The nature of mind and body has been debated constantly, but the answer has always been present in our own minds. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, two extremely different characters, Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, are presented, and much quarreling has arisen over their being representative of the clash of the mind and the body, and if so, which is which. Sydney Carton is symbolic of the mind and Charles Darnay of the body. The mind, Carton, and the body, Darnay, are one being who react to situations adversely; but where the body is physical, the mind is philosophical, and the mind gives life to the body.
The body can be still while the mind is in turmoil; however, where the mind delays, distracts, and debates, the body reacts. Prime examples of this are Carton and Darnay’s reactions to Lucie Manette and their ensuing acclamations of love for her. In contemplating the conversation to come with Doctor Manette, Darnay ponders decidedly upon how “He had loved Lucie Manette from the hour of his danger. He had never heard a sound so sweet and dear as the sound of her compassionate voice; he had never seen a face so tenderly beautiful, as hers…” (Dickens 126). Darnay knew instantly that he loved Lucie and approached her father with dignity, composure, and great respect to ask for her hand in marriage. On the same matter of love for Lucie, Carton constantly forced his love back into his mind until he could no longer ignore it and he burst in on Lucie one morning and exclaimed, “If it had been possible…that you could have returned the love of the man you see before you…he would have been conscious this day and hour, in spite of his happiness, that he would bring you to misery… I know very well that you can have no tenderness...
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... golden hair, to this place…and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and faltering voice” (364). Carton remembers the body he is giving up, but the mind was stronger than the body, and that strength took Catron to a hero’s death. The jackal died for the lion, the mind perished for the body, Sydney Carton was no more to give Charles Darnay a chance at life.
The jackal and the lion are an unbreakable, intertwined system comprised of the lion’s brawn and the jackal’s brain, which ensures the continuance of the lion. The mind and the body share the common goal of life for the body. This singular goal drives them, even in their differences to work together to use any means necessary to establish a life worth living, and worth dying for, for the body.
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC., 1988. Print.
The novel A Tale of Two Cities was written by Charles Dickens and takes place in England and France during the late eighteenth century. Despite the horrors of the guillotine, gestures of humanity were shown, especially through Sydney Carton when he sacrificed himself for Charles Darnay. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens exemplifies the natural goodness of the characters Charles Darnay, Dr. Manette, and Sydney Carton in Book 2, Chapter 18, Book 3, Chapter 15, by showing many acts of sacrifice. Doctor Manette has been a victim of sacrifice for the better. When Darnay reveals his past as an aristocrat, Dr. Manette's mental stability wavers because he is reminded of his past in the Bastille.
Dickens used his great talent by describing the city London were he mostly spent his time. By doing this Dickens permits readers to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the aged city, London. This ability to show the readers how it was then, how ...
Carton thinks, “I see a child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man whining his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him whining it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his” (364). The child that Carton foresees will become the man Carton always wanted to be. Not only did his fate benefit Darnay and his descendants, but Carton was rid of his past miseries that made him a prisoner during his life. Upon hearing about Darnay’s imprisonment, Dr. Manette attempted to change Darnay’s fate of dying by the guillotine. Dr. Manette promised, “I knew I could help Charles out of all danger; I told Lucie so” (253). However, Dr. Manette’s forgotten past of his unjust imprisonment in Bastille reappears through his own letter denouncing Darnay, giving Carton his golden opportunity to give himself for Darnay. After taking the letter addressed to the Marquis St. Evrémonde, Darnay was surprised upon reading the letter to know that his loyal servant Gabelle was in danger and felt compelled to save Gabelle. “...the winds and streams had driven him within the influence of the Loadstone Rock, and it was drawing him to itself, and he must go. Everything that arose before his mind drifted him on, faster and faster, more and more steadily, to the terrible attraction” (234). After Carton fulfilled his fate of sacrificing himself, Darnay was freed from his attachment with France and settled in England once and for all. Through the connections of the character’s imprisonment, Dickens illustrates that only a sacrifice could change the fate of
This quote shows that Carton wishes he had been a better person, and knows that he could have been as successful as Darnay if only he had applied himself to his job or found love. Sydney Carton is a man deep in self-doubt and self-hatred. He is an alcoholic who is often moody and depressed (Moss and Wilson). Carton has an extremely low opinion of himself, and has no happiness or love in his life. Carton’s sacrifice ultimately purifies him, and saves him from his own self-loathing. Though Carton’s strength comes from his love for Lucie, his apathy for his life does as well; “he is a brooding individual, socially outcast, and both driven and tormented by an impossible love.” (Gonzalez-Posse 346) This quote shows Carton’s unattainable need to
Some would choose to declare that every human being is both a body and a mind. Both being gelled together until death, than having the mind go on to exist and the body being lifeless. A person lives throughout two collateral histories, one having to do with what happens to the body and in it, and the other being what happens in and to the mind. What happens to the body is public and what happens to the mind is private. The events which reply to the body consist of the physical world, and the events of the mind consist of the mental world.
Kalil, Marie. Cliffs notes on Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Cliff Notes Inc, June 2000
In Book II of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, the traits of Mr. Stryver and Sydney Carton are contrasted through the use of ironic chapter titles. In the twelfth chapter, “The Fellow of Delicacy,” Mr. Styver announces to Mr. Lorry his intentions to marry Lucie Manette. Upon informing Mr. Lorry of his plans, Stryver is astounded at Lorry’s initial cry of: “Oh dear me!” (Dickens 176). Prying from Lorry that he is an “eligible,” “prosperous,” and “advancing” man (Dicken 176-177), Styver acts in a way that pushed his “blood-vessels into a dangerous state” (Dickens 178). These examples of his behavior demonstrate that he is a confident, egotistical, and hot-tempered man who often cannot see past his opinion of his own importance. From this alone, one can already see that Stryver is not “the fellow of delicacy” that the chapter title implies him to be.
In everyday life it appears that the body is overlooked in its relation to the mind. This notion of body and mind separation is not something that necessarily sits well with people. The debate can sit on either scientific knowledge or religious beliefs. Currently this is what we deal with when this sort of debate occurs. With the various belief structures prevalent in humans we can’t assume argument is stronger than another.
This week’s module included reading selections from The Matrix, Plato’s The Allegory of a Cave, and Descartes Meditation I. While many philosophers have different perceptions on the concept of what is real and what is fantasy, the writers of these literary works depict the idea behind the body and mind problem as studied in module three. As seen in the reading, the mentality of each author is revealed by their philosophy of the mind and body concept. This also reveals each author’s perspective of truth and reality. Within the synopsis of The Matrix, Plato’s The Republic, and Descartes Meditation I, a similarity is portrayed throughout, as the concept behind the mind and body problem is referenced.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. The Oxford Illustrated Dickens. 1949. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1987.
...ppiness to everyone around him, to Lucy Darnay, Charles Darnay, young Lucy (their daughter) and to Dr. Manette. Carton believed that it was the best thing to do, he believed that by making his loved one happy, he would be loved, he would be satisfied and he would be respected. "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" said Carton (page 466). Sydney Carton had courage; he had physical courage and moral courage. He truly loved Lucy. He understood the real meaning of love. He died for it, for love.
The most dynamic character in Charles Dickens, 'A Tale of Two Cities,' appears as Sydney Carton. First, Carton presents himself as a drunk, lazy attorney, who feels as though his life has no meaning. However, Carton as well as others know deep down that his life does have true meaning. Carton professes his love to Lucie Manette. Inexplicably, Carton becomes a changed man; this important turning point molds the remainder of the novel. After he exits the den, he finds his independence. When Sydney Carton becomes enlightened, he transforms into a Christ-like figure. He begins to shoulder his way through life.
both positive and negative traits that they hold. Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens’ A Tale
The Mind and the Physical Body Since the times of Plato and Aristotle, the argument of dualism and mutualism of the mind and body has been in existence. Dualism has been the driving force behind the existence of the mind/body problem and has been by far the majority view due largely to the influence of Descartes. In recent times, modern medicine has taken a shift towards mutualism. Outside stimuli, as perceived by the mind, affect the body either beneficially or adversely. While the body as an organism has the capacity to heal, evidence proves that the mind expedites recovery.
Charles Dickens is a talented author who wrote many notable novels, including A Tale of Two Cities. Barbara Hardy notes that at a young age Dickens’ father was imprisoned for debt, leaving young Charles to support himself and his family alone (47). Dickens strongly disliked prisons, which shows as a motif in A Tale of Two Cities. Many of his interests contributed to the formulation of the novel. In the essay “Introduction” from the book, Charles Dickens, Harold Bloom claims Dickens hoped “to add something to the popular and picturesque means of understanding [the] terrible time” of the Revolution (20). Dickens’ reading and “extraordinary reliance upon Carlyle’s bizarre but effective French Revolution” may have motivated him to write the novel (Bloom 21). Sir James Fitzjames Stephen believed that Dickens was “on the look-out for a subject, determined off-hand to write a novel about [French Revolution]” (Bloom 20). In Brown’s book Dickens in his Time, Dickens guided the writing of the play Frozen Deep where two rivals share the same love, and one ultimately sacrifices himself for...