As in the reunion scene between Lucie and her father in Book I, Victorian melodrama somewhat mars the poignancy of the farewell scene between Lucie and Darnay for modern readers. Dickens loads the couple's dialogue with saccharine endearments and pious sentiment. Darnay, for instance, names Lucie the "dear darling of [his] soul,"while Lucie declares she will surely die from a broken heart and will join him in heaven. Perhaps the most melodramatic moment comes from Doctor Manette, who pulls his hair, wrings his hands, and shrieks in anguish. He is obviously very close to reverting back to his shoemaking state.
However, in the midst of the shrieking, fainting, and general despair, Carton displays a remarkable calmness and sense of purpose. The crisis that is devastating the lives of his friends seems to be giving him the ambition and resolve that he has always lacked. He takes control of the situation, giving the Doctor something constructive to do and comforting Mr. Lorry. When he picks up the unconscious Lucie, he has "an air about him that was not all of pity — that had a flush of pride in it."His whispered words to Lucie, "A life you love,"recall his words to her years before when he told her "there is a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you."Keeping that statement in mind, the reader must conclude that when he tells Mr. Lorry, "He will perish: there is no real hope,"he is speaking of himself rather than Darnay.
