A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens (1859)
“The most famous opening in English prose introduces a story where a drunken wastrel chooses death so the man he envies can live — and makes you believe every word of it.”
Character Analysis
The most psychologically interesting character in the novel — possibly in Victorian fiction. Carton is introduced as a ruin: brilliant, alcoholic, self-contemptuous, employed as a legal 'jackal' who does the work while his employer Stryver takes the credit. He sees his double in Darnay and hates him for it. His love for Lucie is his one genuine feeling in a life of performed indifference. His sacrifice is not impulsive — he has been thinking about it since the first time he told Lucie he would give his life for those she loves. The redemption is real because the damnation was real.
Educated, sardonic, self-lacerating. Uses complex subordinate clauses and long sentences when sober; clipped, bitter monosyllables when drunk. His language is always more precise than his circumstances suggest.