Personal Sacrifice In A Tale Of Two Cities

After eighteen years of solitary confignment in the Bastille prison, Lucie’s father (Alexander Manette) has gone insane and is unaware of the life around him. With Lucie's patience and compassion Mr. Manette is restored to his old self. Now that Lucie and her father have reunited their bond cannot be broken. Lucie’s good-hearted nature is brought up once more when she shows her understanding toward Sydney Carton as he confesses his feelings about her, even though he has been nothing but a bitter, confused drunk around her. The first time Lucie met her father: "With the tears streaming down her face , she put her two hands to her lips, and kissed them to him; then clasped them on her breast, as if she laid his ruined head there" (Dickens

Parents go through a difficult transition during parenthood where they give up their own personal lives in order to focus on their children. Similar, selfless sacrifices are prevalent throughout society even in cases where there is little personal gain; such cases are opportune examples of altruism. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens tries to explain such actions and uses Sidney Carton and Doctor Manette as the basis of his argument. According to Dickens, life gains meaning through altruistic actions for family and friends. Charles Dickens constructs Sydney Carton, in the beginning, as a hopeless individual in order to clearly display the effects altruism later on in the novel.

Carton" and feels sympathy for him (189).  Charles Evrémonde, called Darnay, is loved by his wife Lucie and his daughter; he is "the object of sympathy and compassion" (74).  Carton and Darnay both adore Lucie Manette, but they are two very different men.    

Stryver and the insolent and bored-looking Mr. Carton. When Darnay glances at a young woman and her father sitting nearby (Lucie and Dr. Manette), word flashes through the crowd that these two are witnesses against Darnay. Nonetheless, Lucie's face radiates a compassion that awes the spectators.

This statement is revisited at the top of the novel once Carton offers up his life so as to save lots of that of Charles to make sure Lucie’s happiness.

Lucie and Sydney Carton also illustrate sacrificing for their loved ones throughout the book. “‘She was the golden thread that united him to a past beyond misery’” (p. 96). This quote describes how Lucie holds her father together. Lucie demonstrates sacrifice for her loved ones by guiding Dr.Manette to his recovery. Lucie sacrifices time to help Dr.Manette recover from his prison sentence. She makes sure that nothing will interrupt his peace and bring him back to his awful prison memories. Carton demonstrates sacrifice for his loved ones because even though he is battling with addiction and depression he still puts a smile on his face whenever he is around Lucie. He sacrifices his own heart wrenching feelings to make Lucie feel safe and sound.

In the melodramatic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, the author uses the theme sacrifice. He shows that sacrifice is important in his story because some of his characters must give up their lives for another. Miss Pross dedicates herself to Lucie because she wants Lucie to have a brighter future than she did. Then, out of his love and devotion for Lucie Manette, Sydney Carton sacrifices his life to save a life she loves. The sacrifices Miss Pross and Sydney Carton make express that mankind will give everything for what they love and believe in.

He wasn't as luck the next time he was arrested again, but now on charges for the acts and crimes of his father. Surprisingly though this time it's his father-in-law who is testifying against him. Through all these accusations, Darnay faces them, although he knew he was “being mentally hanged, beheaded, and quartered, by everyone there,” he never “flinched from the situation”(Pg.56, A Tale of Two Cities). He faced it with bravery and through all his trials he has lived and came up on top.

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.

Dickens uses the melodramatic technique, sensational and extravagant emotional appeal to engage the readers and drive them burst into tears. This is demonstrated in the sensationalism of A Tale of Two Cities. Sacrifice, for instance, is exemplified when Charles sacrifices his family wealth and heritage in order to live a life free of guilt for his family's awful crimes, “He knew very well, that in his horror of the deed which had culminated the bad deeds and bad reputation of the old family house, in his resentful suspicions of his uncle, and in the aversion with which his conscience regarded the crumbling fabric that he was supposed to uphold, he had acted imperfectly.” Another example is the ultimate sacrifice made by Sydney Carton to keep

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

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.

Lucie’s commitment to her father, and Manette’s chance represents being recalled to life are part of the

He first appears as a lazy, alcoholic attorney who cannot accumulate even the smallest amount of interest in his own life. As he sees himself as one who died when his parents died, he describes his existence as a total waste of life and takes every opportunity to declare that he cares for nothing and no one. Carton meets Lucie in a fate and falls in love with her; however, he doesn't show an affection for her outwardly. Then Carton, eventually, reaches a point where he can admit his feelings for Lucie. Therefore, before Lucie marries Darnay, Carton confronts to Lucie and tells her of his devotion to her, though he still persists in seeing himself as essentially worthless. Carton says, "O Miss Manette, when the little picture of a happy father's face looks up in yours, when you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!" This moment eventually addresses a vigorous transition for Carton and lays the foundation for the Christ-like sacrifice that he makes at the novel’s end.

Sydney Carton is a courageous character, he helps out Lucie in a tremendous way. Dickens has Carton save Darnay so that Lucie and her family will have a better future. Carton is taking his life so that Lucie and her family can successfully escape back to England. When Darnay is writing his letters, in his jail cell, he looks up and sees, “The door was quickly opened and closed, and there stood before him face to face, quiet, intent upon him, with the light of a smile on his feature, and a cautionary finger on his lip, Sydney Carton” (Dickens 355). Carton loves Lucie so much that he will do anything to make her happy, even if it means death for him. Since Carton’s