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WARNING: This answer will ruin the plot of the book if you have not read it before. Please do not read on unless you wish to know how the book ends.

Story

Sydney Carton willing replaces himself with Charles Darnay in his prison cell, so that when the guards came to take him to the gullotine they took Sydney instead (Sydney and Charles switch clothes in the cell so it is more convincing). In other words, Sydney is sacrificing himself so that Charles may live.

Interpretation

Why he does this is open to a variety of interpretations; which is what makes it a great book to discuss. In my opinion, Sydney sacrifices himself because he is alone in the world and, to him, it would appear that no-one cares about him. Whereas Charles is married to Lucie and is the son-in-law of Dr. Manette. So, basically, he has more people who would mourn if he were to die. So why does he choose to sacrifice himself for Charles? Are they close friends? Not at all, in fact Charles and Sydney are almost enemies. The reason Sydney sacrifices himself is because he loves Lucie Manette and wants her to be happy. However, she is already happily married to Charles; so there's no prospect of Lucie and Sydney eloping. The death of Charles would make Lucie unhappy, so the best that Sydney can do to make her happy is to keep Charles alive. Obviously he does this by sacrificing himself.

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