As a character in A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens, Lucie Mannette represents the typical Victorian heroine.
Her fainting fits as witnessed in the beginning book and in Chapter VI of Book the Third
when Charles is released from the charges in France through the intervention of Dr.
Manette--
Her father had gone on before, to prepare her,
and when her husband stood upon his feet, she dropped insensible in his
arms--
Lucie's relentless earnestness, too---she
insists that she hears "echoing footsteps" at Soho and she fears that something terrible
will happen after Charles is released--is doubtless part of the concept of Victorian
womanhood.
However, when Charles Darnay is again denounced
by the Defarges, and the Bonnets Rouges/ Jacques come for him,
Lucie does not swoon and faint. Is this conduct out of character? Chapter XXI of Book
the Third mentions,
The wretched wife of the innocent man thus
doomed to die, fell under the sentence, as if she had been mortally stricken.
But, she uttered no sound; and so strong was the voice within
her, representing that it was she of all the world who must uphold him in his misery and
not augment it, that it quickly raised her, even from that shock.
Lucy, though
shocked, is a devoted Victorian wife, who must be brave for the sake of Charles; she
must show him her "love and consolation" as he walks out. For the sake of her husband,
Lucie is brave. As Charles is allowed to kiss her by leaning over the dock, and to bear
her farewell: "We shall meet again, where the weary are at rest!" Lucie
replies,
"I
can bear it, dear Charles. I am supported from above; don't suffer for me. A parting
blessing for our child."
As
Charles is drawn away and taken, Lucie stands
looking after him with her hands poised in an
attitude of prayer, and with a radiant look upon her face, in which there was even a
comforting smile. As he went out at the prisoners' door, she turned, laid her head
lovingly on her father's breast, tried to speak to him, and fell at his
feet.
True to her Victorian
role, Lucie is earnest and devoted to her husband. However, she is also very delicate
in her condition, and swoons as soon as Charles is taken away.
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