A tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9. Book the Second: The Golden Thread—Chapter 9: The Gorgon's Head 2022-12-14

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A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. Book 2, Chapter 9 is titled "The Gorgon's Head" and continues the story of Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat who has fled to England to escape the revolution.

In this chapter, Darnay is on trial for treason in France. The evidence against him is weak, but the prosecutor, Monsieur Defarge, is determined to see him convicted. Defarge is a member of the revolutionaries and hates the aristocracy. He is also motivated by personal animosity towards Darnay, as Darnay's father was responsible for the death of Defarge's sister.

Darnay's lawyer, Mr. Stryver, does his best to defend him, but the jury is swayed by Defarge's emotional appeals and Darnay is found guilty. Darnay's wife, Lucie, is devastated by the verdict and fears for her husband's life.

Meanwhile, the English lawyer Sydney Carton, who has been in love with Lucie from afar, decides to take action. He hatches a plan to rescue Darnay from prison and help him escape to safety. Carton, who is a drunken slacker, realizes that he has nothing to live for and decides to use his remarkable physical resemblance to Darnay to his advantage.

Carton disguises himself as Darnay and, with the help of a sympathetic guard, manages to sneak Darnay out of prison and onto a waiting ship bound for England. Darnay and Lucie are reunited and grateful to Carton for his bravery.

In the final paragraphs of the chapter, Dickens reflects on the sacrifices made during the revolution and the idea that "the eternal purpose" will ultimately triumph over the "turbulent sea" of human suffering.

Overall, Chapter 9 is a dramatic and poignant chapter in A Tale of Two Cities, highlighting the bravery and selflessness of Carton and the consequences of the French Revolution for the lives of its characters.

A Tale of Two Cities Book 2, Chapter 9

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

The Marquis looked that way, and listened for the retreating step of his valet. The family honour, sir, is safe from me in this country. Light Monsieur my nephew to his chamber there! What did all this portend, and what portended the swift hoisting-up of Monsieur Gabelle behind a servant on horseback, and the conveying away of the said Gabelle double-laden though the horse was , at a gallop, like a new version of the German ballad of Leonora? His latent uneasiness had been … that he who could not fail to know that he was better than they, was not there, trying to do something to stay bloodshed, and assert the claims of mercy and humanity. The universal watchfulness so encompassed him, that if he had been taken in a net, or were being forwarded to his destination in a cage, he could not have felt his freedom more completely gone. She tells him that the prayers come from her heart, and that is all that they are worth. It superseded the Cross.

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Chapter 1

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

Up the broad flight of shallow steps, Monsieur the Marquis, flambeau preceded, went from his carriage, sufficiently disturbing the darkness to elicit loud remonstrance from an owl in the roof of the great pile of stable building away among the trees. For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. Dickens usually gave his chapters titles that subtly referenced a metaphor or mythical allusion in the chapter. The sea of black and threatening waters, and of destructive upheaving of wave against wave, whose depths were yet unfathomed and whose forces were yet unknown.

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A Tale of Two Cities Book the Second, Chapters 1 and 2 Questions and Answers

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

It was like a fine mask, suddenly startled, made angry, and petrified. He calls her conceited because he assumes that she thinks her prayers are worth something. There were many women at that time, upon whom the time laid a dreadfully disfiguring hand; but, there was not one among them more to be dreaded than this ruthless woman, now taking her way along the streets … imbued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and an inveterate hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her into a tigress. Light Monsieur my nephew to his chamber there! From this room, many such dogs have been taken out to be hanged; in the next room my bedroom , one fellow, to our knowledge, was poniarded on the spot for professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter— his daughter? Darnay's real name, the reader discovers, is Evrémonde, meaning "everyman,"and his ambition is to fulfill his mother's dying wish to right his family's wrongs. It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race. Then began the rarely lightened toil of the day among the village population. The second is the date of publication online or last modification online.

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Chapter 9

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

But I nca ees ttha you aer lost, Meosnrui Ceslahr. The Marquis looked that way, and listened for the retreating step of his valet. From this room, many such dogs have been taken out to be hanged; in the next room my bedroom , one fellow, to our knowledge, was poniarded on the spot for professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter—HIS daughter? It was as if the gtinh reew lndiogh ist abhter, igsihgn a ognl, low tarebh, and hent dogihnl ist barthe nagai. It portended that there was one stone face too many, up at the chateau. Not a mean village closed upon him, not a common barrier dropped across the road behind him, but he knew it to be another iron door in the series that was barred between him and England. How is Lucie Manette different from those around her in the courtroom? We have lost many privileges; a new philosophy has become the mode; and the assertion of our station, in these days, might I do not go so far as to say would, but might cause us real inconvenience.

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A Tale of Two Cities Quotes

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

We have lost many privileges; a new philosophy has become the mode; and the assertion of our station, in these days, might I do not go so far as to say would, but might cause us real inconvenience. The family name can suffer from me in no other, for I bear it in no other. What did all this portend, and what portended the swift hoisting-up of Monsieur Gabelle behind a servant on horseback, and the conveying away of the said Gabelle double-laden though the horse was , at a gallop, like a new version of the German ballad of Leonora? What is the eighteenth century view of the death penalty in England? I shall be ready in a quarter of an hour. He was half way through it, when he again stopped with his glass in his hand, hearing the sound of wheels. Not expecting his nephew to arrive so late, the Marquis begins eating alone.


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A Tale of Two Cities Book 2 Chapter 9.

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

The family honour, sir, is safe from me in this country. Charles Darnay from London. It now shone brightly, through the door of communication. Glossary the Gorgon's head in Greek mythology, a Gorgon is one of three sisters with snakes for hair. Had the birds, carrying some grains of it to a distance, dropped one over him as they sow chance seeds? A stony business altogether, with heavy stone balustrades, and stone urns, and stone flowers, and stone faces of men, and stone heads of lions, in all directions. There is a curse on it, and on all this land.

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A Tale of Two Cities Book 2 Chapter 9 Summary

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

He was to be told said Monseigneur that supper awaited him then and there, and that he was prayed to come to it. But Defarge was with Gaspard when the child was killed. The tsyle of neo of the alst ksngi, uLsoi XIV of Facnre—aptr of a nile of gnisk hatt uogthht fro usre htye uodlw luer reefvor—wsa onwkn rfo tis etenalg uiutfrern. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind. Avoiding the larger rooms, which were dark and made fast for the night, Monsieur the Marquis, with his flambeau-bearer going on before, went up the staircase to a door in a corridor. A stony business altogether, with heavy stone balustrades, and stone urns, and stone flowers, and stone faces of men, and stone heads of lions, in all directions.


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A Tale of Two Cities Book the Second, Chapter 9 Questions and Answers

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

These little instruments of correction, these gentle aids to the power and honour of families, these slight favours that might so incommode you, are only to be obtained now by interest and importunity. Latest answer posted July 30, 2011, 3:46 am UTC 2 educator answers 8. He adds that when his mother died, she commanded him to have mercy on the people. Lorry to bring Analysis Just as material goods are buried and decay in Tellson's, the bank transforms the people who deal with it as well. Had the birds, carrying some grains of it to a distance, dropped one over him as they sow chance seeds? Readers will learn more about these crimes later. Now, the sun was full up, and movement began in the village. When coffee had been served and they were alone together, the nephew, looking at the uncle and meeting the eyes of the face that was like a fine mask, opened a conversation.

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No Fear Literature: A Tale of Two Cities: Book 2, Chapter 9: The Gorgon’s Head Page 5

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

She was the golden thread that 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 face, the touch of her hand, had a strong beneficial influence with him almost always. It is important to know that Darnay feels this way, because of how he is treated by the Revolutionaries later in the novel. So much was closing in about the women who sat knitting, knitting, that they their very selves were closing in around a structure yet unbuilt, where they were to sit knitting, knitting, counting dropping heads. The next morning, the chateau bell begins ringing, and Gabelle gallops off on a horse. Some of his physical characteristics and personality traits create an air of mystery, such as his muddy boots, his rusty fingers, and his paranoia regarding his wife's prayers. Some of the people of the chateau, and some of those of the posting-house, and all the taxing authorities, were armed more or less, and were crowded on the other side of the little street in a purposeless way, that was highly fraught with nothing. He was half way through it, when he again stopped with his glass in his hand, hearing the sound of wheels.


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Book the Second: The Golden Thread—Chapter 9: The Gorgon's Head

a tale of two cities book 2 chapter 9

All very bad, very bad! Why do all eyes in the courtroom turn to Lucie Manette? In the glow, the water of the chateau fountain seemed to turn to blood, and the stone faces crimsoned. When his nephew — Analysis With the murder of the Marquis — a man who represents evil in the aristocracy — by a representative of the common people, the tension and momentum build and the reader senses that the revolution is near. With the rising and falling of the blaze, the stone faces showed as if they were in torment. A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. This thrown open, admitted him to his own private apartment of three rooms: his bed-chamber and two others. Afterwards, Stryver and Carton drink and talk. Lighter and lighter, until at last the sun touched the tops of the still trees, and poured its radiance over the hill.


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