The Gaze

If we take the four main characters of the book till yet, those being ‘Monsieur Manette’, his daughter Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, I find it interesting how each of these characters are introduced, and continue to be seen. We find many characters, such as Jane Eyre as a prime example, of characters shown through their own perceptions of others, and the though process or critique that accompanies it. We see the same very often with Fanny Price; it is through the lens of these characters that we get to see the constructed world. In ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, it is significant to notice that characters are always introduced by the perceptions the Other, or others have on them.

To prove this, we can pick up examples from the text. This is how Monsieur Manette is first seen in the text: “with his back towards the door, and his face towards the window where the keeper of the wine-shop stood looking at him, a white-haired man sat on a low bench, stooping forward and very busy, making shoes.” Moreover, this is the kind of lens that continues through the book, such as his demeanor, and his thoughts are conjectured at by the people that surround him.

Coming to the next character, Lucie Manette is introduced in the following way, through her encounter with Mr. Lorry: “ he saw standing to receive him by the table between them and the fire, a young lady of not more than seventeen, in a riding-cloak, and still holding her straw travelling- hat by its ribbon in her hand. As his eyes rested on a short, slight, pretty figure, a quantity of golden hair, a pair of blue eyes that met his own with an inquiring look, and a forehead with a singular capacity…”

It is also with the gaze on her that Lucie Manette is first seen, and known as beautiful and attractive by all those that come into contact with her. Yet I feel that what is strikingly important as an example is the how Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton are both introduced in the court scene, where the gaze of the crowd is held steadfastly on the former, and which turns slightly to his favor, and the gaze on Sydney Carton, strengthening their opinion of the former, in comparison.

Thus I find it important to quote the passage that introduced Charles Darnay: “The object of all this staring and blaring, was a young man of about five-and-twenty, well-grown and well-looking, with a sunburnt cheek and a dark eye. His condition was that of a young gentleman. He was plainly dressed in black, or very dark grey, and his hair, which was long and dark, was gathered in a ribbon at the back of his neck; more to be out of his way than for ornament. As an emotion of the mind will express itself through any covering of the body, so the paleness which his situation engendered came through the brown upon his cheek, showing the soul to be stronger than the sun.”

As can be extracted from the excerpt above, not only is the gaze of the others introducing a character by a description of the body, but even emotions are presented as an interpretation, such as the ‘paleness of the cheek’ or the ‘forehead’ which reveals certain sentiments.

Yet it remains to be explained why Charles Dickens would employ such a technique, and what meaning would it confer on the play. It is then my interpretation, that there could be two reasons for this. First, that it could be to lay more emphasis on the collective, and on the link between people, rather than individual consciousness. Second, it could also be to emphasize how important interpretations and perceptions of people are, yet how the ‘real’ character of people is something that is not as static as people’s perception, but dynamic and subject to change, and reform.