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1. Department für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
WS 2013/14
S Varieties of History in Victorian Fiction
Dr. Schmidt, Gabriela
An Epoch of Belief:
Religion in Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities
Philipp J. Rackl

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
0.—Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.—The Historical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Early Victorianism and Evangelicalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Mid Victorianism and the Broad Church Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.—Dickens and Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.—Religion in A Tale of Two Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1 A Gospel of Life and Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2 A Cult of Death and Revenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.—Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.—References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3. 1
0.—Introduction
In many ways, A Tale of Two Cities is not a typical Dickens novel. It is not only
the noticeable lack of Dickens s characteristic humour (Walder 1981: 199) that
sets the novel apart from his other writings. Dickens himself admitted feeling
completely obsessed by an idea that demanded expression when writing the
novel (cf. ibid.: 200), even though it remains unclear what it is, exactly, that he is
trying to say (ibid.: 198).
It is not difficult, however, to get the impression that this idea has something to
do with religion. A Tale of Two Cities is arguably one of Dickens s most patently
Christian novels , even amounting to an explicit, systematic expression of
Dickens s religious views (ibid.: 198). These widely noted religious overtones,
but also the obvious autobiographical idiosyncrasies that impacted its creation,
contribute to the in many respects exceptional character of the novel. It is thus
worthwhile to undertake a comprehensive account of the role of religion in A
Tale of Two Cities without ignoring the impact of the author s own views on his
work, as well as the social context of their development.
Following the introduction, I will shed light on the role of religion in Victorian
society, its impact on contemporary social morality, and relevant changes within
nineteenth-century religious landscape.
In the third part of this paper, I will analyze Dickens s own beliefs,
exploring how they relate to the morals of his time and how they are expressed
in his writings.
In the fourth part, examining the nature of religion in A Tale of Two Cities,
I will identify important themes and interpret their relation to Dickens s own
beliefs if and whenever possible to make sense of the religious content hidden in
the novel.
1.—The Historical Context
It would be oversimplifying to ask of what quality Victorian religion was, as it
would assume an improbable homogeneity for a dynamic period that, measured

4. 2
alone by the reign of its eponymous monarch, lasted more than sixty years. Thus,
as Hilton (2007: 236) argues, there were no overall Victorian values either, but
rather different sets of commonly held beliefs in different periods, each marked
by a predominant religious current and a corresponding moral zeitgeist.
1.1 Early Victorianism and Evangelicalism
During early Victorianism, which lasted roughly until the middle of the
nineteenth century, the religious mainstream was predominantly shaped by
evangelicalism (Hilton 2007: 238). This movement…
[…] emphasized a personal relationship between the believer and God,
marked by a profound and intimate conversion experience in which God
called the believer to a life of Bible reading, prayer, reformed habits, and,
perhaps most importantly, spreading the gospel to others both at home
and abroad (Krueger 1999: 146).
At a time of rising imperialist aspirations, legitimized by a widespread belief in
the supremacy of European Christian civilization, evangelicalism with its
missionary imperative was a potent religious force in a culture keen on
promoting Lockean and capitalistic individualism and expanding a global
empire (ibid.: 146). Industrialization far from a force inevitably in favour of
modernity if by modernity we mean secularization helped the religious
cause, as Victorian printing technologies enabled the realization of evangelical
dreams of mass Bible distribution (ibid.: 142).
The moral sentiment during this period was decidedly Old Testament . In a
society whose concept of justice was based on the logic of retribution (cf. ibid.:
236-237), the general response to social trespasses was an unmistakable call for
punishment. While belief in the divine status of Jesus was socially desirable,
people were not actually very interested in what Christ had said and done […]
or in his teaching as it is related in the New Testament (ibid.: 238); it was mainly
a prerequisite to earn one s ticket to Heaven, for it was believed that a person
could enter Heaven only if he or she had faith that Jesus had died to save
mankind (ibid.: 237-238, his italics).

5. 3
1.2 Mid Victorianism and the Broad Church Movement
Around the middle of the nineteenth century, a change in cultural values
occurred, so thorough that one can speak of a cultural revolution (Hilton 2007:
236). Darwin s On the Origin of Species of 1859 is only the most prominent
symbol of a general rise of science and a corresponding loss of authority that the
Bible and Christian doctrine had to suffer with respect to their claims about the
nature of the universe. Science offered explanations that competed seriously
with [those] offered by religion , leading to a Victorian crisis of faith, or at least
a deep uncertainty about established Christian belief and its institutions (Korte
2003: 137-138).
This was the time when the Broad Church or latitudinarian movement
gained traction. If we take evangelicalism to have been the defining value
donator of early Victorianism, the religion of the second half of the century […]
was of a predominantly liberal New Testament sort (Hilton 2007: 238)
represented by the Broad Church movement. Named after their emphasis on
Christian practice that as many citizens as possible could get behind,
latitudinarians argued that tolerance rather than sacerdotal vigilance would
attract the largest number of followers to the Church of England (Krueger 1999:
146). Challenging the latent indifference among the middle and upper classes
towards the plight of the working class, they promoted a social consciousness
amongst the clergy, urging them to support the working poor (Krueger 1999:
147). And indeed, Anglican Christianity now put over a more gentle, caring
conception of the world (Hilton 2007: 238) and in social policy there was a
move toward softness, to prevention in place of punishment (ibid.: 240). All this
was indicative of a larger shift in doctrinal focus heralded by the discovery of
Jesus and his teachings: [P]eople began to be fascinated with the life of Christ
(ibid.: 238, his italics) and Christmas, the festival of charity, replaced Easter as
the centre-point of the christian year (ibid.: 238).
This shift also coincided with a theologization of literary studies (Krueger
1999: 153). As science was dissecting the validity of biblical claims, the
responsibility for moral education was redistributed within society away from
only the Book to books in general. With universities and their curricula under
control of Anglican clergymen, literature was taught to be a source of

6. 4
inspiration and moral guidance , and earnest devotion could be transferred to
literature (ibid.).
2.—Dickens and Religion
Dickens s belief has been described as personal and modest (Walder 1981: 208).
From secondary sources, we know that Dickens prayed twice a day (cf. ibid.:
208), but such habitual statistics bore no relevance at all for Dickens himself, who
generally judged any overt manifestation of the religious spirit to be more
hypocritical and self-seeking than a genuine attempt to communicate with
[God] (ibid.: 2).
It is easily understood, then, how Dickens was all but certain to develop a
lasting aversion to the mainstream evangelicalism of his age (ibid.: 2).
Especially in his earlier novels, Dickens satirizes the overt and obtrusive zeal of
those demonstratively pious contemporaries. Mrs. Joe in Great Expectations, for
example, is described as a very clean housekeeper with an exquisite art of
making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself […]
and some people do the same by their religion (ibid.: 199). Later he caricatures
her puritan tendency of regarding joy as sinful in itself, epitomized by her
opposition to Christmas carols on the grounds that she claims to be fond of
them (ibid.: 200).
But Dickens also explicitly rejected Anglican High Church clericalism, as
well as Roman Catholicism, revealing his conviction that genuine religion was
hindered by a contemporary fetishism of rituals and liturgies voided of actual
Christian message (ibid.: 10). At one point, in 1864, he deemed the consequences
for the integrity of Christianity brought about by its own institutions so grave
that he wrote: [T]hat the Church s hand is at its own throat I am fully
convinced. Frustrated by a clerical establishment seeking to trample out
discussion and private judgement , he admonishes his readers: The Church that
is to have its part in the coming time must be a more Christian one, with […] a
stronger hold upon the mantle of our Saviour, as He walked and talked upon this
earth (ibid.: 209).

7. 5
Such an invocation of Christ is by no means a mere commonplace in the rhetoric
of a believer. Jesus and the medium of his message, the New Testament, stood at
the centre of Dickens s moral thinking and were the very source of his ethical
convictions, culminating in his judgement that the New Testament was the best
book that ever was or will be known to the world (Sroka 1998: 146).
So profound was his philosophical adherence to the teachings of Jesus and
the New Testament that Dickens, in perfect accordance with the discovery of
Jesus that was going on during mid Victorianism, felt inspired to write his own
biography of Christ. In The Life of Our Lord, intended for the spiritual teaching of
his children and by his own will long unpublished, he affirms his disdain for
ostentatious faith, emphasizing the need to keep […] quiet in our heart, and
never make a boast of our prayers or of our love of God (Walder 1981: 13).
These were also principles after which he modelled the education of his two
sons, making sure they had been brought up to recognise the truth and beauty
of Christianity as expressed in the New Testament rather than harassed about
religious observances or mere formalities (ibid.: 209).
In trying to do so, Dickens condensed Christ s deeds and teaching into
what he considered the all-encompassing essence of Christianity: It is
christianity TO DO GOOD always , he writes, to be gentle, merciful, and
forgiving . Such a stance is very much in line with Broad Church movement
ideals and its call for tolerance and social conscience. The emphasis on mercy,
forbearance, and forgiveness is essential for his concept of social justice, and he
admitted that even religion could not do anything really useful in social
improvement until the way had been paved for […] decency (ibid.: 10).
With regards to the implications of these beliefs for his writings, Dickens himself
crucially confessed:
With a deep sense of my great responsibility always upon me when I
exercise my art, one of my most constant and most earnest endeavours has
been to exhibit in all my good people some faint reflections of the teachings
of our great Master, and unostentatiously to lead the reader up to those
teachings as the great source of all moral goodness (ibid: 1).
The flip side of this enthusiasm for a general Christ-ian spirit, however, is a
peculiar indifference to Biblical doctrine. This is the reason why, curiously, we

8. 6
can confidently attest him to have been Protestant to the core (ibid.: 209), while
at the same time we have to admit that in orthodox Christian terms, there is
much that is missing (ibid.: 2), a fact that on more than one occasion drew him
accusations of mere pagan sentimentalism (ibid.: 5). As the above passage
makes clear, Dickens deliberately wrote fiction which while still mainly
entertainment might have been able to move the reader to believe (Sroka
1998: 146), in whatever vague a sense. By his nature he was thus less interested
in problems of doctrine and theology than in touching the religious
consciousness (Walder 1981: 4), abiding in life and writing by a mixture of
principles that may best be described as a union of religious sentiment and
humanitarian concern (ibid.: 6).
3.—Religion in A Tale of Two Cities
The religious references and codes included in A Tale of Two Cities are manifold.
As we will see, however, they can be systematized and organized in a dichotomy
of life and death, love and hate, benevolence and vengeance.
3.1 A Gospel of Life and Charity
A motif the novel is suffused with throughout is the theme of resurrection,
transformation, and the divine potential in humankind (Sroka 1998: 146).
At the beginning of the book, when Jerry Cruncher passes on a note to
Jarvis Lorry informing him to wait at Dover for Lucie Manette, Lorry s cryptic
response is: Jerry, say that my answer was, RECALLED TO LIFE (Dickens [1859]
2003: 12).
Jerry Cruncher, the novel s comic-relief character, is interestingly also the
first figure in whom we can discover encoded resemblance with Jesus himself:
Jerry s name […] reminds us of the prophet Jeremiah, who prophesized the
destruction of Jerusalem, and his initials, J.C. , suggest Jesus Christ who
was thought to be new Jeremiah, preaching love and not vengeance (Sroka
1998: 166).

9. 7
This equation becomes all the more ironic considering Cruncher s habit of
calculating time in Anna Dominoes (Dickens [1859] 2003: 57, cited in Rosen
1998: 181). Humorously blasphemous on purpose or not, it certainly makes for an
entertaining theological absurdity.
With Cruncher ridden off and the journey resumed, Lorry soon falls asleep,
and his mind is at some point taken somewhere else by a current of impression
that never ceased to run . He dreams about dig[ging] some one out of a grave
(Dickens [1859] 2003: 17), repetitively talking to the ghost of a person buried
[a]lmost eighteen years ago. Lorry s dream-self echoes the words he sent
Cruncher off with: You know that you are recalled to life? (ibid.: 17). In a subtle
continuation of this theme, Lorry himself is recalled to life then, recalled to the
consciousness of daylight , with all the shadows […] gone (ibid.: 18).
Just like the name of the first book foreshadows resurrection in the novel
in general, Lorry s dream unmistakably foreshadows his involvement in the
resurrection of Alexandre Manette, who, as the reader will come to know, had
been unjustly imprisoned in the Bastille for eighteen years.
Led to Dr Manette s solitary lair upstairs Defarge s wine-shop, Lorry and
Lucie Manette encounter a man who is mentally buried alive , with a hollow
face , a vacant gaze , and a voice not more than a last feeble echo of a sound
made long and long ago (ibid.: 42-43). After failed attempts by Lorry and
Defarge to engage Manette in conversation, it is Lucie who can reach him when
she steps up. Her name is tellingly derived from Latin lux light , and when her
golden hair touches her father, he feels warmed and lighted […] as though it
were the light of Freedom shining on him (ibid.: 48). In this respect, she also
becomes an incarnation of Christ, …
… actualiz[ing] for her father what Jesus expresses as his role for the human
race: I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life (John, 8:12, cited in Sroka 1998:
151).
Alexandre Manette is resurrected, gradually regaining consciousness of himself
and his surroundings, recovering his memory, all the while clinging to his
daughter in the unfolding emotional turmoil (Dickens [1859] 2003: 48). Upon
their leaving Paris, Lorry recognizes Manette as the buried man who had been
dug out (ibid.: 53). The shadows are gone again, now from a man once only a

10. 8
shadow of himself. At the end of novel he will be aged and bent, but otherwise
restored (Dickens [1859] 2003: 389, cited in Sroka 1998: 158), physically older,
but mentally and spiritually rejuvenated.
Another variation of resurrection is escape from impending execution.
Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette s eventual husband, escapes capital punishment
multiple times. In London, he is acquitted from charges of espionage (Dickens
[1859] 2003: 82). Upon returning to France, Darnay is imprisoned (cf. ibid.: 260),
fearing for his life again, only to be saved by Alexandre Manette and his
reputation with the revolutionaries (cf. ibid.: 293-295). This safety turns out to be
a temporary one, however. Soon afterwards, he is detained again by
revolutionary guards (cf. ibid.: 301-303), this time certain to be put to death, and
only Sidney Carton s self-sacrifice (cf. ibid.: 364) ultimately saves his life or
rather: restores his prospects of survival.
No resurrection, however, is as fateful for the events in the novel as the
transformation of Sidney Carton. A depressed, alcohol-inclined, self-centred,
self-pitying, dissolute and purposeless existence (Walder 1981: 198), Carton at
some point nevertheless musters the courage to be honest with Lucie Manette, to
confess his love for her that had transformed and emboldened him in the first
place: I am like one who died young. All my life might have been (Dickens
[1859] 2003: 156, cited in Sroka 1998: 159), he admits, but the emotions she
aroused in him, however unrequited his love, have recalled him to life, creating
the basis for his eventual sacrifice through which he becomes the most obviously
and profoundly Christ-like figure in the novel. In a supreme gesture of
selflessness, he takes Charles Darnay s place as a prisoner of the revolutionaries
and with it Darnay s responsibility for the crime he is accused of. Immediately
before his execution, Carton directly recites Jesus according to the Gospel of
John (11:25-26):
I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die (Dickens [1859] 2003: 389, cited in Sroka 1998: 145).
Executed on the guillotine, Carton ultimately dies for the crimes of others in the
same way Jesus died for the sins of the world. The bridge of light that appeared
to span the air between him and the sun (Dickens [1859] 2003: 327, cited in

11. 9
Walder 1981: 165) completes this narrative in an allusion to Christ s ascension.
We can understand each of these resurrections to be another creation act
celebrating the mystery of human life (Sroka 1998: 152). This mystery or
miracle inherent in […] humanity, which lies dormant and can be recalled in
everyone (ibid.: 152), is the ability to change for the better. Carton s self-
sacrifice, for example, is fundamentally as improbable as the resemblance
between himself and […] Darnay (Walder 1981: 198), but he can overcome this
improbability. His resurrection illustrates the human potential for
transformation; the potential to change for the better and thereby regain the
capacity to protect, defend, and save fellow human beings. In short, this gospel of
charity emphasizes the potential to do good, based on Dickens s belief that there
is indeed an element of Christ in everyone.
3.2 A Cult of Death and Revenge
The antithesis to life and resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities is, as Sroka (1998:
152) puts it, a diabolic counter-movement toward extermination specifically
personified by Madame Thérèse Defarge and French aristocrats.
Diabolic is an appropriate word here, as Ernest Defarge in particular
seems to take a noticeable liking to allusions to Satan. During the storming of the
Bastille, he encourages his fellow revolutionaries with the words: Work,
comrades all, work! […] in the name of all the Angels or the Devils which you
prefer work! (Dickens [1859] 2003: 224). But even before, when he is about to
open Manette s cell to Lorry and Lucie, he reveals his satanic enthusiasm.
Reacting to Lorry s incredulousness if it was possible that Manette could object
badly to not being looked up, Defarge affirms: Yes. And a beautiful world we
live in, when it is possible, and when many other such things are possible, and
not only possible, but done done, see you! […] Long live the devil (Dickens
[1859] 2003: 39, cited in Sroka 1998: 152).
The description of revolutionary conflict and the figures fighting in it
borrows so heavily from religious imagery that we seem to get the overall
impression of a genuine cult (Rosen 1998: 176), with its own set of necrophile

12. 10
rituals that come disconcertingly close […] to Christian sacrament (ibid.: 174).
When the cask of wine is spilt in front of Defarge s shop and a tall joker writes
BLOOD on a nearby wall (Dickens [1859] 2003: 32), the reference to the
Christian Eucharist is almost ungracefully obvious. However, the dignity of
Christian ritual is inverted, perverted. With the cask broken, people suspend
their business, or their idleness, to run to the spot without a trace of solemnity
(ibid.: 30-31). The image of little pools of red liquid in the streets, each
[surrounded] by its own jostling group (ibid.: 31), evokes the image of animals
gathering around their feeding trough, greedily losing themselves in it, with no
particular interest in cleanliness either when building mud-embarkments, to
stem the wine as it ran (ibid.: 31).
In another reference to Christian liturgy, Darnay s conviction and all the
sentences done in the name of the revolution are called sacrifices […] on the
people s altar (Dickens [1859] 2003: 345, cited in Rosen 1998: 183). Most
prominently, however, the guillotine, the symbol of semi-automated slaughter,
becomes the icon of this religion of death:
It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race. It superseded the
Cross. Models of it were worn on breasts from which the Cross was
discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where the Cross was
denied (Dickens [1859] 2003: 284).
Personified and sainted, Little Sainte Guillotine (Dickens [1859] 2003: 288, cited
in Rosen 1998: 175) is even implicitly compared with Christ when she is
described as the sharp female newly-born (Dickens [1859] 2003: 264, cited in
Rosen 1998: 175) whose birth calls upon her followers to spread a message of
death and damnation.
Even Thérèse Defarge whom Miss Pross once remarks to be from [her]
appearance, […] the wife of Lucifer (Dickens [1859] 2003: 380, cited in Sroka
1998: 152) is linked to Christ. She is presented as the antithesis to Jesus-
incarnate Sidney Carton by virtue of their similarities. Both are distinguished by
their retentive memories (Rosen 1998, 176): Carton s nickname is Memory
(Dickens [1859] 2003: 91, cited in Rosen 1998: 176), and Defarge is similarly
characterized: [If she] undertook to keep the register in her memory alone, she
would not lose a word of it not a syllable of it (Dickens [1859] 2003: 179, cited
in Rosen 1998: 176).

13. 11
Here again we can see a message that is expressed in religious wording, but
actually conveys Dickens s own moral sentiment, which in this case is an
indictment of abuse by the powerful. Thérèse Defarge, ever knit[ting] her
register throughout the novel for the ultimate purpose of exterminating the
persons recorded (Sroka 1998: 152), is much more than just a villain designed to
be hated. When she is asked by her husband where the killing will come to an
end and she only responds, At extermination (Dickens [1859] 2003: 353, cited in
Sroka 1998: 152), it certainly does not leave the impression of a character worthy
of our compassion. However, and significantly, her words only echo
Monseigneur s after he had just run over a child in her presence: I would ride
over any of you very willingly, and exterminate you from earth (Dickens [1859]
2003: 117, cited in Sroka 1998: 153). In a complex argument against cruelty …
Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will
twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious
license and oppression ever again, and it will surely yield the same fruit
according to its kind (Dickens [1859] 2003: 385).
… Dickens again reveals his Christian motivation, rejecting maltreatment and
retribution as means of social justice that only suffice to undermine human
dignity of perpetrator and victim alike and fuel a vicious cycle of hereditary
hatred.
4.—Conclusion
As we have able to see, religion in A Tale of Two Cities is more than a stylistic
device meant to adorn a literary work and increase its enjoyability in the eyes of
a contemporary audience. Religious themes and allusions serve as vehicles to
convey encoded messages which themselves communicate Christian values, or at
least Dickensian interpretations thereof.
A complex force within the novel, driving the plot as well as character
development, religion operates in a classical dichotomy. Resurrection and life
feature prominently, supported by frequent comparisons with and references to
Christ himself. Correspondingly, death and revenge are chosen and established
as counterweights.

14. 12
When aware of Dickens s own attested beliefs and unquestionable
adherence to New Testament values, their purpose becomes clear: to illustrate
humanity s inner moral strength and to show our potential to do good, and,
conversely, to indict the inevitable social consequences of suffering, oppression
and indifference (Walder 1859: 199).
The way in which this Christian sentiment is unmistakeably and undeniably
present throughout the novel, yet never quite above the surface, is characteristic
for Dickens s writing style as a Christian author while at the same time perfectly
mirroring his aversion to ostentatious religious expression. They betray a literary
mastery that earned him a place among the most venerated writers of English
fiction, a mastery that led not few to the belief that:
If A Tale falls short of the greatest story ever told, it nevertheless remains
one the best stories ever written. (Sroka 1998: 166, his italics)
Whether or not one agrees is, of course, a matter of personal taste. Certainly,
however, and ironically, a novel that is at first glance the least typically
Dickensian of them all can be said to reveal the most of Dickens.

15. 13
5.—References
PRIMARY LITERATURE
DICKENS, Charles. [1859] 2003. A Tale of Two Cities. Ed. Richard Maxwell. London et
al.: Penguin.
SECONDARY LITERATURE
HILTON, Boyd. 2007. Religion, Doctrine and Public Policy . The Victorian Studies
Reader. Ed. Kelly Boyd and Rohan McWilliam. London et al.: Routledge. 235-243.
KORTE, Barbara. 2003. Christianity, Science and the Victorians: An Introduction .
In the Footsteps of Queen Victoria: Wege zum Viktorianischen Zeitalter. Ed. Christa
Jansohn. Münster et al.: LIT. 135-152.
KRUEGER, Christine L. 1999. Clerical . A Companion to Victorian Literature &
Culture. Ed. Herbert F. Tucker. Oxford et al.: Blackwell. 135-152.
ROSEN, David. 1998. A Tale of Two Cities: Theology of Revolution . Dickens Studies
Annual 27: 171-185.
SROKA, Kenneth M. 1998. A Tale of Two Gospels: Dickens and John . Dickens
Studies Annual 27: 145-169.
WALDER, Dennis. 1981. Dickens and Religion. London: George Allen & Unwin.