A Tale Of Two Cities Literary Analysis

The Power of Love in “A Tale of Two Cities”
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” was one of the famous lines written by Charles Dickens in his 1879 novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” In the story, a bank owner named Jarvis Lorry is met by a young lady called Lucie Manette in Dover, England. Lucie once thinks that her father has been long dead; however, Mr. Lorry corrects that thought by telling her that people have found her father in France. At first, Lucie thinks that she will go and see his Ghost; however, after much appease from Mr. Lorry, she finally has the courage to cross the salt water and come with Mr. Lorry to France. At France, they meet a man named Defarge, who has been hiding Doctor Manette safe from the public’s eyes. When they first see Doctor Manette, he is in a psychological breakdown from his memories when he is still imprisoned in the Bastille. By the end of the story; however, Doctor Manette completely recovers from his past wounds and helps his daughter to save her husband from prison. In the story, Doctor Manette proves to be an important character who is miraculously “Recalled to life” (Dickens 8).
At the beginning of the story, Doctor Manette is an important person for the Tellson’s bank and the Manette’s household. During Mr. Lorry conversation with Lucie Manette, it appears that there is a French gentleman from Beauvais who seeks Mr. Lorry as one of his trustees. Coincidently, Lucie’s father history “would have been the history of this unfortunate gentleman, Doctor of Beauvais” (Dickens 22). As a bank owner, Mr. Lorry has the responsible to look after his customers and to take care of them if they come across any troubles. In addition, he is a character who has a big heart who always worries about other people’s well-being. Doctor Manette is also very significant to Lucie’s mother when she has “never slackened her unavailing search” for him. Moreover, Lucie shows that Doctor Manette is also a very meaningful person to her as she sees him she “fell upon her knees before him, with her appealing hands upon his breast” (Dickens 43). Clearly, Doctor Manette’s problem is very critical towards Lucie, Mr. Lorry, and Tellson’s Bank.
Later in the story, after Lucie has seen her father for the first time in 18 years, the quest to restore the doctor back to sanity begins. When she sees him making shoes in a garret’s corner, she cries and hug him around her neck. Then, she says: “dearest dear, that your agony is over, and that I have come here to take you from it” (Dickens 44). This is the first evidence where Charles Dickens reveals to the readers that Lucie is going to take care her father out of her love and compassion for him. However, the author also notes in the story that it is quite impossible for Doctor Manette to return back to normal. On their trip back to London, Mr. Lorry asks Doctor Manette, “I hope you care to be recalled to life” and the Doctor simply answers “I can’t say” (Dickens 48).
The arrangement of the plot forces the reader to begin to wonder what actually happened during those five years, such as when Doctor Manette has completely recovered from his old wounds five years later. The author later unveils this time frame in a series of conversation between Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross, an old servant for Lucie. During a visit to the Manette’s household, Mr. Lorry has a chance to ask Miss Pross about Doctor Manette’s recovery process. According to Miss Pross, Doctor Manette sometimes gets up at night and walks up and down in his room, similar to when he is in prison. “She hurries to him, and in silence they go walking up and down together, walking up and down together, till her love and company have brought him to himself,” says Miss Pross as she recalls the five years of staying with Lucie and Doctor Manette (Dickens 95). As a writer named Christopher Herbert notes in his writings that the psychological disorder of Doctor Manette is similar to the disorder of the veterans who return from the Indian Mutiny war. According to Christopher Herbert, it seems that Doctor Manette is in a “hysterically sensitized mood of barely suppressed ‘horror’ that may be triggered unexpectedly, at any moment, by almost anything” (Herbert 251). Miss Pross also notes in the conversation that it is best not to remind Doctor Manette about his terrible experiences in France. Through Miss Pross, Charles Dickens cleverly shows how Lucie is curing Doctor Manette of his mental illness through her love and care.
As the story progresses, Charles Dickens gives readers a joyful news regarding Doctor Manette’s sickness. There is “No garret, no shoemaking, no One Hundred and Five, North Tower, now!” (Dickens 285). Doctor Manette completely regains his sanity and now he even helps Lucie go through her hardest time in her life. Lucie’s husband, Mr. Charles Darnay in is captured by the French for the crime of being an emigrant. Without Doctor Manette, Lucie’s husband will definitely be persecuted by the new French government. Doctor Manette not only successfully saves Mr. Charles Darnay from death but he also comforts her, encourages her to trust in him. Doctor Manette finally repays all of the things that Lucie does in order to restore his broken spirit. Doctor Manette is truly an indispensable character in the story who is “Recalled to life” (Dickens 8). Lucie heals Doctor Manette’s mental wound simply by caring and loving him with all her heart. Doctor Manette proves his importance for Lucie by helping and comforting her during her hardest time. As Carlos Santana once said, “There is no person that love cannot heal; there is no soul that love cannot save.”

Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993. Print.
Herbert, Christopher. War of No Pity: The Indian Mutiny and Victorian Trauma. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2008. Print.

Cited: Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993. Print. Herbert, Christopher. War of No Pity: The Indian Mutiny and Victorian Trauma. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2008. Print.