By Naimisha Rachakonda
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Sydney Carton acts very sly and cunning here
trying to win over Barsad into the plan Carton
has to help Darnay. The hand of cards here is
a metaphorical usage since there is no literal
game of cards going on but instead Carton is
trying to pull out his best “cards” which are
the weaknesses in his opponent and use
them to his advantage
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Jerry Cruncher and Miss Pross enter a wine shop where miss Pross clasps her
hands and screams because she sees her brother Solomon whom she hasn’t
seen in ages
The three then entreat outside where Solomon scolds her and that she would
blow his cover because he was working as a spy. Miss Pross gets upset over
the fact that her brother does not show the same affection that she feels
towards him
Than Cruncher questions Solomon on his true identity, Cruncher recalls him
as a witness from the Bailey but cant fully figure out who he truly was until
Carton chipped in claiming he was Barsad.
Carton claims he had a purpose in following Barsad and he has been lying
low in Paris for a day now, Carton’s casual manner gets him to convince
Barsad to come to Tellsons with him
Carton introduces Lorry to Barsad and Lorry remembering that he accused
Darnay of treason thirteen years ago looked at him with hatred.
Carton tells Lorry that Darnay’s been arrested and he takes this news as
great shock
Carton than uses the analogy that winning Darnay’s freedom is like a card
game and Carton goes through Barsad’s cards to win him over in order for
him to help with the plan of helping Darnay
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Carton first goes through Barsad’s good cards and asks Barsad himself to
look over his own cards which prove to be more worse than he thought he
had plenty of losing cards
Carton plans to draw his ace which is expose Barsad as an English spy when
another card comes into play
Carton reveals that he's seen Barsad conversing with an English spy known as
Cly, but Barsad claims Cly has been dead for several years
Cruncher than reappears at the news of Cly for he is the one who has dug up
his grave a while back and questions him if he was the one who put Cly in his
coffin and Cruncher claims that the Cly is not dead and that his coffin was
filled with dirt and cobblestones. Cruncher refuses to explain how he knows
this but it puts a turn of things in the already intense “card game”
Carton than sees this as another valuable card in that Barsad will be seen as
a foreigner starting plots in the prisons against the Republic- an act which
will surely send him to the guillotine
Barsad finally gives up and the conversation leaves at the two of them Barsad
and Carton going to a dark room where they will have one final word
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Symbolism- Cards
The cards represent the flaws and perks in each character they are almost
representations of units of power in that one drawing and play of any any single one of
these cards can be the answer of life or death of any of the character
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Extended Metaphor- Game of Cards
There is no literal game of cards going on but the game of cards remains
continuous throughout the chapter in that the game of cards represents Carton
trying to get Barsad onto his plan to save Darnay and Carton achieves this by a
very sly, cunning manner in which Carton almost plays the devils advocate here
making Barsad as uncomfortable as he can
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Simile
“Unseen by the spy, Mr. Cruncher stood at his side, and touched him on the
shoulder like a ghostly bailiff”
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“In short,” said Sydney, “this is a desperate
time, when desperate games are played for
desperate stakes. Let the Doctor play the
winning game; I will play the losing one. No
man’s life here is worth purchase. Any one
carried home by the people to-day, may be
condemned tomorrow. Now, the stake I have
resolved to play for, in case of the worst, is a
friend in the Conciergerie. And the friend I
purpose to myself to win, is Mr. Barsad.”