A Tale Of Two Cities By Charles Dickens

In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens opens with an anaphora, about how the world is throughout the novel. A reoccurring theme throughout this story is the battle between good and evil. Most of the novel is about the struggles each force has and how most of the time good triumphs over evil. In A Tale of Two Cities, the triumph of love, the death of the Marquis, and the contrast between Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay shows how good triumphed over evil.

In A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton is the clear protagonist of the book. This normally would make the antagonist (however there is no clear one) his antithesis. Yet straying from the norm, Dickens creates a very peculiar opposite for Carton in the form of Jarvis Lorry. Lorry is a man of business, and will not be strayed from his financial past even by an encroaching revolution. Carton on the other hand is a bleeding heart romantic hero, who is motivated by love and passion. To complicate the entire ordeal further, both Carton and Lorry are fighting for the same side. The different personalities of the characters play vital roles in the outcome of the book as well as the outcome of the revolution.

Sydney Carton, the alcoholic aid of an attorney is able to break out of his depressing shell and fulfill his promise to Lucie Manette by the end of A Tale of Two Cities. He shows himself as the true hero of the novel and shines over all the other characters that were “recalled to life” (7). The ultimate sacrifice, to give up one’s life, should be rewarded as the most heroic action in any situation out of good

This wasted potential is emphasized when both Darnay and Carton fall in love with Lucie Manette. Darnay, as the typical charming hero, is chosen over desperate, brooding Carton. As a result, Carton finds himself channeling his love and his physical advantage of being Darnay’s double into keeping Lucie safe and happy by way of rescuing Darnay from the guillotine. Thus, Carton is able to become the proverbial “good guy,” a role he saw for himself in his counterpart, Darnay. He also managed to thwart the Defarges’ plot to murder all those connected to the aristocracy in any way. In this way, Dickens is able to use the comparisons and contrasts between the two men to show how love is capable of victory over violence and vengeance.

Sydney Carton, “one of Dickens’s most loved and best-remembered characters” (Stout 29), is not just another two-dimensional character; he seems to fly off the pages and into real life throughout all the trials and tribulations he experiences. He touches many hearts, and he even saves the life of Charles Darnay, a man who looks surprisingly similar to him. In Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton is a selfish man of habit, a cynic, a self-loathing drunk, and an incorrigible barrister until he meets Lucie Manette; throughout the novel Sydney is overcome by his noble love for Lucie and transforms from a cynic to a hero as he accomplishes one of the most selfless acts a man can carry out.

In the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, one of the main characters Sydney Carton is portrayed as a Jesus Christ-like figure, risking death and sacrificing his life to create a better life for the ones around him. Carton takes one of the biggest risks a human can ever take in their lifetime, the risk of death. He goes into this risky situation knowing the consequences, but he doesn’t care, he just wants to accomplish his goal, to save his friend Charles Darnay from his demise, Of course, one would not be able to complete such a task without motivation. This motivation of course is his one true love, Lucie Manette, Carton wants to save the husband of Lucie, Darnay, and allow them to live a happy life, with their daughter who was also named Lucie. Using Lucie’s own life as the true motivation, and completely disregarding all the consequences, Carton’s own life is redeemed through the resurrection of his hopes and his dreams for Lucie.

Sydney Carton performs many courageous acts that create positive changes for the Evrémonde family’s future. Carton’s actions strive to improve the Evrémonde family’s life, while boldly putting his at risk. His fearless actions reunite the Evrémonde family back together, producing a new, positive outlook of the future for them. When Carton enters Darnay’s prison cell, it is described that Carton, “dressed himself in the clothes the prisoner had laid aside, combed back his hair, and tied it with the ribbon the prisoner had worn” (Dickens 358). Carton acts gallantly in order to salvage Darnay’s life, for he switches places with him in the prison. As a result of Carton’s brave actions, Darnay is free once more to be with his family and lead a

  In A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, many characters are given second chances as their lives are resurrected. The central heroine woman, Lucy Manette, is responsible for the resurrections of Sydney Carton and Dr. Alexander Manette's lives. She gives them inspiration and love to help them recover from their seemingly hopeless states. In turn, Carton gives up his own life in order to save a friend. The lives of Sydney Carton, Dr. Manette, and Charles Darnay are all resurrected at times when hope is lost.

Sydney Carton is the most memorable character in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, a story of redemption, resurrection, self-sacrifice change and love, all of these words have to do with the extreme transformation of. Sydney Carton had such great love for Lucie Mannette that evolves from a depressed loaner that can only attempt to substitute happiness with alcoholic indulgence to a loyal caring friend who makes the ultimate sacrifice for the ones he loves.

Similar to Jarvis Lorry, Sydney Carton undergoes a transformation of character. When Carton is first introduced in book one he is a pitiful lawyer, an “idlest and most unpromising man,”(Dickens 78). In chapter five he is displayed as an “amazingly good jackal,”(Dickens 79), meaning that he is “content and apathetic towards the fact that he will never be accredited with the performance and outcomes of his actions,”(Trojan, Kara). However, Lucie Manette inspires redemption in Carton through love, for he knows that if he can save her in any way then he can absolve his misery and find a purpose for his years on Earth. When Lucie Manette’s husband is punished to death row, Carton is determined to keep his promise. Carton takes the place of the spouse

Sydney Carton is very important to the plot of A Tale of Two Cities. There are three separate instances in this book where Carton keeps the plot going, and without him, the story would have ended. The first was his similarity to Charles Darnay was keeping Darnay out of jail. Without Carton, Mr. Stryver would not be able to win his cases because Sydney is the brains behind the operation. Finally, he was executed instead of Darnay, so that Darnay and Lucie could live out their lives together.

Sydney Carton provides the novel with the essential theme of “personal sacrifice is required to improve the lives of others.” Sydney had always been a man full of regrets, and never wanted to change. His life was falling apart and he refused to confront it, until he fell head over heels with a young girl. His improvement eventually led to self-discovery, increased self-esteem, and allowed many of the character's lives to prosper. In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Sydney Carton sacrifices ultimately improve the lives of Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, and himself.

A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, takes place during the French Revolution. The book centers on the heroic attempts of Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. Sydney Carton puts on the façade of being insolent and indifferent, but his true nature is expressed in the book when he puts others first, defends Charles, and dies for the ones he loves. Charles Darnay is a once wealthy aristocrat whose attempts at heroism include going back to France, his financial sacrifice, and the noble way in which he was willing to face his death.

By comparing and contrasting elements of his novel, Dickens reveals them as a metaphor for the rich and the poor, demonstrating the similarity between France at the time of the French Revolution and the England of 1859. His use of foil characters, characters who serve the purpose of highlighting attributes in another character through dissimilarity. In order for a character to be a foil, though, they must also have a crucial common attribute. The most important example of a foil in A Tale of Two Cities is that of Sydney Carton, an alcoholic barrister who works as the assistant to a less intelligent, but more ambitious lawyer Stryver. Sydney Carton is the “idlest and most uncompromising of men” (page 65), and his behavior is described as “half-insolent” (page 62).

The French Revolution mainly took place in the city of Paris during the late 1700’s. The Revolution did not only affect the people of France, but also the citizens of England as well. The French Revolution is known as one of the most brutal and inhumane periods of history. If one studied the beliefs and views of the people involved at the time, one would see a reoccurring theme of “ being recalled to life”. Born from the world of literature, Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities takes a deeper look at the culture of the late 1700’s, in both England and France. Dickens uses the character of Lucie Manette to further examine one of the major themes presented in the novel, consisting of the belief of one being