The theme of Death and Resurrection is one to which
Charles Dickens returns repeatedly in A Tale of Two Cities. In
fact, the image of prisons as a grave is one that Dickens employs throughout his many
works, perhaps because of his childhood experience of his father's having been in
debtors' prison and lost to him as though he were dead.
In
Book I, the reader learns that Dr. Alexandre Manette has been released from this
symbolic grave, "recalled to life" after 18 years, having been held unjustly in the
Bastille because he made a report of a slaying of a peasant by aristocrats to the
authorities. They, in turn, notified the young men involved who had Manette imprisoned.
Having been confined for years in isolation, Dr. Manette has lost his sense of identity,
thinking of himself only as a simple shoemaker. In Chapter 6 of Book I, it is a white
haired forty-five year old man who has a "vacant gaze" and "unsteady fingers" and unable
to look directly at people. Knowing himself only as "One Hundred and Five, North Tower,"
it is not until his daughter approaches and he sees her golden hair that a connection to
his old life occurs. For, he pulls from around his neck a strand of hair, golden like
Lucie's, and this recognition resurrects his old
life.
Later in Book III, Dr. Manette is again recalled to
life, his old life in France, as he testifies on behalf of his son-in-law Charles
Darnay, [Evremonde]. Manette's testimony resurrects his position of respect in Paris as
the "Bastille Captive" rather than as a prominent physician. Nevertheless, this
experience restores much of the dignity and pride that has been lost to the spirit of
Manette.
Dr. Manette's son-in-law, Charles Darnay, also has
experiences in which he is "recalled to life." In Chapter 3 of Book II, after Darnay
comes to England to escape death in France as an aristocrat, he finds himself ironically
threatened with death anyway on a charge of treason brought upon him by a spy who calls
himself "a patriot": John Barsad. But, thanks to the acumen of Sydney Carton, the
witness Barsad is discredited and Darnay is freed and given renewed life. He then falls
in love with Lucie Manette and is married to her. However, shortly thereafter, his tax
collector Gabrielle, writes a desperate letter from prison, begging him to return to
Paris on his behalf. Compelled by honor to return, Darnay is buried in La Force, the
revolutionary prison, but is freed after Dr. Manette's intercession. However, the
vengeful Madame Defarge condemns him as an Evremonde, and he is
reincarcerated.
It is Sydney Carton's attraction to Lucie
that awakens him from his dissipation. He finds new life in visiting Soho on Sundays at
the Manettes and pledges his love and loyalty to Lucie in Chapter 13 of Book
II:
"For you,
and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my career were of that better kind
that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any
sacrifice for you and for those dear to
you."
Carton's devotion to
Lucie and his desire to redeem his dissolute life is also what recalls Darnay to life
with his family, for Sydney Carton becomes the sacrificial victim in place of Darnay.
His unselfish and courageous act redeems Carton, and he himself is recalled to life
spiritually. Dickens's narrative ends in pathos as Carton redeems the sins of the
Evremondes and is "recalled to life" in the grave.
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