Sydney Carton, A Complex Character

In A Tale of Two Cities, there are two characters, which are identified as lawyers. C.J. Stryver is one lawyer, and Sydney Carton is another lawyer. C.J Stryver was an arrogant, egotistical man who believed he was the best lawyer that existed. Sydney Carton was a succesfull lawyer, who did not like to be in the spotlight. So C.J. Stryver would not have been a successful lawyer without the help of Sydney Carton.

Characters inside a book are like dominos, when something happens to one, it’s a chain reaction. C.J.Stryver is the first domino in a secondary plot within a Tale of Two Cities . C.J.Stryver is a lawyer and a family friend of the Manettes. Although his character isn’t overwhelmingly important, his associate is. Sydney Carton may start out seeming like a cold-hearted drunk, but at the end of the story you realize he is, in fact, the true hero of this story. The statement “C.J. Stryver would have been a successful lawyer without the help of Sydney Carton” is in fact an incorrect one, for many reasons.

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.

How has the introduction of Charles Darnay's character impacted Sydney Carton's perception of himself ? (Are Carton's realizations shown publicly, reflecting his true nature?)

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

Charles Dickens’ extensive use of foil characters in A Tale of Two Cities also includes the duo of Mr. Stryver and his business partner, Carton. Although the characters in the novel are spaced apart among various chapters, meaning certain characters only appear on occasion, the few scenes involving both Carton and Stryver undeniably indicate their status as foils. Both Carton and Stryver wish to marry Lucie Manette, although they go about it in much different ways. Carton, “the fellow of no delicacy,” obtains a personal discussion with Lucie, in which he, already defeated, acknowledges the hopelessness of his situation (148-153).

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.

As A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens gets further along in the plot, Sydney Carton emerges as a critical character and goes through the stages of the Hero’s Journey. From all the different stages of the journey, the scenes that have the most impact on the story and on Carton occur when he crosses the threshold, during his transformation, and his return. Crossing through the gateway on the path of the journey, the hero leaves “his norm" and steps outside of his comfort zone. Coming to the rescue, after finding out Charles Darnay’s sentence after the hearing, and “[has] no fear! [He] shall soon be out of the way if harming you, and the rest will soon be far from here, please God!

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 age twenty-five, is brilliant. He helps one of the most ignorant men in London Mr. Stryver become the most well known lawyer in his time. So, with looks and brains he should have everything at his feet. Well, not exactly. Orphaned at a young age, Sydney spent most of his youth writing homework for his classmates. He spends his adult years being the brains behind Mr. Stryver.

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.

In Charles Dicken's book, A Tale of Two Cities, there are numerous diverse characters. Sydney Carton is one of them. Sydney at the beginning of the story is an orphaned boy who does all other papers in school just like how he does Stryver's legal work when he is older. Carton has a profoundly depressed life and feels that he is wasting his life, but in the end, Carton gives his life up for others. I believe that Sydney Carton is the most dynamic character in A Tale of Two Cities because of how he changes from a drunken, lazy, attorney to a loving man looking for the greater reward in life. Carton's life changes from trying to find anything that will engulf the joy out of life, to a loving, compassionate, man that is seeking for the best for

The theme is first shown in the second chapter of the book through the trial of Charles Darnay, one of the main characters in the novel. During the trial, Charles Darnay is accused of spying for the Americans during the American Revolution. He would have been found guilty; however, Sydney Carton, the novel’s greatest hero, saved him from a death sentence. By showing the similarities between Darnay and himself, Sydney Carton destroys one of the witnesses’ statements. This shows again the theme of resurrection because Carton recalls Darnay to life from a near-death experience. Through Darnay’s resurrection, readers are also introduced to Sydney Carton, a lawyer who is, in the public’s eye, nothing but a lazy drunk who has never amounted to anything as shown in Charles Darnay’s trial. This description later gets contradicted once Dickens shows Carton to be a rather intelligent man who wasted his life by working for others rather than showing his worth to the public. Carton is even described as a jackal who is always working for the lion, aka Mr. Stryver, Carton’s business partner. As Book Two develops, it became obvious to the reader that Carton is a man in need of resurrection,

In Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, C.J. Stryver would not have been a successful lawyer without the help of Sydney Carton. Mr. Stryver lacks attention to detail while Sydney Carton is selfless and always helps others as opposed to helping himself. Mr. Carton’s acts of selflessness provide C.J. Stryver with the tools he needs to win.