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.