The world will feel the loss of Sydney Carton, whose poignant, yet altruistic, death at the merciless blade of the guillotine marked him as a man of incogitable honor, nobility, and esteem. His transformation from a self-deprecating and dissolute lawyer into a loving, dedicated, and self sacrificing friend and protector of Lucie Manette and her family exemplifies the capacity for change and redemption within each and every one of us. Orphaned at a young age, Sydney spent most of his youth writing homework for his classmates, riddled with insecurities and haunted by demons of his past. Bereaved of a loving and supporting family from a young age, Carton went on to spend his adult life as the sagacious, yet dissolute, brains behind Mr. Stryver’s …show more content…
Carton’s unconditional love for Lucie transforms him into an altruistic, self-sacrificing, and noble man worthy of honor and praise. His vow to embrace any sacrifice for Lucie and those dear to her comes to fruition when Lucie’s husband, Charles Darnay, is sentenced to death at the guillotine for being a member of the Evremondes, one of the French aristocratic families targeted by the revolutionaries. In one of his final, most noble acts, Sydney decides to take Darnay’s place in prison and die at the blade of the guillotine to keep Lucie and the ones she loved together. Preceding his death at the guillotine, Carton prophesied a restored and replenished France - in which one era emerges like a phoenix out of the ashes of another. In certain sublime instances, such as Carton’s sacrifice, death may beget life, but oppression can beget nothing other than itself. Carton’s sacrifice of his life enables him to live in a way that he otherwise would not, for this sacrifice - the only means by which Darnay can be saved - assures Carton a place in the hearts of others and allows him to have undertaken one truly honorable and valuable act before
Lastly, good did triumph over evil in Sydney Carton. Sydney Carton is a drunk who hates Darnay because if Carton was not a drunk he would have everything Darnay has, like the love of Lucie Manette. Carton is seen as the darkness because of the disparity he has and how low he has fallen. Whereas Darnay is seen as light or the good guy due to how his life is going. In the end when Sydney gives up his life for Darnay it shows how Sydney is transferring from being sad and dark. His selfless act proved that the “bad” Sydney Carton has saved Darnay and kept Lucie, Cartons love, happy.
Charles Dickens book clearly reveals the idea of resurrection through the character of Sydney Carton. Although, in the 1980 version of A Tale of Two Cities directed by Jim Goddard, the same actor, Chris Sarandon plays the role of both Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. Through having such change being made, it severely shifts the theme of the novel. For starters, the author is trying to reveal the idea of resurrection but does so by the character of Sydney Carton and when he decides to give his own life for that of Charles. Thus, when both characters are the same actors in the film, it also creates new ideas of who Sydney really seeks to be, not only himself but Charles as well. Nevertheless, the whole idea of resurrection is questioned due
The way I see Sydney Carton is that, he's an alcoholic, mean mid age lawyer. But he acts like a mid twenties kind of guy who is kinda messy and in a way selfish kind of man. But when it comes to his business, he kept himself calm and pays attention to his surroundings. Other people would think of him as a drunker, immature and with attitudes. No matter what time of day, he will always have a drink on his hand. And also, he's not always like that, just some times when he drinks.
3. I would not have Sydney Carton as a friend. Sydney is always "depressed" and would only bring me down. He also probably would not care enough for me to have a strong friendship. All of the alcohol he drinks would also get me in to doing some bad things and likely in trouble with the law.
Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, reveals a person that is so complex that students of British Literature still have not fully understood Sydney Carton’s character. Dickens introduces him to the reader as an arrogant, frustrated, no account barrister who lives through the lives of others. Yet throughout the novel one can see that he is a brilliant barrister who does not realize his worth, a man changed through love and devotion, and a self-sacrificing individual.
Both Lucie and Sydney Carton demonstrate that one can overcome individual setbacks to support their loved ones. Throughout the novel Sydney is fighting off drinking and depression. “‘I am like one who died young. All my life might have been’” (p.153). He questions the meaning of his life, but whenever he does it always traces back to Lucie. “‘She is everything to me; more than suffering, more than wrong more than well! This is idle talk’” (p. 139). This quote explains how much Carton loves Lucie and that he would accomplish anything to have Lucie stay pure and secure. Therefore he continues living for Lucie. When Darnay is on trial Lucie is devastated, but she quickly overcomes those emotions to support Sydney and Dr.Manette through their problematical times.
His strong hatred foreshadows that something will cause him to have to ignore this hatred for the greater good. Consequently, it happens that both the men fall in love with same girl Lucie Manette. However, Carton does not want Lucie to choose him because he feels that she will have a miserable life with him. He does not want this lowly sort of life for his love and so he promises her that he will stay out of her life as much as possible. Later, when Lucie’s husband, Charles Darnay, is sent to the guillotine to die, Carton takes his place so that Lucie can continue to live a happy and desirable life.
Acting upon his moral duty, Darnay puts his life on the line in hopes to have an influence on the situation of those who suffer in these dire times. Up against the menacing Madame Defarge, Miss Pross gains courage out of love, and defeats the sinister woman, all while sacrificing her hearing for the betterment of Lucie’s state. No longer roaming lost through life, Carton unearths his purpose as he sacrifices all to switch positions with Darnay, allowing Lucie to live a life she loves. However, these characters do not carry out their sacrifices because they are obliged to or even because they desire to, but they do so because they know it is just. Sacrifice is powerful, sacrifice is noble, but sacrifice is not easy.
Sydney thinks, as his life is slipping away, “ The murmuring of many voices, the upturning of many faces, the pressing on of many footsteps in the outskirts of the crowd, so that it swells forward in a mass, like one great heave of water, all flashes away. Twenty-Three” (320). As Sydney Carton's life fades away, his life purpose comes together. He has always thought of himself as a drunk that no one could ever love, but he now knows Lucie will love him, because he gave her Charles Darnay. Sydney describes switching clothes with charles, “There was a hurry, too, in all his thoughts, a turbulent and heated working of his heart, that contended against resignation. If, for a moment, he did feel resigned, then his wife and child who had to live after him, seemed to protest and to make it a selfish thing” (297). For Carton this decision was one of the easiest decisions of his life; for Lucie, his love, he would give her Charles, whom is Lucie's love. This seems to be one of the bravest things done, although for Carton it was a duty. Carton describes what he thought, “ The spare hand does not tremble as he releases it; nothing worse than a sweet, bright constancy is in the patient face” (320). Carton values respect, though he never got it, he values loyalty, though he never received it, he values Lucie, though he gave her away. He values multiple things, but by
Carton, who saw himself as “one who died young”(156), was a drunken waste. Who saw his life has purposeless, “watching an eddy that turned purposeless, until the stream absorbed it, and carried it on to the sea-’Like me’.”(327). Carton sees his life purposeless, at least that is the case till he finds love. His love for Lucie led him to give his life up for her. A promise he vowed before circumstances such as the revolution came to be, he vowed he “would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you”(159). Essentially, Carton’s purpose becomes to give his life for Lucie and her family. Carton accepts his death with the “peacefullest man’s face ever beheld there"(389). Carton was “sublime and prophetic”(389). Carton does not want blood but willing gives up his own for a movement which does not tie to him in any case. However, because of his sacrifice, he sees a new era rid of the revolutionaries who once lived by the sword and evidently die by it too. He sees “ Barsad, and Cly, Defarge, The Vengeance, the Juryman, the Judge, long ranks of the new oppressors”(389), all of them “perishing by this retributive instrument”(389). Carton sees destruction and pain fall upon does who thirst after it the most. On the other hand he also sees “ a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss”(389) and whiles trying “to be truly free”(389), he sees “ the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out”(389). He sees a day when all will be restored and peace will be eminent again. Trough Carton. the noble sacrifice, Dickens portrays the marvelous effects that a noble sacrifice can render, through Carton, who once was a drunken slob, but now loved by the Mannette family especially
Saving and then switching spots with a person when it’s their time to die deserves a great amount of recognition. In his novel Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens delivers a mysterious love drama twisted with history, the French revolution to be precise. In the book there are two main characters I will be focusing on. They are Charles Darnay, he is born aristocrat but doesn’t want to be one, and Sydney Carton, and he is an assistant lawyer. I was highly intrigued with the fact that Carton saving Darnay leads to Cartons ultimate death. First, Carton saves Darnay which leads to his freedom. Then, Darnay’s freedom leads to his imprisonment and carton switching places with him. Lastly, Darnay’s imprisonment; and Carton
Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, brilliantly portrays the violence and discriminatory actions of the French Revolution of 1789. Within this novel Dickens shows how revolutionary actions negatively affect governments and individuals. However, the character Sidney Carton awakes from his bleak life and is given a direction by the revolution. Through the theme “being recalled to life” Dickens shows how a man such as Sidney Carton can go from a monotonous life as a lawyer to finding purpose through love and
In Charles Dickens’, A Tale of Two Cites, the theme is prominent that compassion culminates in life and vengeance in death. Destroyed by Darnay’s family, Madame Defarge ruthlessly sought retribution for her deceased brother and sister. Skillfully entwining Dr. Manette’s letter, Madame Defarge weaved her revenge, spinning a malicious pattern of death for the denouncement of Charles Darnay. Hindered by Miss Pross from finding and murdering both Lucie Darnay and her daughter, Madame Defarge became enraged and attempted to kill Pross with a pistol. Firing and falling from her hands, Defarge herself was shot; her demise a consequence of her enmity. Denounced and sentenced to die by the blade of the guillotine, Sydney Carton self-effacingly surrendered
He says to her “for you [...] I would do anything” (147). When Darnay is sentenced to death Carton comes up with a master plan to switch with Darnay to take his place and fall into “eternal sleep” (304) for the good of Lucie and her family’s happiness. As the knitting- women count “twenty-three” (363) Sydney Carton dies. By dying he is recalled to life, he is “truly free” (363) from the hate of himself and the rejection he felt from others. Carton’s unlimited love for Lucie overcame the revolutionary’s hate, but that came with the consequence of the death of a beloved
Charles Darnay, Evremonde as we know him, is a rich leader of France. On the other hand, a lawyer, whose name is Sydney Carton, seems to not care about anyone but himself. However, when he met Lucie Manette, his life was changed a little bit and added her in his circle of obligation. Both of these guys, in our case Charles Darnay