on their haunches. We are To whom does Darnay write letters? pursued? Which two people show up at Darnay’s cell?

"Ho! Within the carriage there. Speak then!" Explain the “switch”. How did it happen? Why are there drugs involved?

296 Discuss Carton’s words, “If you remember the words that passed between us, long sesses its confidence. But my husband has his weaknesses, ago, you will readily comprehend this when you see it. You do remember them, I know. It is not your nature to forget them.” and he is so weak as to relent towards this Doctor."

Why is it significant that Carton meets the poor little seamstress on her way to the "It is a great pity," croaked Jacques Three, dubiously shak- guillotine? ing his head, with his cruel fingers at his hungry mouth; "it is

______not quite like a good citizen; it is a thing to regret."

Book 3, Chapter 14: "See you," said madame, "I care nothing for this Doctor, I. He may wear his head or lose it, for any interest I have in him; THE KNITTING DONE it is all one to me. But, the Evrémonde people are to be exter- IN THAT SAME JUNCTURE of time when the Fifty-Two minated, and the wife and child must follow the husband and awaited their fate Madame Defarge held darkly ominous coun- father." cil with The Vengeance and Jacques Three of the Revolution- "She has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. "I have ary Jury. Not in the wine-shop did Madame Defarge confer seen blue with these ministers, but in the shed of the wood- sawyer, erst eyes and golden hair there, and they looked charming when a mender of roads. The sawyer himself did not participate in Samson held them up." Ogre that he was, he spoke like an epi- the conference, but abided at a little distance, like an outer sat- cure. ellite who was not to speak until required, or to offer an opinion until invited. Madame Defarge cast down her eyes, and reflected a little.

"But our Defarge," said Jacques Three, "is undoubtedly a "The child also," observed Jacques Three, with a meditative good Republican? Eh?" enjoyment of his words, "has golden hair and blue eyes. And we seldom have a child there. It is a pretty sight!" "There is no better," the voluble Vengeance protested in her shrill notes, "in France." "In a word," said Madame Defarge, coming out of her short abstraction, "I cannot trust my husband in this matter. Not "Peace, little Vengeance," said Madame Defarge, laying her only do I feel, since last night, that I dare not confide to him hand with a slight frown on her lieutenant's lips, "hear me the details of my projects; but also I feel that if I delay, there is speak. My husband, fellow- citizen, is a good Republican and danger of his giving warning, and then they might escape." a bold man; he has deserved well of the Republic, and pos-

297 "That must never be," croaked Jacques Three; "no one must "Rely upon the patriotic Jury, dear citizeness. I answer for escape. We have not half enough as it is. We ought to have six my fellow- Jurymen." score a day." "Now, let me see," said Madame Defarge, pondering again. "In a word," Madame Defarge went on, "my husband has not "Yet once more! Can I spare this Doctor to my husband? I my reason for pursuing this family to annihilation, and I have have no feeling either way. Can I spare him?" not his reason for regarding this Doctor with any sensibility. I "He would count as one head," observed Jacques Three, in a must act for myself, therefore. Come hither, little citizen." low voice. "We really have not heads enough; it would be a The wood-sawyer, who held her in the respect, and himself pity, I think." in the submission, of mortal fear, advanced with his hand to "He was signalling with her when I saw her," argued Ma- his red cap. dame Defarge; "Touching those signals, little citizen," said Madame De- "I cannot speak of one without the other; and I must not be si- farge, sternly, "that she made to the prisoners; you are ready lent, and trust the case wholly to him, this little citizen here. to bear witness to them this very day?" For, I am not a bad witness." "Ay, ay, why not!" cried the sawyer. "Every day, in all weath- The Vengeance and Jacques Three vied with each other in ers, from two to four, always signalling, sometimes with the their fervent protestations that she was the most admirable little one, sometimes without. I know what I know. I have seen and marvellous of witnesses. The little citizen, not to be out- with my eyes." done, declared her to be a celestial witness. He made all manner of gestures while he spoke, as if in inci- "He must take his chance," said Madame Defarge. "No, I can- dental imitation of some few of the great diversity of signals not spare him! You are engaged at three o'clock; you are going that he had never seen. to see the batch of to-day executed. -- You?" "Clearly plots," said Jacques Three. "Transparently!" The question was addressed to the wood-sawyer, who hur- "There is no doubt of the Jury?" inquired Madame Defarge, riedly replied in the affirmative: seizing the occasion to add letting her eyes turn to him with a gloomy smile. that he was the most ardent of Republicans, and that he would be in effect the most desolate of Republicans, if anything prevented him from enjoying the pleasure of smoking his after- 298 noon pipe in the contemplation of the droll national barber. "Take you my knitting," said Madame Defarge, placing it in He was so very demonstrative herein, that he might have been her lieutenant's hands, "and have it ready for me in my usual suspected (perhaps was, by the dark eyes that looked contemp- seat. Keep me my usual chair. Go you there, straight, for there tuously at him out of Madame Defarge's head) of having his will probably be a greater concourse than usual, to-day." small individual fears for his own personal safety, every hour in the day. "I willingly obey the orders of my Chief," said The Venge- "I," said madame, "am equally engaged at the same place. Af- ance with alacrity, and kissing her cheek. "You will not be ter it is over -- say at eight to-night -- come you to me, in Saint late?" Antoine, and we will give information against these people at "I shall be there before the commencement." my Section." "And before the tumbrels arrive. Be sure you are there, my The wood-sawyer said he would be proud and flattered to at- soul," said The Vengeance, calling after her, for she had al- tend the citizeness. The citizeness looking at him, he became ready turned into the street, "before the tumbrils arrive!" embarrassed, evaded her glance as a small dog would have done, retreated among his wood, and hid his confusion over Madame Defarge slightly waved her hand, to imply that she the handle of his saw. heard, and might be relied upon to arrive in good time, and so went through the mud, and round the corner of the prison Madame Defarge beckoned the Juryman and The Vengeance wall. The Vengeance and the Juryman, looking after her as a little nearer to the door, and there expounded her further she walked away, were highly appreciative of her fine figure, views to them thus: and her superb moral endowments. "She will now be at home, awaiting the moment of his death. There were many women at that time, upon whom the time She will be mourning and grieving. She will be in a state of laid a dreadfully disfiguring hand; but, there was not one mind to impeach the justice of the Republic. She will be full of among them more to be dreaded than this ruthless woman, sympathy with its enemies. I will go to her." now taking her way along the streets. Of a strong and fearless "What an admirable woman; what an adorable woman!" ex- character, of shrewd sense and readiness, of great determina- claimed Jacques Three, rapturously. "Ah, my cherished!" tion, of that kind of beauty which not only seems to impart to cried The Vengeance; and embraced her. its possessor firmness and animosity, but to strike into others an instinctive recognition of those qualities; the troubled time

299 would have heaved her up, under any circumstances. But, im- bued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and Now, when the journey of the travelling coach, at that very an inveterate hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her moment waiting for the completion of its load, had been into a tigress. She was absolutely without pity. If she had ever planned out last night, the difficulty of taking Miss Pross in it had the virtue in her, it had quite gone out of her. had much engaged Mr. Lorry's attention. It was not merely de- It was nothing to her, that an innocent man was to die for sirable to avoid overloading the coach, but it was of the high- the sins of his forefathers; she saw, not him, but them. It was est importance that the time occupied in examining it and its nothing to her, that his wife was to be made a widow and his passengers, should be reduced to the utmost; since their es- daughter an orphan; that was insufficient punishment, be- cape might depend on the saving of only a few seconds here cause they were her natural enemies and her prey, and as such and there. Finally, he had proposed, after anxious considera- had no right to live. To appeal to her, was made hopeless by tion, that Miss Pross and Jerry, who were at liberty to leave her having no sense of pity, even for herself. If she had been the city, should leave it at three o'clock in the lightest-wheeled laid low in the streets, in any of the many encounters in which conveyance known to that period. Unencumbered with lug- she had been engaged, she would not have pitied herself; nor, gage, they would soon overtake the coach, and, passing it and if she had been ordered to the axe to-morrow, would she have preceding it on the road, would order its horses in advance, gone to it with any softer feeling than a fierce desire to change and greatly facilitate its progress during the precious hours of places with the man who sent here there. the night, when delay was the most to be dreaded.

Such a heart Madame Defarge carried under her rough robe. Seeing in this arrangement the hope of rendering real serv- Carelessly worn, it was a becoming robe enough, in a certain ice in that pressing emergency, Miss Pross hailed it with joy. weird way, and her dark hair looked rich under her coarse red She and Jerry had beheld the coach start, had known who it cap. Lying hidden in her bosom, was a loaded pistol. Lying hid- was that Solomon brought, had passed some ten minutes in den at her waist, was a sharpened dagger. Thus accoutred, tortures of suspense, and were now concluding their arrange- and walking with the confident tread of such a character, and ments to follow the coach, even as Madame Defarge, taking with the supple freedom of a woman who had habitually her way through the streets, now drew nearer and nearer to walked in her girlhood, bare-foot and bare-legged, on the the else-deserted lodging in which they held their consulta- brown sea- sand, Madame Defarge took her way along the tion. streets.

300 "Now what do you think, Mr. Cruncher," said Miss Pross, "No, miss," returned Jerry, "it shall not be named to you. Sec- whose agitation was so great that she could hardly speak, or ond: them poor things well out o' this, and never no more will stand, or move, or live: "what do you think of our not starting I interfere with Mrs. Cruncher's flopping, never no more!" from this courtyard? Another carriage having already gone "Whatever housekeeping arrangement that may be," said from here to-day, it might awaken suspicion." Miss Pross, striving to dry her eyes and compose herself, "I "My opinion, miss," returned Mr. Cruncher, "is as you're have no doubt it is best that Mrs. Cruncher should have it en- right. Likewise wot I'll stand by you, right or wrong." tirely under her own superintendence. -- O my poor darlings!"

"I am so distracted with fear and hope for our precious crea- "I go so far as to say, miss, moreover," proceeded Mr. Crun- tures," said Miss Pross, wildly crying, "that I am incapable of cher, with a most alarming tendency to hold forth as from a forming any plan. Are you capable of forming any plan, my pulpit -- "and let my words be took down and took to Mrs. dear good Mr. Cruncher?" Cruncher through yourself -- that wot my opinions respectin' flopping has undergone a change, and that wot I only hope "Respectin' a future spear o' life, miss," returned Mr. Crun- with all my heart as Mrs. Cruncher may be a flopping at the cher, "I hope so. Respectin' any present use o' this here present time." blessed old head o' mind, I think not. Would you do me the favour, miss, to take notice o' two promises and wows wot it is "There, there, there! I hope she is, my dear man," cried the my wishes fur to record in this here crisis?" distracted Miss Pross, "and I hope she finds it answering her expectations." "Oh, for gracious sake!" cried Miss Pross, still wildly crying, "record them at once, and get them out of the way, like an ex- "Forbid it," proceeded Mr. Cruncher, with additional solem- cellent man." nity, additional slowness, and additional tendency to hold forth and hold out, "as anything wot I have ever said or done "First," said Mr. Cruncher, who was all in a tremble, and should be wisited on my earnest wishes for them poor cree- who spoke with an ashy and solemn visage, "them poor things turs now! Forbid it as we shouldn't all flop (if it was anyways well out o' this, never no more will I do it, never no more!" conwenient) to get 'em out o' this here dismal risk! Forbid it, "I am quite sure, Mr. Cruncher," returned Miss Pross, "that miss! Wot I say, for-BID it!" This was Mr. Cruncher's conclu- you never will do it again, whatever it is, and I beg you not to sion after a protracted but vain endeavour to find a better one. think it necessary to mention more particularly what it is."

301 And still Madame Defarge, pursuing her way along the "No, miss," answered Mr. Cruncher. streets, came nearer and nearer. "Then, like the best of men," said Miss Pross, "go to the "If we ever get back to our native land," said Miss Pross, posting-house straight, and make that change." "you may rely upon my telling Mrs. Cruncher as much as I "I am doubtful," said Mr. Cruncher, hesitating and shaking may be able to remember and understand of what you have so his head, "about leaving of you, you see. We don't know what impressively said; and at all events you may be sure that I may happen." shall bear witness to your being thoroughly in earnest at this dreadful time. Now, pray let us think! My esteemed Mr. Crun- "Heaven knows we don't," returned Miss Pross, "but have no cher, let us think!" fear for me. Take me in at the cathedral, at Three o'Clock, or as near it as you can, and I am sure it will be better than our Still, Madame Defarge, pursuing her way along the streets, going from here. I feel certain of it. There! Bless you, Mr. Crun- came nearer and nearer. cher! Think -- not of me, but of the lives that may depend on "If you were to go before," said Miss Pross, "and stop the ve- both of us!" hicle and This exordium, and Miss Pross's two hands in quite ago- horses from coming here, and were to wait somewhere for me; nised entreaty clasping his, decided Mr. Cruncher. With an en- wouldn't that be best?" couraging nod or two, he immediately went out to alter the ar- Mr. Cruncher thought it might be best. rangements, and left her by herself to follow as she had proposed. "Where could you wait for me?" asked Miss Pross. The having originated a precaution which was already in Mr. Cruncher was so bewildered that he could think of no lo- course of execution, was a great relief to Miss Pross. The neces- cality but Temple Bar. Alas! Temple Bar was hundreds of sity of composing her appearance so that it should attract no miles away, and Madame Defarge was drawing very near in- special notice in the streets, was another relief. She looked at deed. her watch, and it was twenty minutes past two. She had no "By the cathedral door," said Miss Pross. "Would it be much time to lose, but must get ready at once. out of the way, to take me in, near the great cathedral door be- Afraid, in her extreme perturbation, of the loneliness of the tween the two towers?" deserted rooms, and of half-imagined faces peeping from be-

302 hind every open door in them, Miss Pross got a basin of cold "You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer," water and began laving her eyes, which were swollen and red. said Miss Pross, in her breathing. "Nevertheless, you shall not Haunted by her feverish apprehensions, she could not bear to get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman." have her sight obscured for a minute at a time by the dripping Madame Defarge looked at her scornfully, but still with water, but constantly paused and looked round to see that something of Miss Pross's own perception that they two were there was no one watching her. In one of those pauses she re- at bay. She saw a tight, hard, wiry woman before her, as Mr. coiled and cried out, for she saw a figure standing in the room. Lorry had seen in the same figure a woman with a strong The basin fell to the ground broken, and the water flowed to hand, in the years gone by. She knew full well that Miss Pross the feet was the family's devoted friend; Miss Pross knew full well that of Madame Defarge. By strange stem ways, and through much Madame Defarge was the family's malevolent enemy. staining blood, those feet had come to meet that water. "On my way yonder," said Madame Defarge, with a slight Madame Defarge looked coldly at her, and said, "The wife of movement of her hand towards the fatal spot, "where they re- Evrémonde; where is she?" serve my chair and my knitting for me, I am come to make my compliments to her in passing. I wish to see her." It flashed upon Miss Pross's mind that the doors were all standing open, and would suggest the flight. Her first act was "I know that your intentions are evil," said Miss Pross, "and to shut them. There were four in the room, and she shut them you may depend upon it, I'll hold my own against them." all. She then placed herself before the door of the chamber Each spoke in her own language; neither understood the which Lucie had occupied. other's words; both were very watchful, and intent to deduce Madame Defarge's dark eyes followed her through this rapid from look and manner, what the unintelligible words meant. movement, and rested on her when it was finished. Miss Pross "It will do her no good to keep herself concealed from me at had nothing beautiful about her; years had not tamed the wild- this moment," said Madame Defarge. "Good patriots will ness, or softened the grimness, of her appearance; but, she too know what that means. Let me see her. Go tell her that I wish was a determined woman in her different way, and she meas- to see her. Do you hear?" ured Madame Defarge with her eyes, every inch. "If those eyes of yours were bed-winches," returned Miss Pross, "and I was an English four-poster, they shouldn't loose

303 a splinter of me. No, you wicked foreign woman; I am your Thus Miss Pross, with a shake of her head and a flash of her match." eyes between every rapid sentence, and every rapid sentence a whole breath. Thus Miss Pross, who had never struck a blow Madame Defarge was not likely to follow these idiomatic rein her life. marks in detail; but, she so far understood them as to perceive that she But, her courage was of that emotional nature that it was set at naught. brought the irrepressible tears into her eyes. This was a courage that Madame Defarge so little comprehended as to mis- "Woman imbecile and pig-like!" said Madame Defarge, take for weakness. "Ha, ha!" she laughed, "you poor wretch! frowning. "I take no answer from you. I demand to see her. Ei- What are you worth! I address myself to that Doctor." Then ther tell her that I demand to see her, or stand out of the way she raised her voice and called out, "Citizen Doctor! Wife of of the door and let me go to her!" This, with an angry explana- Evrémonde! Child of Evrémonde! Any person but this miser- tory wave of her right arm. able fool, answer the Citizeness Defarge!" "I little thought," said Miss Pross, "that I should ever want to Perhaps the following silence, perhaps some latent disclo- understand your nonsensical language; but I would give all I sure in the expression of Miss Pross's face, perhaps a sudden have, except the clothes I wear, to know whether you suspect misgiving apart from either suggestion, whispered to Madame the truth, or any part of it." Defarge that they were gone. Three of the doors she opened Neither of them for a single moment released the other's swiftly, and looked in. eyes. Madame Defarge had not moved from the spot where "Those rooms are all in disorder, there has been hurried she stood when Miss Pross first became aware of her; but, she packing, there are odds and ends upon the ground. There is now advanced one step. no one in that room behind you! Let me look." "I am a Briton," said Miss Pross, "I am desperate. I don't "Never!" said Miss Pross, who understood the request as per- care an English Twopence for myself. I know that the longer I fectly as Madame Defarge understood the answer. keep you here, the greater hope there is for my Ladybird. I'll not leave a handful of that dark hair upon your head, if you lay "If they are not in that room, they are gone, and can be pur- a finger on me!" sued and brought back," said Madame Defarge to herself.

304 "As long as you don't know whether they are in that room or you, I bless Heaven for it. I hold you till one or other of us not, you are uncertain what to do," said Miss Pross to herself; faints or dies!" "and you shall not Madame Defarge's hands were at her bosom. Miss Pross know that, if I can prevent your knowing it; and know that, or looked up, saw what it was, struck at it, struck out a flash and not know that, you shall not leave here while I can hold you." a crash, and stood alone -- blinded with smoke. "I have been in the streets from the first, nothing has All this was in a second. As the smoke cleared, leaving an aw- stopped me, I will tear you to pieces, but I will have you from ful stillness, it passed out on the air, like the soul of the furi- that door," said Madame Defarge. ous woman whose body lay lifeless on the ground. "We are alone at the top of a high house in a solitary court- In the first fright and horror of her situation, Miss Pross yard, we are not likely to be heard, and I pray for bodily passed the body as far from it as she could, and ran down the strength to keep you here, while every minute you are here is stairs to call for fruitless help. Happily, she bethought herself worth a hundred thousand guineas to my darling," said Miss of the consequences of what she did, in time to check herself Pross. and go back. It was dreadful to go in at the door again; but, Madame Defarge made at the door. Miss Pross, on the in- she did go in, and even went near it, to get the bonnet and stinct of the moment, seized her round the waist in both her other things that she must wear. These she put on, out on the arms, and held her tight. It was in vain for Madame Defarge to staircase, first shutting and locking the door and taking away struggle and to strike; Miss Pross, with the vigorous tenacity the key. She then sat down on the stairs a few moments to of love, always so much stronger than hate, clasped her tight, breathe and to cry, and then got up and hurried away. and even lifted her from the floor in the struggle that they By good fortune she had a veil on her bonnet, or she could had. The two hands of Madame Defarge buffeted and tore her hardly have gone along the streets without being stopped. By face; but, Miss Pross, with her head down, held her round the good fortune, too, she was naturally so peculiar in appearance waist, and clung to her with more than the hold of a drowning as not to show disfigurement woman. like any other woman. She needed both advantages, for the Soon, Madame Defarge's hands ceased to strike, and felt at marks of griping fingers were deep in her face, and her hair her encircled waist. "It is under my arm," said Miss Pross, in was tom, and her dress (hastily composed with unsteady smothered tones, "you shall not draw it. I am stronger than hands) was clutched and dragged a hundred ways.

305 "I feel," said Miss Pross, "as if there had been a flash and a crash, and that crash was the last thing I should ever hear in In crossing the bridge, she dropped the door key in the river. this life." Arriving at the cathedral some few minutes before her escort, and waiting there, she thought, what if the key were already "Blest if she ain't in a queer condition!" said Mr. Cruncher, taken in a net, what if it were identified, what if the door were more and more disturbed. "Wot can she have been a takin', to opened and the remains discovered, what if she were stopped keep her courage up? Hark! There's the roll of them dreadful at the gate, sent to prison, and charged with murder! In the carts! You can hear that, miss?" midst of these fluttering thoughts, the escort appeared, took "I can hear," said Miss Pross, seeing that he spoke to her, her in, and took her away. "nothing. O, my good man, there was first a great crash, and "Is there any noise in the streets?" she asked him. then a great stillness, and that stillness seems to be fixed and unchangeable, never to be broken any more as long as my life "The usual noises," Mr. Cruncher replied; and looked sur- lasts." prised by the question and by her aspect. "If she don't hear the roll of those dreadful carts, now very "I don't hear you," said Miss Pross. "What do you say?" nigh their journey's end," said Mr. Cruncher, glancing over his It was in vain for Mr. Cruncher to repeat what he said; Miss shoulder, "it's my opinion that indeed she never will hear any- Pross could not hear him. "So I'll nod my head," thought Mr. thing else in this world." Cruncher, amazed, "at all events she'll see that." And she did. And indeed she never did. "Is there any noise in the streets now?" asked Miss Pross ______again, presently. Explain the significance of the chapter title. Again Mr. Cruncher nodded his head. What is Madame Defarge’s plan? Why doesn’t she trust her husband to know it?

"I don't hear it." Where does she plan to meet The Vengeance?

"Gone deaf in an hour?" said Mr. Cruncher, ruminating, What happens between Miss Pross and Madame Defarge? with his mind much disturbed; "wot's come to her?" Why do you think Miss Pross is able to overcome the intense hatred of Madame?

______

306 Book 3, Chapter 15: As the sombre wheels of the six carts go round, they seem to plough up a long crooked furrow among the populace in the THE FOOTSTEPS DIE OUT FOR EVER streets. Ridges of faces are thrown to this side and to that, and ALONG THE PARIS STREETS, the death-carts rumble, hol- the ploughs go steadily onward. So used are the regular inhabi- low and harsh. Six tumbrils carry the day's wine to La Guillo- tants of the houses to the spectacle, that in many windows tine. All the devouring and insatiate Monsters imagined since there are no people, and in some the occupation of the hands imagination could record itself, are fused in the one realisa- is not so much as suspended, while the eyes survey the faces tion, Guillotine. And yet there is not in France, with its rich vain the tumbrels. Here and there, the inmate has visitors to see riety of soil and climate, a blade, a leaf, a root, a sprig, a pep- the sight; then he points his finger, with something of the com- percorn, which will grow to maturity under conditions more placency of a curator or authorised exponent, to this cart and certain than those that have produced this horror. Crush hu- to this, and seems to tell who sat here yesterday, and who manity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and there the day before. it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same Of the riders in the tumbrels, some observe these things, seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it and all things on their last roadside, with an impassive stare; will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind. others, with a lingering interest in the ways of life and men. Six tumbrils roll along the streets. Change these back again Some, seated with drooping heads, are sunk in silent despair; to what they were, thou powerful enchanter, Time, and they again, there are some so heedful of their looks that they cast shall be seen to be the carriages of absolute monarchs, the eq- upon the multitude such glances as they have seen in theatres, uipages of feudal nobles, the toilettes of flaring Jezebels, the and in pictures. Several close their eyes, and think, or try to churches that are not my father's house but dens of thieves, get their straying thoughts together. Only one, and he a miser- the huts of millions of starving peasants! No; the great magi- able creature, of a crazed aspect, is so shattered and made cian who majestically works out the appointed order of the drunk by horror, that he sings, and tries to dance. Not one of Creator, never reverses his transformations. "If thou be the whole number appeals by look or gesture, to the pity of the changed into this shape by the will of God," say the seers to people. the enchanted, in the wise Arabian stories, "then remain so! There is a guard of sundry horsemen riding abreast of the But, if thou wear this form through mere passing conjuration, tumbrels, and faces are often turned up to some of them, and then resume thy former aspect!" Changeless and hopeless, the they are asked some question. It would seem to be always the tumbrels roll along. same question, for, it is always followed by a press of people

307 towards the third cart. The horsemen abreast of that cart, fre- "He is going to pay the forfeit: it will be paid in five minutes quently point out one man in it with their swords. The leading more. Let him be at peace." curiosity is, to know which is he; he stands at the back of the But the man continuing to exclaim, "Down, Evrémonde!" tumbrel with his head bent down, to converse with a mere girl the face of Evrémonde is for a moment turned towards him. who sits on the side of the cart, and holds his hand. He has no Evrémonde then sees the Spy, and looks attentively at him, curiosity or care for the scene about him, and always speaks to and goes his way. the girl. Here and there in the long street of St. Honore, cries are raised against him. If they move him at all, it is only to a The clocks are on the stroke of three, and the furrow quiet smile, as he shakes his hair a little more loosely about ploughed among the populace is turning round, to come on his face. He cannot easily touch his face, his arms being into the place of execution, and end. The ridges thrown to this bound. side and to that, now crumble in and close behind the last plough as it passes on, for all are following to the Guillotine. On the steps of a church, awaiting the coming-up of the tum- In front of it, seated in chairs, as in a garden of public diver- brels, stands the Spy and prison-sheep. He looks into the first sion, are a number of women, busily knitting. On one of the of them: not there. He looks into the second: not there. He al- foremost chairs, stands The Vengeance, looking about for her ready asks himself, "Has he sacrificed me?" when his face friend. clears, as he looks into the third. "Therese!" she cries, in her shrill tones. "Who has seen her? "Which is Evrémonde?" says a man behind him. Therese Defarge!" "That. At the back there." "She never missed before," says a knitting-woman of the sis- "With his hand in the girl's?" terhood.

"Yes." "No; nor will she miss now," cries The Vengeance, petu- lantly. "Therese." The man cries, "Down, Evrémonde! To the Guillotine all aristocrats! Down, Evrémonde!" "Louder," the woman recommends.

"Hush, hush!" the Spy entreats him, timidly. Ay! Louder, Vengeance, much louder, and still she will scarcely hear thee. Louder yet, Vengeance, with a little oath or "And why not, citizen?" so added, and yet it will hardly bring her. Send other women 308 up and down to seek her, lingering somewhere; and yet, al- "But for you, dear stranger, I should not be so composed, for though the messengers have done dread deeds, it is question- I am naturally a poor little thing, faint of heart; nor should I able whether of their own wills they will go far enough to find have been able to raise my thoughts to Him who was put to her! death, that we might have hope and comfort here to-day. I think you were sent to me by Heaven." "Bad Fortune!" cries The Vengeance, stamping her foot in the chair, "and here are the tumbrils! And Evrémonde will be "Or you to me," says Sydney Carton. "Keep your eyes upon despatched in a wink, and she not here! See her knitting in my me, dear child, and mind no other object." hand, and her empty chair ready for her. I cry with vexation "I mind nothing while I hold your hand. I shall mind noth- and disappointment!" ing when I let it go, if they are rapid." As The Vengeance descends from her elevation to do it, the "They will be rapid. Fear not!" tumbrels begin to discharge their loads. The ministers of Sainte Guillotine are robed and ready. Crash! -- A head is held The two stand in the fast-thinning throng of victims, but up, and the knitting-women who scarcely lifted their eyes to they speak as if they were alone. Eye to eye, voice to voice, look at it a moment ago when it could think and speak, count hand to hand, heart to heart, these two children of the Univer- One. sal Mother, else so wide apart and differing, have come together on the dark highway, to repair home together, and to The second tumbril empties and moves on; the third comes rest in her bosom. up. Crash! "Brave and generous friend, will you let me ask you one last -- And the knitting-women, never faltering or pausing in question? I am very ignorant, and it troubles me -- just a lit- their Work, count Two. tle." The supposed Evrémonde descends, and the seamstress is "Tell me what it is." lifted out next after him. He has not relinquished her patient hand in getting out, but still holds it as he promised. He gently "I have a cousin, an only relative and an orphan, like myself, places her with her back to the crashing engine that constantly whom I love very dearly. She is five years younger than I, and whirrs up and falls, and she looks into his face and thanks she lives in a farmer's house in the south country. Poverty him. parted us, and she knows nothing of my fate -- for I cannot

309 write -- and if I could, how should I tell her! It is better as it ing worse than a sweet, bright constancy is in the patient face. is." She goes next before him -- is gone; the knitting-women count Twenty-Two. "Yes, yes: better as it is." "I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that "What I have been thinking as we came along, and what I believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and am still thinking now, as I look into your kind strong face whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." which gives me so much support, is this: -- If the Republic really does good to the poor, and they come to be less hungry, The murmuring of many voices, the upturning of many and in all ways to suffer less, she may live a long time: she faces, the pressing on of many footsteps in the outskirts of the may even live to be old." crowd, so that it swells forward in a mass, like one great heave of water, all flashes away. Twenty-Three. "What then, my gentle sister?" They said of him, about the city that night, that it was the "Do you think:" the uncomplaining eyes in which there is so peacefullest man's face ever beheld there. Many added that he much endurance, fill with tears, and the lips part a little more looked sublime and prophetic. and tremble: One of the most remarkable sufferers by the same axe -- a "that it will seem long to me, while I wait for her in the better woman -- had asked at the foot of the same scaffold, not long land where I trust both you and I will be mercifully shel- before, to be allowed to write down the thoughts that were in- tered?" spiring her. If he had given any utterance to his, and they were "It cannot be, my child; there is no Time there, and no trou- prophetic, they would have been these: ble there." "I see Barsad, and Cly, Defarge, The Vengeance, the Jury- "You comfort me so much! I am so ignorant. Am I to kiss man, the Judge, long ranks of the new oppressors who have you now? Is the moment come?" risen on the destruction of the old, perishing by this retribu- tive instrument, before it shall cease out of its present use. I "Yes." see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs She kisses his lips; he kisses hers; they solemnly bless each and defeats, through tong long years to come, I see the evil of other. The spare hand does not tremble as he releases it; noth-

310 this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out. is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

"I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I shall see no THE END. more. I see Her with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name. I see her father, aged and bent, but otherwise restored, and faithful to all men in his healing office, and at peace. I see the good old man, so long their friend, in ten years' time enriching them with all he has, and passing tranquilly to his reward.

"I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. I see her, an old woman, weeping for me on the anniversary of this day. I see her and her husband, their course done, lying side by side in their last earthly bed, and I know that each was not more honoured and held sacred in the other's soul, than I was in the souls of both.

"I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it, faded away. I see him, foremost of just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair, to this place -- then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day's disfigurement -- and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and a faltering voice. 311 CREDITS picture: http://www.infed.org/archives/e-texts/dickens_ragged_scho ols.htm

Dickens Bio: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_char les.shtml

Dickens London http://charlesdickenspage.com/dickens_london_map.html

Dover/Calais Map: http://dickens.stanford.edu/dickens/archive/tale/print_issue 1_gloss.html

Queen Victoria Pic: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/victorian_era

Intro in Chp 7:http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/4/197.full

ATOTC Full text: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DicTale.html

Literary Criticism http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/2cities/pva21 2.html

312 CHAPTER 15 James Joyce

The Dublin writer James Joyce’s innovations in plot, character, and language make him one of the most challenging and distinguished writers of the twentieth century.

EXPERIMENTATION Joyce’s family and teachers wanted him to become a priest, but he pursued his own way as a writer. In 1904, he left Ireland for the continent. Ten years later, he published a landmark collection of short stories entitled Dubliners. These deceptively simple tales focus on the psychological conflicts of ordinary people. In the course of each story, the main character is forced to alter his or her perspective on life.

In 1916, Joyce published A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, a semi- autobiographical work. Like Joyce, the novel’s protagonist is in conflict with his Irish roots and chooses to become a writer.

MATURE FICTION A Portrait of the Artist reveals a heightened awareness of language and an immersion in the minds of characters. Joyce carried these characteristics to a new level in Ulysses (1922). A stream of consciousness novel that roughly parallels Homer’s Odyssey, the liberation of the novel from old ideas. Using a variety of styles and techniques, it places new and modern emphasis on the play of language.

In his final novel, Finngan’s Wake (1939), Joyce took his fascination with words a step further. Written in what one scholar terms, “a dream language of Joyce’s own innovation,” it explores the author’s view of human existence. With such radical innovations, Joyce guaranteed his place as one of the re- innovators of modern fiction. echoed in the silent street. The career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes behind the houses, where we ran the gauntlet CHAPTER 16 of the rough tribes from the cottages, to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ashpits, to the dark odorous stables where a coachman smoothed and combed the horse Araby or shook music from the buckled harness. When we returned to the street, light from the kitchen windows had filled the areas. If my uncle was seen turning the corner, we hid in the shadow until we had North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at seen him safely housed. Or if Mangan's sister came out on the door- the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free. An un- step to call her brother in to his tea, we watched her from our inhabited house of two storeys stood at the blind end, detached from shadow peer up and down the street. We waited to see whether she its neighbours in a square ground. The other houses of the street, con- would remain or go in and, if she remained, we left our shadow and scious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown im- walked up to Mangan's steps resignedly. She was waiting for us, her perturbable faces. figure defined by the light from the half-opened door. Her brother The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died in the back always teased her before he obeyed, and I stood by the railings look- drawing-room. Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all ing at her. Her dress swung as she moved her body, and the soft rope the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with of her hair tossed from side to side. old useless papers. Among these I found a few paper-covered books, Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching the pages of which were curled and damp: The Abbot, by Walter Scott, her door. The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so The Devout Communicant, and The Memoirs of Vidocq. I liked the last that I could not be seen. When she came out on the doorstep my best because its leaves were yellow. The wild garden behind the house heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. I contained a central apple-tree and a few straggling bushes, under one kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we came near the of which I found the late tenant's rusty bicycle-pump. He had been a point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed very charitable priest; in his will he had left all his money to institu- her. This happened morning after morning. I had never spoken to tions and the furniture of his house to his sister. her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a sum- When the short days of winter came, dusk fell before we had well mons to all my foolish blood. Her image accompanied me even in eaten our dinners. When we met in the street the houses had grown places the most hostile to romance. On Saturday evenings when my sombre. The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing vio- aunt went marketing I had to go to carry some of the parcels. We let and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. walked through the flaring streets, jostled by drunken men and bar- The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed. Our shouts gaining women, amid the curses of labourers, the shrill litanies of shop-boys who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs' cheeks, “And why can't you?” I asked. the nasal chanting of street-singers, who sang a come-all-you While she spoke she turned a silver bracelet round and about O'Donovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles in our na- round her wrist. She could not go, she said, because there tive land. These noises converged in a single sensation of life for would be a retreat that week in her convent. Her brother and me: I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of two other boys were fighting for their caps, and I was alone at foes. Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers the railings. She held one of the spikes, bowing her head to- and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were of- wards me. The light from the lamp opposite our door caught ten full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom. I thought lit- and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. It fell over one tle of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to side of her dress and caught the white border of a petticoat, just her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my con- visible as she stood at ease. fused adoration. But my body was like a harp and her words and “It's well for you,” she said. gestures were like fingers running upon the wires. “If I go,” I said, “I will bring you something.” One evening I went into the back drawing-room in which What innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleep- the priest had died. It was a dark rainy evening and there was no ing thoughts after that evening! I wished to annihilate the tedi- sound in the house. Through one of the broken panes I heard the ous intervening days. I chafed against the work of school. At rain impinge upon the earth, the fine incessant needles of water night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image playing in the sodden beds. Some distant lamp or lighted win- came between me and the page I strove to read. The syllables of dow gleamed below me. I was thankful that I could see so little. the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves and, feeling my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me. I that I was about to slip from them, I pressed the palms of my asked for leave to go to the bazaar on Saturday night. My aunt hands together until they trembled, murmuring: 'O love! O love!' was surprised, and hoped it was not some Freemason affair. I many times. answered few questions in class. I watched my master's face At last she spoke to me. When she addressed the first words pass from amiability to sternness; he hoped I was not begin- to me I was so confused that I did not know what to answer. She ning to idle. I could not call my wandering thoughts together. I asked me was I going to Araby. I forgot whether I answered yes had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, or no. It would be a splendid bazaar; she said she would love to now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me go. child's play, ugly monotonous child's play.

315 On Saturday morning I reminded my uncle that I wished to down the room, clenching my fists. My aunt said: go to the bazaar in the evening. He was fussing at the hallstand, “I'm afraid you may put off your bazaar for this night of looking for the hat-brush, and answered me curtly: Our Lord.” “Yes, boy, I know.” At nine o'clock I heard my uncle's latchkey in the hall door. As he was in the hall I could not go into the front parlour I heard him talking to himself and heard the hallstand rocking and lie at the window. I felt the house in bad humour and when it had received the weight of his overcoat. I could interpret walked slowly towards the school. The air was pitilessly raw and these signs. When he was midway through his dinner I asked already my heart misgave me. him to give me the money to go to the bazaar. He had forgotten. When I came home to dinner my uncle had not yet been “The people are in bed and after their first sleep now,” he home. Still it was early. I sat staring at the clock for some time said. and, when its ticking began to irritate me, I left the room. I I did not smile. My aunt said to him energetically: mounted the staircase and gained the upper part of the house. “Can't you give him the money and let him go? You've kept The high, cold, empty, gloomy rooms liberated me and I went him late enough as it is.” from room to room singing. From the front window I saw my My uncle said he was very sorry he had forgotten. He said companions playing below in the street. Their cries reached me he believed in the old saying: 'All work and no play makes Jack a weakened and indistinct and, leaning my forehead against the dull boy.' He asked me where I was going and, when I told him a cool glass, I looked over at the dark house where she lived. I may second time, he asked me did I know The Arab's Farewell to his have stood there for an hour, seeing nothing but the brown-clad Steed. When I left the kitchen he was about to recite the opening figure cast by my imagination, touched discreetly by the lamp- lines of the piece to my aunt. light at the curved neck, at the hand upon the railings and at the I held a florin tightly in my hand as I strode down Bucking- border below the dress. ham Street towards the station. The sight of the streets thronged When I came downstairs again I found Mrs. Mercer sitting with buyers and glaring with gas recalled to me the purpose of at the fire. She was an old, garrulous woman, a pawnbroker's my journey. I took my seat in a third-class carriage of a deserted widow, who collected used stamps for some pious purpose. I had train. After an intolerable delay the train moved out of the sta- to endure the gossip of the tea-table. The meal was prolonged be- tion slowly. It crept onward among ruinous houses and over the yond an hour and still my uncle did not come. Mrs Mercer stood twinkling river. At Westland Row Station a crowd of people up to go: she was sorry she couldn't wait any longer, but it was pressed to the carriage doors; but the porters moved them back, after eight o'clock and she did not like to be out late, as the night saying that it was a special train for the bazaar. I remained alone air was bad for her. When she had gone I began to walk up and in the bare carriage. In a few minutes the train drew up beside

316 an improvised wooden platform. I passed out on to the road and looked humbly at the great jars that stood like eastern guards saw by the lighted dial of a clock that it was ten minutes to ten. at either side of the dark entrance to the stall and murmured: In front of me was a large building which displayed the magical “No, thank you.” name. The young lady changed the position of one of the vases I could not find any sixpenny entrance and, fearing that the and went back to the two young men. They began to talk of the bazaar would be closed, I passed in quickly through a turnstile, same subject. Once or twice the young lady glanced at me over handing a shilling to a weary-looking man. I found myself in a her shoulder. big hall girded at half its height by a gallery. Nearly all the stalls I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was use- were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness. I less, to make my interest in her wares seem the more real. recognized a silence like that which pervades a church after a Then I turned away slowly and walked down the middle of the service. I walked into the centre of the bazaar timidly. A few peo- bazaar. I allowed the two pennies to fall against the sixpence in ple were gathered about the stalls which were still open. Before my pocket. I heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that a curtain, over which the words Café Chantant were written in the light was out. The upper part of the hall was now com- coloured lamps, two men were counting money on a salver. I lis- pletely dark. tened to the fall of the coins. Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature Remembering with difficulty why I had come, I went over driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with an- to one of the stalls and examined porcelain vases and flowered guish and anger. tea-sets. At the door of the stall a young lady was talking and laughing with two young gentlemen. I remarked their English accents and listened vaguely to their conversation. “O, I never said such a thing!” “O, but you did!” “O, but I didn't!” “Didn't she say that?” “Yes. I heard her.” “O, there's a... fib!” Observing me, the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty. I

317 2. What is the theme? DISCUSSION AND CRITICAL THINKING 3. Discuss the importance of setting. What aspects are oppressive and what are lib- Questions erating? 4.Describe three scenes that establish the narrator’s feelings for Mangan’s sister. Comprehension Questions 5.Where's the epiphany in the story? What does the boy realize about himself? Is 1. What does the description of the setting in the opening paragraphs suggest about anything gained by the narrator through his frustration and humiliation? the world of the story? 6.Look at the first paragraph and examine the diction and images Joyce uses to set 2.Who is the narrator of the story? the scene. What does he tell us about the speaker's vision of home?

3.What is the central conflict of the story? 7. What striking images help you understand the boy’s feelings? What images give his devotion a quasi-religious quality? 4.What is the nature of the boy’s relationship with Mangan’s sister? 8.Is the boy able to share his feelings with anyone? 5.Consider the meaning of the statement, “I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes.” What does this mean? Why is this important? 9.What are the chief qualities of the narrator’s character? What has he lost by the 6.What role do the aunt and uncle play in the story? end of the story? What has he gained?

7. What does Araby symbolize to the boy, and how is the conflict of the story re- 10.How does the uncle affect the boy’s wishes and feelings? solved when he goes there? What, if anything, does he learn or gain at the end? 11.It can be said that this story is so completely told from one narrator’s point of 8.Judging from the games the boys play, how old do you think the narrator is? view that the characters, the surroundings, and the weather are colored by his feelings. How do you suppose North Richmond Street, the boy’s house, Mangan’s 9. What is the mood of the story? How does Joyce establish it in the first few sister, and the bazaar would look to a detached observer? Does Joyce hint that pages? there is another point of view? If so, how does he do it?

10. Would you describe the narrator’s feelings toward Mangan’s sister as realistic 12.How does the narrator’s description of the house, the street, and the weather or romantic? Why? reflect his attitude toward them? What might this setting reveal about the emotional lives of the characters? What doe the references to the former tenant of the 7. Why does he not buy anything at the young lady’s booth? house add to the story? Critical Thinking Questions 13.What common element relates Mangan’s sister and the bazaar in the boy’s mind? 1. This is a story packed with symbolism. Look at elements such as Araby, Blind Street, Mangan’s sister, Cafe Chantant and the empty house. What do these repre- 14.What does the last sentence of the story signify? Does it alter your thinking sent and what other elements of the story take on symbolic significance? about the story as you consider it in retrospect? Explain. In what ways was the boy a victim of vanity?

318 Literary Criticism

To Read Ben Collin’s Critique, CLICK HERE

1. Read Ben Collin’s article “Joyce’s ‘Araby’ and the ‘Extended Simile.’” 2.Critique his idea of appearance vs. reality in the text and who ultimately is the downfall to the protagonist. What is well founded in his argument? What does not make sense?

How Does This Relate to You?

CLICK HERE to read about Peter Pan Syndrome!

1. When does one become an adult or grown up? Are you grown up? What does it mean to be an adult? 2. Name a time when the reality of the adult work first hit you. 3.What happens to people who fall victim to Peter Pan Syn- “Once you leave, you can never come back.” drome? 4.Even though this is not an actual diagnosable disorder, how do we see elements of PPS in our lives? 5. Does every Peter Pan need a Wendy? Can one exist in a childlike state by himself? Explain. 6.Why was the narrator forced to “grow up?” Who acted as his Wendy? 7. What might the future hold for the protagonist after the bazaar?

319 Works Cited

Araby and Joyce's Works. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Collins, Ben. "Joyce's "Araby" and the Extended Simile." Jstor 4.2 (1967): n. pag. Web. .

Http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Joyce_by_Alex_Ehrenzweig,_1915_restored.jpg. N.p., n.d. Web.

Joyce, James. "Araby." N.p., n.d. Web. .

N.p., n.d. Web. .

"Overprotective Parents Can Lead Children to Peter Pan Syndrome." Science Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Peter Pan. N.d. Photograph. Flickr. Web. .

320 World War II and the Blitz The Blitz, from the German CHAPTER 17 blitzkrieg, “lightning warfare,” refers to the German bombing of London and other English cities during WWII. Large sections of the city were destroyed, but nothing could break what a song hailed as A Time of “London Pride.” Many works recognize the psychological aftershock of this event. From the ashes, a new London emerged. Other changes were Rapid more problematic. The mill and mining country of the north was no longer the economic heart of the country. Wealth concentrated in the south as banking and technology took command. The economic Change divide between the north and the south grew wider as the the century ended. In poetry, this translated into portraying nature as both glorious and cruel as the divide strengthened. How are the “three Englands” reflected in literature? The England of Hope and Glory The economic divide, The turn of the century brought about a time of rapid change in however, was nothing compared to the racial and colonial divide. England, giving the country three unique identities. First, there is the England, to those from distant lands, became a place of falsely iden- island itself, altered, ravaged, and rebuilt on a scale unmatched in pre- tified colonial dreams. vious history. Second, there is the mythical England, the mother coun- Until 1950, the typical English man or woman was seen as tall, try, the land of hope and glory to many from elsewhere. Finally, there thin, fair-haired, blue-eyed, and Anglican. When people of color, is the England of the English language and its literary tradition. British citizens from the former colonies, began to move to Eng- These identities are all reflected in the postmodern literature. land, the English had to deal with racism. The Land Itself The English landscape was untouched by The English Language as a Place Writers and poets the terrible destruction of WWI. However, the real devestation was also raised questions about the English language itself. Who owns human, as an entire generation of young men was wiped out. The the language and its literary tradition? Can writers from elsewhere physical and phychological damage of the war is documented in po- find a home in that language and tradition? To these questions, ems by soldier poets. many poets demonstrated that it is possible though their work. Postwar Growth and Materialism The most obvious change in the English landscape came with the automobile. More peo- In what ways did literature reflect new social reforms? ple could afford cards and ribbons of highway covered the landscape. Women as Bicyclists At the end of the nineteenth century, Accompanying this economic growth was a materialistic attitude on the craze for cycling swept the nation. This required a drastic the part of many, perhaps inspired by the war’s devestation. change in the way women dressed. The new freedom in clothing, was only a part of the change in pre-WWI England. The Writers and Politics Then came the 1930s where po- strongest social movement was the push for women’s right to ets and writers responded to such crises as The Great Depres- vote. The Suffragettes, women who crusaded for the vote, sion and the Spanish Civil War. In that conflict , the Commu- chained themselves to buildings and went on hunger strikes nist and Fascist tyrannies sparred in preparation for their title when arrested. Their victory was slow in coming, but in 1918 bout in WWII. Men and women on the left and right were sick- women over thirty could vote. ened by the callousness of it. Writers, such as George Orwell, would later attack these ideals in their books. Women as Writers The bicycle as product and the right to vote as principle were part of the century long process Speeches and Poems When the war broke out, Brit- of loosening the rigid rules of class, propriety and morality ish Prime Minister Winston Churchill rallied the people for that had bound the Victorians. This process applied to such ar- the supreme effort required of all of them. His radio broad- eas as access to higher education, health care, marriage laws casts and speeches were classics of their kind. Literary descen- and customs for ordinary people and the monarchy, home dants of WWI poets, like Keith Douglas, recorded the cost of ownership, pensions, and working conditions. the conflicts.

The work of Virginia Woolf revealed a new freedom that How did music and literature respond to social women were finding in literature as well. Woolf’s experimen- changes? tal fiction broke new ground, and her nonfiction explored the Music and Literature in the Sixties Things were at issues that would help women succeed in the arts. their brightest in the next decade: the sixties. The walls were How did writers respond to social crises? rocked by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and poets like Ted Hughes and Peter Redgrove opened their minds and their War and Social Change The war of 1914 put most styles to a range of new influences. However, this pendulum questions of social change on hold, but the men who were dis- slowed in the eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the first and charged and the women who had coped without them were only prime minister, reversed many of the economic changes not going to settle for the old ways. The aristocracy would of the previous twenty-five years. have to make do with many fewer servants as men and women found work in new industries, new jobs, and new forms of en- Literature Celebrates Diversity tertainment. Higher hemlines and shorter hair signaled that In the twentieth century, the English literary tradition be- women were freer than ever. came more accessible and more inclusive. It was more accessi-

322 ble because inexpensive editions of books and the internet made all of English literature available for writers and readers. It was more inclusive because writers from the former colonies were now enriching the tradition.

How did writers connect with and renew traditions?

Poet as Prophet It was an “outsider” for example, who following the examples of Blake and Shelley, continued the tradition of prophetic poetry. Irish poet William Butler Yeats summed up the fears of the century in “The Second Com- ing.”

New Uses for Traditional Form Similar to Yeats, writers found new uses of traditional forms like the sonnet. New sonnets dealt with experiences undreamed by the Elizabe- thans. These included radical changes in both subject matter and tone.

Echoes of Romanticism Although Ted Hughes’ lyric “The Horses” differs in many ways from Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” we can still hear the echoing of the celebration of nature and the distrust of cities.

What happens to literary traditions in tumultuous times?

Traditions change, especially in times of conflict, but they also endure and connect a living present with a vital past. T.S. Eliot said that any individual talent is best understood in times of tradition within which that talent is working.

323 CHAPTER 18 This chapter presents great writers of the twentieth century confronting disillusionment--and the renewal of perception to which disillusionment sometimes leads. Forging Yeats charts the dreams of love, age and art, we well as the nightmare of history. Disenchantment with the modern life finds its own voice in T.S. Eliot’s poems. Po- Modernisn ets Auden, MacNeice, and Spender question the task of poetry.

William Butler Yeats When You Are Old The Lake Isle of Innisfree The Wild Swans at Coole The Second Coming T.S. Eliot Preludes Journey of Magi W.H. Auden In Memory of W.B. Yeats Musee des Beaux Arts Louis MacNeice Carrick Revisted Stephen Splender Not Palaces

Picasso’s Woman in a Hairnet (1938) WHEN YOU ARE OLD THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE William Butler Yeats (1892) William Butler Yeats (1888)

When you are old and grey and full of sleep, I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

How many loved your moments of glad grace, And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, And loved your beauty with love false or true, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And evening full of the linnet's wings.

And bending down beside the glowing bars, I will arise and go now, for always night and day Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; And paced upon the mountains overhead While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. I hear it in the deep heart's core.

1. What is appealing about Innisfree? Does anything seem unappeal- ing? 2.What “comes dropping slow” at Innisfree? How does this life contrast with the speaker’s life? 3.Compare “The Lake at Innisfree” to “When You Are Old”. What do they say about writing poetry as a compensation for disappointment? Do you agree with this? Why or why not?

CLICK HERE TO HEAR YEATS READ HIS POEM

325 THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE Attend upon them still.

William Butler Yeats (1919) But now they drift on the still water Mysterious, beautiful; The trees are in their autumn beauty, Among what rushes will they build, The woodland paths are dry, By what lake’s edge or pool Under the October twilight the water Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day Mirrors a still sky; To find they have flown away? Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine and fifty swans.

The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold, Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will

326 THE SECOND COMING For Audio Click Here William Butler Yeats (1919)

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand; A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, A widening gyre: What kind of an impression does this give? And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? 1. Look up any words or phrases you are unfamiliar with, then reread the poem for clarity. 2. Look at the two images in the first stanza (lines 1-4, and 5-8). What are these images and what impression does each image give? 3. What might the third line mean? What is the “center”? What is your “cen- How does all this relate to today? ter”? 4. List some of the images and references that have historical/religious impli- Read the article above and respond: To what extent does cations. What effect do these references have on the reader? On the poem? “The Second Coming” still apply to our lives today? 5. What is strange about the “second coming” that presents itself in the second stanza? What “shape” comes to the rescue? How does it behave? 6. What is the speaker’s tone in this poem? What mood does the poem have? PRELUDES III You tossed a blanket from the bed, T.S. Eliot (1920) You lay upon your back, and waited; You dozed, and watched the night revealing I The thousand sordid images THE WINTER evening settles down Of which your soul was constituted; With smell of steaks in passageways. They flickered against the ceiling. Six o’clock. And when all the world came back The burnt-out ends of smoky days. And the light crept up between the shutters, And now a gusty shower wraps And you heard the sparrows in the gutters, The grimy scraps You had such a vision of the street Of withered leaves about your feet As the street hardly understands; And newspapers from vacant lots; Sitting along the bed’s edge, where The showers beat You curled the papers from your hair, On broken blinds and chimney-pots, Or clasped the yellow soles of feet And at the corner of the street In the palms of both soiled hands. A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps. And then the lighting of the lamps. IV His soul stretched tight across the skies II That fade behind a city block, The morning comes to consciousness Or trampled by insistent feet Of faint stale smells of beer At four and five and six o’clock; From the sawdust-trampled street And short square fingers stuffing pipes, With all its muddy feet that press And evening newspapers, and eyes To early coffee-stands. Assured of certain certainties, With the other masquerades The conscience of a blackened street That time resumes, Impatient to assume the world. One thinks of all the hands That are raising dingy shades I am moved by fancies that are curle In a thousand furnished rooms. Around these images, and cling:

328 The notion of some infinitely gentle Infinitely suffering thing.

Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh; The worlds revolve like ancient women Gathering fuel in vacant lots.

329 JOURNEY OF THE MAGI And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow. Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, T.S.Eliot (1927) Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, And feet kicking the empty wine-skins. BACKGROUND “Journey of the Magi” is a dramatic mono- But there was no information, and so we continued logue spoken by one of the wise men (“magi”) who, accord- And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon ing to the Bible, visited the infant Jesus. In the poem, the Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory speaker uses modern conversational language to describe events, making vividly present the spiritual agony of a man All this was a long time ago, I remember, who lived long ago. And I would do it again, but set down "A cold coming we had of it, This set down Just the worst time of the year This: were we lead all that way for For a journey, and such a long journey: Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, The was deep and the weather sharp, We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death, The very dead of winter." But had thought they were different; this Birth was And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. Lying down in the melting snow. We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, There were times we regretted But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, With an alien people clutching their gods. And the silken girls bringing sherbet. I should be glad of another death. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling And running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, And three trees on the low sky,

330 IN MEMORY OF W.B. YEATS The squares of his mind were empty, Silence invaded the suburbs, W.H. Auden (1939) The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.

BACKGROUND The 1930s was a decade of economic collapse and political turmoil that ended with the world plunged into Now he is scattered among a hundred cities another great war. The complex concerns of the period are And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections, reflected in the poems of the Auden Circle, which included To find his happiness in another kind of wood Auden himself, Spender, MacNiece, and C. Day Lewis. The political urgencies of the times--the opposition to Fascism and And be punished under a foreign code of conscience. the movement for social justice for the working class-- The words of a dead man shaped much of the poetry within the Auden Circle. Yet, along with their social concerns, each of these poets shared a Are modified in the guts of the living. deep sense of a specifically poetic vocation--to make something happen in language. But in the importance and noise of to-morrow When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the Bourse, I And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly accustomed, He disappeared in the dead of winter: And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom, The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted, A few thousand will think of this day And snow disfigured the public statues; As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual. The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day. What instruments we have agree What instruments we have agree The day of his death was a dark cold day. The day of his death was a dark cold day.

Far from his illness II The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests, You were silly like us; your gift survived it all: The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays; The parish of rich women, physical decay, By mourning tongues Yourself. Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry. The death of the poet was kept from his poems. Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still, For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives But for him it was his last afternoon as himself, In the valley of its making where executives An afternoon of nurses and rumours; Would never want to tamper, flows on south The provinces of his body revolted, From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs,

331 Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives, Teach the free man how to praise. A way of happening, a mouth. III 1. Does this poem properly honor Yeats? Explain. 2.What does the speaker mean by saying Yeats “became his admirers”? Earth, receive an honoured guest: 3.What does the second section suggest about the sources and effects of poetry? William Yeats is laid to rest. 4.Considering the fame great past poets enjoy, why does the speaker say that time Let the Irish vessel lie “worships language and forgives / Everyone by whom it lives;...”? What kind of Emptied of its poetry. poetry might “sing of human unsucess / In a rapture of distress...”? 5.Summarize the view of poetry presented in the poem. In the nightmare of the dark 6.In phrases such as “ranches of isolation,” Auden combines the abstract and the spe- All the dogs of Europe bark, cific. Identify three other images that combine abstract ideas and concrete details. And the living nations wait, 7.To what extent is Auden’s style suited to a poem of mourning? Each sequestered in its hate; Interview with W.H. Auden Intellectual disgrace Stares from every human face, And the seas of pity lie Locked and frozen in each eye.

Follow, poet, follow right To the bottom of the night, With your unconstraining voice Still persuade us to rejoice;

Auden discusses his thoughts on Yeats, writ- With the farming of a verse ers, and the idea of time in poetry. Make a vineyard of the curse, Sing of human unsuccess In a rapture of distress; CLICK HERE to read the New York Times’ obituary to Yeats How is the NY Times’ obituary different and similar to Auden’s poem? In the deserts of the heart What does one capture that the other does not? Considering how both Let the healing fountain start, Auden and the NY Times try to honor Yeats, how are poets and their ideals about poetry, language, and literature still honored today? In the prison of his days

332 MUSEE DES BEAUX ARTS W. H. Auden (1938)

About suffering they were never wrong, The old Masters: how well they understood Its human position: how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating On a pond at the edge of the wood: They never forgot That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, ART CONNECTION: In The Fall of Icarus by Pieter But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone Brueghel, which inspired Auden’s poem, the drowning icarus appears As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green in the lower right. What is Brueghel implying about the place of suffering in life? Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on. POEM CONNECTION: How does “Musee Des 1. Who are the “old masters”? What general device used by the old masters BeauxArts” relate to Stevie Smith’s “Not Waving but does the speaker discuss? Drowning?” Why did the poets choose this subject mat- 2. What disaster do the ploughman and the ship witness? How do their re- ter? How do their interpretations of suffering differ? sponses contrast with the gravity of the event? 3. How do the children react to the event? Is the attitude of the ploughman to How are they similar? Icarus’ fall similar? Explain. 4. What is the theme of the poem? What does Auden say about suffering in the poem? 5. How do we see this kind of indifference today?

333 CARRICK REVISITED NOT PALACES Louis MacNeice (1945) Stephen Spender (1933)

Not palaces, an era’s crown Back to Carrick, the castle as plumb assured As thirty years ago - Which war was which? Where the mind dwells, intrigues, rests; Here are new villas, here is a sizzling grid Architectural gold-leaved flower But the green banks are as rich and the lough as hazily lazy From people ordered like a single mind, And the child’s astonishment not yet cured. I build. This only what I tell: Who was - and am 0 dumbfounded to find myself It is too late for rare accumulation, In a topographical frame - here, not there - The channels of my dreams determined largely For family pride, for beauty’s filtered dusts; By random chemistry of soil and air; I say, stamping the words with emphasis,

Memories I had shelved peer at me from the shelf. Drink from here energy and only energy, Fog-horn, mill-horn, corncrake and church bell, As from the charge of an electric battery Half heard through boarded time as a child in bed To will this Time’s change. Glimpses a brangle of talk from the floor below Eye, gazelle, delicate wanderer, But cannot catch the words. Our past we know Dinker of horizon’s fluid line; But not its meaning - whether it meant well. Ear that suspends on a chord Time and place - our bridgeheads into reality But also its concealment! Out of the sea The spirit drinking timelessness; We land on the Particular and lose Touch, love, all senses; All other possible bird’s eye views, the Truth Leave your gardens, your singing feasts, That is of Itself for Itself—but not for me. Your dreams of suns circling before our sun, Whatever then my inherited or acquired Of heaven after our world. Affinities, such remains my childhood’s frame ... Instead, watch images of flashing glass Like a belated rock in the red Antrim clay That cannot at this era change its pitch or name - That strike the outward sense, the polished will, And the pre-natal mountain is far away. Flag of our purpose which the wind engraves. No spirit seek here rest. But this: No one Shall hunger: Man shall spend equally, Our goal which we compel: Man shall be man.

334 CHAPTER 19

Conflicts at The violence of two world wars, as well as simmering conflicts at home and in British colonies abroad, left their mark on modern literature. Though courage in Home and the face of conflict resounds in Churchill’s speech, the work of war poets provides readers with a sense of the Abroad horrors of war as seen from the battlefields.

Rupert Brooke The Soldier Siegfried Sassoon Wirers Wilfred Owen Anthem for Doomed Youth Henry Reed Naming of Parts Seamus Heaney Follower Eaven Boland Outside History

Nettie Moon’s The Spirit of London THE SOLDIER WIRERS Rupert Brooke (1914) Siegfried Sassoon (1919)

BACKGROUND World War I pitted Great Britain, France, “Pass it along, the wiring party’s going out”— Russia, Japan, Italy, and later the United States, against Ger- And yawning sentries mumble, “Wirers going out.” many, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. The war was fought not Unravelling; twisting; hammering stakes with muffled thud, only in Europe but also in regions such as the Middle East They toil with stealthy haste and anger in their blood. and Asia Minor. Typical of this conflict was trench warfare. Armies faced each other in defensive trenches protected by The Boche sends up a flare. Black forms stand rigid there, barbed wire. Periodically, one army would attack the other Stock-still like posts; then darkness, and the clumsy ghosts in the face of machine gun and artillery warfare. Such war- Stride hither and thither, whispering, tripped by clutching snare fare and the illness resulting from life in the trenches led to a Of snags and tangles. total loss of about 8.5 million soldiers. Ghastly dawn with vaporous coasts If I should die, think only this of me: Gleams desolate along the sky, night’s misery ended. That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be Young Hughes was badly hit; I heard him carried away, In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; Moaning at every lurch; no doubt he’ll die to-day. A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, But we can say the front-line wire’s been safely mended. Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

336 ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH CRITICAL ANALYSIS Wilfred Owen (1917) CLICK HERE to read about Owen’s life and experiences in war What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Then CLICK HERE to read an editorial Can patter out their hasty orisons. concerning what Owen would say about No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, our activities in war today Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,— The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. To what extent do you agree with Cohen’s article after reading about Owen? What makes sense in his argu- What candles may be held to speed them all? ment? What do you disagree with? To what extent have Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes our approaches in wars changed over the years? Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

1. Between “Anthem for Doomed Youth” and “Wirers”, which seems to convey the horrors of war more effectively? Why? 2.In “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” what is the speaker’s attitude toward war? 3.In lines 9-14, what conventional signs of mourning are mentioned? 4.What do Owen’s suggested replacements for these signs have in common?

Wilfred Owen 337 NAMING OF PARTS They call is easing the Spring.

Henry Reed (1942) They call is easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt, Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday, And the breech, the cocking-piece, and the point of balance, We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning, Which in our case we have not got; and the almond blossom We shall have what to do after firing. But today, Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards, Today we have naming of parts. Japonica For today we have the naming of parts. Glistens like coral in all the neighboring gardens, And today we have naming of parts.

This is the lower sling swivel. And this Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see, When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel, Which in your case you have not got. The branches Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures, Which in our case we have not got.

This is the safety-catch, which is always released With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see Any of them using their finger.

And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:

338 FOLLOWER OUTSIDE HISTORY Seamus Heaney (1966) Eaven Boland (1990)

My father worked with a horse plough, These are outsiders, always. These stars— His shoulders globed like a full sail strung these iron inklings of an Irish January, Between the shafts and the furrow. The horses strained at his clicking tongue. whose light happened

An expert. He would set the wing thousands of years before And fit the bright-pointed sock. The sod rolled over without breaking. our pain did; they are, they have always been At the headrig, with a single pluck. outside history.

Of reins, the sweating team turned round They keep their distance. Under them remains And back into the land. His eye Narrowed and angled at the ground, a place where you found Mapping the furrow exactly. you were human, and

I stumbled in his hobnailed wake, Fell sometimes on the polished sod; a landscape in which you know you are mortal. Sometimes he rode me on his back And a time to choose between them. Dipping and rising to his plod. I have chosen: I wanted to grow up and plough, To close one eye, stiffen my arm. All I ever did was follow out of myth in history I move to be In his broad shadow around the farm. part of that ordeal

who darkness is I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, Yapping always. But today It is my father who keeps stumbling only now reaching me from those fields, Behind me, and will not go away. those rivers, those roads clotted as firmaments with the dead.

How slowly they die as we kneel beside them, whisper in their ear. And we are too late. We are always too late. 339 CHAPTER 20 This chapter focuses on modern writers nurtured in the British tradition. Tho- The mas, Hughes, Larkin, Shuttle, and Smith are now redefining that tradition using Postmodern modern ideas and dilemmas that now concern the leading voices of the literary and Beyond British empire.

Dylan Thomas Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Ted Hughes The Horses Philip Larkin The Explosion Stevie Smith Not Waving but Drowning Penelope Shuttle In the Kitchen

Canary Wharf in London DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT THE HORSES GOOD NIGHT Ted Hughes (1972)

Dylan Thomas (1951) I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark. Evil air, a frost-making stillness, Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Not a leaf, not a bird - Rage, rage against the dying of the light. A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light. Because their words had forked no lightning they But the valleys were draining the darkness Do not go gentle into that good night.

Till the moorline - blackening dregs of the brightening grey - Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Halved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses: Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Huge in the dense grey - ten together - Megalith-still. They breathed, making no move, Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, with draped manes and tilted hind-hooves, Do not go gentle into that good night. Making no sound.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight I passed: not one snorted or jerked its head. Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Grey silent fragments Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Of a grey silent world. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge. Do not go gentle into that good night. The curlew's tear turned its edge on the silence. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Slowly detail leafed from the darkness. Then the sun 341 Orange, red, red erupted THE EXPLOSION

Silently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud, Philip Larkin (1989) Shook the gulf open, showed blue, On the day of the explosion Shadows pointed towards the pithead: And the big planets hanging - In the sun the slagheap slept. I turned Down the lane came men in pitboots Stumbling in the fever of a dream, down towards Coughing oath-edged talk and pipe-smoke Shouldering off the freshened silence. The dark woods, from the kindling tops, One chased after rabbits; lost them; And came to the horses. Came back with a nest of lark's eggs; Showed them; lodged them in the grasses. There, still they stood,

But now steaming and glistening under the flow of light, So they passed in beards and moleskins Fathers brothers nicknames laughter Their draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves Through the tall gates standing open.

Stirring under a thaw while all around them At noon there came a tremor; cows Stopped chewing for a second; sun The frost showed its fires. But still they made no sound. Scarfed as in a heat-haze dimmed.

Not one snorted or stamped, The dead go on before us they Are sitting in God's house in comfort Their hung heads patient as the horizons, We shall see them face to face-- High over valleys in the red levelling rays - Plain as lettering in the chapels It was said and for a second In din of crowded streets, going among the years, the faces, Wives saw men of the explosion May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place Larger than in life they managed-- Gold as on a coin or walking Between the streams and the red clouds, hearing the curlews, Somehow from the sun towards them Hearing the horizons endure. One showing the eggs unbroken.

342 NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING Stevie Smith (1957) CLICK HERE TO READ THE BELIEVER’S ARTICLE ON STEVIE SMITH Nobody heard him, the dead man, Read the article above on the idea of separating the But still he lay moaning: poet from the poem. After reading about Stevie Smith I was much further out than you thought and her illustrations (see the one below made for “Not And not waving but drowning. Waving But Drowning) does it change your reading of the poem? Why or why not? To what extent should a Poor chap, he always loved larking poet be separate from his or her work? And now he's dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always (Still the dead one lay moaning) I was much too far out all my life And not waving but drowning.

1. Who is the speaker of the poem? Who does the speaker align himself or herself with—the drowned man or the gathered crowd? Is there only one speaker? 2. What has happened in this poem? Why? 3. What is the effect of repetition in the poem? 4. Smith’s poem asks us to think about the ways in which we misunderstand or mis- read the people around us—what opinion does the gathered crowd seem to have of the drowned man? Does the poem suggest that they ever know the truth about him? 5. Rewrite the poem as a script. For each speaker, write down what you think their relationship is to the victim. How well does the crowd “know” the man? 6. Can you imagine the type of person he was from the poem’s brief descriptions? 7. What message or idea does Smith convey about people in general in this poem? What does she challenge us to think about? Stevie Smith’s illustration for “Not Waving But Drowning”

343 IN THE KITCHEN The kettle alone knows the good he does, Penelope Shuttle (1980) Here in the kitchen, loving the world, Steadfastly loving A jug of water has its own lustrous turmoil See how easy it is, he whistles

The ironing board thanks god for its two good strong legs and sturdy back

The new fridge hums like a maniac with helpfulness

I am trying to love the world back to normal

The chair recites its stand-alone prayer again and again

The table leaves no stone unturned The clock votes for the separate burial of hearts

I am trying to love the world and all its 8,000 identifiable languages

With the forgetfulness of a potter I’m trying to get the seas back on the maps where they belong secured to their rivers

344 Works Cited "The Believer - How Far Can You Press a Poet?" The Believer. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 June 2013. .

Brueghel, Pieter. The Fall of Icarus. N.d. Web. .

"Canary Wharf in London." Photography on the Web. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Cohen, Adam. "Editorial Observer; What World War I's Greatest Poet Would Say About Hiding Our War Dead." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Nov. 2003. Web. 30 June 2013. .

"Interview with W.H. Auden." N.p., n.d. Web. .

"The Modern Poets." Flickr. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Picasso. Woman in a Hairnet. 1938. N.p.

Smith, Stevie. Not Waving But Drowning. N.d. Web. .

"W.B. Yeats Dead; Famed Irish Poet." New York TImes. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Wiggins, Grant P. Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2010. Print. Book

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