A Tale of Two Cities and its Characters One of the major criticism of Charles Dickens', A Tale of Two Cities, is that he does not develop his characters enough, but this is not true for several characters. For example, Madame Defarge is given a background that explains her motives, Dr. Manette is dynamic, and Sydney Carton is a considerate and genuine person. Each of these aspects that Dickens expounds on in his characters shows their sophistication. In contrast, there is Charles Darnay; he is neither dynamic nor or is he given any sort of background; he is also severely lacking in depth. One of the characters that Dickens develops is Madame Defarge, and he does so by giving the reader her background, and through that one can see the motives for her actions. For example, throughout the entire book she is extremely violent. While the lower class is storming the Bastille she, “ …puts her foot upon his neck and with her cruel knife-long ready- hewed off his head” (222). She violently kills an officer when the people are taking over the Bastille. However, despite the fact that she is so ruthless, she has a reason for why she acts in such a manner. She kills the officer …show more content…
Manette. He is a very dynamic character. In the beginning, he is constantly having seizures and falling back into his state of depression. For example, when Lucie and Darnay leave, Dr. Manette returns to his previous condition of mindlessness and passiveness. Mr. Lorry says to him, " ' But Dr. Manette, look at me' He obeyed, in the old, mechanically, submissive manner, without pausing in his work" (197). Dr. Manette is described as being submissive, meek, and overall very feeble. In contrast to this, later in the book he is described as having, "… kindled eyes, resolute face, calm strong look..." (276). He is emotionally and mentally stronger than he was before. Dr. Mannette changes from being timid and mindless to being determined and