A Tale of Two Cities Notes: pages 268- 293
Ch.13: Fifty-two
273: “If you remember,’” said Carton dictating, “’the words that passed between us, long ago, you will readily comprehend this when you see it. You do remember them, I know. It is not in your nature to forget them.”
Why does he drug Darnay?
278: “I am not unwilling to die, if the Republic which is to do so much good to us poor, will profit by my death; but I do not know how that can be.”
“Are you dying for him?”
“And we seldom have a child there. It is a pretty sight.”
279: “In a word, my husband has not my reason for pursuing this family annihilation, and I have not his reason for regarding this Doctor with any sensibility. I must act for myself, therefore.”
280: “Can I spare this Doctor to my husband? . . . No I cannot spare him.”
281: “But, imbued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and an inveterate hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her into a tigress. She was absolutely without pity . . . It was nothing to her, that an innocent man was to die for the sins of his forefathers; she saw, not him, but them. . . . they were her natural enemies and her prey, and as such had no right to live. . by her having no sense of pity, even for herself.”
283: “Never no more will I do it [grave digging], never no more . . .I only hope with all my heart as Mrs. Cruncher may be a flopping at the present time.” Jerry is reborn, full reversal
285: “You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.”
“Each spoke in their own language; neither understood the other’s words; both were very watchful, and intent to deduce from look and manner, what the unintelligible words meant.”
“No you wicked foreign woman; I am your match.”
286: “It was in vain for Madame Defarge to struggle and strike; Miss Pross, with the vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate, clasped her tight, and even lifted her from the floor in the struggle that they had.”
287: Madame Defarge tries to kill Miss Pross, but as Miss Pross hits away the pistol, Defarge is killed. Miss Pross losing her hearing
288: “Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms.” The cruel nobles created a beast and now that beast kills uncontrollably
291: “But for you, dear stranger, I should not be so composed . . . nor shoud I have been able to raise my thoughts to Him who was put to death, that we might have hope and comfort here today. I think you were sent to me by Heaven.”
“Or you to me,” says Sydney Carton.
Holds her hand the whole way
292: “I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, het shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
“The said of him, about the city that night, that it was the peacefullest man’s face ver beheld there. Many added that he looked sublime and prophetic.”
“I see long ranks of the new oppressors . . . perishing out of this retributive instrument, before it shall cease out of its current use. I see a beautiful city and a brilliant city people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free . . .”
“I see Her with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name”
“I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants . . . I see her as old woman, weeping for me on the anniversary of this day. . . I know that each was not more honoured and held sacred in the other’s soul, than I was in the souls of both.”
“I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my
name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see
him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of
his.” Then he gives his own son,
“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.”
What is the symbolism of Carton’s death? Why does he say “I am the resurrection and the Life . . .” as he dies? How does he die for the sins of others and then help the world as a whole?
Sydney Carton is resurrected through Sydney Carton Darnay
Did Carton make the right choice? Why or why not?
Who do you admire more, Carton or Darnay?
Who is this book about?