Book I - Chapter I. The Period Practice Quiz — A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Book I - Chapter I. The Period
What year does A Tale of Two Cities open in?
The year 1775, described as a time of extremes in both England and France.
What are the two countries described in Chapter 1?
England and France, both depicted as plagued by social injustice, crime, and oblivious monarchs.
How does Dickens describe the King and Queen of England?
As "a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face" (George III and Queen Charlotte).
How does Dickens describe the King and Queen of France?
As "a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face" (Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette).
What is the Woodman an allegory for in Chapter 1?
Fate. The Woodman silently marks trees that will be cut down and made into the guillotine.
What is the Farmer an allegory for in Chapter 1?
Death. The Farmer has already set apart rude carts near Paris that will become the tumbrils of the Revolution.
What literary device is used in the opening line "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"?
Antithesis—placing opposite ideas in parallel structure to highlight contrast and contradiction.
What is anaphora, and how does Dickens use it in Chapter 1?
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. Dickens repeats "it was" to build a rhythmic, incantatory opening.
What brutal punishment does Dickens describe in France?
A youth is sentenced to have his hands cut off, tongue torn out, and body burned alive for failing to kneel before a religious procession.
What is the "movable framework with a sack and a knife in it"?
The guillotine. Dickens avoids naming it directly, using foreshadowing to describe its future construction from trees already growing in 1775.
What does the phrase "the superlative degree of comparison only" mean in the opening paragraph?
It means the era was described in absolute extremes—everything was the best or worst, with no middle ground.
What is the Cock-lane ghost referenced in Chapter 1?
A famous London hoax from 1762 involving supposed spirit communications, used by Dickens to mock England’s gullibility and fascination with the supernatural.
What does Dickens mean by "a congress of British subjects in America"?
The Continental Congress, whose messages to the English Crown proved "more important to the human race" than supernatural sensations—a reference to the American Revolution.
What examples of crime in England does Dickens provide?
Highway robberies every night, the Lord Mayor robbed on Turnham Green, prisoners fighting turnkeys, thieves snatching diamond crosses at Court, and the mob firing on musketeers.
What is the main theme introduced through the Woodman and Farmer allegory?
The inevitability of revolution. These forces work silently and unceasingly, and no one is permitted to acknowledge their existence.
What is the significance of the phrase "season of Light" and "season of Darkness"?
They represent the Enlightenment (reason, progress) and the darkness of oppression, reflecting the dual nature of the era.
Complete the quote: "we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct ___"
"the other way"—meaning Hell. Dickens avoids naming it directly, adding a darkly comic understatement.
What does the chapter’s title, "The Period," refer to?
The year 1775, presented not as a unique era but as one "so far like the present period"—Dickens draws a parallel between the 1770s and his own Victorian age.
What word means "unwillingness to believe; skepticism" as used in the opening?
Incredulity—"it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity."
How does Dickens characterize the rulers of both nations at the end of the chapter?
As oblivious figures who "trod with stir enough, and carried their divine rights with a high hand," unaware of the forces gathering against them.