Sydney Carton resents Charles Darnay because in Charles he
sees what he could have been. Since the two men look so similar, Carton compares
himself to Darnay. He says to Darnay:
“I begin to think we are not much alike in any
particular, you and I.”
The
main reason that Carton is jealous is Lucie. He falls in love with her from the first
time he sees her, and he knows that she is falling for Darnay. He realizes that he
could never have a woman like Lucie, but if he were more like Darnay he could. Since
Stryver takes all the credit for the legal maneuver that gets Darnay acquitted, everyone
pretty much ignores Carton.
“Nobody had made any acknowledgment of Mr.
Carton’s part in the day’s proceedings; nobody had known of
it.”
Carton is drunk and
dishelved (“who smelt of port wine, and did not appear to be quite sober”) and no one
considers him worthy of attention, especially Lucie. Carton is usually content for this
to be the case, but it is this encounter with Darnay that first gets him to consider the
life he might have had.
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