试析《双城记》中卡顿的悲剧 英语毕业论文.doc

试析双城记中卡顿的悲剧【关键词】西德尼?卡顿；查尔斯?狄更斯；双城记；悲剧I. IntroductionSydney Carton is not the leading character of A Tale of Two Cities. The love story among Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton is a main thread of the whole novel. Dickens chooses Sydney Carton as the embodiment of ideal personality, and the development of Cartons character symbolizes the writers view, especially shows us his deep consideration of human power.I appreciate Cartons sacrificial spirit and fraternity. But his attitude towards his own life is not advisable. Sydneys love for Lucie changed him greatly, and allows him to become a better person. Sydney Cartons final action of sacrificing himself shows courage, honor, and a heart of love for Lucie, as well as for Charles Darnay. His death is not an emotional response, but a deliberate, carefully reasoned action. Sydney Carton drastically changes his life and becomes a new man, which allows him to die with a clear conscience. To have a full analysis of him, we shall know that Sydney Carton is not the man he initially appears to be. His personality totally changes throughout the novel to become a very selfless, caring person. Sydney Carton is the most successful character in A Tale of Two Cities which is created by Charles Dickens. II. An Introduction to Charles Dickens and A Tale of Two CitiesA. An Introduction to Charles DickensCharles Dickens is the representative writer of English Critical Realism Literature. He is the author of many literary works, and all of his works show that he is a humanist and his ideas of humanism based on the Bible. Humanism is fully reflected in his works. Dickens realizes that the real society limits and kills the natural humanity. But he is an optimist. He believes that human nature is good, and it will be free from fetters. He firmly adheres to this belief. In the nineteenth century, literature was a way to share peoples ideas. Dickens takes full advantage of it. The thought of Dickens novel is rich and multiple. There are three basic aspects. The first aspect is the criticism to the English capitalism society in Victoria times. The second is the advocating of ethic and morality. The third is the deep and extensive research on humanity. The three aspects all show the authors humanism ideas. Humanity is Dickens humanism base and springboard, morality is its main content, and the critic commentary to society is the result of Dickens observation and thinking of the society.Dickens advocates the reform of the society. At the same time, he is afraid of the violence of the revolution. He shows sympathy to those who are in the bottom class and criticizes the selfish and cruel of the feudalism nobles. Dickens novels have a strong social attraction. Humor, satirize and exaggeration are his main artistic methods. In his novels, the characters are vivid, the language is full of humor and the plots can attract people in all classes of the society. His literary works have a high place in the world literary history and are read by peoples all around the world now.B. An Introduction to A Tale of Two CitiesMost of Charles Dickens novels are written about the lives of his times. But there are also novels written on the basis of history. The most representative one is A Tale of Two Cities. This novel was written in 1859 when Charles Dickens writing was in a prosperity period. It deals with the social issues, and is influential in bringing about changes to the society. This novel is the best one of showing both Dickens advancement and limitation of his thought. It also represents Dickens achievement in literature.The purpose of this novel is to awaken people. Dickens writes the novel from the fraternity stand. He criticizes the French Revolution of wanton slaughter of innocent people. The story of this novel takes place in two cities: Paris and London, so it is named A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens creates many kinds of characters in this novel. Among these characters, Sydney Carton, the embodiment of mercy and kindness, is an altruist, and he is also the highest representation of Dickens humanism ideas. Dickens writes a shocking tragedy and makes Sydney Carton, his cynical and charming hero, one of his strongest and most sympathetic characters.A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most tragic tints of the later life of Dickens. It includes everything: courtroom drama, mystery, love, espionage, adventure, humor, tragedy, etc. It's a book that truly transports you to another period, one of most terrible, frightening, idealistic and noble period in history.III. Reflections of Sydney Cartons Tragedy     Sydney Carton is the most tragic character in A Tale of Two Cities. His whole lifetime is just a tragedy. It is mainly reflected in three aspects: His love for Lucie, his career and his life. A. Sydney Cartons Love for LucieCartons deep love for Lucie Manette changes his life completely. Sydney Carton is a young and handsome attorney. Though he is an idlest and most unpromising man, “he is capable of feeling deep, immense, and tragic love that others cannot see.”1 He falls in love with Lucie Manette at first sight, but he tries his best to pretend that he is not interested in this gentle girl. In his conversation with the newly acquitted Charles Darnay, Carton is jealous of the compassion that Lucie pays to Darnay. Cartons comment about Lucie Manette is bitter and sardonic, which betrays his true feeling. This is his budding feeling for the beautiful girl though it is covered by his face which always shows indifference to Lucie. When Mr. Stryver mentions Lucie in the night after they are drunk, Carton describes Lucie as a golden-hair doll. Though Mr. Stryver questions his true feelings, Carton still does not admit his love for Lucie. For Carton usually cares for nothing and people around him never observed the love in his deep heart. Even when Mr. Stryver intends to propose to Lucie, Carton pretends that he does not care about it. He has been at Dr. Manettes house frequently, but his manners have been of silence and sullen. Even in the first chapters of the novel, Carton in fact feels something that he perhaps cannot articulate.Eventually, Carton reaches a point that he can admit his feeling to Lucie herself. Before Lucie and Darnay get married, Carton professes his love to her, though he still persists in seeing himself as essentially worthless. He makes a promise to her that he would do anything he could for her to make sure of her happiness. This scene marks a vital transition for Carton and lays the foundation for the supreme sacrifice that he makes in the novels end.Even after Lucie is married to Charles Darnay whom she loves, Sydney refuses to give up his love for her. When the newly-married couple comes home, the first person appears to offer his congratulations is Sydney Carton. It is generally believed that love is selfish. But it is wrong to Carton. “No man ever really loved a woman, lost her, and knew her with a blameless though an unchanged mind, when she was a wife and a mother.”2 He uses his privilege of coming in uninvited about half-dozen times a year, and he never comes there heated with wine. He pays close attention to Lucie Manettes family through this way carefully lest Lucies happiness would be affect by his action.When Darnays life is threatened by the avengers, Carton goes to Paris. He finds Barsad on the street, who is used to be a spy in England and now is a jailer in Paris. Carton argues with Barsad and asks him to offer him some help. Carton gets into the prison and goes to the guillotine instead of Darnay while his friends leave Paris according to his arrangement. On Lucies way of leaving this city, someone is weeping in the carriage. The weeping is from Lucie without doubt. Maybe she could recall Cartons words that he says to her many years ago, “think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love besides you.”3 Carton loves Lucie, and this love is selfless. He appreciates her beautiful heart which is filled with great compassion. He makes his determination to protect Lucies happiness. Carton dies for love, the deep love for Lucie and for his friends. Cartons altruism thought makes him always think of others but to leaves himself only pains. B. Sydney Cartons CareerSydney Cartons tragedy also shows in his career of being an unsucessful attorney. Carton is an assistant to “the lion”, Mr. Stryver. Though he is talented, he summons no energy and purpose on his career. He is only Mr. Stryvers less successful “jackal”. “Mr. Stryver never has a case in hand, anywhere, but Carton is there”, 4 quite lonely with his hands in his pockets and staring at the ceiling of the court. Mr. Stryver gets his success mostly through paying Carton to help him. Carton admires Darnay. He thinks Darnay is rather a handsome fellow, and he thinks he would have been much the same sort of person if he had had any luck.Dickens creates a contrast between Carton and Mr. Stryver. Mr. Stryver is “a favorite at the old Baily, and eke at the Sessions”.5 He is a glib man, and an unscrupulous, and a ready, and a bold, he has not that faculty of extracting the essence from a heap of statements, which is among the most striking and necessary of the advocates accomplishments. He is a man of gallantry. While Carton is Mr. Stryvers opposite. He is an amazingly good jackal that would never be a lion, and he is a disagreeable fellow in Doctor Manettes house. When he was a student, he always does exercises for other boys and seldom does his own. He does not apply his intelligence properly. So peoples around him are not aware of his outstanding abilities, even Carton himself is thinking that he is a futile man.C. Sydney Cartons LifeCartons negative attitude to his life makes him a tragedy. He never does things forwardly. He is a failure in his love for Lucie and also in his career. He lives a melancholy life, and his whole lifetime is a tragedy.Carton is a man who keeps to himself and does not let anybody know much about him. At the beginning of the story and a large part of the novel, Sydney Carton is shown as a very arrogant, frustrated man with a drinking problem. Cartons comment on himself is mostly reflected in his talk with Lucie. He is a man “self-flung away, wasted, drunken, poor creature of misuse”.6 He feels that there is no hope for him, and that his life will never be improved. When he falls in love with Lucie, he once wants to change himself. “I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight.”7 But it is only a dream that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lays down.Later in the novel, towards the end, Sydney seems to change his personality and attitude toward life, and actually reveals his noble characteristics. In the progress of saving Darnay, Dickens shows us Sydney Cartons intelligence and inner heart. He designs a perfect plan, and then goes to die instead of Darnay. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.”8 Many people say that he looks sublime and prophetic. Carton is the most peaceful man in Paris that night. He dies without any regret.IV. Sydney Cartons Character and Thoughts     In Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens chooses Sydney Carton as the hero instead of any other in the two sides of the conflict. Sydney Carton is a man of several distinct characteristics, and his distinctive feature is his certain characteristics of both noble and some unpleasant man. Through this method Dickens avoids the tendency of building a hero above life, and makes the character graphic and lifelike.A. Sydney Cartons Character Dickens writes meticulous on Cartons character building. Carton is shown originally to be a frustrated alcoholic, but then turns out to be a very noble and genuine man. The special disposal of Carton, the ideal personality, constitutes the vivid characteristic of the novel. Sydney Carton is shown in the novel to be somewhat immature in his actions at the beginning of the novel. He is originally a confused, self-caring alcoholic, besides some vague references to his student days and the disclosure that his parents died when he was young. Cartons past remains a mystery to us. Sydney Carton, a lawyer and assistant to the “lion” Mr. Stryver, and Darnays double and alter ego. He is known as Mr. Stryvers less successful “jackal”. When he is a student, he always does exercises for other boys and seldom for his own. When he  grows up, he sells his hard working to Mr. Stryver. He is crude, frequently drunk, and often melancholy, and he feels resigned to the disappointing course his once-promising life has taken. Latter Cartons character changes to truly care for people, and to sacrifice his life for his deep love for Lucie. After Lucies marriage the author seldom writes about Carton, but the thread is still exist. When Darnay is in prison and the whole story comes to a halt, Carton appears as a hero and changes the final outcome. He uses his intelligence to save his friends. Carton has completely changed.There are also some important things to Sydney Cartons character, such as the wine, and the street. The author creates Cartons character through these images vividly. To analyze Sydney Cartons character, it is necessary to mention these things.In the novel, Dickens points out that the time is drinking days, and most men drink hard. Carton is an alcoholic attorney. The wine Mr. Stryver and Carton drink together between Hilary Term and Michaelmas, might have floated a kings ship. Sydney Carton explains to Darnay why he drinks so excessively: “I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.”9 It shows that carton is quite lonely and fells disappointed to the society. “Street” is an important image in Cartons character. Dickens is a man who collects his ideas from loose hints in the streets. In A Tale of Two Cities, Carton always walks on the street. “He did care something for the streets that environed that house, and for the senseless stones that made their pavements. Many a night he vaguely and unhappily wandered there, when wine had brought no transitory gladness to him.”10 Wine and street are Cartons important companions in his tragic life. B. Sydney Cartons Thoughts   1. The Features of Sydney Cartons ThoughtsSydney Carton is a person with perfect personality. Charles Dickens shows his humanism ideas by Sydney Carton at the end of this novel. There is an atmosphere of tragic, mystery and romance over Carton from beginning to end. On the one hand, Dickens praises Cartons lofty sacrifice and the perfect humankind. On the other hand, Dickens rebukes the French Revo