Book II - Chapter IV. Congratulatory Practice Quiz — A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Book II - Chapter IV. Congratulatory
Where does Chapter 4 open, and what has just occurred?
In the dimly lit passages of the Old Bailey courthouse, just after Charles Darnay has been acquitted of treason and released from custody.
Who gathers around Darnay to congratulate him?
Doctor Manette, Lucie Manette, Mr. Lorry (the Tellson's Bank agent), and Mr. Stryver (the defense counsel).
How does Dickens describe Mr. Stryver's physical appearance and manner?
Stout, loud, red, bluff, looking twenty years older than his thirty-odd years, with a habit of "shouldering" himself into companies and conversations.
What disturbing expression crosses Doctor Manette's face when he looks at Darnay?
An intent look deepening into a frown of dislike and distrust, not even unmixed with fear — after which his thoughts wander away entirely.
What is Lucie called in relation to her father, and why?
The "golden thread" — she is the only one who can connect him to a past and present beyond his misery and charm away his dark brooding spells.
What metaphor does Dickens use for Manette's recurring episodes of mental darkness?
The shadow of the actual Bastille thrown upon him by a summer sun, even though the substance (the prison) was three hundred miles away.
Who is the unnamed figure leaning against the wall in the darkest shadow?
Sydney Carton, who silently follows the group out and approaches after the others have departed.
Why has nobody acknowledged Carton's role in Darnay's acquittal?
Nobody knew about it — Carton's physical resemblance to Darnay, which destroyed the prosecution's identification evidence, went unrecognized by the congratulatory group.
What irritates Mr. Lorry about Sydney Carton?
Carton's mocking, careless tone about "men of business" and his seeming indifference to propriety and professional decorum.
Where does Carton take Darnay after the others leave?
Down Ludgate Hill to Fleet Street, into a tavern where they are shown to a private room for dinner.
How do Carton and Darnay differ during the tavern dinner?
Darnay eats a good plain dinner to regain his strength, while Carton sits opposite drinking port wine steadily with a "half-insolent manner."
What toast does Carton prompt Darnay to give?
"Miss Manette" — Carton says it is on the tip of Darnay's tongue and forces him to say her name aloud.
What does Carton do immediately after they toast Lucie Manette?
He flings his glass over his shoulder against the wall, where it shatters to pieces, then orders another.
What blunt question does Carton ask Darnay?
"Do you think I particularly like you?" — Darnay honestly replies that he does not think Carton likes him, and Carton agrees.
What confession does Carton make as Darnay leaves the tavern?
"I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me."
What does Carton do after Darnay leaves?
He takes up a candle, looks at himself in a mirror, and bitterly addresses his own reflection, confronting how he has wasted his life.
What does Carton ask himself while looking in the mirror?
"Change places with him, and would you have been looked at by those blue eyes as he was, and commiserated by that agitated face as he was?"
What does the "winding-sheet in the candle" symbolize at the chapter's end?
A winding-sheet is burial cloth for a corpse; the dripping candle wax suggests Carton is living a death-in-life, and foreshadows his eventual literal death.
What larger theme does the Carton-Darnay pairing establish?
The theme of doubles — two men who look alike but whose characters are opposites, with Darnay representing what Carton might have been.
What word does Darnay use to describe Carton as his "Double" during the tavern scene?
Dickens writes that Darnay felt Carton to be "this Double of coarse deportment," finding the whole encounter dreamlike and confusing.
What does Carton's warning to Darnay — "Don't let your sober face elate you; you don't know what it may come to" — foreshadow?
It foreshadows the reversal of their fortunes: Darnay will later face death again in revolutionary Paris, and Carton will take his place at the guillotine.