Marquis St. Evrémonde

Marquis St. Evrémonde
A Tale of Two Cities character
File:T2C, Fred Barnard, Dr Manette's epistolary denunciation of the Evrémondes brothers (III,8).jpeg The Evrémonde brothers (left) by Fred Barnard, 1870s
Created by	Charles Dickens
Portrayed by	Basil Rathbone
Information
Nickname(s)	Monsieur the Marquis
Gender	Male
Title	Marquis
Nationality	French

The Marquis St. Evrémonde is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.

Overview

The Marquis or Monseigneur St. Evrémonde appears (in life) for only three chapters in Book the Second, symbolizing the pitiless, arrogant, French aristocracy. About 60 years old, with a face like a mask, he is Charles Darnay's uncle and twin brother of Charles Darnay's father (now deceased).

While still handsome, fashionable, and exquisitely poised, the Marquis St. Evrémonde is slightly disliked by other nobility. In "Monseigneur in Town", Marquis St. Evrémonde is ignored by the Monseigneur at the latter's Parisian reception. Snubbed, he waits until all Monseigneur's sycophants and hangers-on file out, then murmurs a curse sending Monseigneur to the Devil. (Note that the curse is uttered in a mirrored salon, possibly suggesting that it rebounds on the speaker.) Marquis St. Evrémonde heads for his Chateaux at the usual, break-neck pace. Although most peasants scatter in terror, his carriage runs over a little child, that child being one of Gaspard's. The Marquis shows no remorse at the sight of the crushed body — inquiring whether his horses are alright — and, "with the air of a gentleman who had accidentally broke some common thing, and had paid for it", throws a gold coin to the aggrieved father. The Defarges appear—Ernest Defarge to comfort the grieving Gaspard; Madame Defarge to stand erect, stare at the Marquis boldly in the face and knit his Fate. This scene foreshadows the oncoming revolution in France.

Marquis St. Evrémonde appears in the two following chapters "Monseigneur in the Country" (when he is told that someone was hanging on to the bottom of his carriage) and "the "Gorgon's Head" (dining with his nephew, Charles Darnay).

During said dinner between uncle and nephew, Charles Darnay apologizes for being detained in London. He alludes to his danger there (his recent treason trial) wondering aloud if his uncle didn't in fact orchestrate the accusations brought against him. Charles further believes that if his uncle the Marquis were still in the French Court's good graces, he would obtain a lettre de cachet and have Charles imprisoned in France. His uncle confesses that "for the honor of the family," he would do exactly that.

The dinner conversation between uncle and nephew reveals their diametrically opposed view of the peasantry. St. Evrémonde the elder considers it a divine duty to subjugate "the Vulgar", ("Repression is the only lasting philosophy..."), recalling one peasant poniarded in his very bedroom for "professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter". Charles Darnay, by contrast, hopes to honor his mother’s dying wish by ameliorating the wrongs the family has caused. When his uncle laughs at this, Charles renounces his rights to the Evrémonde title and lands in favor of a new life in London. His uncle, slyly, already knows that this "new life" includes an emigree doctor and his daughter.

They retire for the night.

At the conclusion of Chapter 9, the Marquis is found stabbed to death in his bed. “The Gorgon had surveyed the building again in the night, and had added the one stone face waiting for two hundred years." (Chapter 9). All of his property is inherited by Darnay.
Only later in the trial of Charles Darney is the secret of the Marquis and his brother exposed: Alexandre Manette diary from the Bastille details how in 1767 the Evrémonde brothers {the younger initially helped by the elder} had abducted and abused a pregnant peasant wife causing her death, fatally wounded her brother who tried to protect her and had brought about the deaths of both the girl's husband and father as well; because Manette had tried to alert the authorities of the Evrémonde crimes, this was the reason he was imprisoned in the Bastille; likewise this was the inspiration of a life long hatred of the Evrémondes by the last member of the wronged girls family-her sister Madame Defarge who married Manette's servant Ernest Defarge.
The Marquis St. Evrémonde is referred to as "Monseigneur" and "Monsieur." These three different titles all refer to the same person: people who are below the Marquis in rank refer to him as "Monseigneur" or "Monsieur," while people of equal rank refer to him as the "Marquis." Note also that the patronym "Evrémonde", suggests an Anglo-French conglomerate, ("every" plus "tout le monde"). Phonetically, it sounds like “Everyman.” The note on the knife in the Marquis chest is signed "Jacques"; a common nickname of the aristocracy for the peasant was "Jacques Goodman".

Cinematic and Theatrical Portrayals

In the 2008 Broadway musical adaptation of 'A Tale of Two Cities,' the Marquis St. Evrémonde is played by Les Minski, while on film he has been played by such actors as Basil Rathbone, Christopher Lee, and Max Adrian. In 2003, the Rathbone portrayal of St. Evrémonde was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains as one of the Top 50 Villains.