"Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickens Charles)

A TALE OF TWO CITIES: JERRY CRUNCHER

For some readers, spiky-haired Jerry Cruncher supplies an element of
humor in an otherwise serious novel. Other readers claim that the
Cockney odd-job man who beats his wife for "flopping" (praying) isn't
a particularly funny fellow. Cruncher's after hours work is digging
up newly buried bodies and selling them to surgeons, which may not
seem a subject for comedy. But it does contribute, in two important
ways, to A Tale's development.

Cruncher's grave robbing graphically illustrates the theme of
resurrection: he literally raises people from the dead. (Victorian
grave robbers were in fact nicknamed "resurrection men.")

One of the plot's biggest surprises hinges on Cruncher's failed
attempt to unearth the body of Roger Cly, the spy who testified with
John Barsad against Charles Darnay. In France, years after his
graveyard expedition, Cruncher discloses that Cly's coffin contained
only stones and dirt. This information enables Sydney Carton to
force Barsad, Cly's partner, into a plot to save Charles Darnay's
life.

As for Cruncher's moral character, a brush with Revolutionary terror
reforms him. He promises to make amends for his former "honest
trade" by turning undertaker, burying the dead instead of raising
them. In the last, tense pages of the novel, Cruncher's vow, "never
no more will I interfere with Mrs. Cruncher's flopping," finally
strikes a humorous chord. It's darkly comic relief.


A TALE OF TWO CITIES: SETTING

A Tale of Two Cities takes place in England and France, largely
London and Paris. The narrative starts in November 1775, but the
actual events of the story begin in December 1757 with Dr. Manette's
imprisonment in the Bastille. The action closes in December 1793
when Lucie Darnay and her party successfully flee France.

The historical background is the French Revolution. From page one,
it approaches unstoppably. Once revolution breaks out, the action
shifts to France and remains there for the duration of the novel.
Which of the two cities--London or Paris--makes the stronger
impression? You don't have to be familiar with Paris or its history
to get a concrete sense of the city's revolutionary atmosphere.
London, by contrast, may seem to fade out of the novel. With the
exception of the crowd following Roger Cly's tomb, you might have
trouble singling out an incident of London street life. Perhaps it's
Dickens' handling of time that puts the emphasis on Paris. Book the
Third covers only 15 months in a time scheme of 26 years. Yet that
entire part of the novel takes place in France, mainly in strife-torn