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Age and build

Young man, not old

“Yes,” said Carton. “I am not old, but my young way was never the way to age” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 39)

Face and hair

Striking physical resemblance to Charles Darnay

“Allowing for my learned friend’s appearance being careless and slovenly if not debauched, they were sufficiently like each other to surprise, not only the witness, but everybody present, when they were thus brought into comparison” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

Pale complexion

“the light of the fire touching their light surfaces made him look very pale, with his long brown hair, all untrimmed, hanging loose about him” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 39)

Dress

Torn gown and untidy wig in court

“this one man sat leaning back, with his torn gown half off him, his untidy wig put on just as it had happened to light on his head after its removal, his hands in his pockets” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

White riding-coat and top-boots

“He wore the white riding-coat and top-boots, then in vogue, and the light of the fire touching their light surfaces made him look very pale, with his long brown hair, all untrimmed, hanging loose about him” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 39)

Careless and slovenly appearance

“Allowing for my learned friend’s appearance being careless and slovenly if not debauched” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

Voice and speech

Speaks well when he cares to talk

“When he cared to talk, he talked well; but, the cloud of caring for nothing, which overshadowed him with such a fatal darkness, was very rarely pierced by the light within him” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 19)

Indifferent French

“As Carton walked in, took his seat and asked (in very indifferent French) for a small measure of wine” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 42)

Signature words

Carelessly

“I know, I know,” rejoined Mr. Carton, carelessly” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 10)

Business

“Business! Bless you, I have no business,” said Mr. Carton” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 10)

Incorrigible

“will you never understand that I am incorrigible” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 17)

Moody

“There is a great crowd coming one day into our lives, if that be so,” Sydney Carton struck in, in his moody way” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 12)

Reckless

“Something especially reckless in his demeanour, not only gave him a disreputable look” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

Lounging

“Carton was there, with his hands in his pockets, staring at the ceiling of the court” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 11)

Gait and mannerisms

Lounges with elbow against the bar, half turned away

“Mr. Carton’s manner was so careless as to be almost insolent. He stood, half turned from the prisoner, lounging with his elbow against the bar” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

Sits looking at ceiling, unmoved by courtroom excitement

“Mr. Carton, who had so long sat looking at the ceiling of the court, changed neither his place nor his attitude, even in this excitement” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

Hands in pockets habitually

“this one man sat leaning back, with his torn gown half off him, his untidy wig put on just as it had happened to light on his head after its removal, his hands in his pockets” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

Walks unsteadily, like a dissipated cat

“Carton was rumoured to be seen at broad day, going home stealthily and unsteadily to his lodgings, like a dissipated cat” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 11)

Negligent manner, standing at ease

“He had his hands behind him under the skirts of his riding-coat, and he stood at Mr. Cruncher’s elbow as negligently as he might have stood at the Old Bailey itself” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 38)

Strengths

Amazingly good jackal, renders suit and service to Stryver

“although Sydney Carton would never be a lion, he was an amazingly good jackal, and that he rendered suit and service to Stryver in that humble capacity” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 11)

Quick perception and observant nature

“Yet, this Mr. Carton took in more of the details of the scene than he appeared to take in; for now, when Miss Manette’s head dropped upon her father’s breast, he was the first to see it” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 9)

Composure and inscrutability in dangerous situations

“Carton’s negligent recklessness of manner came powerfully in aid of his quickness and skill, in such a business as he had in his secret mind” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 38)

Capacity for true feeling and hidden sensibilities

“No man ever really loved a woman, lost her, and knew her with a blameless though an unchanged mind, when she was a wife and a mother, but her children had a strange sympathy with him” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 27)

Flaws

Habitual drunkenness and dissipation

“What the two drank together, between Hilary Term and Michaelmas, might have floated a king’s ship” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 11)

Lacks energy and purpose

“Carton,” said his friend, squaring himself at him with a bullying air, as if the fire-grate had been the furnace in which sustained endeavour was forged, and the one delicate thing to be done for the old Sydney Carton of old Shrewsbury School was to shoulder him into it, “your way is, and always was, a lame way. You summon no energy and purpose” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 11)

Morose and sullen in society

“Your manners have been of that silent and sullen and hangdog kind, that, upon my life and soul, I have been ashamed of you, Sydney” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 17)

Cloud of caring for nothing overshadows him

“the cloud of caring for nothing, which overshadowed him with such a fatal darkness, was very rarely pierced by the light within him” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 19)

Lack of business success and prospects

“You are in a bad way, you know; you really are in a bad way. You don’t know the value of money, you live hard, you’ll knock up one of these days, and be ill and poor” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 17)

Traits

Irresolute and purposeless

“From being irresolute and purposeless, his feet became animated by an intention” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 19)

Capable of deep, hopeless love

“If Sydney Carton ever shone anywhere, he certainly never shone in the house of Doctor Manette. He had been there often, during a whole year, and had always been the same moody and morose lounger there” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 19)

Fidelity and loyalty to those he cares for

“there was a certain rugged air of fidelity about him, which was new to the observation of Charles Darnay” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 26)

Capable of self-sacrifice and redemption

“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” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 38)

Unsubstantial and insubstantial in appearance

“Within a minute afterwards, he was, to all outward appearance, as unsubstantial as ever” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 26)

Lines in their own words

On his lack of business prospects

“Business! Bless you, I have no business,” said Mr. Carton” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 10)

Dismissing Stryver's moral exhortations

“Oh, botheration!” returned Sydney, with a lighter and more good-humoured laugh, “don’t you be moral” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 11)

On his incorrigibility

“will you never understand that I am incorrigible” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 17)

Declaring his purpose to save Darnay

“I will play the losing one. No man’s life here is worth purchase” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 38)

His final words before execution

“Kiss me, child of Evrémonde. Now, thou hast kissed a good Republican; something new in thy family; remember it! Sydney Carton. Advocate. English” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 43)

Comforting Lucie at the end

“Keep your eyes upon me, dear child, and mind no other object” (Tale Of Two Cities, part 45)