"Into his handsome face, the bitter waters of captivity had worn; but, he covered up their tracks with a determination so strong, that he held the mastery of them, even in his sleep" (p. 198).
This description of Dr. Manette is taken the night before Charles and Lucie's wedding. When Dickens is reffering to the bitter waters of captivity he is making a biblical referrence to the Rivers of Babylon which in the bible represent exile. This makes the description very effective because it is describing to how well Dr. Manette has kept a healthy, stable composure, even after all the years of miserable exile from society, through his improsnment. Dickens is clearly emphasizing in this passage Dr. Manette strenth, and ability to cover up his painful past. This is is a great example of Dickens using dramatic irony because the very next day Dr. Manette looses all mental stability, and goes back to his shoemaking daze. It is almost as if the 'waters of captivity' have resurfaced. This obviously relates to our motif because it is directly dealing with water. I found this particularily interesting because he had never used our motif in a biblical reference, and i thought the way inwhich he took advantage of the bible by intervening the interesting idea of the 'waters of captivity' was fascinating and highly effective.
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The reference to biblical waters, as joey stated above, is interesting because it seems that biblical references help to reinforce the concept of an eternal struggle of good against evil within Dr. Manette. And here the waters are an image of evil and darkness to Dr. Manette, that are continuously eroding away at him, even in his sleep, forcing him to always struggle from becoming ill again. Also, as Lucie is the only thing that can substantially defend him from his madness and the 'bitter waters of captivity', she becomes a force of good that can stop the movement of the water from causing more damage.
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