Coincidences In Charles Dickens's A Tale Of Two Cities

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In A Tale of two cities, Dickens uses coincidences throughout the entire novel. He does this to fuel the plot and to catch the reader’s attention. He includes these coincidences in very strategic methods which strengthen the overall plot of A Tale of Two Cities and to tie the characters together. It is a very controversial topic of whether coincidences strengthen or weaken the plot. It has been determined that the result really depends on how the author choses to include such coincidences. I believe that Dickens style in A Tale of Two Cities is extremely appropriate for including coincidences.
Dickens style of writing is complex and extremely intelligent. The reader must be fully engaged in reading to be able to understand what is happening in the plot. Choosing this style of writing raises many challenges to the author. The author must include heavy details, interesting events, or something which forces the reader to continue reading with intent interest. That is exactly what Dickens did when he chose to include and rely so heavily upon coincidences in his novel.
Dickens believed in interrelation and connections between people. In A Tale of Two Cities, similar looks and relations between characters give examples of coincidences which strengthen the overall plot. Very early on in A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Darnay is being put to trial with a death sentence described as this: “He’ll be drawn on a hurdle to be half hanged, and then he’ll be taken down and sliced before his own face, and then his insides will be taken out and burnt while he looks on, and then his head will be chopped off, and he’ll be cut into quarters” (page 45). The whole audiences was assured that Darnay would be put to death up until they saw Carton “Someth...

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...ily packed with coincidences. It adds character to A Tale of Two Cities and forms it into a much more attention-grabbing novel. If you were reading a novel where a young girl married a young man, it would be fairly boring and mind-numbing. Now suppose that girl’s father had be in prison for eighteen years and separated from his young baby girl and wife. Five years before that young girl got married, her father was found and recalled to life. And then come to find out that the young man that she is marrying just so happens to be the nephew of the wicked and selfish Marquis, who was responsible for imprisoning her father. The story is now much more complex and it is worth reading. The characters are all connected in some way, unbeknown to them. Each of these characters caused huge changes in another one of their lives, some for the better and some for the worse.

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