A novel of dualities, A Tale of Two Cities contains characters who are much like other characters; and within themselves there are two apparently contradictory sides to the characters. Even extremely minor characters exhibit paradoxical qualities. One such personage is the Monseigneur of Chapter 7 of Book the Second, who is one of the great lords in power at the Court in Paris, yet he is unable to drink his morning chocolate without the much assistance:
Monsiegneur could swallow a great many things with ease, and was by some few sullen minds supposed to be rather rapidly swallowing France; but , his morning's chocolate could not so much as get into the throat of Monseigneur, without the aid of four strong men besides the Cook.
Another minor character who exhibits paradoxical characteristics is Jerry Cruncher. Claiming to be "an honest tradesman," who runs errands for a highly reputable bank by day, Jerry commits crimes at night as he exhumes cadavers and delivers them for profit to medical schools. Jerry's self-bestowed sobriquet of "Resurrection Man" seems contradictory, but when Jerry goes to exhume Roger Cly one night in London, he finds no body. Noticing John Barsad while he is in France, Jerry figuratively "resurrects" Roger Cly by reporting that the funeral for this person has been staged. Thus, he exposes Miss Pross's brother, whose name is really Solomon, as a double-spy.
C. J. Stryver, whose acumen is not as great as that of Sydney Carton, nevertheless possesses enough analytical and logical skill to be a practicing barrister in London. Yet, paradoxically, he is too obtuse to even catch any of the hints that Mr. Lorry provides him regarding Lucie's lack of interest in him as a husband. In the chapter entitled paradoxically "The Fellow of Delicacy," Mr. Lorry does his best to persuade Stryver not to go to the Manette's and propose to Lucie. However, Mr. Stryver misconstrues completely what Mr. Lorry implies about him, thinking instead that Lorry means that Lucie "is a mincing Fool."
Dr. Manette, too, is paradoxical. For, while he has his spells of insanity, he yet can lucidly talk of his mental malady with Mr. Lorry as long as they discuss Manette as though he were another man about whom Mr. Lorry is consulting him. In fact, in Chapter 19, "An Opinion," Manette even analyzes his ailment:
...it is very hard to explain, consistently, the innermost workings of this poor man's mind. He once yearned so frightfully for that occupation, and it was so welcome when it came; no doubt it relieved his pain so much by substituting the perplexity of the fingers for the perplexity of the brain...
With Mr. Lorry's gentle coaxing, Manette agrees to the cure.
The paradoxical qualities of the characters of Dickens's great classic recall for the reader the famous opening passage of the novel:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,....we had everything before us, we had nothing before us....
The Monseigneur has everything before him, but later has nothing, Stryver has all the evidence before him but has no understanding, Dr. Manette has his family, but must regain his mental strength. Like life itself, many of the characters seem contradictory in nature.
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