Examples Of Sacrifice In A Tale Of Two Cities

A Meaningful Bad Life Sacrifice. Giving something up for the sake of something else. In Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, many characters make small sacrifices throughout the novel. However, Sydney Carton’s sacrifice is one that is set apart from any other. In the final chapters of the novel, Carton makes the ultimate decision to trade spots with Charles, a desired victim of the guillotine, which leads to his death. He did this in order to give his love, Lucie, the life he thinks that she deserved. Carton’s death is important to the novel as a whole because it represents character develpment, what we do for love, and the belief of resurrection. At the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton is perceived as someone who is lazy and drinks alot and doesn’t care too much about his life. He often states that he doesn’t care about anything and is a waste of life. In one instance, Carton looks into a

Right before he switches places he says to himself, “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.” The strong theme of Christianity is especially present in this moment, as Carton is almost comparing himself to Jesus because he also gave up his own life. Through his own death, Carton relizes that in turn he will be bringing a dead man, Charles, back to life, similar to a resurection. In Chapter 15 of Book 3, Carton says a prayer to a fellow victim of the guillotine. The prayer implies that they are immortal and displays his faith in his resurrection. Furthermore, when Carton approaches the guillotine he imagines Paris in the distance as well as all of the evil wearing away from his life. Similar to the rebirth of society through the violent revolution, Carton’s sacrifice makes his worthless life mean