Doctor+Manette

Doctor Manette

Doctor Manette is a very important character to the plot of A Tale of Two Cities. He is one of the most dynamic characters of the novel. Dr. Manette is the father of Lucie Manette, a symbol of the revolution, and obviously, an intelligent doctor. Doctor Manette was a prisoner at the Bastille for eighteen years. To pass the time, and to distract himself from the torture he was being put through, Doctor Manette takes up the hobby of shoemaking. After he is rescued from the Bastille, he is not used to a normal life and has trouble communicating and understanding with other people.

"'Did you ask for my name?' 'Assuredly I did' ' One Hundred and Five, North Tower'...(page 42)." This quote shows that Doctor Manette has been imprisoned for so long that he has not only lost his mind but he has forgot his name because he was so used to referring to himself by his room number. Throughout the story Doctor Manette changes drastically from someone who has lost all his memories and lost his mind, to someone who begins to make sense of things and change back to normal.

In A Tale of Two Cities, Doctor Manette's daughter, Lucie, is portrayed as the most beautiful young woman, and all the guys want to marry her. Specifically, Charles Darnay talks to Dr. Manette about asking Lucie to be his wife. Charles Darnay also tells Dr. Manette that his name is not really "Darnay" and he offers to tell Manette what his real name is but Doctor Manette says that he will hear it from him on the morning of his daughters wedding day. On that morning, Charles Darnay goes into Doctor Manettes room to talk to him, and to tell him his real name. When they come out, Doctor Manette is deathly pale. Doctor Manette relapses back to what he was doing as a prisoner in the Bastille for nine days. On the tenth morning, Mr. Lorry peeks into the Doctor's room only to notice that his shoemaking supplies are pushed aside and the Docter is peacefully reading a book, and his face was still pale but looked studious. He is dynamic in this way because he immediately changes himself from the way that he has been acting.

"But, unfortunately, there has been'---he paused and took a deep breath ' a slight relapse.'...'Nine days and nights.'(page 202)." This happens when Mr Lorry is letting the doctor know about the relapse. What is confusing about Dr. Manette is that he changes so quickly and something sent him into relapse suddenly, but better yet, something snapped him out of it suddenly after nine days.

Another thing about Doctor Manette is that he is really upset when Charles Darnay (Evremonde) is marrying his daughter Lucie. He knows that he needs to put his feelings aside to make his daughter happy. The ironic thing about this is that he really doesn't like Charles Darnay but when Darnay is arrested in France, Doctor Manette does everything he can and he saves him from being sent to the guillotine. This is also an example of Manette being a dynamic character because like I said before, he was not used to a real life when he came out of jail but now he leads a pretty normal life and is able to save Darnay, which means a lot to Lucie. Doctor Manette and Barsad