《双城记》中梅尼特医生的性格分析

《双城记》中梅尼特医生的性格分析

Major: English

专业: 英语

University: Eastern Liaoning University 学位授予单位: 辽东学院

Time: December, 2012

完成时间: 2012年12月

CONTENTS

1 A Brief Introduction to Charles Dickens and a Tale of Two Cities 1.1 Charles Dickens

1.2 A Tale of Two Cities

2 The Personalities of Dr Manette

2.1 Manette?s Virtues

2.1.1 Challenging violence and being strong-willed

2.1.2 Integrity and kindness

2.1.3 Rationality

2.2 M anette?s Weakness

2.2.1 Idealistic

2.2.2 Limited thought

2.2.3 Self-contradictory characteristic

3 Conclusion

Analysis of Dr. Manette’s Perso nalities in a Tale of Two Cities

1 A Brief Introduction to Charles Dickens and a Tale of Two Cities

1.1 Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 at Landport, a district of the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, where his father was a Navy pay office clerk. From the year of 1831 when he became a leading reporter for the Moring Chronicle, Dickens began his literary career. Dickens?s literary career may be roughly divided into four periods. From 1848 to 1861 the third period stretched. It was a fruitful period in which Dickens attained to his maturity as a great artist with the failure of revolutionary movement both in England and in France, and with the reactionary forces of the bourgeoisie running more rampant, Dickens was more active to the social reality and became more critical. His optimistic spirit was replaced by strong feelings of depression and resentment. A Tale of Two Cities was one of the important works of this period. The whole period was also characterized by the change and development of the great novelist?s artistic style. His humor and satire gradually gave way to sentimentality, a mood of inhibition and dramatic tension.

1.2 A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens? famous works, which was published in 1859. The story takes place between Paris and London. Deftly, Dickens blends historical events of the French Revolution with the fate of Dr. Manette, a French physician, witnesses the brutal murder of a woman and her brother by two young aristocrats, the Marquis of Evermond and her brother. To stop the doctor from exposing the crime, they put him in Bastille, where he stays for eighteen years. Dr. Manette suffers from a nervous collapse in the prison. He is finally released, but he becomes insane. He recovers his senses under the care of his daughter Lucie. To his great shock, his son-in-law Darnay turns out to be the son of the younger aristocrat. The French revolutionary tribunal sentences him to death. To lessen the tragic fate of Darney, Dickens makes a clever, but a bit far-fetched twist in the development of the story. Lucie?s admirer, Carton, volunteers to replace Darnay and goes to the guillotine for him. Dickens uses the French Revolution as its writing background and makes up the character of Dr. Manette?s experience as the main clue of the story, mixing three closely-related themes prison, love, and revenge to express his humanitarianism of tolerance, love, anti-violence and oppression.

2 The Personalities of Dr Manette

Dr Manette is a dreamboat who is strongly appreciated by the literature master. He, challenging violence and being strong-willed，being integrity and kindness, and reasonable, is a medical practitioner with a profound and immense learning. He also shows sympathy for the poor millions.

2.1 Manette’s Virtues

2.1.1 Challenging violence and being strong-willed

The honest and goodheart ed doctor didn?t want to conceal the brother?s sins, even though he knew that he would be in troubles with himself, Mr. Manette had determined to muckrake the Marquis St. Evremonde brothers? conscienceless crimes.“From the first, I had anxiously considered what I ought to do. I decided, that day, to write privately to the Minister, stating the mature of the two cases to which I had been summoned, and the place to which I had gone: in effect, stating all the circumstances.” That was the doctor?s mind after he knew the truth. He knew the influence of aristocracy in royal count and their immunity rights, even though he suspected that the imperial count would not accept and hear the case, he was also going to state all the circumstances. The miserable Dr Manette was certainly put into prison. On the morning of his daughter?s wedding, the doctor finally knew that his son-in-law was his mortal enemy?s descendant, and he was out of his mind again, with accidental strike. The doctor went back to that shoemaker who o nly remembered “One Hundred and Five, North Tower”. Fortunately, nine days latter, he was recovered by himself. What?s more, he believed that he was strong and reasonable enough to prevent the accident coming back. He had known connotative sense and also believed in recovery by himself.

2.1.2 Integrity and kindness

Dr Manette was righteous and kind-hearted. The Marquis St. Evremonde and his brother had been riding their high horses for too long. The brother raped a beautiful peasant young woman, cruelly killed her husband and father, and her little brother was dead for terrible injury owing to vengeance. At last, even the poor pregnant woman was passed away. According to the doctor?s reminiscence: “He had before offered me money, which I had postponed taking. He now gave me a rouleau of gold. I took it from his hand, but laid it on the table. I had considered the question, and had resolved to accept nothing. …Pray excuse me,? said I. …under

the circumstances, no.?” The doctor not only rejected the aristocracy?s bribe, but also made up his mind to recover the aristocracy?s sins. After making hard choices, he wrote a letter recording the terrible things he had ever seen to the administration official and hoped the so-called governments punish wickedness and encourage virtue. Beyond thoughts, the kind doctor was put in prison instead of the sinner and from then on he was kept in prison for eighteen years. Nevertheless, we could find the doctor?s integrity and benevolence from this facer.

2.1.3 Rationality

The doctor furtively lay hidden his misery and persecution into deep heart just for his daughter and forgave the enemy?s descendant, even got his own daughter married with enemy?s descendant. Dr Manette had a tolerance of the old grudge and the clementia and magna nimity of the feudal aristocracy which reflected Charles Dickens? personal fraternity for the bourgeoisie.

In the novel, there is such a sentence depicting the brave and reasonable father?s condition after he knew the truth:” He was so deadly pale—which had not been the case when they went in together—that no vestige of color was to be seen in his face. But, in the composure of his manner he was unaltered.?…… Her father cheered her, and said at last, gently disengaging himself from her enfolding arms, …Take her, Charles! She is yours!?” Maybe we could imagine a few parts of the doctor?s complex feelings and the miserable dilemma. He could do everything he could to save his son-in-law for his dear daughter with regardlessness. He would also like to experience any dangerous without hesitant for his daughter and his son-in-law. From his point of view, Dr Manette did not save his enemy?s descendant but his own son-in-law and his daughter?s happiness. It?s very reasonable for the doctor to have a clear mind which was not eaten up with the old grudge.

2.2Manette’s Weakness

Charles Dickens revealed fully the class contradiction and the dark side of the corrupt society, and he also scourged relentlessly accounts of carnal excess of aristocracy to show the author?s disaffection and criticism.

2.2.1 Idealistic

Dr Manette was an idealistic character portrayed by Charles Dickens. This idealistic doctor thought each question had a simple method to solve and love was the most efficient means. When Dr Manette saw the marq uis?s sins, he felt that an ordinary letter would make the marquis?s crime exposure and the Rulers would punish the crimes for justice, however, it was the inculpable doctor that had got an eighteen-year imprisonment instead of the villainous marquis. When his son-in-law was put into prison just for offspring of the marquis, this virtuous doctor thought he could save his son-in-law just owing to his eighteen years? prison in the Bastille and the general public would forgive the offspring of the sinful marquis. Finally he had no power to control the situation to save his son-in-law and had seen his son-in-law to be sentenced to death penalty with his own eyes. Nevertheless, in this virtuous doctor?s viewpoint, love was the best method to defuse the class cont radictions and hostilities. He not only forgave the offspring of the marquis, but also wished that his benevolence for these plights of the poor could help him to influence these general public and make them remit a punishment of his son-in-law. His idealistic personality made him have these immature thoughts. The other way round, these immature thoughts strengthened his idealistic personality.

2. 2.2 Limited thought

The reason of this limited thought, investigating its germ, was the class characteristic. Dr Manette was an outstanding intellectual and belonged Middle Class who had a happy family with abundant fortune. The knowledge, fortune and experience he had made him have no chance to consider tribulations undergone by the pauper from their visual angle. He had his mind stuffed with kindheartedness: the tribulation suffered by the laboring poor was not too extremely tragic persecution, and the Ruling Class would have some interests and prerogatives to maintain their specific status in the society and the whole world would be well-organized and stabilized. From the standpoint of the intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie, it?s difficult for the doctor to support the revolution and help the oppressed pursue their own emancipation in its true sense. Therefore, i n front of the Revolution, it?s no wonder for the doctor to be terrified, even opposed. It is clear that the doctor and the bourgeoisie, represented by Dr Manette, could not save the pitiful poor from an abyss of suffering.

2.2.3 Self-contradictory characteristic

Dr Manette?s self-contradictory characteristic mainly represented two sides: one point is that

he showed sympathy for the laboring people and he hoped the poor conditions would be improved; the other is that he did not like the violent revolution and even was fearful of the drastic social turbulence.

On one hand, Dr Manette ruthlessly exposed these marquis indulging in luxury and extravagance, arrogance and atrocities, at the same time, he expressed his sympathy for the condition of the laboring people who is hungry, poor, and miserable until dead. When the marquis ate chocolate with four strong men?s protecting and elegance prattle on the endless banquet, these working poor were suffered by the starvations. When the frantic voiture of the marquis unscrupulously without loading went on the rampage, all the common people had to try their best to avoid accidents which were considered as breaking vases by these marquises. From these comparisons we could feel the doctor?s great anger to The Ruling Class a nd unparalleled sympathy to the working people. On the other hand, the doctor projected his desire of changing that dark reality into self-improvement of the feudal marquis. The self-contradiction of the doctor was ineluctable: he confirmed the justice and inevitability of the revolution, but hoped the revolution would be within the limits of the humanity; he confirmed the original intention of the revolution was eradicating the autocracy and tyranny, and safeguarding the humanity, however, he considered the process of the revolution was too brutal to protect the rights of the innocents, and even returned to have pity on these former Rulers who encountered the people?s punishment. In the doctor?s apprehension, the revolution was simply counter violence and class-revenge.

3 Conclusion

This paper analyzed the personalities of Dr Manette in A Tale of Two Cities and demonstrated his advantages and disadvantages in order to illustrate that humanitarianism could not solve hostile class contradiction. Dr Manette, as a member of the capital class, not only had the common profit with the capital class, but also the similar mode of thinking with the capital class. From the above analysis, it?s easy to draw a conclusion that the bourgeoisie could not save the poor from an abyss of suffering or even stick up for the rights of the laboring poor devotedly as a result of the limitation. The humanitarianism in the bourgeois range could not solve the tribulations suffered by the poor.