Miss Pross showed her love towards Lucie in many different ways, and her love leads to her sacrifice and reward in the final chapter. The ever faithful Miss Pross barrels into the room after hearing that her “ladybird” (71) has fainted and throws Mr. Lorry against a wall to get to her Lucie. In the first encounter with Miss Pross, Dickens shows that she would do anything to protect Lucie by showing her “laying a brawny hand upon his chest, and sending him flying back against the nearest wall” (Dickens 20). Miss Pross also shows her immense strength when protecting “her precious”(20).
She has enough strength to throw Mr. Lorry across the room which causes Mr. Lorry to whisper under his breath “I really think this must be a man” (20). Dickens is displaying her as the protector and caretaker of Lucie. Her strength when protecting Lucie comes back later in the book to her advantage. Her love is her greatest strength. After learning more about Miss Pross, in a description of Mr. Lorry’s opinions on Miss Pross, Dickens states, “he knew enough of the world to know that there is nothing in it better than the faithful service of the heart, so rendered and so free from any mercenary taint” (72).
Mr. Lorry holds Miss Pross on a higher level than omen of great beauty because she dedicates her whole life to taking care of Lucie and ensuring her happiness. Dickens shows his opinion on Miss Pross and her sacrifice through Mr. Lorry, stating “he stationed Miss Pross much nearer to the lower Angels than many ladies immeasurably better got up both by Nature and Art, who had balance’s at Tellson’s” (72). To Mr. Lorry, Miss Pross’s actions are angelic and amazing because she has given her life to taking care of Lucie and her family.
Miss Pross may have less admirable qualities, like her jealousy over Lucie, but overall she is a caring and unselfish woman. Miss Pross is never given a family of her own, so she cares for Lucie like her own daughter. In the final chapters, Miss Pross fights Madame Defarge, the family’s greatest enemy, because she knows that no matter what she has to slow down Madame Defarge to help her Lucie escape to England. The difference between the two fighters is their cause to fight. Madame Defarge is fighting for herself, but Miss Pross is willing sacrificing herself to stop or slow down Madame Defarge for her “ladybird”.
While speaking in a language that Madame Defarge doesn’t understand, Miss Pross says, “I pray for bodily strength to keep ou here, while every minute you are here is worth a hundred thousand guineas to my darling” (286). During the fight, Madame Defarge is killed. She dies because she is fighting for herself. Love always trumps hate which is embodied through Miss Pross and Madame Defarge. Dickens proves this through saying, “it was in vain for Madame Defarge to struggle and strike; Miss Pross, with the vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate” (286).
Miss Pross is angelic and loving while Madame Defarge is hateful and is described as looking like Lucifer’s wife. Miss Pross ends up losing her hearing because of he gunshot being so close to her head, but she was willing to lose much more than that. Miss Pross sacrifices for another and lives while her brother John Barsad does not sacrifice for another and is guillotined. Her selflessness and love keeps Miss Pross alive while Barsad’s selfishness leads to his death. Miss Pross shows that love and sacrifice for another will give a person happiness and love.
Dr. Manette sacrificed many things for his daughter and his moral integrity and ended up living a happy life because of it. Doctor Manette is supposed to be finding a way to stop Darnay from being Guillotined, but he returns home ecause he has had a relapse. He has mentally gone back to the days inside of the Bastille. Carton and Mr. Lorry know that Doctor Manette has had a break down, stating, “the instant he entered the room, it was plain that all was lost” (265) Dickens goes on to explain, “Whether he had really been to any one, or whether he had been all that time traversing the streets, was never known” (265).
Carton and Mr. Lorry immediately know what has happened to him and know that now there is no more hope of saving Charles Darnay without a death occurring. Doctor Manette was trying to save his son-in-law from dying, so his daughter could live a happy life. His mental relapses have a significant effect on his family and on him. Going back to that mental state harms him physically, but he feels that morally he must save Darnay because he was the one who led to Darnay’s wrongful imprisonment through his letter condemning the Evremonde family.
His morality forces him to go into harm’s way to help his son-in-law and his daughter. This is not the first time that an instance involving Darnay has led to him having a relapse though. Doctor Manette falls back into a mental relapse after finding out that Charles Darnay, his son-in-law, is the son of a man who illegally imprisoned him. Darnay promised that he would wait until the morning of the marriage to tell Doctor Manette who is family was and why he was living in England.
When Mr. Lorry returns to the house he sees what has happened to Doctor Manette and describes it as, “the bench was turned towards the light, as if it had been when he had seen the shoemaker at his work before, and his head was bent down, and he was very busy” (152). Doctor Manette reverts back to his days in the Bastille and spends 9 days in this mental state. Darnay and Lucie were on their honeymoon without Doctor Manette. Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross had to restore him before he eft to join Lucie and Darnay on their honeymoon. Doctor Manette puts aside his feelings about Charles Darnay because he makes Lucie happy.
He knows that Darnay is a good person even though his family is not. He relapses, but something good does come of his longest relapse since the initial imprisonment. He allows Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry to destroy his work bench. He had held on to the bench for too long which stopped part of him from moving on. The final and most compelling instance of Doctor Manette’s selflessness is his letter condemning the Evremonde brothers. Doctor Manette is kidnapped by two rothers and is taken to care for a young girl who is in distress. He found out that the brother of the Marquis had raped the young women even though she was pregnant and married.
The distress of being raped along with her husband and her brother dying because of the Marquis brothers causes her to eventually die. The brothers bribed Doctor Manette with gold which led to him sending the letter which condemned them. In his writings from inside the Bastille, Doctor Manette states, “I wished to relieve my own mind. I kept the matters a profound secret, even from my wife; and this, too, I resolved in my letter” (280). Doctor Manette could not continue on without telling someone of authority what had happened. His morality forced him to tell. He was arrested because of it and was imprisoned for 18 years.
He lived without his family for years and missed his daughter’s childhood. When he was finally released, he was able to live a happy life with his daughter and granddaughter. He created a great life with his family after his imprisonment and met people that became an intricate part of his life and his happiness. His sacrifices helped him win credit in the hearts of many which helps him release Darnay from prison. His love and sacrifices ead eventually to a good life with his family and friends. Sydney Carton shows the greatest form of sacrifice by giving his life for Lucie to have “a life you [Lucie] love” (260).
Sydney Carton is being beheaded by La Guillotine in place of Charles Darnay and is thinking about the future he sees for the footsteps that have entered his life. He sees Lucie having a son that bears his name, and that son goes on to do great things that Carton never had the ability to do. “I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine” (292). Carton lived a life of self-doubt and believed himself to be unable to achieve greatness. His life was thought of as a waste until his final sacrifice. He was remembered through Lucie’s son and grandson.
His sacrifice gave him the power to resurrect himself in future generations. His sacrifice gave him purpose in his last few days and purpose in the life of future children that were named after him. Carton was not remembered by many outside of the family, but his spirit and parts of his soul live on inside of the Darnays. Before he is executed, Carton meets a seamstress who is going to be killed along with him. She is a young, poor seamstress who is accused of having plotted against the Republic. She didn’t do anything wrong but is willing to die if it will help the Republic to which she is dedicated.
She asks to hold Carton’s hand because of his bravery. She takes comfort in him and reassures herself because of him. She sees that he is not Darnay because she had met him before in La Force. She asks Carton, “Are you dying for him? ‘ she whispered. ‘And his wife and his child. Hush! Yes. “O you will let me hold your brave hand, stranger? ‘ ‘Hush! Yes, my poor sister; to the last” (286). She sees Carton’s bravery and takes comfort in it. In the seamstress’s final seconds, she speaks of her cousin who is like a sister to her. She asks Darnay if it will feel like a long wait before her cousin joins her in Heaven.
He responds to her with comforting words, “it cannot be, my child; there is no Time there, and no trouble there” (291). He tells her not to worry because there is no time or trouble in Heaven. She thanks him for his comfort and then goes to die after a kiss from him. Carton’s sacrifice brought comfort not only to Lucie and her family but also to a young girl whom he didn’t know. His sacrifice gave the gift of comfort to a young girl in her final hours. His acrifice helped one who he didn’t intend to help. After the seamstress dies, Carton goes next.
Dickens explains the reactions of those watching: “they said of him, about the city that night, that it was the peacefullest man’s face ever beheld there. Many added that he looked sublime and prophetic” (292). Sydney Carton died having fulfilled his greatest purpose. He had given Lucie, his true love, “a life you [Lucie] love”. He was calm and prophetic because he saw that Lucie and her family would live on and grow old. The footsteps that had stayed in his life were to live on for generations, and that would make him live on for generations. He was calm because he knew that in front of him lay Heaven.
He saw the future of his loved ones and knew his own future. His death was like that of a martyr. A martyr will die calmly because he or she believes that he or she will enter into a heavenly place and will be remembered. He dies as the peacefullest man because he knows his death will mean something important for his loved ones. The others who were guillotined that day did not have the comfort because they did not have the same reassurances. His sacrifice gave him the great reward of a peaceful death and a knowing reassurances that he gave Lucie the best life he could.
