Sydney Carton

Is there catharsis? Maybe there's not enough catharsis here.

There's, there's references to heroes from history, Spartacus, uh, Gandalf, John Proctor, et cetera, Sydney Carton.

But as soon as you start l- uh, in a sense comparing, uh, Mickey Madison and her whistleblower, Frances Haugen, to some of the greatest cinematic, uh, ra- ra- rabble-rousing films of all time, that's maybe not a smart thing to do within your film.

[laughs] That is not rising to those levels.

When the novelist employs the majestic words of Revelation to transfigure the lives of his characters, he does so because, in actual experience, he finds those selfsame words indelibly engraved upon the souls of men.

And after all, Sydney Carton's text is really Charles Dickens' text.

Robinson Crusoe's text is Daniel Defoe's text.

The text that stands embedded in the pathos of Uncle Tom's Cabin is the text that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe had enthroned within her heart.

End of chapter 3.

Chapter 4 of A Handful of Stars Texts that have moved great minds By Frank W. Boreham This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

Recording by Tim Bauer Chapter 4 Sydney Carton's Text Memory is the soul's best minister.

Sydney Carton found it so.

Unconsciously but not accidentally, Dickens was here working out the whole true comparison between swift revolutionism in Paris and slow evolutionism in London.

Sydney Carton is one of those sublime ascetics whose head offends them and who cuts it off.

For him, at least, it was better that the blood should flow in Paris than the wine should flow any longer in London.

And if I say that even now the guillotine might be the best cure for many a London lawyer, I ask you to believe that I am not merely flippant, but you will not believe it.

But in the story, Quilp only means Quilp.

Crook means Chancery.

Rick Carstone is a kind of tragic figure like Sydney Carton, but Sydney Carton only means the tragedy of human nature.

Rick Carstone means the tragedy of Chancery.

Perhaps the most explicit presentation of the gospel truth in all of 19th century literature anywhere appears in the climax to his novel A Tale of Two Cities.

Set against the blood-soaked backdrop of the French Revolution and what was called the Reign of Terror, the story centres on two men, Charles Darnay, an honourable French aristocrat condemned to the guillotine simply because of his bloodline, and Sidney Carton, a cynical, delusioned English barrister whose life has been wasted in drunkenness and despair.

Carton is a man who feels he is utterly beyond redemption.

Yet, in an unselfish sacrificial love for Lucy Manette, who is Darnay's wife, Carton uses a secret switch to take Darnay's place in the dark Parisian prison cell on the very eve of his execution.

As we see Sidney Carton ride in the turmoil of the crowds towards the guillotine, holding the hand of a frightened young seamstress who has also been condemned, Dickens chooses to quote the exact words of Jesus from John chapter 11.

Our hero is heard to say I am the resurrection and the life saith the Lord and he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Carton goes to the guillotine voluntarily so that Barney can stay alive, can step away from the situation into freedom and return to his family.

Dickens.

And he is not just starring in it, he is executive producing it alongside his friend Dan West, and the role he has chosen for himself is Sydney Carton.

What a role.

Right? Sydney Carton is arguably one of the most complex figures in classical literature.

He's this deeply cynical, boozy, brilliant, and ultimately tragic British lawyer.

So you have Kit Harington, the son of a long line of barristers, finally walking into the courtroom, but he is doing it entirely on his own terms, controlling the production from behind the camera.

Stepping into the shoes of Sydney Carton is a massive undertaking.

Tell me more about that.

And here you are working to save your rival.

Why, it's, it's like Sydney Carton.

It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before.

This is, uh...