Carton blesses Lucie for this “sweet compassion” toward him.42 Yet love and compassion “cannot substitute for justice.”43 Compassion is individual and voluntary. It also has no cost.44 Justice, on the other hand, exacts a price. Because the world is broken, making what is wrong right is costly. In other words, justice requires sacrifice. For the sake of Lucie, Carton offers his life as sacrifice to the mob that demands the head of Lucie’s husband, Charles Darnay, who is guilty only of being born to those who abused their power—power Darnay has long renounced.
