Chapter 5 begins with the spilling of red wine on a street in Paris. There is both a happy atmosphere as people laugh and help each other to drink it and the twisted irony of their appearing to be covered in blood. The people are poor and starving and the blood emphasises the possibility of their impending deaths.
The action then moves to the wine shop where it would have been delivered where Mr Lorry, accompanied by Miss Manette speaks to the proprietor, Monsieur Defarge about her father. It turns out that he is locked up in a small dark garret designed for storing firewood and made a show of by Monsieur Defarge to a chosen few. Miss Manette is afraid of him and Mr Lorry has to almost drag her into the room. Her father is shown to be making shoes.
The image of a dark, dry room high up in a striking contrast to the start of the chapter on the sunny streets pouring red wine.
