Book II - Chapter VIII. Monseigneur in the Country Practice Quiz — A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Book II - Chapter VIII. Monseigneur in the Country
Where is the Marquis traveling in Chapter 8?
From Paris to his country estate (the Evrémonde château) through the impoverished French countryside.
What does the landscape look like as the Marquis travels through it?
Blighted and sparse — patches of poor rye, coarse vegetable substitutes for wheat, and crops that seem to vegetate unwillingly with "a dejected disposition to give up, and wither away."
What symbolic image occurs when the carriage reaches the hilltop?
The setting sun bathes the Marquis in crimson light, symbolically covering him in blood. He remarks, "It will die out … directly."
What is the dramatic irony of the Marquis saying "It will die out"?
He refers only to the sunset, but the words foreshadow his own death and the decline of the aristocracy — the red glow symbolizes the blood he has spilled.
How does Dickens describe the village the Marquis passes through?
With relentless repetition of the word "poor": poor brewery, poor tannery, poor tavern, poor stable-yard, poor fountain, poor people — all crushed under layers of taxation.
What taxes do the villagers pay?
The tax for the state, the tax for the church, the tax for the lord, tax local and tax general — so many "that there was any village left unswallowed" was a wonder.
What are the villagers eating for supper?
They are shredding spare onions and washing leaves, grasses, and other small yieldings of the earth — showing they can barely find enough to survive.
What two fates does Dickens say are available to the villagers?
"Life on the lowest terms that could sustain it, down in the little village under the mill; or captivity and Death in the dominant prison on the crag."
Who is the road-mender, and what does he report?
A grizzled local villager who tells the Marquis he saw a tall, dust-covered man — "whiter than the miller … tall as a spectre" — clinging to the chain beneath the carriage.
What happened to the mysterious stranger under the carriage?
He "precipitated himself over the hill-side, head first, as a person plunges into the river" when the carriage stopped for the drag.
Who is the mysterious stranger later revealed to be?
Gaspard, the father of the child killed by the Marquis's carriage in the preceding chapter, who has followed the Marquis to take revenge.
Who is Monsieur Gabelle?
The village postmaster and tax collector. The Marquis orders him to apprehend the stranger if he appears in the village.
How does the Marquis refer to the road-mender and peasants?
He calls them "pig," "Dolt," "idiots," and "vermin" — showing his contempt for the lower classes.
What does the wooden crucifix at the burial ground look like?
It is "dreadfully spare and thin," carved by a rustic carver who had "studied the figure from the life — his own life, maybe" — linking Christ's suffering to the peasants' starvation.
What does the widow ask the Marquis for?
Only a small morsel of stone or wood with her husband's name to mark his grave, so it will not be lost among the many graves of the poor.
How does the Marquis respond to the widow's petition?
With cold indifference: "Well! He is quiet. Can I restore him to you?" His valet pushes her away and the carriage speeds on.
What does the widow say about why so many graves are unmarked?
"So many die of want; so many more will die of want" — the graves multiply so fast and with such poverty that they are quickly lost and forgotten.
What question does the Marquis ask when he arrives at his château?
"Monsieur Charles, whom I expect; is he arrived from England?" — revealing his connection to Charles Darnay.
What is the significance of the Marquis expecting "Monsieur Charles"?
It links the Marquis to Charles Darnay (later confirmed as his nephew), connecting the personal plot to the broader social conflict between aristocracy and peasantry.
What comparison does Dickens draw between the Marquis and Monseigneur of the Court?
The peasant faces "drooped before him, as the like of himself had drooped before Monseigneur of the Court" — showing the same dynamic of power and submission at every level of the hierarchy.
What literary device does Dickens use when describing the Marquis as "attended by the Furies"?
An allusion to Greek mythology. The Furies were goddesses of vengeance, foreshadowing the retribution that will be visited on the Marquis for his cruelty.
How does Dickens describe the village lights at the end of the chapter?
As the casements darkened and stars came out, the lights "seemed to have shot up into the sky instead of having been extinguished" — a poetic image linking the humble village to the heavens.