Heroic Death in Tale of Two Cities

One of the themes that we discussed during our analysis of Tale of Two Cities was the heroic death of one time drunk Sydney Carton, who selflessly sacrifices his own life so that Lucie and Charles Darnay can escape to freedom. As I have mentioned before in class, I am not a big fan of heroic deaths, because at the end of the day, no matter how cool or valiant they are, you’re dead, and that is a little too permanent for my liking. Do not misunderstand me, I love to read books and watch movies about awe inspiring heroes who had every chance to turn back and save themselves. Those movies and books (Braveheart, Troy, Lord of the Rings, The Count of Monte Cristo and many more) resonate with all of us because the heroes don’t turn back, they keep going because it was the right thing to do, and they recognized that they stood for something more than just themselves. Yet as these stories unfold, I always find myself associating more closely with the various cowards in them, and I can easily see myself acting in the same manner as they do, and their actions seem perfectly rational and reasonable to me. As much as I admire Sydney Carton, William Wallace, and Hector, I know in my heart that I would never have the courage to act as they did, and worse yet, I can’t even understand the motives behind their actions. How does one sacrifice his own life so that others may live, I still do not have the mindset in order to personally answer that question. Over time I tried to say think that comparing myself to these larger than life characters was a bit unfair, and that nowadays no one would expect a person to sacrifice themselves in such a manner. Yet my mind immediately jumped to the firemen, policemen, and armed services men and women that so courageously protect their fellow citizens from harm, and on occasion must lay down their lives in the line of duty. As I thought of them, it didn’t really surprise me that none of those fields hold any interest to me at all. I often used to think that I always spoke out against the heroic deaths in books and movies because I scorned their mindset and considered myself smarter and more self aware than those who gave away their lives. Yet as I dig deeper, I am starting to feel that it is because I am jealous of the courage and strength of character they possess, attributes that I am struggling in vain to find in my own life. Julius Caesar once said, “Cowards die a thousand deaths. The valiant taste of death but once.” I am still cannot come up with a contradictory response to his words that I fully believe.