A Tale of Two Cities Group

Topic: A Tale of Two Cities

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Should Darnay have kept his name and his identity secret from his wife and not told her of his trip?

 

This can be found in Chapter 24 of Book 2. Please help!

2

mwestwood

Before Darnay marries Lucie, he agrees to her father's request to not reveal his true identity to Dr. Manette's daughter as she would reject Darnay out of loyalty to him.  (Later in the novel, the reader discovers that Darnay's father and his uncle are the young men involved in the incident that led to Manette's imprisonment.)

Now, in Chapter 24 when Darnay, the Marquis de Evermonde, receives the pleas of Gabelle who has been arrested for following his master's instructions, his honor will not permit him not to return.  Darnay ponders the honor of old Mr. Lorry who risks harm in order to serve Tellson's Bank; he thinks that he may be able to "stay bloodshed, and assert the claims of mercy and humanity."  Moreover, he feels the magnetic pull of Fate as he senses the "influence of the Loadstone Rock."

A "hard matter to preserve the innocent deceit" to Lucy, he does write a letter telling her of his journey, but not the real purpose.  As a man of honor, Charles Darnay keeps his promise to Dr. Manette while obeying "noblesse oblige."  For, he cannot be the noble character that he is unless he acts in such a manner.

Without Darnay's being such a noble character, the actions of Sydney Carton to save Darnay at the novel's end can have no nobility nor credibility.  Afterall, Carton's famous line has much significance because of Darnay's honorable character:

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far, better rest that I go to, than I have ever known. 

 

 

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