Stephanie Temnyk
Miss Thao
Honors English 10 / Period 5
03 October 2017
“The Golden Thread” of Imprisonment
A doctor. An aristocrat. A lawyer. In A Tale of Two Cities, author Charles Dickens elegantly weaves continuities through three characters with such proffessions utilizing the prominent theme of imprisonment. First, Dr. Manette advances from a weak patient with unpredictable mental instability to a physician and a caring paternal figure to his daughter Lucie. Dr. Manette suffered from both literal and emotional captivity, as did Lucie’s husband Charles Darnay. After escaping a cruel family title, Darnay is able to immerse himself into a new life with Lucie. Finally, the drunken lawyer Sydney Carton is freed from the confines of his monotone personality and emerges as a compassionate, sacrificing individual, all with his unrequited love for Lucie. Carton’s dynamic metamorphosis is mirrored in similar ways amongst all these imprisoned characters, initially displayed by Dr. …show more content…
His own family name was his crime, for the Evrémonde men before Darnay had injured “‘every human creature who had come in between [them] and [their] pleasure’” (127). Thus, Darnay was constantly trapped under his title, fearing the revolutionaries in France that eventually confined him. His double experience in the La Force prison and near death acquaintance with the Guillotine teases out the height of Darnay’s tenderness and gratefulness. For example, when Sydney Carton (the man that Darnay despised) attempts to help him escape from the La Force and inevitable death sentence, Darnay commands him “‘not to add [his] death to the bitterness’” of his own (355). Like Dr. Manette, Darnay has removed his selfish concerns in the length of his captivity. However, Carton succeeds in releasing Darnay, allowing the once aristocrat to start a new family with Lucie. Now it is Carton’s turn to liberate his attachments to the prison of his
Miss Thao
Honors English 10 / Period 5
03 October 2017
“The Golden Thread” of Imprisonment
A doctor. An aristocrat. A lawyer. In A Tale of Two Cities, author Charles Dickens elegantly weaves continuities through three characters with such proffessions utilizing the prominent theme of imprisonment. First, Dr. Manette advances from a weak patient with unpredictable mental instability to a physician and a caring paternal figure to his daughter Lucie. Dr. Manette suffered from both literal and emotional captivity, as did Lucie’s husband Charles Darnay. After escaping a cruel family title, Darnay is able to immerse himself into a new life with Lucie. Finally, the drunken lawyer Sydney Carton is freed from the confines of his monotone personality and emerges as a compassionate, sacrificing individual, all with his unrequited love for Lucie. Carton’s dynamic metamorphosis is mirrored in similar ways amongst all these imprisoned characters, initially displayed by Dr. …show more content…
His own family name was his crime, for the Evrémonde men before Darnay had injured “‘every human creature who had come in between [them] and [their] pleasure’” (127). Thus, Darnay was constantly trapped under his title, fearing the revolutionaries in France that eventually confined him. His double experience in the La Force prison and near death acquaintance with the Guillotine teases out the height of Darnay’s tenderness and gratefulness. For example, when Sydney Carton (the man that Darnay despised) attempts to help him escape from the La Force and inevitable death sentence, Darnay commands him “‘not to add [his] death to the bitterness’” of his own (355). Like Dr. Manette, Darnay has removed his selfish concerns in the length of his captivity. However, Carton succeeds in releasing Darnay, allowing the once aristocrat to start a new family with Lucie. Now it is Carton’s turn to liberate his attachments to the prison of his