Charles Darnay Biography

Picture this. A good-looking 25 year old dressed in all black and grey with a small ponytail tucked at the back of his neck.His character is that of which is great with confidence, love, and virtue. This man is Charles Darnay, a teacher in the novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by: Charles Dickens. We see these characteristics in him in the novel and can be proven by Dickens descriptions of him.First, Dickens states “ He was otherwise quite self-possessed, bowed to the Judge, and stood quiet” (Dickens;46).
In this quote, it shows how Darnay is very confident in the fact that he will be proven not guilty and in general. It also says he was self- possessed which shows how well he is confident in himself as he enters the court and does a good job radiating his confidence throughout the courtroom for everyone to see. His confidence makes him look less as a criminal and more as an upright and strong man. Confidence is something Darnay has a lot of and helps him a lot! Next, Dickens says “ … Charles Darnay’s way- the way of the love of a woman. He had loved lucie Manette from the out of his danger” (Dickens;99). This quote reveals to us Darnay's love for Lucie Manette. It shows how he is loving for he said he loved her the beginning he got out of trouble. We also figure later on he does not only love Lucie, but he also loves the relationship Lucie and Dr.Manette have and would never dare to break it. All these actions show his love towards anything surrounding Lucie. Also, when Dicken says Darnay's way- way of his love for Lucie, it shows that it's only his way of love Lucie and love he has is very special. Finally Darnay replies to his uncle about taking his position after him by saying,
     “If it ever becomes mine, it shall be put into some hands better qualified to free it slowly (if such a thing is possible) from the weight that drags it down, so that the miserable people who cannot leave it and who have been long wrung to the last point of endurance, may, in another generation,suffer less” ( Dickens;95).
This shows how Darnay is not like the rest of his family. His family is selfish and don't care about anyone other than themselves. Darnay on the other hand, if given the throne, though he said he would never actually do it said that he would give all his inheritance to others who are miserable so that maybe one day they would be less miserable. This shows how much virtue and kindness he has throughout humanity and he doesn't want to people to think of him as a nonvirtual person so he leaves the land where he believes is a curse and goes to England to change his name and live a place where nobody connects him with them. So, we see here that Darnay is a good person and virtuous. We all know the quote “ Never judge a book by its cover” and when we first visualized Charles Darnay and figured out he got in trouble, we let our head get the best of us and assumed that he wasn't a good person. But as we move forward, we see that the man Dickens presents to us is a very lovingly, confident, and virtuous young man.