Lucie Manette
Lucie Manette is a character in Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities.
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[edit] Overview
She is the daughter of Dr. Alexandre Manette. She is wise beyond her years; unfailingly kind and forgiving of people's faults. Her compassion for her father is what first attracts Charles Darnay to her. She meets Darnay, the young Frenchman, on the voyage home with her father. When Darnay is arrested as a spy due to evidence planted on him by John Barsad on the orders of his uncle, the Marquis St. Evremonde, they attend Darnay’s trial out of concern. It is there that she meets Sydney Carton, the drunken lawyer who falls in love with her. She reaches out to Carton, but is being actively courted by Darnay and accepts his proposal. When Darnay's and Lucie’s daughter is about six years old, Darnay returns to France. Lucie, Dr. Manette and the others follow him. She relies on her father to rescue Darnay and when he fails, she forgives Darnay for his desertion but is honest about her very human resentment at his placing them all in such danger. She is also thankful to Carton for saving Darnay and for keeping her family together.
[edit] Cinematic and Theatrical Portrayals
on film and television, Lucie has been portrayed by:
- Elizabeth Allan/Fay Chaldecott (film, 1935)
- Wendy Hutchinson (TV, 1957)
- Dorothy Tutin (film, 1958)
- Kika Markham (TV, 1965)
- Sally Osborne (TV, 1980)
- Alice Krige (TV, 1980)
- Serena Gordon (TV, 1989)
In the 2008 Broadway musical adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, Lucie Manette is played by Brandi Burkhardt.
[edit] Radio portrayals
- Charlotte Attenborough, BBC Radio 4, 1989
- Lydia Wilson, BBC Radio 4, 2011[1]
