“Something especially reckless in his demeanor, not only gave him a disreputable look, but so diminished the strong resemblance he undoubtedly bore to the prisoner (which his momentary earnestness, when they were compared together, had strengthened), that many of the lookers-on, taking note of him now, said to one another they would hardly have thought the two were so alike.”

The quote above is comparing the character of Sydney Carton to that of Charles Darnay when they meet at the trial in Book the Second of Tale of Two Cities. Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay supposedly look exactly alike, the only difference being Carton looks like a more depraved version of the latter. It’s a curious thing that love triangles have snuck their way into more than one of my novels but I’ve never much cared for them in fiction–however, this book’s triangle would be an exception. Primarily because the romance isn’t the content of the book, simply a focal point, and the less moral of the male rivals actually undergoes redemption and isn't solely a character motivated by his passions.

The Setting for the Story:

A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction novel set before and during the French revolution taking place in both London and Paris. It relates the story of a French Doctor Manette who's released from the Bastille and reunited with his daughter Lucie after an 18 year imprisonment. Lucie Manette meets and falls in love with a young man Charles Darnay who’s on trial being accused of being a French spy. Sydney Carton, the attorney defending Darnay undermines the testimony of the witness who claims he would “know Darnay anywhere” because he asks the witness to consider him, and if the witness could even tell the difference between him and the suspect. Sydney Carton looks a great deal like Charles Darnay and the witness is forced to admit in the dark of night, he may have been mistaken. The evidence is not sufficient to convict Darnay. Carton’s reasons for assisting Darnay in the trial are revealed to be more influenced by his affection for Lucie (who’s present at the trial with her father) because Darnay’s release means a great deal to her. Is it counterintuitive for Carton trying to earn affection from Lucie by helping free the man she really does love who she eventually marries? Yes, but we’ll talk about that later. But that’s where the novel takes off setting all the primary characters in place.

The character of Sydney Carton:

I’ve seen two film adaptations of this book and both explored slightly different parts of this character but the book has something over all of them. Firstly I prefer the book in general–not to say the movies were bad both the 1935, and the 1958 version–but some things were meant to be read in my mind. So while I enjoyed seeing the character of Sydney Carton portrayed on screen and the different approaches I think that Dickens' language and tone of his book are part of what makes the story. Also some things as ugly as the French Revolution are better read than watched to me, but when it comes to the character of Sydney Carton the book has a far more introspective look into him than films can. The first paragraph I read of Sydney Carton were actually not his most famous last words but the ones describing him when he’s alone and wallowing in the misery of what is his presently Godless existence:
Climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and it's pillow was wet with wasted tears.

Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away. (Tale of Two Cities Book 2, Chapter 5)

This follows a conversation Carton has with his witless talentless business partner Mr. Stryver and it explains Carton fairly well. Sydney Carton helped Charels Darnay for a few reasons:

• Darnay was his client and innocent. Carton is the brains between him and Stryver his partner so its up to him to earn the living for them both basically.

•  Because being paid means money for drinking-Carton's only pastime.

•  And because it was important to Lucie who he immediately admired. 

The book clearly establishes Carton to be everything Darnay is only a morally failed version of it. Carton is young, talented, presumably handsome as he looks exactly like Darnay who were told is a fine looking man, and extremely intelligent. He wins the case half sober and not even paying attention. But as the paragraph above states, Carton has no idea where to direct his good intentions or motives as he’s slothful and not morally guided. He resents Darnay because he represents everything that he could have been and therefore the agonizing question: if Sydney Carton had turned out differently would Lucie be marrying him instead of Darnay? Or would it not be possible even then? 

Like many Byronic heroes Carton’s capable of great love and affection as we see when he continually grows in his love for Lucie to the point of offering his life for her and anyone she loves. Basically though he begins and remains licentious and slothful (Dickens words to describe him not mine) through most of the book, Carton’s heart is constantly being tugged at pushing him in the direction of redemption as the plot progresses. He starts out as any bad guy in a love triangle only being invested for the love of a woman. Carton even falls under the classic trope of acting as if Lucie means nothing to him. Carton’s partner Stryver is commenting that every man in the courtroom was admiring Lucie, that she was very beautiful and Carton acts as if he didn’t notice: 

“Do you know, Sydney,” said Mr. Stryver, looking at him with sharp eyes, and slowly drawing a hand across his florid face: “do you know, I rather thought, at the time, that you sympathized with the golden-haired doll, and were quick to see what happened to the golden-haired doll?”

“Quick to see what happened! If a girl, doll or no doll, swoons within a yard or two of a man’s nose, he can see it without a perspective-glass. I pledge you, but I deny the beauty. And now I’ll have no more drink; I’ll get to bed.” (Tale of Two Cities Book 2, chapter 5)

Carton is apathetic because he knows if he were honest and did profess love for her she wouldn't have him so he denies it to others. I don’t think anyone besides Lucie ever learns that Sydney Carton had such strong affections for her.

The uniqueness of the Love triangle and all parties involved:

In most love triangles both rivals are aware they’re competing for one person's affections, and typically its two men fighting over a woman. Sorry to sound sexist but it usually is. If anyone wants to write some more fiction and change this trend, I support it wholeheartedly—but for now that's what we’ve mostly got. This triangle is different for many reasons.

• Typically both men are aware who they’re fighting over and acknowledge each other as rivals. In this book I don’t believe Darnay ever learns to what extent Carton loves Lucie.

• In most love triangles the woman in between two rivals can’t help but seem to be playing games. She typically enjoys both men’s attention and will have some indecisiveness about who she really wants to be with. Lucie had made up her mind when she met Darnay and there was never really a question of who she’d fall for. In the 1958 Tale of Two Cities it is portrayed as more of a love triangle because Lucie and Carton have more screen time together in ways which could be interpreted as her growing in affection for him, but it’s not to such an extent the viewer ever questions her loyalty to Darnay.

• The man in Sydney Carton’s role is typically selfish and passion driven. To say that love triangles are always between the “good guy” the “bad boy” and the girl is a bit of an oversimplification but not by much. In this triangle there is that trope, Lucie is the “good girl” to the max only it's genuine. Sydney Carton describes himself as a disappointed incorrigible drudge whom no man on earth cares for so he cares for no one, and Charels Darnay is a classic upstanding gentleman. But in this triangle Carton isn't simply pushing for Lucie to leave the man she's with as many of the “bad boy” archetypes do in fiction when caught in unreciprocated love. 

• Sydney actually does what's best for Lucie as he grows in love with her. He does not simply act as if his feelings, passions, emotions etc. For her to justify anything he does in the name of winning her love. I’m talking to all of you Young Adult love interests okay? 

This takes us to the absolutely key thing which separates Carton from other conflicted male characters whose primary character arc is affection for a woman. Carton is given something most of them lack.

The Redemption and genuine conversion:

No one is more surprised to see Sydney Carton become a Christian in the novel more than the people who know him. At one point in the book he goes into a restaurant and doesn’t order anything to drink but actually eats and the person who serves him is in utter shock. When he repeatedly visits Lucie he grows to look more and more sober which shocks her. But the character has subtle signs of God working on his heart before he’s born again. Darnay never learns of Sydney Carton’s salvation and I’m not certain Lucie does either. This transition is done well because Carton’s primary motivation throughout the book is his love for Lucie, but as he falls more deeply for her and is pushed to confessing it–he has enough conviction to do so before she’s married. Carton doesn't do it in order to win her love but only that she and she alone might know his true affections for her:

“I wish you to know you have been the last dream of my soul. Since I knew you, I have been troubled by a remorse that I thought would never reproach me again, and have heard whispers from old voices impelling me upward, that I thought were silent for ever. I had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight. A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing…

But I wish you to know that you inspired it. And yet I have had the weakness, and have still the weakness, to wish you to know with what a sudden mastery you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am…” (Tale of Two Cities Book 2, chapter 13).

Carton tells Lucie that he won’t trouble her when she’s married and only wishes to know she and her family are well, he professes that he would give his life for her or anyone she loves. Carton epitomizes selfless love in this. He knows Lucie loves Darnay and is happier with him, but he wants her to know even if it means he never sees her or has her he does love in a way that he would do anything to help her or those she cares for. As the character is undergoing redemption he’s putting others before himself and what's right before his own desires. This is fully recognized when Sydney Carton recalls a scripture read at a funeral when he was younger and the Lord saves his soul.

“I am the resurrection and the life, whosoever believes in me–though he were dead–he shall live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” (John 11: 25).

Sydney Carton becomes a Christian and all of a sudden his priorities are clearer than they ever have been. This is amidst the French revolution where people are being slaughtered, butchered and beheaded but Carton has never been so at peace till now. And he becomes a Christian at the most difficult time when faith is truly tested to the point of death. Darnay is on death row for being distantly related to a Marquis and Carton goes to him in the finale switching places with him. I don’t think  Darnay, Lucie or anyone else understands his motives or what Carton does but he has complete peace with it. Darnay is set free to be with his family (he and Lucie now have a daughter), and Carton is sentenced to die in his place. Sydney Carton is taken over to the guillotine with angry mobs screaming and hollering for blood but he shows no pain or regret in dying because after being born again he knows his destination is heaven and his eyes are fixed. Being saved didn't change the character's love for Lucie and her family, but it allowed him to have more selfless priorities and complete peace with dying. His last act is witnessing to a young girl from a royal household who’s sentenced to die as well right before he’s beheaded. What I love about this story is it completely undermines the idea in most modern stories where people’s feelings, love for each other and passions are everything. No, they might just be selfish emotions and you need other kinds of help. A person cannot save you as Lucie doesn't save Carton, God does.