The friendships in A Tale of Two Cities can be summerized in one word: loyalty.

Loyalty
is the tie that binds all of the characters together, not necessarily together, but to their goals and
their wanting to achieve them. Loyalty to their blood, to their love, and to their cause allows for
these characters to experience different stages in friendships, that are in some cases for the best,
and for the very worst. That does not mean, though, that this sacrifices should or should not have
been made. The situation they were in called for the most desperate measures to be taken. These
friendships saved lives and costed lives, but all for the same purpose: loyalty.
There are different types of relationships exposed in the story of A Tale of Two Cities, for
example the relationships between a father and daughter, husband and wife, and friends and
confidants on both sides of the Revolution. Case in point with Madame Defarge. Her sense of
vengeance and hunger for blood forced her cold heart to turn to dark means to achieve her goal.
That goal was to eradicate France of the Evremonde family and the aristocracy. Her main loyalty
fell to the cause, going so far as to put everything else on hold for the cause. She and her husband
own the wine shop, and Madame Defarge is found most of time knitting. She went to every
execution, sat in the same spot, and just watched the blade come down while she sat knitting.
The loyalty to the cause is what ultimately caused her demise. She went out to find Lucie,
Darnays wife, and came across Miss Pross. She was shot by Miss Pross with her own gun, the
gun she brought with her and planned on shooting Lucie with.
Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry are also loyal, but not as much to the Revolution as they re to
Lucie, Dr. Mannette, and Charles Darnay. Miss Pross has taken care of Lucie her whole life, and
was so dedicated to her that she would sacrifice everything to protect her. Mr. Lorry was
business-minded. As a bank worker, he was loyal to his work, but when the time comes to tell
Lucie the truth about her father, he becomes loyal to the family, especially Lucie. He also
becomes loyal to Sydney Carton, not revealing his plan to Lucie and Dr. Mannette in order to
protect Charles when they are saving him from the executioners block. This was not just loyalty
to Charles, but love for Lucie that drove him to sacrifice himself for Charles.
Dr. Mannette is loyal to his daughter, Lucie, because she loves his daughter and feels he
needs to make up for his years imprisoned away from her. Once he recognizes Lucie as his
daughter, he becomes loyal to her. This is really shown in how much effort he puts in to save her
husband, Charles, when he is wrongfully imprisoned like he was. He is loyal to Charles by
defending him when he is being prosecuted in court. This is the same for Sydney Carton. Sydney
Carton literally sacrificed everything, including his life, in order to save Charles Darnay. This
was not just for Charles, though, but also for Lucie. He is loyal to Lucie because he loves her,
and even after rejecting his proposal for marriage, he still loves her. He stays loyal to Charles
because he relies on him to protect her when he is gone.
All of these characters feel a sense of loyalty to their compatriots, and, in most cases, go
to great extents in order to protect or save them. Some of these loyalties cost them their lives, and
in other cases saved others. They all went to great extents to show their loyalty to either a cause,
a friend, or even both. From those who have a lot of power in the world they are in, and others
who want to gain power, they showed their loyalty to their people. Loyalty during this time
period was something that you wanted to have a lot of, because that is what kept you alive. For

many of these characters, the people that were loyal to them protected them, but in protecting
them, they sacrificed themselves, showing the truest values of friendship: unending loyalty.

Ivy McCombs