Central to the theme of doubles and mirror-images that runs through A Tale of Two Cities are the characters of Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. The previous chapter established their physical similarities; this chapter establishes the differences in their temperaments. Where Darnay is polite, composed, and a gentleman, Carton is ill-mannered, unkempt, and a heavy drinker. Dickens uses the contrast between the two men to emphasize the degree to which Carton is wasting his life, with Darnay serving as a representation of Carton's unrealized possibilities. Dickens stresses this point in Carton's moment of self-reflection in front of the mirror. Contemplating his hostile feelings for Darnay, Carton muses, "He shows you what you have fallen away from, and what you might have been."What Carton has fallen away from is the possibility of a happy life with someone like Lucie Manette.
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