"'...can I not save you Mr. Carton? Can I not recal you - forgive me again! - to a better course? Can I in no way repay your confidence?'" (156).
In this, Lucie shows her natural will to help Mr. Carton with his problems. Mr. Carton is now at his seemingly lowest point in life and Lucie shows that she wants to help him by asking if she cannot recall him to a better course. Lucie has proved to us her abilities in resurrection through her success with her father, and now is provided with the chance of helping Mr. Carton. Lucie in some ways represents a new beginning because of all that she has done for her father. She has already taken a man who claimed his name was one hundred and five North Tower, and reintegrated him into everyday life. In comparison helping Mr. Carton get on a track to a better life shouldn’t be too hard. So it is surprising when Mr. Carton denies the offer of help, and states that the reason that he came to talk to her was not solely for himself, but to offer her the piece of mind that he would give his life to keep hers as she knows it to be. Mr. Carton thus shows that he has given up on his own life and sees that its only use can be in helping Lucie when she will need it the most.
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In response to the part in which you were questioning why Carton refused the advice/new path suggestion from Lucie Manette, I believe that it is because he is still in love with her. He cannot be close to her after this chapter when he poured his soul out to her, and furthermore is not confident in a new life for himself. Also, I believe (i said this in my post, also), that Carton really does not care if he lives or dies. He no more wants to devote time to change his present lifestyle, because he is even questioning his future life on earth. Carton is very depressed, and as much as he needs it, does not look like he will take up Miss Manette's offer in his own will.
In my opinion as well, Carton is a very depressing character. He has given up on life in general and refuses to try and change himself for the better. I believe that he thinks it is useless. He seems to think that he is too far along now to change and that this is his place in life. When Carton does say that he would do anything for Lucie, including die for her or anyone close to her, it is of course kind of morbid. He is always fairly gloomy, as we know.
The main thing that I wanted to look back on was in the beginning of book two, and it relates to Carton's character and what will become of him in the future. We could have known very early on that Carton would not try and make anything more of himself from a quote at the end of chapter four. "He resorted to his pint of wine for consolation, drank it all in a few minutes, and fell asleep on his arms, with his hair straggling over the table, and a long winding-sheet in the candle dripping down upon him" (Page 89).
This quote not only shows Carton's laziness and lack of motivation to try and succeed, but it also contains an omen of death. The dripping of the candle upon Carton gives him that omen, as it is described in the footnote. Dickens told us then that most likely nothing too good would become of Carton. He seems to always have been doomed :(.
Overall, Carton is unwilling to ressurect himself into a better and more worthy person. Yet he is also just destined to death. He doesn't really have anywhere else to go in his life other than the path he has already chosen...or been doomed to.
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