A Particularly Touching Novel – Sexuality in “A Tale of Two Cities”

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is a novel of sexual repression.  Written during the austere Victorian era when writing about such matters was strictly taboo, Dickens personifies inanimate objects and incorporates the sensation of touch to give his prose a subtle yet apparent sexual undercurrent.

We first see this in the meeting between Mr. Lorry and Lucie Manette in Chapter IV of Book I.  They have a dialogue until their conversation is punctuated by a passage of touch:

“Mr. Lorry took the hesitating little hand that confidingly advanced to take his, and he put it with some ceremony to his lips.  He then conducted the young lady straightaway to her chair again, and, holding the chair-back with his left hand, and using his right by turns to rub his chin, pull his wig at the ears, or point what he said, stood looking down into her face while she sat looking up into his.” (26)

We see Dickens setting up a few things here.  First, the physical contact between Mr. Lorry and Lucie comes as a dissonant surprise, especially since Mr. Lorry has just stated that he has “no feelings” and is a “mere machine” (Dickens 26).  This passage appears particularly sexual because Mr. Lorry kisses Lucie’s hand with his lips, framed with Lucie hesitating and confiding in him.  Lucie’s hesitation shows that what she is doing is a big deal for her, while her confiding in him hints secrecy and trust.  This portrays Lucie as a sort of virginal character about to engage in the sex act, further suggested by Mr. Lorry guiding her and holding the chair-back, which can be construed as Lucie’s back.  Mr. Lorry taking Lucie’s hand “with ceremony” foreshadows her nuptials and eventual marriage, while the diminutive use of her “little” hand and her “looking up” at him suggests that she is a helpless character that needs protection.  It is important to remember is that nothing sexual actually occurs in this passage; Lucie is only seventeen, Mr. Lorry is old, and they are held back by the rules and norms of their social culture.  Although nothing is consummated, we can glean that, contrary to his stoic speech, Mr. Lorry actually deeply desires Lucie sexually; however, he cannot fulfill these desires.  Lorry’s kiss and seating of Lucie is his way of letting her go and presenting her as ripe for courtship.

Lucie’s body is evoked even more subtly during Charles Darnay’s confession of his love for Lucie to Doctor Manette.  Here we see a chair representing Lucie again: “His touch still lingered on her father’s hand.  Answering the touch for a moment, but not coldly, her father rested his hands upon the arms of his chair, and looked up for the first time since the beginning of the conference” (128).  First, notice how the paragraph begins with “her father’s hand,” already indirectly referencing Lucie and framing her into what follows.  Then Doctor Manette rests his hands on the arms of his chair, this time the chair’s arms representing Lucie’s arms.  He even looks up just as Lucie looked up, suggesting that he is weak.  Here we see Doctor Manette’s desire to protect Lucie, and Lucie as a vulnerable character.  Lucie’s vulnerability is starkly contrasted with Madame Defarge’s dominance, seen when Monsieur Defarge puts his hand behind his wife’s chair, using his wife to barricade himself from someone he hates.  Given the lack of female characters in A Tale of Two Cities, the sensual contrast between Lucie and Madame Defarge is particularly striking.