Resurrection and Rebirth - a Tale of Two Cities

1677 Words7 Pages
Revenge, revolution, fate, and loyalty are all themes that are found in A Tale of Two Cities, and each is connected to the other in one way or another. However, there is one theme that trumps over all of them. Intertwined with elements of love and sacrifice, Dickens uses characters like Sydney Carton and Doctor Manette in A Tale of Two Cities to show that resurrection and rebirth, literally and figuratively, is very much possible in both life and death. Carton’s Life For Darnay’s: Through death comes life. Sydney Carton is an example of just that when he sacrifices himself for Charles Darnay. This may be one of the biggest examples of resurrection that Dickens includes. Throughout the novel, Carton not only saves Darnay on trial at the beginning but also saves him from the guillotine later on in the book. This resurrection was only experienced by Carton after he sacrificed his life for Darnay’s. Irony comes through here as Carton, from the very beginning of A Tale of Two Cities, is a lazy, selfish man who thinks nothing of his or anyone else’s life. He has no idea why he was put on earth; he never thought that he had justification for why he was there, never really doing anything worthwhile with his life. The death that he had, though violent and seemingly unjust on Carton’s part, is what gives him the chance to better himself and realize that he did have a purpose after all. This death wasn’t meant to be torture for how he had lived his life in the past, it was meant as a reward for what he was giving up. This way, he was able to understand that he was created to save the life of a man who was innocent. Dickens used a biblical allusion here to compare Carton’s sacrifices to Jesus’ by using the quote, “I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall
Open Document