A Tale of Two Cities Lucie Manette Quotes

Lucie Manette

Quote 1

There ought to have been a tranquil bark in such an anchorage, and there was. The Doctor occupied two floors of a large stiff house, where several callings purported to be pursued by day, but whereof little was audible any day, and which was shunned by all of them at night. (2.6.6)

Lucie seems to create a space of calm around her entire family—perhaps because we’re never really allowed to see a dark side to her character.

Lucie Manette

Quote 2

"If, when I hint to you of a Home that is before us, where I will be true to you with all my duty and with all my faithful service, I bring back the remembrance of a Home long desolate, while your poor heart pined away, weep for it, weep for it!" (1.6.77)

Lucie’s immediate devotion to a father that she’s never met becomes the first of many opportunities for Dickens to demonstrate the almost incredible bond that unites the two.

"Are you dying for him?" she whispered.

"And his wife and child. Hush! Yes." (3.13.91-2)

Sydney’s love for Lucie becomes a form of loyalty that eventually leads to his own murder. As he makes clear, however, his execution becomes a testimony to the love he has for her family.