In “A Tale of Two Cities,” Dickens portrays the French Revolution as something planned years in advance by a secret society. Not Freemasons or Illuminati – just a nameless group of peasants who meet in secret and call each other “Jacques.” This is an important plot point, because the DeFarges are leading figures in this organization, which has considerable political power – indeed, seems to be the actual government – once the revolution gets going. Historically, no such thing existed.
