Reading Charles Dickens's Concept of Love in A Tale of Two Cities

For more than 100 years, the famous British writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870)'s "A Tale of Two Cities" has been popular all over the world and is deeply loved by readers. "A Tale of Two Cities" consists of three volumes and forty-five chapters. The plot is bizarre, the structure is concise and perfect, the writing is elegant and profound, and the language is beautiful and refined, which deeply attracts readers. Among them, the love story that revolves around the protagonist Lucy is even more tortuous and fascinating.

Chapters 10 to 13 of the second volume of The Golden Thread revolve around three young men around Lucy, Charles Darnay, Mr. Stryver, and Sidney Caton. The three of them appeared at the same time in a treason trial in London, England in 1780 AD. Charles Darnay, accused of treason, appeared in court as the defendant; Stryver, the attorney, appeared as the defendant's attorney; Sidney Catton, Stryver's assistant, also came to court. Lucy appeared in court with her father, Dr. Manette, as a witness. It was after this trial that the three young men were often seen at Dr. Manette's house. A year later, the three men express their love for Lucy in different ways. From the different expressions of these three men in terms of their understanding of love, their attitude towards love, their way of confession, and their treatment of lovelorn, we can see their different views on love, and we can also understand the author of the novel from Lucy's choice. The praised view of love.

The understanding of love

Danai believes that love is beautiful. He gave up his French nobility and status and came to England to make a living and established himself in England as a French teacher. Danai is persevering, tireless, hard-working, and finds success in his work. When Darnay was framed and sentenced to death as a British traitor, Lucy appeared as a witness. She expressed her sincere sympathy for Darnay's misfortune in court. It was her help in this crisis that made Darnay Nye understands that she is in love with Lucy. As written in "Two Promises" in the tenth chapter of the second volume of the novel: "He has never heard another voice as kind and sweet as her sympathetic voice, nor has he seen any other face as gentle and beautiful as hers, It was a face that looked straight at him as he was pushed to the brink of death.

Barrister Stryver thinks love is a concoction. He was tired of living a dull life and wanted to find some concoctions. He didn't really love Lucy, he just said that Lucy was a charming girl who would bring glory to his face. Stryver took himself very seriously, was proud to be a high court barrister, and thought he was rich, rising, and quite famous, and that marrying Lucy was a magnanimous blessing to the doctor daughter, is alms. It can be seen that Stryver thinks love is a concoction, and regards it as a child's play; love is beauty, which is used to satisfy his vanity; love is money, status, and fame; his love for Lucy is charity, a child's play , as a spice in his own life.

Sidney Caton's love is sacrifice. It was Lucy's kindness and beauty and encouragement to him that reactivated his life, ignited his pile of ashes into fire, made him realize the beauty of life again, made him dream again, made him have another life. The idea of starting over and trying again. Although he does not dare to expect love, he has a firm belief and a clear understanding of his love, and his love carries his ideal self and the best lover. He can sacrifice himself for love. He promised Lucy, "If there is any opportunity in my life to make a sacrifice or I can do it, I will seize this opportunity and make sacrifices for you and those closest to you."

The way of expressing

Danai values love, respects love, and treats love with care. Danai's love is deep and sincere, warm and selfless, and devoted. When he fell in love with Lucy, he did not confess to Lucy directly, but first had a long talk with Lucy's dear father, Dr. Manette. Despite Dr. Manette's resistance, when Darnay spoke to Dr. Manette about his love for Lucy with ardent admiration, sincere admiration, and deep love, Dr. Manette believed that his love was pure. Noble, let down his guard to accept Danai, and gave Lucy to him. Danai confessed to the doctor: "If there is love in the world, that's what I am." He also confessed: God testifies that I love her! .

Stryver's attitude toward love is wild, casual, and fickle. It is written in the novel: Stryver first flaunted to everyone that he wanted to marry Miss Manette, but after being rejected by Lucy, in order to save her face, she said to everyone that Miss Manette was the wrong party, in Mr. Lorry. After asking Lucy's wishes for him, he changed his usual denial that there was never a marriage proposal. Stryver's outlook on life is fickle, and he can make any changes for his own face, so he treats love just like his personality, which is fickle and casual. Sidney Catton's attitude towards love is low-key and deep. He loved Lucy deeply in his heart, and even loved the house and Wu, and developed some affection for the streets and paving stones around the doctor's house. His negative and game life attitude made him feel unworthy of Lucy's love, but he loves and appreciates Lucy, so his confession is actually the gratitude of the heart, the promise of love, and the willingness to sacrifice himself for love.

3. Different attitudes towards lovelorn

In the face of lovelorn, Mr. Stryver and Caton have very different behaviors.

After falling out of love, in order to save his face, Stryver did not hesitate to lie to deceive others, and to seek his inner peace and calm. In doing so, he showed the despicableness and filth of his own heart. Stryver later married a red-faced widow with a fortune and three boys. When he asked the three children to be Danai's students again, he was politely rejected. He was so angry that he even said that Danai was a poor beggar and was pretentious. He also made up lies, telling his wife again and again how Mrs. Darnay was trying to "catch" him, and finally even he himself believed it. It's abominable!

Very different from Mr. Stryver, it is written in "The Request", Chapter 20, Volume Two of the novel, that after Lucy and Danai got married, Caton was the first to congratulate them. Maintaining friendly contact and interaction with the family calmly has also won the respect of the family. After Darnay was imprisoned, Caton also quietly came to France to come forward at any time to help. In order to rescue Danai, he became determined, and his expression was bright, which was very different from the past. When he came to the prison to replace Danai, even Danai thought at first glance that another self had appeared. own hallucinations. It shows that Caton has returned to his original appearance because of love, and is no longer decadent. In the end, he used his life to fulfill the promise of love, and sacrificed his young life for the happiness of his beloved. Caton is dignified, sober and benevolent after his breakup. Caton's attitude towards lovelorn is also worthy of our modern people's reference, doing his best to help his loved one, and winning the respect and admiration of everyone with his real and unpretentious noble personality. He also earned himself an important fortune in Lucy's life.

4. The concept of love in "A Tale of Two Cities"

In "A Tale of Two Cities", Dickens spends a lot of space describing the different love behaviors of the three men who fell in love with Lucy at the same time. The vivid descriptions ingeniously form sharp contrasts, and the three men's different love views are vivid on the paper, showing the author's superb writing method to impress readers.

The choice of the heroine Lucy is the choice of the writer Dickens. Dickens respects love and praises beautiful love. Not only that, but we also need to understand Dickens' view of humanitarian love from the character Caton, that is: "sacrifice for love". Although Caton didn't get Lucy's love, he saw from Danai what he looked like before he fell, and found his last and best dream from Lucy, so his love carried more things , carrying the ideal self and the best lover. His love has surpassed ordinary people's love. He is grateful for Lucy's love. It is love that nourishes and elevates him. His love is noble, holy, and does not ask for anything in return. It is love that makes him dare to face it. Guillotine, fulfilling the promise of love with your own life.

As for Mr. Stryver, he only knows how to blindly climb up on others, rise step by step, compete for fame and fortune, and only want to live a decent life. His view of love is vulgar and selfish. When he can't get it, he will depreciate it. He can only say that he is not worthy of love. In stark contrast to Darnay and Caton, he was a figure Dickens was not ashamed of.

V. Conclusion

Dickens made the images of the three men in the novel more three-dimensional and plump, and made the characters' impressions more clear and profound through the comparative description method, so that people can better understand the fate of different characters under the social and historical background of Britain and France during the French Revolution. , and also makes people realize that only sincerity and kindness, not desire and materialism, will be perpetually circulated in this world.

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