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Resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities Resurrection is a powerful theme found
throughout the plot of A Tale of Two Cities. Many of the characters in the novel
are involved with the intertwining themes of love, redemption, and good versus
evil. The theme of resurrection involves certain aspects of all of these themes
and brings the story together. Dr. Manette is the first person to experience
resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities. He is taken away from his pregnant wife
and then imprisoned for eighteen very long years. Over the years, his condition
deteriorates until he forgets his real name and mindlessly cobbles shoes to pass
the time. In Book the First, he is released by the French government and then
put in the care of Monsieur Defarge. He is suddenly recalled to life(19, 35).
However, his rebirth has just begun and does not become complete until he is
reunited with his daughter; Lucy Manette. In Book the Second; The Golden Thread,
the resurrection theme appears several times. At the start of this book, Charles
Darnay is on trial for treason in England. He has been traveling back and forth
between France and England and is thought to be a spy. The people in the crowd
are sure that he will be found guilty, the punishment for this crime being
death. Darnay is saved by the ingeniousness of Sydney Carton, and he too is
suddenly resurrected or recalled to life. In both Book the Second and Book the
Third, the reader gets different perspectives of the resurrection theme. Jerry
Cruncher is a body-snatcher and he refers to his late night activities as though
it is an honest trade. His son knows of his father's nocturnal activities and
expresses his desire to follow in his fathers footsteps: Oh, Father, I should so
like to be a resurrection-man when I'm quite growed up! (166). This parodies the
resurrection theme because it is a simple physical resurrection of corpses from
the graveyard with seemingly little meaning. The reader later realizes the
significance of the activities of the resurrection-man in Book the Third. In the
battle of good versus evil in A Tale of Two Cities, good tends to resurrect or
be resurrected, while the forces of evil mimic or parody the resurrection theme.
This is shown twice in the novel.
Old Foulon, the evil French aristocrat, fakes
his own death so that he will not be slaughtered by the revolution. He is found
later, alive, and is murdered anyway. This pattern of false death and false
resurrection is also followed by Roger Cly. He too is evil, faking his death and
being reborn as a spy again in a different country. In Book the Third, the
resurrection theme plays a pivotal role in the development of the plot. Miss
Pross recognizes the spy Barsad as her lost brother, Solomon. In the eyes of
Miss Pross, Solomon is resurrected and her brother is restored. Sydney Carton
meets Barsad and shortly after, Jerry Cruncher reveals to them that Roger Cly is
not dead. Cruncher knows this through his honest trade of body-snatching. This
allows Barsad to be manipulated by Sydney Carton so that Darnay might be saved
from death once again. Sydney Carton is the character that is most involved with
the theme of resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities.
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