A Tale of Two Cities Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Leonard Manheim

Critical Essay by Leonard Manheim

SOURCE: “A Tale of Two Characters: A Study in Multiple Projection,” in Dickens Studies Annual, Volume I, edited by Robert B. Partlow, Jr., Southern Illinois University Press, 1970, pp. 225-37.

In the following essay, Manheim explores the duality of the main “character” in A Tale of Two Cities, arguing that Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay are essentially a single “Fantasy-Hero” who embodies Dickens's own ideal of himself.

Dickens scholars have never been able to forgive A Tale of Two Cities its popularity—its very special kind of popularity. Pickwick Papers has survived the adulation of the special Pickwick cult; David Copperfield has survived the sentimental biography-hunting of the Dickensians; even Great Expectations may survive its selection as the Dickens work to be presented in “service courses” on the lower college level. But A Tale of Two Cities will never wholly live down the fact that it has received a kiss...
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