Earlier, the narrator has suggested that the figure of the Christian cross, signifying forgiveness, resurrection, and sacrifice for a greater cause, has been replaced by the ruthless terror of the guillotine. Now, Sydney Carton's monumental sacrifice suggests that all is not lost. Here, Carton repeats lines spoken by Jesus in the New Testament Gospels, and also repeated at Sunday mass for Christians. As he comforts another woman sentenced to death, and prepares to die himself, he draws solace from these words of faith.
Carton shows himself committed to an alternative view of justice and redemption than that located in the…