This first paragraph of Dickens is a beautiful example of paradoxes, paradoxes to which each reader can relate. For, no historical period is without its benefits and its deficiencies. Also, Dickens sets up parallels between the time period of the novel,the 1780s, and his own time period, the 1850s.
In England, there were social changes being made by the Industrial Revolution as well as from influences across the English Channel in France with such men as Robespierre and Danton. Dickens wished to portray the danger of radical thinking as this thinking wrought death and destruction. He feared that "the age of incredulity" might effect even more destruction than those caught in "the age of foolishness." On the other hand, Dickens perceived that children and adults both suffered under cruel working conditions; people were suspicious of one another, and other inhumane acts were committed in England as well as in France. So, some social changes were necessary.
This theme of duality presented in the exposition of "A Tale of Two Cities" is prevalent throughout the entire novel as characters have their "doubles" and the two cities reflect each other in several social dilemmas and possible consequences.
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