Sydney Carton: Every Man's Hero
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). Sydney Carton, the alcoholic who one day is teeming with vie, becomes a resolute and infallible hero. His love for Lucie Manette knows no bounds when he prepares for the day where he takes the place of his former enemy, and Lucie's husband, Charles Darnay. Everybody is anticipating to see Darnay's head lying on the ground in front of the guillotine, however, only a seamstress and a business man know of the identity swap between Carton and Darnay. While it is apparent that Sydney saves the life of Charles, he also saves his own life. Sydney Carton is a true hero because not only does he save Darnay and the Manettes, he also saves himself.
Sydney Carton's haggard look does not come from anything but his addiction to alcohol. As the book progresses, Sydney becomes more destitute from alcohol and shapes up. At first, while beginning to make an effort to quit, he would act a little odd, "he claimed his privilege of coming in uninvited, and would sit among them through the evening, as he had once done often. He never came there heated with wine" (Dickens 224). Giving up an addiction is a struggle, but Carton quits on the spot for Lucie, which shows his loyalty. "For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything" (Dickens 159). True to his word, Carton goes the distance to fulfill and save Lucie and her dear ones' lives. He knows that he cannot think straight or do anything right without a sober mind, so he sobers up and shapes up.
The words that came out of Carton's mouth were melancholy and negative towards himself half of the time, then he becomes a man whom people see is changing into a better person. "He had been there often, during a whole year, and had always been the same moody and morose lounger there. When he cared to talk. he talked well; but, the cloud of caring for nothing, which overshadowed him with such a fatal...