Tale Of Two Cities Darnay's Trial

On the surface, Sydney Carton appears to be little more than a despondent individual with nothing and no one to live for. Dickens first introduces him as a solicitor’s clerk in the second book of the novel during Charles Darnay’s first trial. The spectators present at the trial believe that Darnay’s case is doomed from the start and several people remark that the jury will surely “‘find him guilty’” (Dickens 63). Carton himself is present at the trial but he, unlike the rest of the crowd, is not interested in Darnay’s trial. Dickens describes him as being aloof; he is staring “at the ceiling” disinterestedly and seems to be rather bored with the proceedings of the trial (Dickens 64). It appears as though Sydney does not care about Darnay’s case in the slightest. He

This makes his character dynamic and interesting, rather than flat and dull. After the trial, Mr. Lorry and Charles Darnay are on the street when they see a drunk and disheveled Sydney, who had gone unnoticed moments before. Sydney begins to banter with Mr. Lorry, all the while maintaining an air of carelessness (Dickens 84). Mr. Lorry eventually becomes so “thoroughly heated by his indifference” that he departs hurriedly, leaving Sydney alone with Darnay. Based upon this interaction with Mr. Lorry, the reader has no reason to care for Carton. Dickens presents him as a bitter and insolent man, unworthy of kindness. However, Dickens soon reveals that Carton is not so careless as he appears to be. Sydney and Darnay go to dinner together, but Darnay is the only one who eats while Sydney has his “separate bottle of port before him, and his fully half insolent manner upon him” (Dickens 85). Sydney bitterly remarks that Darnay must feel “an immense satisfaction” now that he is free (Dickens 85). Carton envies that fact that Darnay has been recalled to his place in the world whereas Sydney says that “‘the