Characterization of Charles Darnay

 

In A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, Dickens depicts Charles Darnay as a man of many traits. First, as stated by Darnay, "He had loved Lucie Manette from the hour of his danger" (Dickens 99). It clearly shows that Darnay is a very loving and caring person. Even when he was being sentenced for treason; Lucie Manette had to testify against him. He didn't hold that against her and understood that she had to do it because she was one of the only people who vaguely saw and communicated with him on the Dovermail and boat. No matter the circumstances,  Darnay loved her no less. Which represents his kindness , as well as, his understanding of others.

 

Next, Charles Darnay is also kind. As stated by Lucie Manette, "He expressed great gentleness and kindness for my Father's state" (Dickens 53). Darnay had just met the Manettes and has already shown such kindness by helping Lucie with her father. This was back when Dr. Manette was still in the process of being recalled to life.

 

Lastly, no matter how confident cool and collected he was in the court room during his trial; everyone has their Achilles' heel. For Darnay his weakness was his true identity as the nephew of the aristocrat, Monsieur Marquis of England. "Yes. The family honor, sir, is safe for me in this country. The family name can suffer from me in no other, for I bear it in no other" said Charles Darnay (Dickens 94). Darnay doesn't want to be associated with his uncle knowing who he is. Marquis was a powerful figure in England at the time. This lead the nephew to seek a new identity as Charles Darnay.

 

Charles Darnay really didn't want people to know who his family was. Especially, who his father and uncle are. He figured  that if people knew about his family they would treat him differently. Therefore, his family is his most vulnerable point.

 

In conclusion, the author (Charles Dickens) of A Tale of Two Cities, portrayed Charles Darnay as a kind, loving and understanding man with a deep, dark secret.

 



 

This is a diagram of Charles Darnay's body with 3 quotes from A Tale of Two Cities describing his personality and character traits. As well as, two objects (crown and heart) that represent Darnay. The crown placed on his head symbolizes his family. While the heart on his chest portrays his love of Lucie Manette. 

Light & Dark: Lucie Manette and Dr. Mannette

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, he uses many Light and Dark references. In Chapter 6, Dickens uses Light and Dark to set the tone of hopelessness to love between Dr. Manette and his daughter, Lucie Manette. Beginning with, "So sunken and suppressed it was, that it was like a voice underground. So expressive it was, of a hopeless and lost creature" (Dickens 29). Dr. Manette had been taken away from the outside world for so long. It had drained him from all the happiness he'd ever known and was replaced by nothingness. His mind and body were detached. He didn't know how to act or speak around others. He had grown used to being on his own and even taught himself the shoemaking trade. He had spent years isolated and making shoes. He wasn't use to anything outside of that. 

Furthermore, "He, and his old canvas frock, and his loose stockings, and all his poor tatters of clothes, had, in a long seclusion from direct light." (Dickens 30). He had not seen the light of day since he was taken away. Even his clothes show evidence of not being in direct sunlight. But once he saw his daughter something shifted. He didn't realize then, but he will soon. "He had put up a hand between his eyes and the light...Mr. Lorry came silently forward, leaving the daughter by the door" (Dickens 30). It was revealed that the sudden light was Mr. Manette's daughter. "...love it back to life and hope - so exactly was the expression repeated (through strong characters) on her fair young face, that it looked as though it had passed like a moving light, from him to her" (Dickens 32). For a moment he had caught the light between them. Unfortunately, the light had not stayed. I predict that later on in the story, the Light that Lucie Manette will bring back into Dr. Manette's life with help to pull him out of the Darkness that has engulfed him for all these years and that their love for each other will grow as time moves on.

On going, "His cold white head mingled with her radiant hair, which warmed and lighted it as though it were the light of Freedom shining on him" (Dickens 34). Dr. Manette has made it so that Lucie's long, curly blonde hair was his beckon of hope that Lucie will be the one to drag him out of this Darkness. So he will no longer be a prisoner of his own mind. Especially, since he was no longer physically being held captive.

Finally, "The darkness deepened and deepened, as they both lay quiet, until a light gleamed through the clinks in the wall" (Dickens 36). This is the scene in which Mr. Lorry and Defrage had closed the door and left the two alone, lying on the floor. The Darkness started to wrap around him and her. The Darkness was the segregation from reality. But this was different. He was not alone. Lucie was there. He for the first time noticed the light leaking into the room from the cracks in the wall. Eventually he will learn that  Lucie will guard him back to sanity.

In conclusion, the author Charles Dickens, set the tone of hopelessness to love between Lucie Manette and Dr. Manette by referencing Light and Dark. Lucie Manette being the Light and Dr. Manette being the Dark. As time goes on, Dr. Manette will hopefully learn to trust Lucie and they could build their father - daughter relationship into something that could've been, before he was taken from her all those years ago.



A Tale of Two Cities: Foreshadowing - Wine Shop

In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (author), in chapter 5, foreshadows the French Revolution. Thus far in A Tale of Two Cities, I've come to realizes that Charles Dickens likes to write in many contradictions and metaphors. For example, "The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street stones, and the stain of it would be red upon many there" (Dickens 22). Charles Dickens foreshadows that there will be a bloody war that's to come. He's letting the reader know that the battle will pass through onto city streets and innocent people will die.

As he wrote, "The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it had spilled." (Dickens 21), it foreshadows that Saint Antoine will be a place in which the first blood shed will commence. Furthermore, "It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, many naked feet, and many wooden shoes" (Dickens 21). Nobody is safe from death not the wealthy nor the poor. No one is innocent. Everyone's hands with be red, tainted with the blood of their enemy.

Lastly, "...coming up afresh, was the sign, Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. Hunger was pushed out of tall houses...Hunger was patched into them with straw and rag and wood and paper...Hunger was repeated in every fragment of the small modicum of the firewood...Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimney...Hunger was the inscription on the baker's shelves...Hunger rattled it's dry bones on the roasting chestnuts...Hunger was shred into the atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil" (Dickens 22).

Hunger will play a major roll in the French Revolution. As the expenses for war start to increase both sides will begin to pooling their money into war. Stores will have to raise their prices to earn a living, more and more people with become poor and hungry because they can't afford to buy food. Most jobs will close down from lack of business and people will lose their jobs. In conclusion, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is foreshadowing the beginnings of the French Revolution.

For the illustration, I chose the perceptive of an omniscient narrator looking on from above. In this scene, in chapter 5, of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens it shows the cobbles stones on the street right outside the wine shop in which Dr. Manette was being hidden away. When all of a sudden the wine barrel clashed on the pathway staining the stones with wine. Everyone stopped what they were doing to drink the wine.

As stated by Dickens, "Some men kneed down, made scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped...others, men, women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs...or even with handkerchiefs from women's heads, which were squeezed dry into infants' mouths" (Dickens 21). It just goes to show how everyone was trying to get there hands on the wine. Also, as the wine game ended everyone returned to what they were doing with their hands and faces stained red. Then the day turned cloudy, "the darkness was heavy - cold, dirt, ignorance, and want" (Dickens 22). In closing, this illustration represents more than just a wine spill. You just have to look beyond the image, just as you have to look beyond the words Charles Dickens has written.

Importance of Family

Family is the glue that holds us all together. When you think of a family. What do you think of? A mom, a dad, and a few kids? Yes. They would be considered as the "traditional" family, but family doesn't always have to include a mother and a father. Family is not always blood. My definition of family is the people in your life that stick by you and love you for who you are.

 

In an essay that I read, Stone Soup (Barbara Kingsolver), there was a quote that really caught my eye. "But it's harder somehow to shrug off the Family of Dolls Family Value crew when they judge (from their safe distance) that divorced people, blended families, gay families, and single families are failures." in no way shape or form are these families failures. Back when Kingsolver wrote her essay describing how different family situations shouldn't be looked on as a broken home; people weren't keen on the idea of anything other than the traditional family. Now a days people have gotten used to all different family types because in the end, their all looking for their children's best interest. Who can put a label on love? No matter if the family is gay, divorced, single, or biracial their all still a family.

 

Also, family doesn't always have to be blood. I have close friends that I would sometimes refer to as my sisters because we look after each other and keep each other from getting into trouble. Family shouldn't be categorized into the people you're related to. For example, you hear your mom and/or dad call one of their best childhood friends your Aunt or Uncle. No, they aren't really your blood but they are a part of you're family never the less.

 

People get into their minds that if a family isn't traditional then it's wrong. We all fall into an illusion that families should all be the same. But news flash, not all people are the same, so what makes you think all families are the same. Like Kingsolver said in her essay, "And I understood the Prince Charming Theory of Marriage, a quest for Mr. Right." Lot's of girls are held bent on finding Mr. Right. Especially, teen girls with their raging hormones. We all want to find Prince Charming. Eventually, God willing, we will find this "Prince Charming" but not always in the form of what we imagined as little girls.

 

     

 

 

No matter what, your family is yours and nobody can take that from you. It's the feeling you  have for each other that keep you guys together. "Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind." - Lilo and Stitch