Charles Darnay

* Novel
* 1935
* 1958
* 1980
* 1980
* 1989

A Tale of Two Cities (ITV, 1989)

Xavier Delay (1989)

The Prisoner

Sydney Carton (look-a-like)

### Personalities

Noble, passive, handsome, naïve, principled, loving, friendly, loyal, polite, civilized, kind, humble, virtuous, determined, successful, secretive, brave, respectful, honest, confident, responsible, compassionate, honourable

### Allies

Lucie Manette
Sydney Carton
Doctor Manette
Mr. Lorry

Little Lucie

### Enemies

Madame Defarge
Monsieur Defarge

Marquis St. Evrémonde

### Goal

To renounce his family name and inheritance (succeeded)
 To marry Lucie (succeeded)

To return to Paris and rescue Gaspard (succeeded, then failed)

### Fate

Escapes from Paris with his family after Sydney Carton takes his place at the guillotine.

### Famous quotes

"A multitude of people and yet solitude!"

> "*Like the mariner in the old story, the winds and streams had driven him within the influence of the Loadstone Rock, and it was drawing him to itself, and he must go. Everything that arose before his mind drifted him on, faster and faster, more and more steadily, to the terrible attraction. His latent uneasiness had been … that he who could not fail to know that he was better than they, was not there, trying to do something to stay bloodshed, and assert the claims of mercy and humanity.*"
> ― Book 2, Chapter 24
>
>

Charles St. Evrémonde, a.k.a. Charles Darnay, is the main protagonist in Charles Dickens's *A Tale of Two Cities*. He is the husband of Lucie Manette, the father of Little Lucie, the son-in-law of Doctor Manette, and the nephew of the Marquis St. Evrémonde.

A French aristocrat by birth, Darnay gives up his title and inheritance because he cannot stand the cruel injustice of the French aristocracy and seeks refuge in England. But when the French Revolution breaks out in his homeland, he takes drastic measures to settle some business back home.

## Description

As the central character, Charles Darnay is considered to be an archetype hero from his actions and choices. Since he is descended from a troubled French noble family, he is ashamed of his family’s cruel misdeeds and chooses to renounce his name and inheritance, which shows that anything good can come out of evil. But even if he has a fresh start, he cannot escape from his family past, as it quickly catches up with him and about to put the lives of his family and himself in danger. His birth name, Evrémonde, appears to mean “every man” in English, indicating that the Evrémondes are a race of noblemen who are corrupt and cruel in social status and behaviour.

Darnay symbolizes justice and duty of the French nobility, who knew about the damages they have caused, but could do nothing to stop it. For years, the nobility in France ruin the lives of the peasants and how they are rarely held accountable for their corruption and hypocrisy. While he despises his biological family for their crimes and hypocrisy, he chooses to simply cut ties with them by renouncing his name and inheritance, rather than joining the “Jacques” revolutionaries and violently killing them. He believes that he has the right to have fair justice, but is aware that his family will pay a price for their injustice and mistreatment of the poor. What is also ironic is that his father and uncle were twins and mirror images of each other and they reflect their corruption and cruelty to the peasants, including the infamous incident when they make a younger Dr. Manette treat an injured man and woman that were attacked by the brothers and later died, resulting in the doctor’s 18 year imprisonment at the Bastille. Darnay is a reversed image as he chooses to help the poor instead of mistreating them.

Even when he manages to live a humble life in England with his wife, child and father-in-law, his past quickly catches up with him and lures them into the dangers and violence of Paris embroiled in revolution and bloodshed. Even if he has renounced his name and changed his identity, the revolutionaries still see him as an enemy and are determined to have him killed no matter what. But when he is imprisoned as soon as he steps foot in Paris, it is as if he is being “buried alive”, just like his father-in-law at the Bastille. Even when he gets lucky and Dr. Manette manages to have him acquitted, his family’s crimes won’t be easily tarnished, even though Darnay has nothing to do with them. While tried in Paris, Darnay cannot speak for himself and has no defense lawyer to defend him. However, he gets lucky again when his counterpart and friend, Sydney Carton, commits a heroic and selfless act to ensure that Darnay will be saved from death a third time in a row, and he’ll continue to live a happy, prosperous life with Lucie. With Carton swapping places with him at the guillotine, Darnay is now finally free from injustice and corruption of his disgraced noble family and can finally put his troubled family past to rest.

## Storyline

### Treason Trial

In 1780, 25-year-old Charles Darnay was accused of treason against the British Crown by passing on secrets to the French King about the British sending forces to America during the American Revolution. He is then brought to the Old Bailey Courthouse for a trial.

Everyone stares at him as the jailers lead him into the courtroom and before the bar. The crowd attending the trial assumes he will soon be executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered if convicted. The judge orders silence in the court, and Darnay stands quietly without flinching until he catches a glimpse of Doctor Manette and his daughter Lucie sitting next to the judge. Darnay and Lucie lock eyes on each other with compassion and the crowd wonders who they are. The judge calls the two witnesses to the stand and leans back in his chair while the attorney general is prepared to state his case that will likely have Darnay found guilty.

The attorney general tells the jury about Darnay’s treacherous activities over the years, such as travelling between France and England on secret business until someone gets him caught.This man is a spy named John Barsad, and he was once friends with Darnay until he learned about his friend’s wrongdoings and decided to turn him in, which resulted in Darnay’s servant, Roger Cly, finding his documents to have him arrested. The attorney general is looking forward to hearing the others disgrace Barsad for betraying Darnay, even though the attorney general respects him, and he asks the jury to think differently of him.

The attorney general explains that the testimonies of the two men who turned Darnay in and the documents they have found will prove his treason against the King of England. He says they may not have been written in Darnay’s handwriting, but this will prove that he has been passing on this information for the past five years, and it started before the Americans declared their independence against the British. The attorney general demands the jury to convict Darnay as he considers Darnay as good as dead.

After the attorney general finishes his statement, the courtroom buzzes with excitement about Darnay’s execution. When everyone quiets down, Barsad is brought to the witness box. A wigged gentleman interviews Barsad with a series of questions, and Barsad replies that he makes a living off his property and has inherited it from a distant relative. He was also imprisoned for debt multiple times.

The defence brings up Roger Cly, who first worked for Darnay four years ago. They first met on a boat in Calais, and Cly asked Darnay if he would be his servant. After Darnay hired him, Cly became suspicious of him, watched him closely and spotted some papers in Darnay’s jacket. He even witnessed him show the papers to some French gentlemen in Boulogne and Calais, which resulted in Cly betraying Darnay by turning him into the authorities. Cly has also known Barsad for 7-8 years.

The judge next calls Mr. Lorry to the stand. The judge questions him about what happened that Friday night in November 1775. Mr. Lorry replies that he was travelling in a mail coach from London to Dover with two other passengers, who kept their faces hidden during the trip. The judge asks if any of the passengers resemble Darnay, and Mr. Lorry says no, but the passengers are afraid of thieves, and Darnay doesn’t appear to be afraid. However, Mr. Lorry testified he had seen Darnay before when he boarded a ship at midnight from Calais a few days ago, and Darnay was on the same ship with him. He was the only person who boarded the ship, and Doctor Manette and Lucie accompanied Mr. Lorry as he escorted them from France to England. Mr. Lorry then says he didn’t speak to Darnay as the weather was bad, and sat on a sofa the entire trip.

The judge orders Lucie to stand, and she gets up with her father holding her arm. The judges asks her to look at the prisoner, and Darnay stands trembling, knowing he will be executed.

The judge asks Lucie if she has seen Darnay before. She replies that she last saw him on the ship Mr. Lorry mentioned at the same time and is the lady Mr. Lorry referred to. The judge then asks her if she has ever spoken to Darnay and wants her to refer to him as the prisoner. Lucie testifies that when Darnay came on board, he saw how fatigued and weak her father was. She didn’t want to take him inside the cabin and made a bed for him on the deck. As she stood by her father’s side, Darnay offered to protect him from the storm. He sat by the doctor and treated him kindly when they started talking. The judge interrupts her and asks if Darnay came on board alone. Lucie explains that two French gentlemen accompanied him, and they spoke to each other just before Darnay boarded the ship while the two men took their boat back to shore. She remembers seeing them passing papers and faintly hearing them whispering close at the cabin steps, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She then opened up about how Darnay was open-minded and honest with her during their conversation, and she cried that she didn’t wish to harm him.

The courtroom buzzes with excitement as the judge urges Lucie to continue with her testimony. Lucie recalls that Darnay had told her he was travelling for risky business under a false name. He had to return to France on short notice, and he might have to travel back and forth between France and England for a long time. He even found it wrong for the British to fight against the Americans and joked that George Washington would become famous in history like the English King, which angers the judge.

The judge then calls Doctor Manette to the stand, asking the doctor if he has seen Darnay before. He testifies that he met him once when he came to his home three and a half years ago, but can’t identify him as the man on the board from Calais and conversing with Lucie. He has spent many years in prison in France but hasn’t remembered anything for a long time. Doctor Manette and Lucie sit down.

The attorney general wants to provide some evidence that Darnay had ridden with a mysterious accomplice in the Dover mail coach during that Friday night in November 1775. He then exited the coach and travelled 12 more miles to a military post and dockyard where he had gathered some information. A witness is called to the stand who claimed he saw Darnay at the hotel near the military post and dockyard. But when Darnay’s lawyer cross-examined him, he learned that the witness had never seen Darnay before. A wigged gentleman scribbled something on a piece of paper and tossed it to the lawyer. After reading it, the lawyer asks the witness if he has seen someone who looks like Darnay. The witness replies that he can confuse the two, and the lawyer points to the gentleman who threw the paper at him, asking if he looks like Darnay.

The wigged gentleman has a messy appearance, but when the lawyer asks him to take off his wig, everyone is astonished to see that he has a striking resemblance to Darnay. The judge asks Mr. Stryver if Carton should be tried for treason, too, but replies that it won’t be necessary but would ask the witness if either Darnay or Carton would commit treason again. However, the witness loses his credibility and his testimony becomes useless. Mr. Stryver convinces the jury to try and prove Darnay’s innocence, even pointing out that Barsad is a treacherous spy who has been hired to help having Darnay convicted and sentenced to death. Stryver also says that Cly is Barsad’s friend and second-in-command, and they have chosen Darnay as a likely victim since he is always travelling to England and France on risky business and cannot discuss it for the sake of protecting his loved ones. In addition, Lucie’s evidence could just be small talk between strangers.

The attorney general is called to the stand, who testifies that Barsad and Cly aren’t as bad as they look, before the judge delivers his remarks about Darnay, who appears to look guilty. The jury then gathers to discuss the verdict. Carton notices that Lucie is fainting and orders her to be taken out immediately. Doctor Manette gets his daughter out of the courtroom, and when Carton walks past the bar where Darnay is sitting, he tells him that Lucie is doing fine. Darnay is sorry for causing her distress and asks him to to give her his apologizes. Carton agrees, and Darnay thanks him, but then asks what verdict they might expect. Carton thinks it could be guilty. After an hour and a half, the jury acquits Darnay.

Following the trial, Doctor Manette, Lucie, Mr. Lorry and Mr. Stryver meet with Darnay, congratulating him of his acquittal.

## References

1. ↑ Book 2, Chapter 2
2. ↑ Book 2, Chapter 3
3. ↑ Book 2, Chapter 4