How Does Stryver Deserve The Guillotine In A Tale Of Two Cities

Destined for the Guillotine: C.J. Stryver In a time of blood and vengeance, there is no space for the worthless and the lazy. In A Tale of Two Cities, the lawyer C.J. Stryver takes advantage of a dismal, ambitious man so he might further his own career using the hard work of another. Therefore, the lawyer C. J. Stryver deserves the guillotine because he is not only arrogant and entitled, but also a hindrance to society since he neglects to contribute his own work. The strongest reason that Stryver deserves the guillotine is that he is taking advantage of another’s work and passing it off as his own. Stryver is a convivial man and a prestigious lawyer, however, the true reason for the success of his work is Sydney Carton, a man who despite his

This leads him to be rude and devoid of tact in social situations as he was “free from any drawback of delicacy, had a pushing way of shouldering himself (morally and physically) into companies and conversations, that argued well for his shouldering his way up in life” (Dickens, p60), showing that he has no regard for anyone other than himself, and he fully believes he has a right to include himself wherever he pleases. This quote, where it comments that Mr. Stryver was “exuding patronage of the most offensive quality from every pore” (Dickens, p163), shows that his arrogance is so strong that it emanates off of him and everyone around him is aware of it. Additionally, in the earlier chapters of the book, C.J. Stryver was pursuing Lucie Manette, completely lacking the self-awareness to realize that she might not believe him to be as perfect as he believes himself to

Contrarily, some might contest that C. J. Stryver does not deserve the guillotine because he is being resourceful and helping Sydney Carton by giving him something to do so he does not waste himself away drinking. Outside of working for Stryver, Sydney Carton is the “idlest and most unpromising of men” (Dickens, p65), making no effort to further himself in life, instead his only purpose is working for Stryver. Therefore, some might believe that Stryver is doing him a service, giving him something productive to occupy himself with and a respite from his idle