Student Essay on Sacrifice and Resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities

Sacrifice and Resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities

Summary:   Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is essentially a tale of love, sacrifice, and, most importantly, resurrection. Dr. Manette, Charles Darnay, and Sydney Carton, all desperate men leading lamentable lives, make great sacrifices in order to attain true physical, spiritual, and societal resurrection for themselves and the ones they love.

George Matthew Adams once said, "In this life we get only those things for which we hunt, for which we strive, and for which we are willing to sacrifice." Sadly, in the world of today, the latter part of this sentiment is often ignored. Indeed, sacrifice for a noble cause is paramount to the existence of a harmonic world. In A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, the true worth of sacrifice is uncovered. As the plot unfolds, the main characters make great sacrifices in order to attain true resurrection, on a physical, spiritual, and societal basis, for themselves and for those they love.

The initial example of sacrifice and rebirth is expressed in the first book of the novel, aptly named "Recalled to Life." Jarvis Lorry undertakes a journey to retrieve his friend, Alexandre Manette, from France to England, even though the political climate at the time forbade such action. In doing so, Mr. Lorry sacrifices his life and his job at Tellson's that he loved.

Dr. Manette, having been wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, has become a soulless shell of his former being. He is resurrected from the living dead by Jarvis Lorry. As they return to England, Lorry wonders "what subtle powers were for ever lost to him, and what were capable of restoration."(45) Dr. Manette's physical resurrection is only the first step, and Lorry as well as the readers wonders if he could ever break free of his past. When asked if he cared to be recalled to life, Manette replies, "I can't say."(45) Indeed, it will take much more than one act of self-sacrifice to revive one who has so long been dead.

It is Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr. Manette, who assumes the grand task of nursing her father back to mental health. Dr. Manette was "a hopeless and lost creature" that had, "lost the life and resonance of a human" (47). He is still encased in mystery and in a fragile state, after his physical rescue from the "One Hundred and Five, North Tower" (49). Lucie's love enables Manette's spiritual renewal and rebirth. As she pledges, "you learn that I have to kneel to my honored father, and implore his pardon for never having for his sake striven all day and lain awake and wept all night...weep for it, weep for it!...'"(41) Lucie sacrifices her entire life to her father, a realm of devotion few can achieve, in order to nurse him back to health. It is entirely due to her devotion and love that Dr. Manette is resurrected on a mental level. When he is called the witness stand, Dr. Manette affirms that he had "become familiar to [Lucie], when a gracious God restored my faculties."(66) At this point, 5 years after his return from France, Dr. Manette has shed most of his madness and regained his faculties, taking another step towards his goal of true resurrection.

Even though Dr. Manette has regained his former mental prowess, he still lacked a sense of purpose. As Dr. Manette returns from the trial of Darnay, "it would've been difficult to recognize him, intellectual face and upright of bearing...yet...observation had not extended to the mournful cadence of his low grave voice, and to the abstraction that overclouded him...without any apparent reason."(71) At this point, Dr. Manette's

imprisonment still casts a dark shadow over his life. Yet, "only his daughter had the power of charming this black brooding from his mind. She was the golden thread that united him to a past beyond his misery."(71) Even Lucie, however, could not always ease Dr. Manette's gloom. Lucie had reached her limit in saving her father's life, Dr. Manette would have to resurrect his own soul from his tainted past.

And so he did. The final phase of Dr. Manette's resurrection came from making his own sacrifice. As Charles Darnay is imprisoned in La Force, Lucie endures considerable stress. It is through Dr. Manette's commitment to care for Lucie through her dark time that he "had required [Lucie] as the weak, to trust to him as the strong. The preceding relative positions of himself and Lucie were reversed, yet only the liveliest gratitude could reverse them." (254) Jarvis Lorry observed that Manette had "kindled eyes, the resolute face, the calm strong look and bearing of the man whose life always seemed to him to have been stopped, like a clock, for so many years, and then set going again with an energy which had lain dormant during the cessation of his usefulness." (253) Dr. Manette's personal sacrifice on behalf of Lucie has finally completed the cycle of resurrection. He now had far more than his sanity and physical health; he now had a spiritual strength that could only have been attained through devoting love to the daughter that had once done the same for him.

The next character to undergo resurrection is Charles Darnay. Darnay first resurrected his morality and conscience by sacrificing his luxurious, albeit corrupt, life as a French nobleman. As he tells his uncle, the Marquis St. Evremonde, "I must do, to live, what others of my countrymen, even with nobility at their backs, may have to do someday - work."(114) By sacrificing his freedom from his uncle and his privileges as a Marquis, by rejecting the tyranny that has so long suppressed him, Darnay elevates himself on a spiritual and societal level.

Darnay was placed on trial, at the will of his uncle, for treason against England. Throughout the novel, Dickens frequently compares imprisonment to a living death. Thus, through Darnay's acquittal and escape from imprisonment, he is resurrected from condemnation. Even Jerry Cruncher recognizes this, as he read the acquittal message, he says to himself, "If you had sent the message "Recalled to Life" again, I should have known what you meant, this time."(70)

In contrast to the characters who are resurrected several times, there are a number of minor characters who are resurrected in their own right. Jerry Cruncher, an odds-job man at Tellson's has a secret life as a grave robber. Through his involvement in the plan to save Charles, he vows to "never no more do it, never no more."(340) His promise to pursue a more moral life resurrects him on a societal basis. Next, John Barsad, who, throughout the entire story, appears to us as a lying, conniving spy who cared only for himself, shows compassion for Carton at the end. When a man heckles at Carton before his execution, Barsad interposes, "Let him be at peace!" (349) His compassion reveals to us his human side, hidden from us for so long. And this, consequentially, resurrects him in the eyes of the reader. Finally, France, though not a character, undergoes the great, bloody sacrifice of the revolution before resurrecting itself as "a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from the abyss."(351) The theme of resurrection is constantly carried out through the book.

The final and most important resurrection is that of Sydney Carton. Carton first appears to us as brilliant, albeit subservient drunkard, who had no hope for achievement in life besides acting to the will of his employer, Stryver. When he meets and falls in love with Lucie, he is crushed that she had chosen Darnay over him, but vows to continue his love by proving himself to her and always protecting her and her loved one. In his pursuit for recognition and love, Sydney Carton makes personal sacrifices that finally elevate him to a Christ-like savior who will always hold a special place in the lives of the people he had died to save.

We first see Carton as the solicitor for Darnay at the London trial. There, he is introduced as a wretched, selfish man who is always drunk. Although he is brilliant, Carton squanders his potential, both professionally and personally. As he says to Darnay about himself, "I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me." (76) The change that overcomes Carton, however, is astounding. As he falls in love with Lucie, he begins to rethink the course of his life. He vows to Lucie that "For you, any dear to you, I would do anything...I would embrace any sacrifice for you and those dear to you" (140) By the resolute language of this vow, the readers understand his sincerity and willingness to sacrifice his life for his Lucie, and his willingness to resurrect his image in her eyes.

As Charles is condemned by the jury to be beheaded, Sydney Carton makes the choice to once again use his resemblance to Charles to save him. He exchanges clothes with Charles and walks down a street to his own death in the same fashion as Christ bearing his cross. His nobility in this extreme sacrifice touches even strangers about to meet the same fate of death. As the poor seamstress realizes Carton is not Darnay, she exclaims, "O will you let me hold your brave hand, stranger?" (332) All that Carton had done to blight his own life is washed away by his sacrifice, himself being reborn in the process.

Finally, Carton is beheaded. However, he did not die. If he had the power to prophesy, he would have seen that he "held a sanctuary in [the hearts of those that he saved], and in the hearts of their descendents, generations hence." (352) Carton's final act to save Charles has spiritually elevated him to a level beyond he could have normally achieved. From a once deplorable life of apathy, alcohol, and failure, Sydney Carton emerged as the hero in the story as he ultimately gave his life for the benefit of others. This Christ-like example of resurrection shows how a man who took potential and threw it away, and took the wrong path in life, Carton, can ultimately do the most heroic and defining act of courage in the whole story. This final sacrifice, although ended his life, only began a new life for him to be one of the most remembered and important characters in the story. This symbolic resurrection gave him the chance to validate his life, fulfill his vow, and end his life valiantly. He had been "recalled to life;" recalled to the life he had always dreamed of living.

Through his sacrifice, Sydney Carton was able to die happily for the only person he had cared for. The only person he has vowed to never let harm come to. As he said in the final passage of this novel, "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, tan I have ever known." (352)

Ultimately, A Tale of Two Cities is essentially a tale of love, sacrifice, and most importantly, resurrection. Dr. Manette, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton all begin as desperate men leading lamentable lives: A mad prisoner, a corrupt, persecuted aristocrat, and a passive drunkard, respectively. They are then transformed, through personal sacrifices or sacrifices by those that love them, into magnanimous examples of the pinnacle of human virtue and integrity. By striving for, hunting for, and sacrificing for a better life, all of the main characters are forever resurrected in the hearts of those they love forever.