Tale Of Two Cities Altruist Analysis

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.

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.

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.

Carton loves Lucie just as much as Charles except Carton will do anything for her even sacrifice his life for her. The love is present and Carton makes it clear by meeting with Lucie before she marries Charles. Carton then expresses his love for Lucie but instead of asking for her love back he says all he wants is to make an impact on her life. “For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you. And 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” (Dickens 156). Carton seems to have found his purpose and that is Lucie. During the meeting with Lucie, Carton explains that he is beyond repair and how he cannot be saved by her. By saying Carton would “embrace any sacrifice” he alluding to his purpose and legacy. Carton feels so bad about himself that he wants no one to feel the way he feels. He has discovered his purpose. Sydney Carton will trade places with Charles Darnay and be sacrificed for the greater good of Lucie. When Carton learns what has to be done he walks and thinks about the resurrection. “I am the resurrection and the life, saith the lord: that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. This allusion to Jesus gives Carton life. By saying “I am the resurrection and I am the life” Carton is saying that he is the resurrection to Lucie and Charles but also the life because even though he will be sacrificed he will live through the spirits of Lucie and Charles giving him a new life. :In a single movement at once actual and symbolic, Cartons spiritual self, “The life within him” disguised by mortality, imprisoned by the mundane world, is liberated through

Earlier in the novel, when Carton confesses his love to Lucie, he states, “And 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” (117). His word is tested later in the end of the novel. Darnay is sentenced for execution, but Carton would not allow for Lucie to loose “the life she loves” (117). Carton trickes Darnay into switching places and eventually, Carton is executed in Darnay’s place, without any of the Revolutionists realizing. Indeed, he is willing to give up his own life, a life Lucie could never love the way she loves Darnay, so she and Darnay could stay together. Besides sacrificing his life for Lucie’s husband, Sydney also sacrifices his life because he believes the people of the city would benefit from it. Carton states during his last moments of life, “I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see 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” (292). Carton explains how he thinks the Revolution will end since the revolutionist have achieved their goal of killing the last “Evrémonde.”

Sydney Carton is another ambiguous character compelled by his passion. In the beginning of the novel he is an isolated and depressed alcoholic. He is nicknamed memory because he acts as the brain of his boss, Stryver. He has no confidence in himself: “I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me” (Dickens 85). Carton never puts too much pressure on himself because he knows he is a failure. He seems to be a guy who floats through life along with the current. When he meets Lucie, he begins to change. He falls in love with her and even expresses his feelings. He promises he will do anything for her: “I would embrace any sacrifice for you and those dear to you” (Dickens 154). This is the complete opposite of the reserved Carton from the start of the novel because now he finally has someone he cares about. This brings up a new,

Sydney Carton is a miserable drunk, but in his heart he finds tenderness for Lucie. Though he knows unworthy of being a prospect companion, Carton wishes her “a life [she] love[s]” (156). Keeping true to his promise, Carton knows nothing is more important to her than being reunited with her husband, Charles Darnay. Sydney has a reputation of being bitter and inhospitable, and feels that in dying he has a chance at redeeming himself. Alive, he has hurt people he loves, including himself- in death he is a hero in the eyes of himself and his friends.

In this essay, one will examine the changes Sydney Carton made to reach the path of redemption. In the beginning of the novel, Sydney Carton is a man who is given no recognition for his work, and has no meaning at all in his life.

He is finally able to gain back the sanity and health he lost long ago. The very end of the novel also conveys a sense of resurrection for the life of Sidney Carton. Carton lives an extremely lonely and unfulfilled life. His life seems to have no purpose and or direction due to the fact that he is a drunkard that chooses to company himself with no one. When he immediately falls for Lucie he suddenly seems to view life in a new light.

Carton proves to be the most dynamic character in A Tale of Two Cities; developing from a self loathing drunk to the epitome of the self sacrificing hero in the final pages of the

Likewise, Carton’s pure love for Lucie is what allows his death to be an act of redemption. Through his death, Carton is able to transcend his pathetic former self and be redeemed as a hero: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done” (Dickens 462). If his love for Lucie had been any less sincere, his motives would clearly be imperfect and therefore his death would not have been a true act of heroism and thus would not have redeemed him. Due to the love with which both Christ and Carton give their lives, they are able to be perfect sacrifices, allowing their deaths to be acts of redemption.

Neither of which Carton possessed at the beginning of the book. The closing lines of the novel stating, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” Carton turned his life from that of a relatively lost pathetic man into that of a hero. Sydney finally became a man of his words, fulfilled a promise and allowing him to rest in peace knowing he will live on in the hearts and inheritance of the person he died

However, in the end, he transforms into a person even better than Darnay had been. The night before Carton’s sacrifice, the reader can see that Carton’s mind is very clear; he knows his path. His plan to save Darnay shows that he is good at making quick decisions and going straight on to fulfill his plans. Carton’s last decisions fully represent his skill and intelligence, though all odds said otherwise (Heung 1). The reason behind Carton’s decision is very much like the reason behind the crucifixion of Christ; God loved the world so much that he sent his son, Christ, to die for the world (NIV, John 3:16). Carton loved Lucie and would do anything to protect her and everyone she loves. He switched places with Darnay and sacrificed himself so that Lucie could still have Darnay, whom she loves, while Carton resurrects through Darnay’s offspring, and becomes a Christ-figure. Likewise, God loved the world and sent his son to switch places with the people of the world, so that they would be saved from their sin and would not need to suffer for their sin but could live with God, who loves them. Furthermore, Lucie’s love for Carton, and hope and belief that there was potential in him, is also another part that contributes to Carton’s decision (“A Tale” 2). This is like how the love of Christ changes people’s lives. When Carton resurrects, like Christ, his life gains “meaning and value”. He resurrects as Darnay’s son, who fulfills the potential that Carton had. As Carton says, “it is a far, far better thing that I do, then I have ever done” (Dickens 390). Dickens uses Carton to show that any country that wishes to become something of “meaning and value” must rise above everything, even their “death”, and sacrifice everything and resurrect itself in order to start again and become better (“A Tale”

Leading up to the end of this novel the tone was dramatically serious, but in the end scene a thoughtfully tranquil tone is portrayed. This type of tone was conveyed through the description of a “peaceful, useful, prosperous, and happy” (364) life that the characters would have after Carton has sacrificed his life