"Charles and Sydney are opposite side of the same coin". Discuss.

Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton are similar, yet different. Though they have plenty in common, they are different from each other. They are similar in looks but different in outlook.

 Similarities between Charles and Sydney:

Both look alike and both love Lucie. Whereas Charles gains her love, Sydney is rejected but they are not jealous of each other. Though they do not really care for each other, Lucie is the golden thread who binds them and encourages them to overcome their mutual antipathy.

Charles is a French aristocrat who disowns his legacy to atone for the sins of his forefathers. He is a humanitarian who belives in the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, without being a violent revolutionary. Sydney, on the other hand, is an orphan who has to struggle hard in life; and at the beginning he appears to have no high ideals.

Both love Lucie deeply and both are honest in love. Charles asks Dr. Manette for Lucie's hand and reveals his true identity. Sydney, too, is honest in his dealings with Lucie. He loves her and honestly tells her that he is not fit for her.

Unlike Charles, Sydney is a man of action, while Charles lives in the world of ideals and ideas Sydney acts. Charles is passive and things keep happening to him. Sydney on the other hands acts. At Old Bailey he sees the resemblance between Charles and himself and acts promptly to save him. Later, when Charles is condemned to death, he takes quick action and makes a plan to save Charles.

Darnay has always been regarded by all as sober and composed even in trying circumstances. A highly intellectual man, Sydney Carton knows that Darnay would be the last person to save himself at the cost of another life. That is why he has to be drugged to enable Carton to save him.

While Charles unwillingly causes suffering to his loved ones, Sydney Carton relieves his loved ones of suffering. He is resurrected and he resurrects others. He becomes a saint and a martyr as his heart is filled with love for humanity. Love transforms him and resurrects him spiritually.

While Charles shows a spirit of sacrifice by renouncing his property, Sydney shows a spirit of sacrifice by renouncing his life and Sydney's sacrifice is greater.

Thus Charles and Sydney are doubles, alike in appearance, loving the same woman, and linked by fate. Charles is what Sydney could have been. While Charles does not develop in the course of the narration, Sydney develops and turns into a martyr.

 

 

 

You Can also Read:

•                  Dickens's Art of Characterization in the Novel “A Tale of  Two Cities”.

•    Plot Construction of "A Tale of Two Cities"

•    Show how “A Tale of Two Cities” is a Tale of London and Paris.

•    “A Tale of Two Cities” is a Novel about Rebirth.

•     "A Tale of Two Cities is a Tale of Two Heroes". Discuss.

•    Comic Elements in “A Tale of Two Cities”.

•    Compare and Contrast Sydney Carton and Stryver.

•    Treatment of Self-Love in “A Tale of Two Cities”.

•    Tragic Elements in A "Tale of Two Cities".