A Tale Of Two Cities The focus of A Tale Of Two Cities is on the impetus and fervor of 18th-century European socio-political unrest, its consequences and what Dickens presents as the appropriate response of an enlightened aristocracy and a just citizenry. The tale opens with Doctor Manettte having spent the last 18 years of his life in the Bastille, innocent of all crimes except his contempt for the vile actions of a French marquis. The atrocious nature of his confinement induced a madness resolved only by the devoted love of his Lucie. We then meet these characters five years later, participating in the trial of Charles Darnay, a French immigrant of noble origins who renounced his position rather than take part in the barbarian class. structure of 18th century France. The beautiful and virtuous Lucie Manette is admired by both Sydney Carton and her loathsome law partner, CJStryver. It is the inherently ethical Carton, not the aristocratic (and belligerent) Stryver who realizes that marriage to Charles Darnay would bring Lucie the greatest happiness. Their happiness is short-lived, however, as Darnay, legate of honour, returns to Paris. His accusation is promoted by a vengeful and newly empowered Madame Defarge, a "patriot of the revolution" who uses the revolutionary "Popular Tribunals" to redress grievances committed by the Evremonde. clan. Aided by her cohort (aptly named by the code name "Vengeance"), punishment, not justice, is her only concern. “…I have long had this race on my record, destined for destruction and extermination.”(370). This savage character - "The lady's resolute right hand was occupied with an axe,...and in her belt were a pistol and a cruel knife" (244) - displays an anger so resolute and ferocious that it can be compared only to that of newly divorced students here at NYU - but that's simply my experience. Dickens does not portray Madame Defarge and her compatriots as morally bankrupt, but rather depicts their inevitable creation in the oppressive aristocratic class structure of 18th-century Europe. A Tale Of Two Cities is written in a perfectly linear progression of this theme. It initially depicts the oppressive nature of the aristocracy (the imprisonment of Doctor Manette, the accidental death of a child, and the banal response of the Marquis - among other graphic illustrations) leading to the fervor of revolutionary assassins seeking justice..