Resurrection, Renewal and Redemption in A TALE OF TWO CITIES
“Does your childhood seem far off?” asks Sydney Carton of the “hard upon four-score” Mr Jarvis Lorry. “No. For as I draw closer to the end I travel in a circle, nearer and nearer to the beginning. I remember my mother – so young and pretty – and I so old!”.
Dickens was not an overtly Christian writer – and yet A TALE OF TWO CITIES is infused with themes of rebirth, redemption, the ability of love to triumph over hatred, and the value of self-sacrifice for the good and happiness of others.
Dr Manette – “buried alive” in the Bastille for 18 years, is “recalled to life” and is the first character whose ‘resurrection’ illustrate these themes.
Sydney Carton, the canny advocate possessed of a sharp legal mind, has given up on the world, become a drunkard and a wastrel, and spends his time in taverns. And yet in the ultimate crisis he sees that his life can have a purpose and a value after all. Once he has made up his mind, he is unwavering in his determination to do what he knows is best for those he loves and holds dear.
Miss Pross, devoted companion to Miss Lucie Manette and someone “who had never struck a blow in her life”, finds the strength and the courage to confront the fearsome Madame Defarge at the moment of utmost peril for Lucie. As they grapple, Pross calls out defiantly “My love is stronger than your hate!”. This is something that Madame Defarge so little comprehends as to mistake for weakness. Through Miss Pross, Dickens shows us the tenacity of love.
Even Jerry Cruncher – the bank’s messenger who moonlights as a graverobber (or as he prefers to put it “a Resurrectionist … doin’ a noble service to the medical profession besides makin’ a bit of money for me-self”) has a moment of epiphany. As the full impact of the Terror comes crashing in on their lives he makes a solemn promise to a bemused Miss Pross that “Never no more will I do it, never no more!” (Miss Pross sensibly urges him not to think it necessary to mention more particularly what “it” is). He then takes his leave of Mr Lorry, but turns back, conscious that this could be a final parting, to add: “er … God Bless you, sir!”
“Oh! Why thank-you Jerry”, replies Mr Lorry, quite taken aback, “God Bless you too!”.
These words are echoed in the final words that Sydney Carton writes to Lucie Manette from his prison cell: “God bless you for your sweet compassion”. And it is indeed her compassion that has acted as a beacon for him. Lucie above all others has been slow to judge his faults, she has seen past them and expressed her hope that he could yet “be worthier of” himself. Her sweet compassion is the impetus for all that follows.
On the steps of the guillotine scaffold Sydney Carton becomes a visionary. He sees what is to come – the blots he has thrown upon his name will fade away – his self-sacrifice will allow those for whom he lays down his life to lead lives that are “peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy”. But he sees even further than that – he sees the “beautiful city” and the “brilliant people” of Paris “rising from this abyss”, and he sees the evil of those days gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out. Dickens’s themes therefore apply not just to the individual characters, but to the cities and nations – to the whole circle of life.
At the end of the play Mr Lorry’s life is turning full circle – and so is Sydney Carton’s – for their exchange about childhood and travelling in a circle is the moment when Carton’s resolution is fixed. Soon he will commit himself irrevocably to the salvation of others, soon he will utter those immortal words “It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done, it is a far far better rest I go to than I have ever known” – and soon we shall hear, from the mouth of the Narrator standing in the pulpit, the opening words of the Christian Order of Burial of the Dead: “I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”.
Adam Sutcliffe & John Dansey
The Hampstead Players will present Charles Dickens’ A TALE OF TWO CITIES in a new adaptation by Adam Sutcliffe on Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th November at 7.30pm and on Saturday 25th November at 6.30pm (please note time). Tickets @ £10 (£8 concessions) are available on-line at http://tickets.hampsteadparishchurch.org.uk/ by post to A Tale of Two Cities Box Office, c/o the Church]; and in person in The Crypt from 12 noon on each Sunday in November.