Decision And Belief Essay, Research Paper

Charles Darnay:

“This property and France are lost to me. I renounce them.”

(to his uncle the Marquis.Charles is disgusted with the way his family has carried on and refuses to continue

in the same course.) bk2 ch9

Dr.Manette:

“I have a charmed life in this city. I have been a Bastille prisoner.” bk3 ch2

(to Mr.Lorry on the day of the prison massacres, to reassure him that it is safe for him to deal with the mob.)

Sydney Carton:

“I care for no man on earth, and no man cares for me.”

( to Darnay after his treason trial. Carton avoids close personal relationships and puts Darnay off with his remarks.)

bk2 ch4

“As to me – will you never understand that I am incorrigible?”

( to Stryver, letting him know he will never change.) bk2 ch11

“I have no business to be, that I know of.”

( He has so little self-esteem that he sees no reason why he should even exist.) bk2 ch11

“Mr.Darnay, I wish we might be friends.”…”Indeed when I say I wish we might be friends, I scarcely

mean quite that,either.”….”that I might be regarded as as an useless and unornamental piece of

furniture, tolerated for its old service, and taken no notice of.”

( Carton asks Darnay that they might be friends , but is reluctant to get too close.)bk2 ch20

“At any rate, you know me as a dissolute dog who has never done any good, and never will.”

( to Darnay ,saying in so many words that he (Carton), will never be any better.) bk2 ch20

“…think now and then that there is a man, who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you.”

( His promise to Lucie. This is the first time he reveals his true feelings to anyone.) bk2 ch13

“If you could say, with truth, to your own solitary heart tonight, ‘I have secured to myself the love and

attachment,the gratitude or respect,of no human creature;I have won myself a tender place in

no regard;I have done nothing good or serviceable to be remembered by!’your seventy-eight years

would be seventy-eight heavy curses; would they not?”

(to Mr.Lorry.This is the only other time he reveals his innermost feelings to another, and it explains a great deal

about why he is the way he is.) bk3 ch9

“It is a far,far better thing that I do,than I have ever done;it is a far,far better rest that I go to than

I have ever known.”

(For the first time, Carton feels that he has done something worthwile, and feels he will gain with his death

that which he could not find in life.) bk3 ch15

CARTON AND DR.MANETTE:

Both had dark secrets that made life sometimes difficult. Dr.Manette’s long imprisonment caused him to lose his

reason, and even after he recovered, times of great stress would cause him to relapse.The real reason for his

imprisonment is not revealed until Darnay’s second trial in Paris. Carton is in a figurative prison ,from which he

can find no escape ,except in death. The reasons why he changed from a “youth of great promise” to “a

disappointed drudge” are never revealed.