Charles Darnay: ATTC

In the Charles Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities, one character that goes by the name Charles Darnay has a very interesting emotional forming early on the book these moves trains from caring intelligent to one of those of remorse and brazen.  What emotion that the character display is that of a caring nature. In the chapter Two Promises, Darnay says,” I could retain no place against her love for her father”(Dickens 103). In this scene Charles is asking about Lucie and wanting to pursue a relationship with her if she loves him back. When talking to her father, he promises that he won’t take Lucie away from her father because he cares about her feelings. From this, we can see that he is be very compassionate man, but there is more to him than just caring. Darnay is also shown to be rather bright. In the book Dickens writes,”...Darnay was established in England as a higher teacher of the French language”(Dickens 99). From him being an educator, we can see that he is intelligent enough to not only learn French but teach it to others in need of learning. Charles is also remorseful about his family’s dark past and present. In the chapter the Gorgon’s Head he says,” We have done wrong, and are reaping the fruits of wrong”(Dickens 94). In this section of the book, Charles is talking to his uncle about how he renounces his family’s name. The reasoning being that his family has done sickening things in the past and Darnay feels sorry about that. From his feelings of remorse and other possible reasons, he denounces his own family’s name. Finally, Charles is shown to be bold in the face of danger. In the same chapter as the quote prior Darnay says,” Yes the family honour is safe from me in this country”(Dickens 96). In this moment, Darnay is speaking to a government leader, his uncle, that could send him to prison similar to Dr. Manette based on that comment. However, Darnay is brazen enough to make this comment that’s about his own family's “honor” or lack thereof. In the end, Charles Dickens created a three-dimensional character within a few chapters of a book.

The Brightness and Darkness of Family Relationships

The novel A Tale of Two Cities by the late Charles Dickens shows the hopeful tone of a discovered father and daughter relationship between Ms. Lucie & Dr. Manette through light and darkness. In chapter 6 of Book 1 Monsieur Defarge says,”’to let a little more light in here. You can bare a little more?”(Dickens 30). During this moment, his daughter, whom he’s never seen before come to see him for the first. Dr. Manette has suffered through nearly two decades of solitude in the room he’s currently in. When he sees Lucie for the first time he becomes filled with joy that has been almost nonexistent for this chapter in his life. Lucie without knowing it is the light to guide her father back to England safe from harm. Later on in the chapter Dickens writes,”...It looked as though it had passed like a moving light, from him to her”(Dickens 32). This first encounter with eachother sets the emotional path of their relationship. Dr. Manette finally sees this beacon of a better life, and Lucie sees a man that urges to reclaim the life that has long been lost. From this, we can see that they are the other’s hope and happiness in the brief amount of time they’ve met. Finally, near the end of the chapter Dickens states,”...It were the light of Freedom shining on him”(Dickens 34). Dr. Manette’s imprisonment has turned a respected man into a shoemaker to keep his sanity. Now, Lucie’s light has been infectious and has made him hopeful as well. After roughly 18 years, Dr. Manette has both his daughter Lucie and hope at last.

The Wine Shop Of War

In the 1859 classic A Tale of Two Cities, a simple wine cask breaking foreshadows the bloody French Revolution in the years to come. The Saint Antoine based chapter gives a good description of the state this Parisian suburb is in. The main facet in the scene is the broken wine jar in the street. In Dicken’s novel he states,”A large cask of wine had been  dropped and broken, in the street”(Dickens 20).  from this, we can see that a wine carrier broke and spilled. Though this seemingly insignificant detail to some, is actually a main facet in painting the scene. A secondary detail of the scene is that the wine was red wine as shown in the quote” the wine was red wine”(Dickens 21). though it is a minor detail, it helps foreshadow that red wine won’t be the only thing spilled in the future of France. Finally, pauper mothers used their handkerchiefs to feed their infants. Dickens writes,”Handkerchiefs from women’s heads were which were squeezed dry into infants’ mouths”(Dickens 21). The state that a suburb was in, let alone a city, was so dire that women used their sweat covered hankies to help give their children the most amount of nourishment they could with limited sources. No matter what, the most insignificant of details can show that large impact of the future.