Art of Characterization in A Tale of Two Cities

Lecturer Maria Munir
Novel A Tale of two Cities
Topic Art of Characterization
Dickens’s Art of Characterization in “A Tale of two Cities”
Introduction:
Characterization is an art, technique, method or process of forming and portraying a character in
any literary piece. It is practiced in most of the literary genres by almost all the writers dealing
with literature. However, there are a very few writers who have reached their excellence in using
this technique. Dickens name comes in that list, just after Shakespeare. But unlike other writers,
he had successfully given each character his or her individual traits so that it may appear to be
new and unique simultaneously.
In ‘A tale of two cities’, It is either deliberate, or by incident that these characters represent
society at whole. Dickens declared himself as mouth piece of poor labour class and of the
struggling lower middle class in his novel ‘A tale of two cities’. He criticized aristocratic class,
including kings, dukes and earls etc. Most of the characters in novel represent some idea or
abstract moral value, what we generally know as symbolism.
Lucie stands for Beauty and Innocence. Dr.Manette stands for Suffering, endeavor, tortures.
Sydney Carton stands for selflessness & Sacrifice. Jarvis Lorry stands for social service &
humanity. Jerry cruncher stands for corruption. Miss Pross stands for Love, affectionate and
tenderness. Mr. Defarge stands for faithfulness & loyality. Madam Defarge stands for evil,
hatred, revolution. Some of the characters are presented through action, while others through
dialogues. Some are virtuous, while others are vicious. Dickens does not analyze the psyche of
his characters, rather he is more into physical appearance and exaggeration of their outward
characteristics.
Many have felt that Carton and Darnay are doppelgangers, which Eric Rabkin defines as “a pair
of characters that together represent one psychological persona in the narrative". One can only
suspect whose psychological persona is that Carton and Darnay together embody (if they do), but
it is often thought to be the psyche of Dickens himself. Dickens was quite aware that between
them, Carton and Darnay shared his own initials. Furthermore, in early drafts of the novel,
Darnay and Carton each individually had the same initials as Dickens, since in early drafts
Carton's forename was Dick rather than Sydney.
Characters:
Many of Dickens' characters are "flat" rather than round, in the novelist E. M. Forster's famous
terms, meaning roughly that they have only one mood. Forster believed that Dickens never truly
created rounded characters, but a character such as Carton surely at least comes closer to
roundness.
Sydney Carton
An insolent, indifferent, and alcoholic attorney who works with Stryver. Carton has no real
prospects in his life and didn't seem to be in pursuit of any. He loved Lucie, and his feelings for
her eventually transformed him into a man of profound merit. At first the polar opposite of
Darnay, in the end Carton morally surpasses the man to whom he bears a striking physical
resemblance. He was quick-minded but depressed English barrister alcoholic, and cynic;his
Christ-like self-sacrifice redeems his own life as well as saving the life of Charles Darnay.
The reader senses, even in the initial chapters of the novel, that Carton in fact feels something
that perhaps cannot articulate. Eventually, Carton reaches a point where he can admit his feelings
to Lucie herself. Before Lucie weds Darnay, Carton professes his love to her, though he still
persists in seeing himself as essentially worthless. This scene marks a vital transition for Carton
and lays the foundation for the supreme sacrifice that he made at the end of novel. Carton's death
has provided much material for scholars and critics of Dickens's novel. Some readers consider it
the inevitable conclusion to a work obsessed with the themes of redemption and resurrection.
However, Dickens's frequent use in his text of other resurrection imagery—his motifs of wine
and blood, suggest that he intended for Carton's death to be redemptive, whether or not it
ultimately appears so to the reader. As Carton goes to the guillotine, the narrator tells us that he
envisions a beautiful, idyllic Paris “rising from the abyss” and sees “the evil of this time and of
the previous time of which this is the natural birth.
Lucie Manette
An ideal Victorian lady who was perfect in every way, she was loved by both Carton and Charles
Darnay (whom she marries); daughter of Dr Manette. She is the "golden thread" after whom
Book Two is named, so called because she holds her father's and her family's lives together (and
because of her blond hair like her mother's.) She also ties almost every character in the book
together. It enables her father to be “recalled to life,” and it sparks Sydney Carton's development
from a “jackal” into a hero.
Madame Therese Defarge

– a vengeful female revolutionary; arguably the novel's antagonist
John Barsad (real name Solomon Pross)

– a spy for Britain who later becomes a spy for France (at which point he must conceal that he is
British). He is the long-lost brother of Miss Pross.

Art of Characterization in A Tale of Two Cities

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Art of Characterization in A Tale of Two Cities

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecturer Maria Munir

Novel A Tale of two Cities

Topic Art of Characterization

Dickens’s Art of Characterization in “A Tale of two Cities”

Madame Therese Defarge

John Barsad (real name Solomon Pross)

You might also like