There are resurrection themes in every society and it is not just because we fantasize about the possibility of resurrection and recovery, but it actually happens a lot. Resurrection is the act of rising from the dead. Resurrection is not only rising from the dead, but it can also mean being reborn into a new person or personality. It means being resorted to live, such as realizing something or leaving prison. In Tales of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, the theme of resurrection was shown through various characters that were resurrected in different ways. Tales of Two Cities takes place during the French Revolution in France and England. It is a story about a love triangle between three characters. Charles Darnay, a French man, falls in love with an English woman, named Lucie Manette. At the same time, Sydney Carton falls in love with her too, but she doesn't love him back. When Darnay is sent to be executed, Carton takes his place and sacrifices himself so that Darnay and Lucie can be happy together. Dickens proved that there is no situation where someone cannot be resurrected through his characters like Dr.Manette, Sydney Carton, and Lucie Manette, which shows that being loved and taken care of can resurrect a person, and can be resurrected into their children.
Dr. Manette was suffering after being in prison, but his daughter, Lucie, took care of him and loved him, which caused him to be reborn into a new person. When Lucie was taking care of Dr. Manette, Lorry, a good friend of Manette asks, “‘I hope you care to be recalled to life?’” (Dickens, 48). Lorry is asking Dr. Manette if he wants to be resurrected. Being “recalled to life” is being reborn into your life as the same person, but a different spirit. Lucie Manette took care of her father. Dickens writes, “Only his daughter had the power of charming this black brooding from his mind. She was the golden thread that united him to a Past beyond his misery, and to the Present beyond his misery: and the sound of her voice, the light of her face, and the touch of her hand, had a strong beneficial influence on him almost always.”(Dicken, 77). Lucie was the only person that could take away the pain that he felt the last eight-teen year locked away in prison. The word, black brooding, is representing Dr. Manette’s past in prison. Dickens is using imagery, to show how he felt during his years in prison. Lucie is described as “the golden thread” which relays that she sewed or knitted him back up, by mending his past and his present. She mended his past and present. Dickens is showing that Lucie has a strong influence by using the phrase “strong beneficial influence”. Dickens is using words like “her touch, the voice, and the light on her face” to prove that she is a goddess-like figure to her father and brings light to his life. Dr. Manette was restored and repaired after his years spent in prison, which made him very weak and unstable. As a result, Lucie turned him into a happy and amazing father, allowing him to forget his past and focus on the present.
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Sydney Carton was never loved until he fell in love with Lucie, which changed his perspective on life. When Sydney Carton is waiting for his turn for the guillotine, and the people are watching and waiting for him to be executed, they said that “ it was the most peaceful man’s face ever beheld there. Many added that he looked sublime and prophetic.”(Dickens, 364). The narrator is describing the crowd’s reaction. Even though, Carton felt purposeless during his life, he was able to find his purpose in the end by letting Darnay keep his life and giving Lucie happiness. He sacrificed himself for her and her family and was able to find peace through his actions. Dickens described Carton’s face as “prophetic” which illustrates how extreme his transformation was throughout A Tale of Two Cities. He ends up being reborn and almost godlike, which emphasized that he was willing to sacrifice himself for his loved ones, just like Jesus Christ. Before Sydney Carton dies, he has a vision that a “ child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which was once mine… I see him, foremost of the judges and honored men, bringing a boy of my name… and I hear him tell the child my story…’”(Dickens, 364). Sydney Carton is having a vision of Lucie and Darnay’s child being born after his death, and he believes that this child will bear his name. He was resurrected in the child whom he loved and sacrificed for. He visions the boy becoming a lawyer like him and telling the story of him to others. The child, which Lucie carries, will be a reborn version of Carton, which proves that Sydney Carton was resurrected.
Lucie Manette was reborn through her daughter, Little Lucie. Little Lucie represents Lucie but as a new person. Dickens writes, “Thus, the rustling of Angel’s wings got blended with the other echoes, and they were not wholly of Earth, but nad in them that breath of Heaven…. As the Little Lucie, comically studious at the task in the morning… chattered in the tongues of the two cities that were blended into her life.”(Dickens, 202). Little Lucie is described as an angel. The quote is describing the Heavens and this demonstrates that Lucie was resurrected through her daughter. Little Lucie is described as her mother, with an angel-like appearance and the same voice. Lucie even named her daughter after her calling her, Little Lucie. “Chattered in the tongues of the two cities” means that she is able to speak both her parent's languages, french and English. Even their hearts have the same reaction, “... and knew her with a blameless through an unchanged mind when she was a wife and a mother, but her children had a strange sympathy with him- an instinctive delicacy of pity for him.”(Dickens, 203). This quote is significant because Little Lucie has a special relationship with Sydney Carton. Lucie doesn’t love Carton and she has not changed her mind. We know this because the narrator says, “unchanged mind”. But Little Lucie “pity” him. She had a special relationship with Sydney, “but her children have a strange sympathy”. Dickens resurrected Lucie through her daughter. Even her name is Lucie and Little Lucie looks like her mother, with golden threads. Evidently, Lucie was a reborn character after her marriage to Charles Darnay.
Dickens proved that there is no situation where someone cannot be resurrected through his characters such as Dr.Manette, Sydney Carton, and Lucie Manette, which shows that being loved and taken care of can resurrect a person, and can be resurrected into their children. Dr. Manette was resurrected after “being buried alive” and leaving the Bastille. Sydney Carton was resurrected when he was dead, through Darnay and Lucie’s son. Lucie Manette was resurrected through her daughter, being alike in appearance. Resurrection is something that happens very often and can happen after something occurs to a person. Dickens demonstrates this through his characters in his novel, Tales of Two Cities. Today in society, many people are resurrected after coming out of jail or from a coma. Many can be reborn once something good or bad happens or when they realize something or wants to start over in life. Resurrection is a process that many have.
Work Cited
- Dickens, Charles. Tale Of Two Cities. Perma-Bound, 1988.
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