The footsteps die out for ever

1. The footsteps die out for ever Book 3 Chapter 15 Maria Schiffert

2. Characters/setting • Madame Defarge • The Vengeance • Carton • The poor seamstress

3. Plot summary • It’s the day of Darnay’s (who is really Sydney Carton) execution. He is one of 52 people being sent to the guillotine that day. • They are brought to the guillotine in carts. Barsad makes sure he sees Carton to make sure they didn’t lie to him about the plan. • Its 3 o’clock. The executions are starting and Madame Defarge is nowhere to be found. The Vengeance is worried she might miss Darnay’s execution. • The crowd counts the number of executions as they happen. • The poor seamstress and Sydney Carton are preparing for death. She is scared to die, but Carton calms her down and they share a kiss before they part forever. • Carton dies with a peaceful expression on his face. The things he was thinking before his death: all the evil people being put to the guillotine, France recovering from the revolution, his friends living happy lives in England, Lucie having a child named after him, them holding him in a special place in their hearts forever. He sees his name and his legacy living on. Its like he saw the future.

4. Literary devices • Simile: “The murmuring of many voices, the upturning of many faces, the pressing on of many footsteps in the outskirts of the crowd, so that it swells forward in a mass, like one great heave of water, all flashes away.” • The crowd watching the executions is being compared to a wave of water. • Metaphor: “Along the Paris streets, the death-carts rumble, hollow and harsh. Six tumbrils carry the day’s wine to La Guillotine.” • The people soon to be executed are being compared to the “day’s wine”. It will be bloody… • Symbolism: “The second tumbril empties and moves on; the third comes up. Crash! —And the knitting-women, never faltering or pausing in their Work, count Two.” • The knitting women represent the revolution, which keeps going on as long as they keep knitting.

5. Essential quote • Carton’s thoughts before death • “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”