Thursday 20 October 2016

Sydney Carton was Jesus Christ in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities



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I read A Tale of Two Cities many years ago but few years later, when I became a Christian the Spirit of God has not ceased reminding me of the similarities between Jesus Christ who died for me on the Cross and Sydney Carton who died for Charles Evremonde a.k.a Darnay who was sentenced to death. 
       The narrative is concerned with events in Paris and London before and during the French Revolution. The story focuses on Charles Darnay, the self-exiled nephew of French nobility, and his wife, Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr. Alexandre Manette. As the first of the novel’s three sections begins, Jarvis Lorry is on his way to Paris to reunite Dr. Manette with the daughter who thought he has been dead for the past 18 years. Over this time Dr. Manette has forgotten his past life; he sits in a small attic room and makes shoes. Slowly, Jarvis and Lucie Manette “recall (him) to life.”
·         The novel’s second section starts five years later. Lucie Manette marries Charles Darnay. Darnay confesses a secret to Dr. Manette on the eve of the wedding. This secret turns out to be that Darnay is really Charles Evremonde, a member of the French ruling class. Darnay has renounced his past and wishes to settle in England. Meanwhile, unrest is growing in the Paris suburb of St. Antoine. The center of this unrest is a wine-shop owned by the Defarges, who are shown leading the storming of the Bastille.
·         The final section of the novel opens with Darnay on his way to Paris at the entreaty of a former servant who is endangered. Darnay is arrested and sentenced to die. The Manettes and Lorry hurry to Paris and succeed in freeing Darnay, but he is soon arrested again. He is sentenced to the guillotine. Sydney Carton, who bears a striking resemblance to Darnay, sneaks into the prison and switches places with Darnay. Carton is on his way to the guillotine, willing to die for the love of Lucie, while Darnay, the Manettes and Lorry flee to London.
·         The narrative shares some ideas with the salvation of mankind through Jesus Christ. In this story, Carton died in place of Darnay who was condemned to death by guillotine because of his biological background. Right from the Garden, humanity was cursed and sentenced to death but Jesus came, rescued us by dying in our place.
·         It may interest you to know that To be beheaded by the guillotine was one of the most wicked ways of killing a condemned criminal till date. In some developing world, it is like death by firing squared, in some developed nations, it is by hanging, by electrocution or by lethal injection. The worst of them all to date is hanging on a tree which Christ Jesus did for us.
·         Darnay returned to London telling people how he escaped the guillotine at the expense of the life of his lovely friend and attorney, Carton. But unlike Darnay, many of us have been failing in sharing the testimonies of our salvation. Some are even still preaching and teaching that there are still other conditions to be met to be eligible for the Kingdom of God despite the position of Jesus Christ in John 3:16 and Romans 10:9-10.
·         Many elite would not even pray in Jesus name while in the public. They are afraid of losing their position.  
       (The summary was copied from e.notes.com) 

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