Dickens Should Stick To Writing, Not Match-Making In A Tale Of Two Cities

Sydney Carton is a character that find himself very devoted to the things he cares about. In A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton experiences the call, cross the threshold, and the return. Carton’s “call” begins when Darnay gets imprisoned in Pairs and Carton hears the news and rushes off to help comfort Darnay’s wife, Miss Minette; who Carton has fallen in love with. Carton confesses his love to Lucie and says that he wants her to”[return] the love of the man you see before you” ( ). He is standing before Lucie and feels as if he is in love with her, and wants her to feel the same way about him in return. Carton crosses the threshold when he makes the decision to enter the prison and take Darnay’s place since they remarkably resemble each

The novel, A Tale of Two Cities, was written by Charles Dickens and was published in 1859. A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction based during the French Revolution. As two groups of people who both live in London and Paris find themselves in a situation that affects all of them, which ends with some deaths and suffering. Charles Dickens purpose for writing A Tale of Two Cities was to inform and amplify the readers mind on human nature. Throughout the book Charles Dickens uses many themes and characteristics, that bring out human nature in all his characters, to broaden the view of the readers.

When first meeting with Mr. Lorry to discuss her father, Lucie creates an everlasting first impression by simply showing consideration for his wisdom. During the meeting at her house, Lucie initially “curtseyed to him [Lorry] with a pretty desire to convey to him that she felt how much older and wiser he was than she” (Dickens 25). Greeting Mr. Lorry in such a respectful way helps Mr. Lorry to also respect himself. Later in the novel, Lucie shows a type of respect for Carton that he has never before received. When Carton asks Lucie if she will listen to his difficulties, Lucie responds, “If it will do you any good, Mr. Carton, if it would make you happier, it would make me very glad!” (Dickens 155). This type of love that Lucie gives Carton helps him believe that someone actually cares for his feelings and therefore changes his depressing outlook. Communicating with admiration and esteem to people who do not often receive it allows Lucie to make an impact on multiple lives.

Carton has given up his own life to give Lucie and a child whom he’s never met a better life. A main theme in A Tale of Two Cities is loyalty, and Sydney Carton’s loyalty seems to lie with not only Lucie, but with everyone but himself.

Darnay represents this goodness by making something out of nothing, and working all on his own to make a life for himself other than being handed everything. Darnay chose a good way to go because Sydney Carton was Darnay's lawyer that saved him from being imprisoned or worse in one of his court cases. Carton looks identical but is an alcoholic that is jealous of Darnay and the life that he has made for himself. Darnay has scorned Carton and judged him to be a useless drunk, little does Darnay know that the person he scorns will save his life. Fortunately, Darnay learns the errors of his judgement, to honor Carton, he names his son Sydney, in honor of the man who twice saved his life. It would have been very easy for Charles to just take all the riches of being the marquis of France, but he would have been continuing his family tradition of wrongdoings and not been true to his character which symbolize justice. Dicken let us only believe that he is a good guy throughout the story and not giving us anything else about his character, “His latent uneasiness had been, that bad aims were being worked out in his own unhappy land by bad instruments, and that he who could not fail to know that he was better than they, was not there, trying to do something to stay bloodshed, and assert the claims of mercy and humanity” (Dickens 212). Darnay represent a good man, Justice and Duty but also learn from judging people too

Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton have pretty much in common, as well as their similar appearances and their love for Lucie. They even have terribly several variations as well as their backgrounds and attitudes. However, in the end, the reader finishes up having the

Despite Carton’s disliking for Darnay decides to once again save Darnay’s life just before he is to be beheaded by the revolutionaries and their beloved guillotine. He creates an elaborate plan that includes blackmail with a double-crossing spy, Barsad, the changing of clothes with Darnay, and using a special vapor to knock Darnay out and send him back to England with his family. Carton, because of his uncanny resemblance to Darnay gets away with taking his identity. He stays unphased by the situations that follow and just before he is beheaded he envisions a better future. This includes “[Lucie] with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name… I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up the path of life” (292-293). Carton was not nervous when staring death in the face, proving his braveness.

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.

Sydney Carton is this figure, once tormented and saddened by his own dreadful life, he is now able to redeem himself by taking this risk, dying for Darnay. This wouldn’t be possible without his one true motivation, his passionate appreciation and love that he has for Lucie, and because of this love, he will do anything for her, even death.People take risks to achieve certain goals, and Sydney Carton took a huge risk, pretending to be Charles Darnay and going to the guillotine in Darnay’s place to die. But Carton is able to disregard all these consequences, taking an enormous risk of death to complete a motivational task in which he envisioned to have great everlasting effects on the ones he

Twelve months later Dr. Manette asked for Lucie’s hand in marriage. If Lucie accepts, Darnay will give his true identity to the Manettes. Sydney is also falling in love with Lucie but he knows that she is much to good for him and she will never be his. Lucies’s beauty is so magnificent to Carton that by knowing here, she has made his life worth living. Her presence gives Sydney a reason to get up in the morning. Sydney would do any thing for her "…O Miss Manette, when the little

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, it uses duality throughout the story. Duality often refers to having two parts and is usually used with opposite meanings. Charles Dickens wanted us to know about duality by the very first paragraph of his novel. One of the dualities has to deal with the two cities of the title, London, England and Paris, France. Also, some of the dualities show us opposite parallels dealing with two or more people. The two emotions love and hate also have something to do with the theme. I think the use of the doubles is significant

While the Victorian people called for romantic intrigue and petty drama in the literature of their time, Dickens’ added complexity to his novels not to satisfy the frivolous needs of Victorians but to further the theme of irony in his novel. In A Tale of Two Cities, irony is an ever-present theme and is woven into the plot seamlessly by author Charles Dickens. Coincidence is a complementary theme to irony in this novel. Dickens’ constant implementation of situations of coincidence and chance leads to a greater sense of irony throughout this book. Dickens adds complexity to the plot and further enforces the theme of irony in the novel through circumstances of coincidence, including the indictments of Charles Darnay, the life and associates of Dr. Manette, and Madame Defarge’s need for and path to revenge.

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

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” This quote from Shakespeare emphasizes the tragedy of love, which is similar to; The Frozen Deep, which inspires Charles Dickens to write A Tale of Two Cities. He acts in this play and uses the plot to create the love story that occurs between the characters of Lucie, Charles, and Sydney. In the show, Dickens plays Richard Wardour, who wants to kill Frank Aldersley because he steals the love of his life, Clara Burnham. However, in the end, Wardour savs Aldersley, leading to Wardour’s demise. Clara is forever grateful to Wardour because of his sacrifice. Charles Dickens writes many stories during the Victorian era that shares similar ideas to the rise of political movements, such as socialism, liberalism, and feminism that occurs during this time period. Written in 1859, A Tale of Two Cities is set in England and France and depicts the French Revolution that ensues and also how it affects the lives of the Manette’s and their close friends. One of the friends is Sydney Carton who falls in love with Lucie Manette. Throughout the story, Carton views himself as one who is not worthy of a good life and believes himself to be a bad person. Time and time again he sacrifices himself to give others a better life. For example, he delves into his work when his partner, Stryver, receives all of the credit. Later, Carton gives up his chance with Lucie because he knows she does not love him and allows his doppelganger, Charles Darnay, to marry her. Even though he gives up on his chances with Lucie, at the end of the novel, he switches places with Darnay, gets captured by the french people, and soon dies by way of the guillotine. He finds peace as he walks to the bloody platform. He dies because he sacrifices himself for people he cares about and realizes that in the future, Darnay’s son bears his name and live a good life.