Lucie And Doctor Manette example essay topic

A Tale of Two Cities The year is 1775, and social ills plague both France and England. Jerry Cruncher, an odd-job-man who works for Tellson's Bank, stops the Dover mail-coach with an urgent message for Jarvis Lorry. Lorry is somewhat elderly, but quaintly dressed. The message instructs Lorry to wait at Dover for a young woman, and Lorry responds with the cryptic words, 'Recalled to Life. ' At Dover, Lorry is met by Lucie Manette, a young orphan whose father, a once-eminent doctor whom she supposed dead, has been discovered in France. Lucie is a pretty, blonde, young woman of compassionate nature and who inspires a lot of love and loyalty in other people.

Lorry escorts Lucie to Paris, where they meet Defarge, a former servant of Doctor Manette, who has kept Manette safe in a garret. At this point, we are introduced to the first theme I found in this book; that the reality of death is ever-painful. The narrator states, "My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul; is dead; it is inexorable consolidation". Driven mad by eighteen years in the Bastille, Manette spends all of his time making shoes, a hobby he learned while in prison. A theme I came across in this book, "Imprisonment can dehumanize people", was supported at this point when Lorry questions the Doctor about his identity. The Doctor replies, "Did you ask for my name?

105, North Tower". Lorry assures Lucie that her love and devotion can recall her father to life, and indeed they do. The year is now 1780. Charles Darnay stands accused of treason against the English crown. A bombastic lawyer named Stryper pleads Darnay's case, but it is not until his drunk, good-for-nothing colleague, Sydney Carton, assists him that the court acquits Darnay. Carton clinches his argument by pointing out that he himself bears an uncanny resemblance to the defendant, which undermines the prosecution's case for unmistakably identifying Darnay as the spy the authorities spotted.

Somewhere within this passage, Dickens takes it upon himself to bring up the theme that every human creature is different. He does this by stating that "A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other". Meanwhile, Lucie and Doctor Manette watched the court proceedings, and that night, Carton escorts Darnay to a tavern and asks how it feels to receive the sympathy of a woman like Lucie. Carton despises and resents Darnay because he reminds him of all that he himself has given up and might have been. In France, the cruel Marquis Evr'e monde runs down a child with his carriage. With a typical attitude of the aristocracy in regard to the poor at that time, the Marquis shows no regret, but instead curses the boy and hurries home, where he awaits the arrival of his nephew, Darnay, from England.

Arriving later that night, Darnay curses his uncle and the French aristocracy for its abominable treatment of the people. He renounces his identity as an Evr'e monde and announces his intention to return to England. That night, the Marquis is murdered; the murderer has left a note signed with the nickname adopted by French revolutionaries: 'Jacques. ' A year passes, and Darnay asks Manette for permission to marry Lucie. He says that, if Lucie accepts, he will reveal his true identity to Manette. Carton, meanwhile, also pledges his love to Lucie, admitting that, though his life is utterly worthless, she has helped him dream of a better, more valuable existence.

On the streets of London, Jerry Cruncher gets swept up in the funeral procession for a spy named Roger Cly. Later that night, he demonstrates his talents as a 'Resurrection-Man,' sneaking into the cemetery to steal and sell Cly's body. In Paris, meanwhile, another English spy known as John Barsad drops into Defarge's wine-shop. Barsad hopes to turn up evidence concerning the mounting revolution, which is still in its covert stages. Madame Defarge sits in the shop knitting a secret registry of those whom the revolution seeks to execute.

Back in London, Darnay, on the morning of his wedding, keeps his promise to Manette; he reveals his true identity and, that night, Manette relapses into his old prison habit of making shoes. After nine days, Manette regains his mind, and soon joins the newlyweds on their honeymoon. Upon Darnay's return, Carton pays him a visit and asks for his friendship. Darnay assures Carton that he is always welcome in their home.

Second Half The year is now 1789. The peasants in Paris storm the Bastille and the French Revolution begins. The revolutionaries murder aristocrats in the streets, and Gabelle, a man charged with the maintenance of the Evr'e monde estate, is imprisoned. Three years later, he writes to Darnay, asking to be rescued. Despite the threat of great danger to his person, Darnay departs immediately for France. As soon as Darnay arrives in Paris, the French revolutionaries arrest him as an emigrant.

Lucie and Manette make their way to Paris in hopes of saving him. Darnay remains in prison for a year and three months before receiving a trial. In order to help free him, Manette uses his considerable influence with the revolutionaries, who sympathize with him for having served time in the Bastille. Darnay receives an acquittal, but that same night he is arrested again.

The charges, this time, come from Defarge and his vengeful wife. Carton arrives in Paris with a plan to rescue Darnay and obtains the help of John Barsad, who turns out to be Solomon Pross, the long-lost brother of Miss Pross, Lucie's loyal servant. At Darnay's trial, Defarge produces a letter that he discovered in Manette's old jail cell in the Bastille. The letter explains the cause of Manette's imprisonment.

Years ago, the brothers Evr'e monde (Darnay's father and uncle) enlisted Manette's medical assistance. They asked him to tend to a woman, whom one of the brothers had raped, and her brother, whom the same brother had stabbed fatally. Fearing that Manette might report their offenses, the Evr'e mondes had him arrested. Upon hearing this story, the jury condemns Darnay for the crimes of his ancestors and sentences him to die within twenty-four hours. That night, at the Defarge's wine-shop, Carton overhears Madame Defarge plotting to have Lucie and her daughter (also Darnay's daughter) executed as well; Madame Defarge, it turns out, is the surviving sibling of the man and woman killed by the Evr'e mondes. Carton arranges for the Manettes' immediate departure from France.

He then visits Darnay in prison, tricks him into changing clothes with him, and, after dictating a letter of explanation, drugs his friend unconscious. Barsad carries Darnay, now disguised as Carton, to an awaiting coach, while Carton, disguised as Darnay, awaits execution. As Darnay, Lucie, their child, and Dr. Manette speed away from Paris, Madame Defarge arrives at Lucie's apartment, hoping to arrest her. There she finds the supremely protective Miss Pross. A scuffle ensues, and Madame Defarge dies by the bullet of her own gun. Sydney Carton meets his death at the guillotine, and the narrator confidently asserts that Carton dies with the knowledge that he has finally imbued his life with meaning.

Within the second half of the story I struggled to come up with three outstanding themes. Among those most adequate that I was able to produce was, "One's most valuable and wise influence can often be one's own mere guilt", supported by the quote regarding Jarvis Lorry, "One of the first considerations which arose in the business mind of Mr Lorry when business hours came around, was this: -- that he had no right to imperil Tellson's by sheltering the wife of an emigrant prisoner under the Bank roof". Another theme I discovered was, "Something always changes, whether the change be large or small, physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental, with the presence of a child". I was reminded of this when of the the Jaques stated, "The child also, observed Jaques", Three, with a meditative enjoyment of his words, "has golden hair and blue eyes. And we seldom have a child there. It is a pretty sight!" The third of my themes for this half of the book is, "One's own death is much more acceptable with the assurance that one's life has had meaning".

This came from the final line in the book from Sidney Carton as he is dying, "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.".