An unscrupulous spy (John Barsad) falsely testifies that
he observed Darnay sailing on a ship from France to England, and passing a
mysterious-looking envelope to a mysterious-looking person. This is damning testimony,
as it seems to prove - in the eyes of the court at least - that Darnay is a spy trading
in state secrets.
Stryver, Darnay's attorney, asks the
witness if he can be absolutely sure that the man in the courtroom is the man that he
saw on the ship. The witness replies that he is. Stryver the asks his associate, Sydney
Carton, to stand up. Everyone in the court expresses shock and disbelief when they see
that Carton and Darnay look almost exactly alike. The witness's testimony is fully
discredited, as it is revealed that he easily could have mistaken Darnay for someone
else. It was Sydney Carton's idea to have Stryver compare the appearance of the two men.
Thus, this scene becomes the first of two times in the novel (the other occurs at the
very end) when Carton saves Darnay's life.
No comments:
Post a Comment