A Tale Of Two Cities Sacrifice Analysis

Love, Sacrifice, and Revolution During the French Revolution, the aristocracy and those suspected of helping them were slaughtered, causing people to take drastic measures to escape France and save themselves. In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, characters take drastic measures as well, but for other characters and not themselves. Why would they risk their sanity, hearing, or lives for the happiness of someone else? Dickens shows us many times that love is what pushes people to make sacrifices. Sacrifice is caused by a character’s love for someone else, as shown by the sacrifices of Miss Pross, Doctor Manette, and Sydney Carton. During a fight with Madame Defarge, Miss Pross sacrifices her hearing because of her love for Lucie Manette.
Before the fight, Miss Pross’ dedication and love for Lucie is shown throughout the book. When Mr. Lorry is observing Miss Pross, Dickens tells us that “[Lorry] also knew her by this time to be… one of those unselfish creatures… who will, for pure love and admiration, bind themselves willing slaves, to youth when they have lost it…” (Dickens 72). Miss Pross has attached herself in love and admiration to Lucie while being her servant. Pross’ love is unselfish, and she would do anything to help Lucie. Her love is shown many other times, especially when Miss Pross says, “’I am so distracted with fear and hope for our precious creatures…’” (282). Miss Pross is in danger when she says this, since she is still stranded in France and could be caught by the revolutionaries and beheaded; in fact, Madame Defarge, one of the most bloodthirsty of the revolutionaries, is coming towards Miss Pross as she speaks. However, Miss Pross’ fear is not for herself, but for Lucie and Lucie’s family. This again shows Pross’ unselfish nature. When Madame Defarge gets to the house, she finds Miss Pross standing in front of the door to Lucie’s room. Miss Pross says something that illustrates her love and willingness to sacrifice for Lucie: “’I am desperate. I don’t care an English Twopence for myself. I know that the longer I keep you here, the greater hope there is for my Ladybird’” (286). Miss Pross is determined to keep Madame Defarge from getting into Lucie’s room and discovering that she is gone, because if Madame Defarge finds out the truth, Lucie and her family might be caught before they can leave France. Miss Pross is ready to fight Madame Defarge and even possibly lose, just to keep Lucie safe. Madame Defarge tries her best to get to the door, but Miss Pross stops her with the “vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate” (286). Madame Defarge pulls out a gun and shoots herself, causing her own death and Miss Pross’ loss of hearing. Miss Pross, it is later revealed, has lost her hearing forever, a sacrifice made in the name of love. Another sacrifice for love is made when Doctor Manette sacrifices his sanity to let his daughter marry Charles Darnay.
Dr. Manette, who is kept in the Bastille for years and loses his mind because of it, has been brought back to a happy life with his daughter, Lucie. When Mr. Lorry asks Miss Pross why Dr. Manette refuses to talk about his imprisonment, she replies, “’It’s plain enough, I should think, why he might be [afraid]. Not knowing how he lost himself, or how he recovered himself, he may never feel certain of not losing himself again’” (74). Dr. Manette is so afraid of losing his mind again and becoming a different person that he refuses to talk about it. Dr. Manette also knows that Charles Darnay has something to do with his imprisonment. However, when Darnay asks if he can marry Lucie if Lucie loves him, Manette replies, “…if there were… any fancies, any reasons, any apprehensions, anything whatsoever, new or old, against the man she really loved – the direct responsibility thereof not lying on his head – they should all be obliterated for her sake. She is everything to me; more to me than suffering…” (104). Dr. Manette already knows that Darnay’s presence could start a relapse of the condition he’s so afraid of; however, he states that he would forget all of the grievances he had against someone Lucie loved, all for Lucie’s happiness. Manette is saying that losing his mind again would be worth it if it meant Lucie could be happy. Later on, Darnay does marry Lucie,
and Dr. Manette suffers a relapse for nine days. When he recovers and Lorry talks to him about what caused it, Dr. Manette says that “the relapse… was not quite unforeseen” and that Lorry has “no idea how such an apprehension weighs on the sufferer’s mind…” (155). Dr. Manette knows the relapse will come if he lets Lucie marry Darnay, but he lets it happen anyways, all for Lucie’s happiness. This is Dr. Manette’s sacrifice for love: he loves Lucie so much that he lets her marry Darnay, even though it causes him to lose his mind. Finally, Sydney Carton sacrifices his life to save Charles Darnay because of his love for Lucie. Before Lucie is married to Darnay, Carton admits his love for Lucie and says, “’I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh… A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing… but I wish you to know that you inspired it’” (116). Carton has always considered it his destiny to never do anything great and to live a pointless, miserable existence. However, his love for Lucie is so strong that it encourages him to try to be someone better, even if he does eventually give up on this hope. In the same meeting with Lucie, Carton promises that he would “embrace any sacrifice for you and those dear to you” even though he knows he could never marry Lucie (117). This not only shows Carton’s love and loyalty, but is also foreshadowing, since Carton sacrifices himself to save Darnay, who is Lucie’s beloved husband. Before this sacrifice, Carton shows his love in several other ways, like visiting the Darnay household “some half-dozen times a year, at most,” which was more than he had previously promised (162). Lucie and her family are on his mind often, and when they are stranded in France and the revolutionaries have captured Darnay a second time, Carton inquires after Lucie’s wellbeing and mood continuously, asking Mr. Lorry, “’You are going to her, I hope? She must be very desolate to-night’” (240). Carton only lets himself visit Lucie once, while she is sleeping, but he always makes sure that someone else is looking after her. The one time he does visit Lucie, all of Carton’s plans to release Darnay and sacrifice himself are in place. Carton whispers “’A life you love’” to Lucie, which refers back to his promise of sacrificing anything for her (260). Carton switches places with Darnay in the jail and goes willingly to the guillotine, letting Darnay escape and go back to his family. Carton, because of his love for Lucie, sacrifices his life for her husband’s. The sacrifices of Miss Pross, Doctor Manette, and Sydney Carton are preformed not for themselves but for someone else they love.
These characters risk a lot and are aware of the consequences of their actions. However, they make their sacrifices anyways. This shows the power of love in A Tale of Two Cities and in real life. When a person loves someone else, they can do courageous and selfless things they would otherwise never have the bravery to
do.