Michaelmas, might have floated a king‘s ship. Carton explains to Charles Darnay why he drunks so excessively:“I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.‖ He describes his existence as a supreme waste of life and takes every opportunity to declare that he cares for nothing and no one.
Although usually Carton appears cynical and do not ask progress, but his love has been in the heart of the bud, flowing in the blood, and gradually developed into a broad boundless love. He not only has to save Lucie, and Manette‘s family, but also has to contend with killing countercurrent, and call for the human conscience. A social exclusion abandoned youth save the society at the cost of his own life with the noble spirit of sacrifice oneself to redeem society.
In fact, Sydney Carton is a very clever person. His wisdom is beyond everyone‘s imagination. In order to help Darnay‘s families fled, he made a thorough arrangement. First he went to Defarge‘s wine shop, and let Mrs. Defarge, Vengeance and Jacques Three know there was a person who was like Evremonde. Second he believed Mr. Lorry can help Lucie‘s family to escape misery and told him again “Quietly and steadily have all these arrangements made in the court-yard here, even to the taking of your own seat in the carriage. The moment I come to you, take me in, and drive away.‖ When all the things had been arranged appropriately, Carton went to entered Lucie‘s court yard and remained there for a few moments alone, looking up at the light in the window of her room. Before he went away, he breathed a blessing towards it and a Farewell. Then, he began his rescue operations. Sydney Carton is not a lazy alcoholic at that time. He is a brave, brilliant hero. He does not accommodate with the society. Since he was born, he has paced to the sparse crowd, and run counter to the crowd. Eventually he will search a new life by destruction and seek balance by a certain tilt.
B. An Ignored Despised Gay.
People around Carton are disapprobation for his behavior, because he is always the same moody and morose lounger, the cloud of caring for nothing makes him much
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different from others. In this novel, Carton is just an ignored despised gay. Most of the people are a little cold blood. Hatred holds the top of their mind, so they kills any people they hate even the innocent. Mrs. Defarge, Vengeance and Jacques Three are these people, and they can represent many people in that time.
Charles Dickens connects this novel with the French Revolution. Many of his descriptions refer back to the Revolution and help to convey the tone of depression. Just like the novel‘s opening lines writing.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, and it was winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. (1)
Dickens goes on in that speech to list a whole bunch of other opposites. Right from the beginning there is good, there is evil, there is darkness, there is light. It is not suitable to talk about the French Revolution without talking about social justice, because that's what it's all about. It is can be said that Dickens‘s main purpose is to argue that injustice and deprivation irreparably damage the sufferers, transforming them into tyrants in their turn. In preparing to write his novel, Dickens went to historical sources that would inform him about the conditions under which the French working class lived in the years preceding the Revolution and also the attitudes of the ruling classes at that time. In accounts of the Revolution, the depiction of the Revolutionaries varied according to the point of view of the writer, so Dickens use his humanism perspectives seeing those sympathetic to their cause usually found their violent methods inexcusable. Dickens obviously has no love for the French aristocracy; he does not characterize them in a nice light - they are rapists and murderers essentially. After the overthrow of the Bastille, optimism that democracy was going to triumph gave way to fear and revulsion with the Reign of Terror and
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September Massacres. This shift sympathy is evident in Dickens’s also. 6 Dickens is a reformist, reformist politics inevitably leads to the thought of humanism, and the essence of humanism is to respect people, treat people as people. This is love. And love is the highest level of love. In a tale of two cities, like Sydney Carton, Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette and Miss Pross, they show love is sacrifice. Sacrifice oneself to protect others and never require. The main idea of this novel is sacrificing oneself for love. The core of the human spirit is love, and literature bears human spirit awakening and carrying forward, and Dickens is a love of the preacher. Therefore he creates many characters to represent his belief.
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Conclusion
Charles Dickens‘s monumental masterpiece A tale of Two Cities tells a story full of love, hate, enmity and passion. The author wants to show his thought that blood can not wash off hatred and it can not be a substitution of love. Carton‘s selflessness, Lucie‘s kind, Dr Manette‘s mercy, Darnay‘s upright, Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross‘s warm heart have touched the hearts of one generation and another. For hundreds of years, Dickens and his work as the dew of love nourishes people's emotions, cultivate and improve people's spiritual realm.
Sydney Carton proves the most dynamic character in A Tale of Two Cities. He first appears as a lazy, alcoholic attorney who can not muster even the smallest amount of interest in his own life. His life is a tragedy; his career is a tragedy and his love is his tragedy flaw. But the reader senses, even in the initial chapters of the novel, that Carton in fact feels something that he perhaps can not articulate. His act is a heroic deed or a foolish one can be debated, or perhaps Carton can be a hero and fool. His life is short, but meaningful. As Carton goes to the guillotine, Dickens writes that he envisions a beautiful, idyllic Paris ―rising from the abyss‖ and 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.‖ Just as the apocalyptic violence of the revolution precedes a new society‘s birth, perhaps it is only in the sacrifice of his life that Carton can establish his life‘s great worth. Sydney Carton‘s death secures a new, peaceful life for Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, and even Carton himself. It can be said that Carton died for love also for himself salvation. By delivering himself to the guillotine, Carton ascends to the plane of heroism, becoming a Christ-like figure whose death serves to save the lives of others. His own life thus gains meaning and value. Sydney Carton, the tragic hero, his tragedy is a really beautiful tale. Just like, the child will lift the innocent and sad face to ask, ―Mr. Dickens died, and Santa Claus will die?‖ Moreover, the final pages of the novel suggest that, like Christ, Carton will be resurrected—Carton is reborn in the hearts of those he has died to save. Similarly, the
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text implies that the death of the old regime in France prepares the way for the beautiful and renewed Paris that Carton supposedly envisions from the guillotine.
Carton has died. Dickens has died. They all died with ideality and faith. But their spirit will leave the world forever. Perhaps because of this point, people are more willing to ponder the meaning of death.
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