A Tale of Two Trials: Revolutionary Enjoyment, Liberal Legalism and the Sacrifice of Critique in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities

An analysis of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens argues that the total transformation of Sydney Carton is Dickens's attempt to redeem the law he was formerly critical of, which required sacrificing critique, a point made by Sydney Carton's execution. Michel Foucault's (1978) concept of "care of the self" is drawn on to show that Carton's sacrifice represents a symbolic rebirth in both the sacramental & psychoanalytical sense. It is contended that Carton is the "proto-critical legal lawyer" that would be denounced by today's conservative judges for his nihilism, lack of neutrality, & politics. Ways in which the revolutionary scenes set in France support the claim that Dickens aligns himself with this contemporary "critique of critique" are discussed, along with how Dickens links the law & economy to dramatize competing legalities of both common-civil law, & liberal legalism-revolutionary justice, in order to reveal English jurisprudence's mid-19th century goal to bring the common law system in sync with the needs of capital.