80 Most Important Brief Questions of A Tale of Two Cities
1. What two cities are mentioned in A Tale of Two Cities? 1
Ans. London and Paris.
2. Who are the two persons who look alike in A Tale of Two Cities?
Ans. Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay.
3. What is a guillotine?
Ans. A guillotine is a machine of execution.
4. Who is the protagonist of the novel A Tale of Two Cities?
Ans. Charles Darnay.
5. Who is Dr. Alexandre Manette?
Ans. A French physician who is imprisoned for eighteen years in the Bastille.
6. Who is Charles Darnay?
Ans. The protagonist of the novel A Tale of Two Cities.
7. Who is Lucie Manette?
Ans. Daughter of Dr. Manette.
8. Who is Monsieur Ernest Defarge?
Ans. He is a wine-seller in Paris and a former servant of Dr. Manette.
9. Who is Madame Therese Defarge?
Ans. Wife of Ernest Defarge.
10. Who is Mr. Jarvis Lorry?
Ans. An official of Tellson’s bank who befriends the Manette family.
11. Who is Miss Pross?
Ans. Luce’s nurse.
12. Who is Jerry Cruncher?
Ans. An odd-job man, who sits outside Tellson’s bank during the day and is a body-snatcher by night.
13. Who is C. J. Stryver?
Ans. A successful lawyer
14. Who is Gabelle?
Ans. A faithful steward of the Evremonde family.
15. Who is Gaspard?
Ans. Gaspard is the father of the child who was run over by the Marquis’ carriage.
16. Who is John Barsad?
Ans. Miss Pross’ brother.
17. Who is Roger Cly?
Ans. A police spy in England.
18. Who is the Vengeance?
Ans. A bloodthirsty woman who is always at the side of Madame Defarge.
19. What is Madame Defarge’s knitting?
Ans. It means the knitted register into which Madame Defarge knits her victim’s names.
20. What are the Redcaps?
Ans. The red caps symbolize the newfound freedom of the peasants.
21. What is La Force?
Ans. It is the name of the Prison.
22, What is the Tribunal?
Ans. The Tribunal is the court that hears the cases of prisoners and this court was very corrupt as most trials are shams.
23. Who are the “Woodsman” and the “Farmer”?
Ans. The Woodsman means fate, and the farmer means death.
24. Who are the “king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face”?
Ans. King George -III and his queen Charlotte Sophia
25. Who are the “king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face”?
Ans. King Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinettte
26. What is Newgate?
Ans. A London prison, notorious for its inhumane conditions.
27. On what precise date does chapter two of Book I open?
Ans. On a Friday night in late November of 1775, a mail coach travels its way from London to Dover.
28. What is a mail coach?
Ans. A mail coach is a coach that carries mail and people.
29. What is the meaning of the message: “Wait at Dover Mam’selle”?
Ans. Mr. Lorry should wait for Miss Manette at the port of Dover, before crossing on to France.
30. What do you think the phrase “recalled to life” means?
Ans. It means someone is getting another chance at life.
31. Who is the “short, slight, pretty figure”?
Ans. Miss Lucie Manette
32. Who is the brawny, red-haired woman?
Ans. Miss Pross, Lucie’s nurse.
33. Why did Dr. Manette give his name as “One Hundred and Five, North Tower”?.
Ans. It was his cell number in the Bastille and he lost his identity because of his imprisonment of eighteen years.
34. Who is an “honest tradesman”?
Ans. Jerry Crunchers.
35. How is it ironic that Jerry Cruncher is an “honest tradesman”?
Ans. Because later on, he turns out to be a grave-digger.
36. What is the “Old Bailey” and for what is it famous?
Ans. The name of a law court in London and it is famous for executing criminals.
37. What is Bedlam?
Ans. A notorious asylum.
38. What is the real name of John Barsad?
Ans. Solomon Pross.
39. What is Sydney Carton’s opinion of himself?
Ans. “I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.”
40. Who is the jackal?
Ans. Sydney Carton.
41. Who is the lion?
Ans. Mr. Stryver.
42. Who calls Lucie “Ladybird”?
Ans. Miss Pross.
43. What is a “farmer-general”?
Ans. A member of a rich organization that made a living off of high taxes.
44. Who is the father of the dead child?
Ans. Gaspard.
45. Who is the town tax collector and postmaster?
Ans. Gabelle.
46. Who were the gorgons?
Ans. In classical myth, the gorgons were three sisters who bear a snake-like heir.
47. What are the gorgons symbolic of?
Ans. Cruelty, fate, and death.
48. Who kills the Marquis?
Ans. Gaspard.
49. Who is the fellow of delicacy?
Ans. Mr. Lorry.
50. Who is “the fellow of no delicacy”?
Ans. Sydney Carton.
51. How does Carton declare his love for Lucie?
Ans. Indirectly.
52. What is Jerry Cruncher’s “fishing”?
Ans. Digging graves at night.
53. What is the significance of Madame Defarge pinning a rose to her hair?
Ans. It means warning to any revolutionists.
54.. Whom did Stryver marry?.
Ans. A wealthy widow with three sons.
55. How many Jacques attacked the Bastille?
Ans. Twenty-five thousand Jacques.
56. What was found digging into the walls of the cell?
Ans. A piece of paper buried by Dr. Manette during his imprisonment in that cell expressed Manette’s whole story.
57. What does Madame Defarge do to show her merciless strength?
Ans. To show her merciless strength, Madame Defarge put her foot on the neck of the governor and cut off his head with her knife.
58. What did Old Foulon declare once?
Ans. If people had nothing to eat they should eat grass.
59. Who set the chateau on fire?
Ans. The four figures – East, West, North, and South.
60. What is Sardanapalus?
Ans. An Assyrian king, renowned for his lavish lifestyle.
61. Why was Gabelle jailed?
Ans. Gabelle was jailed for his upkeep of the Marquis’ property.
62. Why does Gabelle request Charles to return to France?
Ans. To release him from prison.
63. What was the Loadstone Rock?
Ans. A mythical rock.
64. What for Charles is the Loadstone Rock?
Ans. Paris is the Loadstone Rock for Charles Darnay.
65. What was the slogan of the French Revolution?
Ans. “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death.”
66. What does the Carmagnole symbolize?
Ans. The ruthlessness of the revolution.
67. Why is Charles re-arrested?
Ans. Charles is re-arrested because of denunciation by three people.
68. Who are the three people who denounced Charles?
Ans. They are Monseiur Defarge, Madame Defarge and Dr. Manette.
69. How does Madame Defarge die?
Ans. She accidentally shoots herself.
70. What made Miss Pross permanently deaf?
Ans. The flash and crash of the pistol.
71. What does Carton foretell for Charles and Lucie and Manette?
Ans. Charles, Lucie, and Manette will live in peace in England.
72. Who does Stayver insult as a “mincing Fool’?
Ans. He insults Lucie as a ‘mincing Fool’.
73. What is the name of the bank mentioned in A Tale of two Cities?
Ans. Tellson’s Bank
74. What is ‘Boz’?
Ans. Charles Dickens’s pseudonym.
75. What is Saint Antoine?
Ans. The suburb of Paris.
76. What kind of novel is A Tale of Two Cities?
Ans. A historical novel.
77. What is the significance of Madame Defarge’s knitting in Dickens’ novel?
Ans. Her knitting is symbolic of maintaining a register of the names of people who are to be punished for oppressing the masses.
78. What is the Chateau?
Ans. It is the name of the home of Monseigneur the Marquis.
79. What is the significance of the lion and the jackal?
Ans. Their nicknames are very significant as they sum up their character and relationship aptly and meaningfully.
80. Who destroyed Mr. Manette’s shoemaking tools? Ans. Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross.