Lucie Manette Character Analysis in A Tale of Two Cities

The daughter of Dr. Manette, and Charles's wife. With her qualities of innocence, devotion, and abiding love, Lucie has the power to resurrect, or recall her father back to life, after his long imprisonment. Lucie is the novel's central figure of goodness and, against the forces of history and politics, she weaves a "golden thread" that knits together the core group of characters. Lucie represents religious faith: when no one else believes in Sydney Carton, she does. Her pity inspires his greatest deed.

Lucie Manette Quotes in A Tale of Two Cities

The A Tale of Two Cities quotes below are all either spoken by Lucie Manette or refer to Lucie Manette. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

If you hear in my voice … any resemblance to a voice that once was sweet music in your ears, weep for it, weep for it! If you touch, in touching my hair, anything that recalls a beloved head that lay on your breast when you were young and free, weep for it, weep for it! 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!

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 48

Explanation and Analysis:

Only his daughter had the power of charming this black brooding from his mind. She was the golden thread that united him to a Past beyond his misery, and to a Present beyond his misery: and the sound of her voice, the light of her face, the touch of her hand, had a strong beneficial influence with him almost always.

Related Characters: ,

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 83

Explanation and Analysis:

He had loved Lucie Manette from the hour of his danger. He had never heard a sound so sweet and dear as the sound of her compassionate voice; he had never seen a face so tenderly beautiful, as hers when it was confronted with his own on the edge of the grave that had been dug for him.

Related Characters: ,

Page Number and Citation: 135

Explanation and Analysis:

For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you. Try to hold me in your mind, at some quiet times, as ardent and sincere in this one thing. The time will come, the time will not be long in coming, when new ties will be formed about you […] O Miss Manette, […] when you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 159

Explanation and Analysis:

My husband, it is so. I fear he is not to be reclaimed; there is scarcely a hope that anything in his character or fortunes is reparable now. But, I am sure that he is capable of good things, gentle things, even magnanimous things.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 217

Explanation and Analysis:

Lucie Manette Character Timeline in A Tale of Two Cities

The timeline below shows where the character Lucie Manette appears in A Tale of Two Cities. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

In Dover, Mr. Lorry takes a room at the Royal George Hotel. The 17-year-old Lucie Manette arrives that same afternoon, having received vague instructions to meet a Tellson's Bank employee... (full context)

...having been jailed by the authorities and taken to a secret prison. Rather than tell Lucie the truth, Lucie's mother told her that her father was dead. Lucie's mother herself died... (full context)

Mr. Lorry braces Lucie for a shock: her father is not dead. He has been found, though he's a... (full context)

...counter, his wife, Madame Defarge, silently alerts him to the presence of Mr. Lorry and Lucie. Defarge ignores them, instead lamenting the condition of the people with three men, all of... (full context)

Lucie approaches, with tears in her eyes. The shoemaker asks who she is. Noticing her blonde... (full context)

...bored-looking Mr. Carton. When Darnay glances at a young woman and her father sitting nearby (Lucie and Dr. Manette), word flashes through the crowd that these two are witnesses against Darnay.... (full context)

Mr. Lorry, Lucie, and Dr. Manette are each called to testify: they had all met Charles aboard ship... (full context)

...to deliberate. Carton continues to look bored, stirring only to order help when he notices Lucie start to faint. Finally, the jury returns from its deliberations with a verdict of not... (full context)

After the trial, Charles kisses Lucie's hands in gratitude and thanks Stryver for his help. Dr. Manette is now a distinguished... (full context)

Four months pass. Mr. Lorry visits Dr. Manette and Lucie at their home. Lucie has decorated the house beautifully, but Mr. Lorry notices that Manette's... (full context)

Dr. Manette and Lucie are out, though. Mr. Lorry speaks with Miss Pross, who comments on and dismisses all... (full context)

Lucie and Manette return. Charles arrives to visit moments later. Charles tells them of his recent... (full context)

Sydney Carton also visits. Sitting out on the veranda as a storm approaches, Lucie tells him that she sometimes imagines that the echoes of the footsteps from the pedestrians... (full context)

...visits Dr. Manette. During the visit, Charles tells Dr. Manette of his deep love for Lucie. Dr. Manette at first seems frightened by the news, but relaxes when Charles promises that... (full context)

...asks Charles to tell him on the morning of his wedding, not before. That night, Lucie returns and finds her father again making shoes. (full context)

Because Carton had previously (though insincerely) insulted Lucie, Stryver breaks the news to him carefully: he plans to marry her. Stryver thinks she's... (full context)

On his way to Lucie Manette's house to propose, Mr. Stryver passes Tellson's Bank and decides to drop in on... (full context)

...with the expected bad news, Stryver has already decided to drop it. He explains that Lucie shares the "vanities and giddiness of empty-headed girls" and that he's better off without her. (full context)

...After Mr. Stryver informs him that he's given up his plans to propose, Carton visits Lucie for a private conversation. (full context)

Lucie is astonished when Carton breaks into tears over his wasted life during the visit. She... (full context)

Carton tells Lucie he loves her, that she is "the last dream of [his] soul." But that even... (full context)

Barsad changes tactics. Knowing that Defarge was once Dr. Manette's servant, he mentions that Lucie is now married to Charles Darnay—who is in reality the nephew of the Marquis Evrémonde.... (full context)

Lucie spends the last night before her wedding to Charles with her father. She asks Dr.... (full context)

For the first time, Dr. Manette talks to Lucie about his imprisonment in the Bastille. He tells her that while there, he passed the... (full context)

Late that night, Lucie sneaks downstairs to check on her sleeping father. Dr. Manette's face is deeply worn from... (full context)

After the wedding, Charles and Lucie leave for their honeymoon in Wales. The plan is for Dr. Manette to join the... (full context)

The first person to visit Lucie and Charles after they return from their honeymoon is Sydney Carton. Carton apologizes for his... (full context)

At dinner that night, Charles comments to Lucie, Manette, Mr. Lorry, and Miss Pross about Carton's careless and reckless behavior. Later that night... (full context)

Years pass. Lucie weaves her "golden thread" of positive influence through the family. She often sits by the... (full context)

...to send to Gabelle: Evrémonde will come. Charles packs secretly, writes a letter each to Lucie and Dr. Manette, and without telling them leaves for France the following night. (full context)

Mr. Lorry is stunned when Lucie and Dr. Manette rush in. They left London immediately after reading Charles's letters. Dr. Manette's... (full context)

...to separate Tellson's Bank from his own personal business, Mr. Lorry finds an apartment for Lucie and her family, and leaves Jerry Cruncher with them to act as guard. On the... (full context)

...knitting, and The Vengeance. Defarge tells Lorry that, in order to be able to protect Lucie, Madame Defarge must see and remember Lucie's face. (full context)

In the apartment, Lucie reads the note from Charles: he is fine, and under Dr. Manette's protection. She gratefully... (full context)

Through it all, Lucie tries to keep a normal English household to relieve her mind. Dr. Manette reassures her... (full context)

As Lucie stands at her spot on the street each day, a wood-sawyer—formerly a mender of roads—who... (full context)

One snowy day, as Lucie stands outside the prison, she sees a crowd of people dancing to a popular revolutionary... (full context)

Moments later, Dr. Manette appears. He tells Lucie that Charles's trial will be held tomorrow, and promises her that all will work out... (full context)

...aristocratic title and property, then worked as a French tutor and married a French woman: Lucie Manette. He says that he returned to France to save the life of a citizen... (full context)

When she sees Charles, Lucie faints with joy. In their apartment, she thanks God, then her father, who declares, "I... (full context)

The next day, Manette remains confident and proud at having saved Charles, but Lucie continues to fear for her husband's safety because so many other innocent people have been... (full context)

That afternoon, as Miss Pross and Jerry are out on errands, Lucie hears footsteps on the stairs outside the apartment. Then there is a knock at the... (full context)

...Barsad will smuggle Carton into Charles's cell. Refusing to explain anything more, Carton asks that Lucie be told nothing about the plan. He then asks if Mr. Lorry is satisfied with... (full context)

...conviction in the streets, John Barsad, who is escorting Charles back to his cell, lets Lucie her embrace her husband for the last time. Charles says farewell and asks her to... (full context)

Lucie faints. Carton carries her to a carriage and escorts her home. There, he instructs Dr.... (full context)

Lucie's daughter begs Carton to help. Carton embraces her and, before he leaves, kisses the unconscious... (full context)

...The Vengeance, and Jacques Three, in which Madame Defarge plots to exterminate the Evrémonde line—including Lucie and Lucie's daughter. She says that she and the wood-sawyer will testify against Lucie for... (full context)

...prison, 52 people, including Charles, await execution that day. Charles writes a final letter to Lucie, in which he says that he did not know about her father's history and that... (full context)

...barricade, guards check the papers of the passengers in a carriage: Mr. Lorry, Dr. Manette, Lucie, and "Sydney Carton," who is unconscious. They wave the carriage through. (full context)

...that they must exterminate the Evrémondes themselves. Jacques Three swears that his jury will condemn Lucie, and fantasizes about the blond hair and blue eyes of Lucie's beheaded child at the... (full context)

...tigress, a woman without pity, armed with a knife and loaded pistol. She heads to Lucie's apartment, hoping to strengthen her case by catching Lucie insulting the Revolution in her grief. (full context)

...after, Madame Defarge arrives at the apartment and demands that Miss Pross let her see Lucie. Miss Pross refuses to budge from Lucie's bedroom door. Madame Defarge tries to shove her... (full context)

...will rise up from its ashes, struggling to be free. He sees a vision of Lucie with a new son, named after him, who will live a successful and prosperous life.... (full context)

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Lucie Manette Character Analysis

Lucie Manette Quotes in A Tale of Two Cities

Lucie Manette Character Timeline in A Tale of Two Cities

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for every book you read.