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| Charles Dickens Jeremiah Gurney, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Introduction
Charles Dickens, one of the most celebrated figures of Victorian literature, continues to stand as a literary giant not only because of his memorable characters and powerful social critiques but also because of his astonishing ability to weave humor into even the darkest narratives. For Dickens, laughter was never a superficial embellishment. It was an essential part of the human condition, a way of exposing folly, highlighting absurdity, and offering relief amid suffering.
His works are full of timeless comedic techniques—from eccentric characters and witty narrative commentary to biting satire and ironic juxtapositions. While novels such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield are often praised for their humor, even the grim and politically charged A Tale of Two Cities is punctuated with moments of wit, caricature, and comic relief.
In this essay, we will explore Dickens’s humorous techniques as displayed in A Tale of Two Cities, situating them within his broader literary style. More importantly, we will examine what modern writers, students, and humorists can learn from his craft. By unpacking Dickens’s “toolkit of comedy”—character eccentricities, satire of social pretensions, narrative irony, and exaggeration—we gain insight into how humor can both entertain and illuminate profound truths.
The Dickensian Toolkit: Crafting Humor From Everyday Life
One of Dickens’s greatest strengths was his ability to find humor in the details of everyday human behavior. He could take something mundane—such as a mannerism, a physical trait, or a domestic quarrel—and expand it into a humorous observation that revealed deeper truths about character and society.
1. Character Eccentricities and the Architecture of Absurdity
Humor, for Dickens, often begins with character. He created figures whose quirks and obsessions were exaggerated enough to entertain but still grounded in human truth.
Take Jerry Cruncher in A Tale of Two Cities. On the surface, Cruncher is a comical figure: a self-proclaimed “honest tradesman” whose nocturnal activities as a grave robber directly contradict his supposed respectability. His grumbling about his wife’s habit of “flopping” (praying) becomes a recurring gag. He interprets her prayers as sabotage against his shady business, turning a solemn act of faith into a comic domestic dispute. Even his son, “young Jerry,” mimics his father’s fascination with rusty nails and grave-digging, creating a generational echo of eccentricity.
The lesson for writers is clear: lean into character obsessions. By exaggerating a single quirk or contradiction, a writer can build humor that feels both surprising and inevitable.
2. The Comedy of Contradiction
Dickens loved to expose the gap between self-perception and reality. Few characters embody this more than Mr. Stryver, the pompous lawyer whose arrogance far exceeds his actual abilities. He describes himself as a man of delicacy and refinement, yet his every action contradicts this image. His clumsy courtship of Lucie Manette is particularly humorous, as he cannot comprehend how anyone might reject his supposed charm.
This gap between delusion and reality is fertile comedic ground. Writers can exploit this by creating characters whose self-image is absurdly out of step with how the world perceives them.
3. Dynamic Duos and Comic Foils
Humor thrives on contrast, and Dickens frequently paired opposites to heighten comedic effect. In A Tale of Two Cities, the relationship between Sydney Carton and Stryver exemplifies this. Carton, disillusioned and sardonic, serves as a foil to Stryver’s bluster and vanity. Their exchanges sparkle with ironic humor, even as their story arcs move toward tragedy.
4. Physical Comedy and Visual Caricature
Dickens was also a master of physical description. He imbued his characters with mannerisms and appearances that made them instantly memorable. Even minor details—Jerry Cruncher’s spiky, rust-colored hair or the aristocratic Monseigneur requiring four servants to make his hot chocolate—carry comedic weight. These images create visual gags that linger in the reader’s mind.
Satirizing Society: Dickens and the Comedy of Pretension
Beyond individual characters, Dickens wielded humor as a weapon against social absurdities. His satire exposed hypocrisy, affectation, and institutional folly.
The Monseigneur and the Farce of Aristocracy
In the famous “Monseigneur in Town” chapter, Dickens skewers the French aristocracy. The ritualistic levees, the sycophancy of the nobles, and the Monseigneur’s ludicrous indulgence in luxuries all reveal the hollowness of the ruling class. Their pomp and self-importance become laughable in the face of the suffering masses.
The satire here is double-edged: while readers may chuckle at the ridiculous rituals, they also recognize the injustice and blindness that foreshadow the Revolution.
Language as a Vehicle for Satire
Dickens also satirized institutions through language. Courtroom rhetoric, bureaucratic jargon, and pompous speeches become vehicles of humor. By mimicking and exaggerating official discourse, Dickens revealed how language itself could be used to obscure truth and perpetuate injustice.
For modern readers and writers, this remains a crucial lesson: listen carefully to how authority speaks. The jargon of corporations, governments, and institutions is often ripe for parody.
The Mob and Gallows Humor
Even the revolutionary mob, a terrifying force in A Tale of Two Cities, becomes a source of dark humor. The Carmagnole, a frenzied dance, and the wood-sawyer’s gleeful anticipation of executions both highlight the grotesque theatre of mass hysteria. This form of humor—sometimes called gallows humor—arises from horror itself, offering readers an uneasy, ironic laugh in the face of human cruelty.
The Narrator as Comedic Ringleader
A distinctive feature of Dickens’s humor is his narrative voice. Unlike modern novelists who often strive for detached neutrality, Dickens’s narrators are lively presences, guiding readers with irony, exaggeration, and direct commentary.
Irony as a Tool
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Verbal irony: Jerry Cruncher’s repeated insistence on being an “honest tradesman” is funny precisely because the reader knows otherwise.
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Situational irony: The French aristocracy’s belief in its divine permanence, on the brink of revolution, is both tragic and laughable.
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Dramatic irony: Carton’s ultimate sacrifice is imbued with tragic irony, but the obliviousness of certain characters provides darkly humorous tension.
Hyperbole and Exaggeration
Dickens rarely described anything plainly. Instead, he inflated his descriptions until they sparkled with humor. Jerry Cruncher’s hair “standing up like a rusty nail” is not just vivid—it’s comically absurd, embedding character description into a kind of running joke.
Juxtaposition and Contrast
By placing humor next to tragedy, Dickens heightened both. A grim Revolutionary scene followed by Jerry Cruncher’s domestic squabbles forces the reader to oscillate between laughter and sorrow, mirroring the emotional complexity of real life.
Humor in Service of Truth: Dickens as Social Activist
For Dickens, humor was never trivial. It was a strategy of engagement, a way to draw readers into serious subjects without overwhelming them.
Softening the Blow Without Weakening the Point
Characters like Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist or the Circumlocution Office in Little Dorrit show how humor can make social critique sharper. By laughing at injustice, readers are simultaneously recognizing its absurdity and its cruelty.
Humanizing the Marginalized
Dickens often gave wit and humor to even his most downtrodden characters. This humanized them, creating empathy where mere description of suffering might alienate readers.
The Revolution as Grand Satire
The French Revolution itself becomes a kind of cosmic satire in A Tale of Two Cities. The cycle of violence—where liberators become oppressors—highlights humanity’s failure to learn from history. Dickens transforms tragedy into bitter humor, making the futility of endless violence impossible to ignore.
Lessons for Modern Writers: The Dickensian Legacy
What can today’s writers, bloggers, and content creators learn from Dickens’s humor? A great deal. His techniques remain timeless because they rest on universal observations about people and society.
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Observe human quirks: Comedy begins with observation.
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Exaggerate character traits: Build eccentricities into defining features.
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Exploit contradictions: Humor thrives in the gap between self-image and reality.
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Pair foils: Contrasting characters can generate endless sparks.
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Play with irony: Use verbal, situational, and dramatic irony for depth.
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Narrative voice matters: Don’t be afraid to let the narrator wink at the reader.
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Satirize institutions: Expose the absurdities of power, bureaucracy, or culture.
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Balance comedy with pathos: The best humor coexists with real emotion.
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Use humor to humanize: Laughter builds empathy.
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Remember universality: Dickens’s humor works today because it reflects timeless human folly.
Conclusion: Dickens and the Tragicomic Vision of Life
Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities proves that even in the bleakest narratives, humor has a vital role to play. It can relieve tension, illuminate character, and expose injustice. More than that, it reveals Dickens’s profound understanding of life’s tragicomic nature: the reality that sorrow and laughter are never far apart.
For readers, Dickens offers delight and insight. For writers, he provides an enduring model of how humor can coexist with social critique, pathos, and narrative drama. By studying his techniques—eccentric characters, satire, irony, exaggeration—we discover that humor is not a distraction from truth but one of the most powerful ways to engage with it.
In the end, Dickens’s humor is not simply a feature of his style—it is part of his legacy. He reminds us that even in the worst of times, laughter persists, offering both relief and revelation. His gem of wit continues to sparkle, guiding writers and readers alike through the tragicomic theater of human existence.
