Unconscious Double

“‘I have pictured my daughter, to myself, as perfectly forgetful of me – rather, altogether ignorant of me, and unconscious of me.” (196)

            “With hope ever darkening, and with a heart always growing heavier and heavier, Mr Lorry passed through his anxious time. the secret was well kept, and Lucie was unconscious and happy; but, he could not fail to observe that the shoemaker, whose hand had been a little out at first, was growing dreadfully skilful, and that he had never been so intent on his work, and that his hands had never been so nimble and expert, as in the dusk of the ninth evening.” (205)

            The first passage, taken from “One Night”, is Doctor Manette’s thought of what his daughter would be – unconscious of his existence. The second passage, taken from “Nine Days”, tells that Lucie is unconscious to her father’s current state. These passage are clearly double and when you read the second one make you sad because originally Lucie was not unconscious of her father’s existence even though it may have seemed like she was considering he was in jail and she had never met him, but now she is out on her honeymoon without a care (unconscious to the commotion of her house) and her father is in more hell than he was before, as shown by his deft shoemaking hands.

The Ultimate Double: Two Cities

“[Little Lucie] chattered in the tongues of the Two Cities that were blended in her life,” (219).

 

This description of Lucie Manette’s daughter playing, is literally saying that she speaks in both French and English, the two languages that are part of her life (living in England and having her parents of French descendants). There is another interesting aspect of this quote; it is the first time a fragment of the title has been referenced. By using the capitalized form of ‘Two Cities’, Dickens immediately draws the reader’s attention to the relevance it holds in the title of the novel.  It also reveals that he is speaking not of just two cities in France and England, but the two cities that have become the theme of contrast in the novel. By showing that Lucie’s daughter is involved with both cities, it sets up a parallel for the next few chapters when the Revolution breaks out. The mayhem in France is repeatedly juxtaposed with the life of the Manettes and Darnays in England like on page 222 when the footsteps are ‘forcing their way into anyone’s life…footsteps as far off as the little circle in London’. Or when Mr. Lorry talks of the effect the crisis in France is having of French customers of Tellsons Bank (221). This double figure serves as a connection between all the events in the book so far as the characters lives and stories seem to come full circle, thus explaining why it is an appropriate title. 

The Fellow Of Delicacy

"It was Stryver's grand peculiarity that he always seemd too big for any place, or space. He was much too big for Tellson's that old clerks in distant corners looked up with looks of remonstrance, as though he squeezed them against the wall......The discreet Mr. Lorry said in a sample tone of the voice he would recommend under the circumstances. 'How do you do Mr. Stryver? How do you do, sir?' and shook hands." (Page 148)


In this passage, Dickens describes how Stryver always seems to be too large for any place he goes. Obviously, he is not referring to his weight or stature, but perhaps his ego or overall personality. So far in the book, we have seen Stryver's ego get the best of him in many situations. He considers himself doing a service to Lucie by asking her to marry him (being the successful, upward-moving man that he is.) Dickens contrasts Stryver's egotistic entrance to the bank with the very "discreet" response by Mr. Lorry. It is quite apparent that these two men are portrayed as opposites in this passage, and Dickens once again uses Stryver in one of his "Double Trouble" motifs.

Double Double Doctor Doctor..Double Doctor!

"'Miss Pross, with a terrified face, was in his ear. 'O me, O me! All is lost!' cried she, wringing her hands. 'What is to be told to Ladybird? He doesn't know me, and is making shoes!' Mr. Lorry said what he could to calm her, and went himself into the Doctor's room. The bench was turned towards the light, as it had been when he had seen the shoemaker at his work before, and his head was bent down, and he was very busy...Doctor Manette took what was given to him to eat and drink, and worked on, that first day, until it was too dark to see" (202).

Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross enter panic mode when they see Doctor Manette making shoes because that is what he did to pass his time as a prisoner. When they ask him questions and talk about his life and his daughter, even themselves, he does not understand what they are talking about or who they are. Something about his conversation with Charles Darnay prior to the wedding ceremony, made Doctor Manette enter his previous blank state of mind - he went into relapse after doing so well with Lucie by his side. The double factor of this situation lies in the Doctor(s) identity. It's almost as if he has a double identity - Doctor Manette, Lucie's father, and The Doctor of Beauvais, the prisoner. On pages 196 and 197 when Doctor Manette is reflecting on his time in prison, Dickens calls him the Doctor of Beauvais; but otherwise, he is referred to as Doctor Manette. It's like the doctor suffers from multiple identity disorder, because we know it's not just a mood change since he is not aware of these two identities. On pages 207 and 208 it seems as though the doctor is back to his Doctor Manette self, but he is very confused. At breakfast he looks at his hands many times, and does not remember how they got to be so weathered - he does not remember how he vigorously worked on making a pair of shoes. "Glancing at his hands, which were discoloured by his late work, the Doctor looked troubled" (196). And then, the worried Mr. Lorry brings up a situation involving the "case of a particularly dear friend of" his. Mr. Lorry proceeds to tell Doctor Manette his own biography and the doctor is completely oblivious that this is what he has been for the past nine days and nine nights. The Doctor then diagnoses what he doesn't know is himself and says, "it is probable that there had long been a dread lurking in his mind, that those associations would be recalled - say, under certain circumstances - say, on a particular occasion." The entire thing is dramatic irony because we all know that Doctor Manette is the one Mr. Lorry speaks worriedly of, but he does not. Whatever Charles Darnay confessed to his now father-in-law, brought out the "second identity" in Doctor Manette because of the memory that was triggered. It must have been and extremely painful memory, indeed.

The Two Faces of Jacques

The term "Jacques" is used to label someone involved in the plotting of the French revolution. It provides anonymity and the sense of being one of many. However, it serves to identify them and separate them as being a member of the revolution as much as it serves to make them "invisible".



Just as the name of Jacques is duplicate, so too are the revolutionaries who bear it. Who are these men? Farmers, crofters, blacksmiths, tanners, and more; common men all. No one of high birth or great merit, no men of true distinction. They are the peasantry; the lowliest of the French citizenry, scorned and debased by the nobility. But these men are also Jacques, the driving force behind one of the most momentous events in French history. Take Monsieur Defarge as an example. His occupation is wine shop manager, a job as ordinary the next. And yet he is also a Jacques; one of the minds behind the planning of the coming revolution. The double meanings of Jacques and the double lives of the men who use the name are major pieces of Knitting and Still Knitting, as well as the book as a whole.

The Three Jacques

“Out of the wine-shop into the street, out of the street into a court-yard, out of the court-yard up a steep staircase, out of the staircase into a garret – formerly the garret where a white-haired man sat on a low bench, stooping forward and very busy, making shoes.

            No white-haired man was there now; but, the three men were there who had gone out of the wine-shop singly. And between them and the white-haired man afar off, was the one small link, that they had once looked in at him through the chinks in the wall.” (173)

This passage doubles a short scene that we saw back in the first wine shop chapter when Defarge is bringing Mr. Lorry and Lucie up to the room of Doctor Manette. In that scene, Defarge quickly ushers the three Jacques out of the narrow hallway before he and his guests enter. In class we had come to the conclusion that Doctor Manette was on somewhat a display for the three Jacques as an example of possible repercussions of their forthcoming actions. In the above passage we have the same three Jacques, in the same room, going about the same business as they had six (?) years earlier. This time however, in the scene thereafter, they learn of the fate of their friend and Jacques, Gaspard. Again, this story does not faze the gentlemen and they continue to make plans of attack. In addition to the obvious double, we are given some foreshadowing of, once again, the French Revolution.

Still Knitting...Darnay's Name!

"'But it is very strange - now, at least is it now very strange' said Defarge, rather pleading with his wife to induce her to admit it, 'that after all our sympathy for Monsieur her father and herself, her husband's name should be proscribed under your hand at this moment, by the side of that infernal dog's who has just left us?'

'Stranger things than that, will happen when it does come,'answered madame. ' I have them both here, of a certainty; and they are both here for their merits, that is enough'" (193).

Two chapters prior to this, Mr.Carton promised Lucie that if she or her loved one was ever in trouble, he would give his life to get them out of it. And now presents that trouble. Charles Darnay, Lucie's love and most-likely future husband, has been knitted into Madame Defarge's registry. Not only Darnay's name, but also Lucie's, because, Madame Defarge says, she will have the same name as him once they are wed. And that is where the double comes out - in the name Defarge, and how once they are married they will be Charles Darnay and Lucie Darnay. Although Charles does not approve of what some of the members of his family do, the hate that is assosiated to whatever his familial name is, followed him when the spy, John Barsad, informed the Defarges that Darnay is the nephew of the Marquis.