A Tale of Two Cities Section: Book Reports
Carton is a man of very little self esteem, but a tremendous amount of courage and devotion. Carton is the man who helped to resurrect Charles Darnay in England, but it would not be the only time he would save Darnay´s life. Carton has led a miserable life and he has always looked up to Darnay. In Sydney Carton, the theme of love is deeply involved with the theme of resurrection. He is in love with Lucy Manette, even after she marries Charles Darnay. His love for Lucy is similar to the knights during the age of chivalry. He vows to give his life for her or anyone she loves. Carton soon realizes that he may have to make good on the promise he made to Lucy. Darnay is taken prisoner for a second time in France and Carton knows that the French rebels will stop at nothing to kill him this time. Carton realizes that he may be able to use his influence over Barsad to switch places with Darnay. Carton looks remarkably similar to Darnay and he knows that this may be his only chance to save Darnay. As Carton organizes the switch, the inner purpose of his actions can be seen. Sydney Carton has never succeeded in life like he wanted. His vow to Lucy wasn´t the only thing that drove him to endanger his own life, he also saw it as a way to redemption. The switch is done successfully and Carton then realizes fully what he has done. He does not back away from his inevitable death, he embraces it. He becomes peaceful and prophetic as he befriends a women who has also been unjustly sentenced to death by the bloodthirsty mob. Carton is content in knowing that his action will allow Lucy to live happily. In his final moments before death, Carton is portrayed as a sort of Messiah. He is giving up his life so that others may enjoy theirs. Just before he is beheaded, the words of Jesus are mentioned; I am the Resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die(366). After Carton is beheaded, Darnay and his family escape to England. The reader gets a brief glimpse of their life after they escape and how Sydney Carton is literally resurrected. Sydney Carton´s resurrection and redemption are described as how he might describe them: I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in the path of life which was once mine. I see him winning it so well that my name is made illustrious by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it faded away. I see him, foremost of the just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead I know, to this place… and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and faltering voice.(367) Carton lives on and with the end of the book the final resurrection occurs. Criticism of this book comments that effortless running on-and-on is rare in the major novels of the middle period, including A Tale of Two Cities (Guerard 150). This means that every thing, like the separate themes intertwining, have a specific purpose in the novel. The classic themes of love, redemption, and good versus evil are all included in the closing use of the resurrection theme, uniting and unifying the plot of the novel, capturing and adding to Dickens´s style of writing.
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