Book THREE (Chapters 14-15)

In the beginning of chapter 14, "Madame Defarge held darkly ominous coucil with The Vengeance and Jacques Three of the Revolutionary Jury." Madame Defarge had this meeting in the wood-sawyer shed, which I found ironic because she is conversing with The Vengeance and Jacques Three to try to get Lucie and Little Lucie killed by saying that they were spies outside of the wood-sawyer shed. "See you, I care nothing for this Doctor, I. He may wear his head or lose it, for any interest I have in him; it is all one to me. But, the Evremonde people are to be exterminated, and the wife and child must follow the husband and father." By this passage, I found that the grudge that Madame Defarge has on the Evremondes must be very large for her to want to kill a mere child too. Why would she want to kill the child though? Or even the wife? They haven't done anything to her or her family. It wasn't even Charles Darnay; it was his father.
After speaking with these people, Madame Defarge travels to Lucie's place of residence to attempt to catch her grieving for a prisoner which is supposedly an illegal act. By this, Madame Defarge hopes to have more evidence to imprison Lucie and her family along with the wood-sawyer's testimony of them spying.
At the apartment, Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher are just getting ready to leave. Cruncher leaves first and says that he will wait at the cathedral so as not to cause any unwanted suspicion. After Jerry is gone, Madame Defarge arrives at the apartment demanding to know where Lucie is. Madame says, "... I am come to make my compliments to her in passing. I wish to see her." Miss Pross knows that she only has evil intentions and chooses not to tell her. Madame Defarge continues to demand to see Lucie, but Miss Pross does not give up. She says, "... I know that the longer I keep you here, the greater hope there is for my Ladybird. I'll not leave a handful of that dark hair upon your head, if you lay a finger on me!" At that moment, Madame Defarge and Miss Pross engage in a struggle, and Miss Pross shoots Madame Defarge accidentally, killing her. Miss Pross, in a panic, saw what she had done and walked around the body as far away as she could and dropped the door key in the river and heads to the cathedral.
After arriving at the cathedral, Miss Pross waits for Cruncher to arrive, and when he does, she tells him that there was a large crash, and she can't hear. She never directly tells Cruncher what happened, just that she cannot hear anything. He just says that if she can't hear the carts she will never hear again. "And indeed she never did."
This chapter was meant to emphasize the fall or death of the antagonist, Madame Defarge. Dickens illustrates to the reader that Madame Defarge's own past has changed her into this creature of animosity.
In chapter 15, the final chapter of the book, Carton is riding in a tumbril to the guillotine while holding a girls hand. He tells her, "Keep your eyes upon me, dear child, and mind no other object." She replied, "I mind nothing while I hold your hand. I shall mind nothing when I let it go, if they are rapid." This part of the novel made me sorrowful. Dickens depicts this girl to be a mere child being sent to the guillotine. Also this part made me actually think about what it was like. Slowly approaching your death, wondering if the blade would fall fast or slow. It made me actually picture myself under the guillotine and also picture me watching from a distance as the blade slice through someone's neck and their head fell from their body, no longer attached. I did not like this part of the novel because of what it made my mind wonder to...
At the very end of the novel, Carton said everything that he saw in the future, when he would not be there. He said that he saw Barsad, Cly, Defarge, The Vengeance, the men of the jury, the Judge, and all the other oppressors making their way to the guillotine just as he was doing. He also said that he saw a city rising above defeat, and the evil gradually making expiation. He said that he saw the lives of his friends being peaceful, useful, and prosperous. He said that he holds a sanctuary in their hearts and of their many generations to come. "I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine... I see him, foremost of just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair... and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and faltering voice." I think that this whole passage that Carton proclaims means that he sees Lucie and Darnay giving birth to a boy and naming the boy after himself. I thought this because of the "golden hair," and Lucie was always known for her golden curls. I think that this is something that he wishes more than anything when he is gone. I think this because he wants to know that Lucie did care for him and did love him but in a different way. I also think that everything that he claimed that he saw in the future was something that he wished because he wanted to be the one who influenced the happiness and joy that would become of people's lives.
"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." This last sentence was very important to me because Carton always said that his life didn't mean anything, and by this, he is saying that he finally made it mean something. He had always been known as a good-for-nothing drunk, and now he would be known even after he was dead; his name would be remember, and he would be remembered.
The denouement of this novel revealed Carton as a Christ-figure because he sacrificed himself and his life in return for other people to live just as Christ sacrificed himself so that everyone could live eternally.