Keyword Exercise

Lucie Manette is the embodiment of the Victorian female archetype “Angel in the House” who brings the sense of Home to everyone and every place she comes in contact with. This idea is apparent throughout the novel, which Dickens sets up early during her encounter with her father, Dr. Alexandre Manette:

He had sunk in her arms, and his face dropped on her breast: a sight so touching yet so terrible in the tremendous wrong and suffering which had gone before it, that the two beholders covered their faces.

(Dickens 63)

Just by making her presence known to her father, Lucie is able to ‘resurrect’ Dr Manette from his ‘shoemaker’ trance. Lucie has proven her ability as the doting wife and daughter by helping the men in her life such as Charles Darnay, Dr. Manette and Sydney Carton to find solace in her and change for the better. This could be seen in the second part of the novel as she takes on the homemaker role and spends most of her time:

Ever busily winding the golden thread that bound them all together, weaving the service of her happy influence through the tissue of all their lives, and making it predominate nowhere, Lucie heard in the echoes of years none but friendly and soothing sounds. Her husband’s step was strong and prosperous among them; her father firm and equal.

(Dickens 238-9)

The peaceful ambience and the positive progress seen in Dr. Manette and Darnay proves that Lucie has brought both men’s life into a positive light. However, as Lucie spends most of her time in her house in Soho, she is restricted to her private sphere and her positivity and influence does not spread very far.

As A Tale of Two Cities is a novel about balance and opposites, Dickens also provides the reader with an antithesis to Lucie Manette, whi...

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...lf in their private spheres rather than putting up a front in the public one. In addition to this, private spheres also acts as a security blanket where one could return and seek comfort to when they are in trouble albeit emotional or something else. As the influence of the private sphere influences the core of the person, once they move throughout their lives into the public sphere, the person would spread positivity to everyone he/she meets. Similar conclusion could be made in terms of a child growing up with negative surroundings, as there may be a big chance of the child growing up full of hatred or negativity in their hearts, which may in turn end up spreading it to others. Therefore, a positive surrounding is important in order to produce a positive individual.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. London: Oxford University Press, 1911. Print.