"O Miss Manette, when the little picture of a happy father's face looks up in yours, when you see your own bright beauty spring up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!"(158).
As Sydney Carton professes his love and devotion to Miss Manette, he makes this promise to do anything to not only protect her but to protect the ones she loves. In this quote, Carton predicts that the ones she love might soon be her children. The reference to "little picture of a happy father's face" refers to a son, most likely by Darnay, and the "your bright beauty" is Lucie's daughter. Dickens' with this quote also shows how Sydney has a knack for predicting the future. We see this first in the Hundreds of People chapter, but it seems more prominent here. What I found most interesting about this entire chapter, was the lengths at which Sydney was willing to go to express this fondness. He needed to tell Lucie all this so badly that he was reduced to tears. Yet for all Sydney says to the woman, he asks nothing in return except a few moments of her time to think about him. He would give his life to make sure all the people she holds dear to remain safe and happy. This includes the double of Sydney, Charles Darnay. Now I don't know about this time period, but now a days, acts of jealousy and envy are many and often. To watch as the woman you love lives a life of happiness with a man that looks like you seems like torture. Though Sydney mentions weakness, and how in telling Miss Manette all this is petty, I would argue that Sydney is actually a stronger man than he thinks. To endure just watching as Lucie marries and has children would break weak men, yet Sydney commits a life to just that; watching. The only thing he asks is that when Lucie sees the resemblance in her son, that Sydney be thought of.
2 comments:
I agree almost with you except I don't think, that this passage is trying to say how Carton can predict the future. earlier in the book it talks about how Darnay and Carton look so similar, and because Carton knows that Darnay is going to marry Lucie and not him, he at least wants apart of him to be with her forever, because the child my some what resemble him because of his and Darnay's resemblance. Also I think that this shows us a new side of him, because before it eluded to tell us during the trial that he wasn't good at executing his own ideas, when clearly hear he has planned out his words very wisely and tried to execute them well even though he knew Lucie felt quite uncomfortable.
I agree that this passage isn't so much about Sydney Carton predicting the future, but I think it's more just about Sydney professing his love to Miss Manette. Also, about the part where Carton mentions Lucie looking at her son. He says he wants to be in Lucie's mind whenever she looks at her son because of the resemblance between he and Darnay. In saying this, Carton is truly genuine in his love to her. In class, I said that in doing this, Carton was trying to get ahead in the race for Lucie's heart. Now that I think about it, he really loves her and wants the best for her. He wouldn't try to get ahead.
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