Many people want to be remembered as martyrs or heroes; to have proven their devotion to a person or cause, and many people have and do die for this. Some of their deaths may have been in vain; foolish, impetuous sacrifices of themselves that had no true effect, or some of the deaths may have furthered just causes and strengthened beliefs or saved the day. A deeper, case-specific look must be used to judge the true heroes from suicide martyrs caught in a fit of passion. An example of self-sacrifice arises in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens when Sydney Carton, an alcoholic leading a generally miserable life, sacrifices himself so the husband of the woman he adores (Lucie Manette) can live. He does this by switching places with Charles Darnay, Lucie’s husband, just before Darnay’s execution. Whether the switch was a heroic deed or a foolish one can be debated, or perhaps Carton can be both a hero and a fool.
Carton can easily be seen by the Darnay and......
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Approximate Word Count: 660
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |