Developing Characters in Charles Dickens' The Tale of Two Cities

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The characters in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, despite the criticism of others, are fully developed at the completion of the novel. At the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities, the characters are somewhat nebulous, not really formed, and it is often hard to see how these characters could possibly play pivotal roles in the novels. For example, Sydney Carton the resident town drunk and wastrel, was illustrated quite negatively at the beginning of the novel, “this one man sat leaning back, with his torn gown half off him, his untidy wig put on just as it happened to light on his head after its removal, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes on the ceiling as they had been all day. Something especially reckless in his demeanor, not only gave him a disreputable look…” (57). However, at the end of the novel Sydney is held as the quintessential human, after all, “man hath no greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friend.” The critics most likely have a problem with the way Dickens brings a character to the forefront, only for them to slip away from view and return a hun...

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