Sydney Carton, a Christian Model
leit9866
2040
In our daily lives, we battle an internal evil. We struggle to bring darkness to light or sadness to joy. The ills of society and the nature of our bones pit us against ourselves. Yet, Jesus Christ has won the battle and strengthens those still fighting for redemption. Christ’s battle was won through love, and so can ours be won through the love we employ for others. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens uses Sydney Carton as a Christian model for how humans can be recalled to a life of Christian values through the strength and transformative power of Christ’s love.
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Initially Carton lives a life in stark contrast to that of a Christian. Mr. Stryver, an old schoolmate of Carton’s, expresses his observation of his old friend after complementing Carton on his surprising point in the courtroom, “Your way is, and always was, a lame way,” said Stryver, “You summon no energy and purpose” (Dickens 104). He was “careless” and “insolent,” unchanging in demeanor with the surrounding excitement of a courtroom or conversation (88, 90). He is the “idlest and most unpromising of men” (101).
Even Carton perceives himself as a purposeless, incapable man. “You know I am incapable of all the higher and better flights of men,” he reemphasizes to his colleagues (253). Carton claims he cares for no man and has “never done any good, and never will” (98, 253). And although he recognizes that it is shameful to live with such worthlessness, Carton avows, “It is too late [to live a better life]. I shall never be better than I am. I shall sink lower, and be worse,” as tears fills his eyes (180). |
Carton, from the movie production in 1935, appearing without energy or purpose.
Source: imdb.com
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Yet throughout the novel Dickens suggests that deep within Carton exists a great light--a hope for fulfilling a meaningful purpose in life. For Dickens knew that within each person is a “profound secret and mystery” beyond what is presented by one or observed by others (253). Thus he describes the fatal darkness of hopelessness that Carton is consumed by as a darkness “very rarely pierced by the light within him” (179).
This light first became apparent in his developing relationship with Lucie. After Carton seeks forgiveness from Darnay, Lucie pleads, “Poor Mr. Carton deserves more consideration and respect than you expressed for him tonight . . . I think--I know--he does” (254). For Lucie believes that Carton has a heart “he very very seldom reveals, and that there are deep wounds in it” (254). Thus, there seems to be hope for this wretched man.
Such hope, stemming from his growing selfless love for Lucie, began earlier with his relationship with Christ. The truth is, “every beating heart . . . is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it” which for Carton--his heart is nearest Christ’s (12). He hears and repeats the words that echoed from his Father’s death: “I am the Resurrection and the Life; saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (464). These words “were in the echoes of his feet, and were in the air” (388). They encapsulate him wherever he wanders and become the essence of his past, present, and future. And the nearer his heart grows into Christ’s, the more his life begins to reflect Christ’s.
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Carton professing his love to Lucie.
Source: victorianweb.org
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Carton’s sacrificial love for Lucie brings out the light within him, and the light he could bring to the world around him.on the road to meet Darnay and fulfill this sacrifice, led by Christ’s comforting words, Carton’s light is reflected in the world around him as Dickens notes
the glorious sun, rising, seemed to strike those words, that burden of the night, straight and warm to his heart in its long bright rays. And looking along them, with reverently shaded eyes, a bridge of light appeared to span the air between him and the sun, while the river sparkled under it (389). The sun, a stark contrast to the night, represents the dawning purpose and the new hope that spring forth from his sacrificial love for Lucie. The sun’s rays strike Carton’s heart emphasizing its strength from the words of Christ that propel him forward to the sacrifice. Those rays, forming a bridge to the sun, mark a bright, straight path for Carton previously unforeseen or imagined for his life. Carton is recalled to life through this sacrifice and the sparkling river represents this new life as it reflects the light of his sacrificial love. Thus, Carton’s love for Lucie brings out Carton’s light. |
Carton’s transformation into a Christian model is realized at the end of the novel where Dickens incorporates frequent allusions to scripture. Dickens writes of shadows falling on the prison similar to the darkness that “came over the whole land…, for the sun stopped shining” when Christ died on the cross (Luke 23:44-45). Stronger though is the allusion to Carton being the Lord. Lucie says, “I am supported from above,” echoing Psalm 18:18, which expresses that on the day of his disaster, “the Lord was my support.”(413). Like God, Carton raises her up, supporting her during her time of suffering (414).
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Carton reflects the image of Christ before death, reinforcing Dickens's use of Carton as a Christ-like figure.
Source: jssgallery.org & wikimedia.org
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Through Carton’s death, he not only supported and secured the life and freedom of those he loved, particularly Lucie, but the freedom of his people who were oppressed and downtrodden. And these people, he believed will hold him in the “sanctuary [of] their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence” (465). Carton’s sacrifice, which was born from love, will ripple through generations. And he will be held in their hearts always, just as Christ rests in the sanctuaries of men and women’s hearts centuries later. So through this sacrifice, Carton triumphs.
Sydney Carton, a man without a purpose, worth, or any goodness, through his nearness to Christ, begets the opportunity for his light to shine brightly when he stands before the guillotine to be slaughtered. He is a model of hope for the Christian life that every person is redeemable and capable of mighty things. Life is about finding the spark that ignites our souls and will make the flame burn forever.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold (Editor); Hobby, Blake (Editor). Bloom’s Literary Themes: Rebirth and Renewal. New York, NY, USA: Facts on File, 2009. 229.http://site.ebrary.com/lib/uminnesota/ Doc?id=10318869&ppg=229.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print.
Dickens, Charles. “Social, Sanitary, and Municipal Progress.” Household Words. (December 28, 1852): 11-15. Print.
Milley, Henry J. W. “Wilkie Collins and ‘A Tale of Two Cities.’” The Modern Language Review, Vol. 34, No. 4 (October, 1939): 525-534. Print.
Stout, Daniel. “Nothing Personal: The Decapitation of Character in A Tale of Two Cities.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 41, No. 1 Fortieth Anniversary Issue (Fall, 2007). 29-52. Print.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. New York City: The Zondervan Corporation, 2010. Web.
Bloom, Harold (Editor); Hobby, Blake (Editor). Bloom’s Literary Themes: Rebirth and Renewal. New York, NY, USA: Facts on File, 2009. 229.http://site.ebrary.com/lib/uminnesota/ Doc?id=10318869&ppg=229.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print.
Dickens, Charles. “Social, Sanitary, and Municipal Progress.” Household Words. (December 28, 1852): 11-15. Print.
Milley, Henry J. W. “Wilkie Collins and ‘A Tale of Two Cities.’” The Modern Language Review, Vol. 34, No. 4 (October, 1939): 525-534. Print.
Stout, Daniel. “Nothing Personal: The Decapitation of Character in A Tale of Two Cities.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 41, No. 1 Fortieth Anniversary Issue (Fall, 2007). 29-52. Print.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. New York City: The Zondervan Corporation, 2010. Web.
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