makes his way toward France to recover Manette, the narrator reflects that "every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other." For much of the novel, the cause of Manette’s incarceration remains a mystery both to the other characters and to the reader. Even when the story concerning the evil Marquis St. Evrémonde comes to light, the conditions of Manette's imprisonment remain hidden. Though the reader never learns exactly how Manette suffered, his relapses into trembling sessions of shoemaking evidence the depth of his misery. Like Carton, Manette over the course of the novel undergoes drastic change. He is transformed from an insensate prisoner who mindlessly cobbles shoes into a man of distinction. The contemporary reader tends to understand human individuals not as fixed entities but rather as impressionable and reactive beings, affected and influenced by their surroundings and by the people with whom they interact. In Dickens' age, however, this notion was rather revolutionary. Manette’s transformation testifies to the tremendous impact of relationships and experience on life. The strength that he displays while dedicating himself to rescuing Darnay seems to confirm the lesson that Carton learns by the end of the novel — that not only does one's treatment of others play an important role in others' personal development, but also that the very worth of one's life is determined by its impact on the lives of others. His daughter "recalls him to life" after he is rescued from his cell in the Bastille. At the end of the first book of Tale of Two Cities he is asked: "'I hope you care to be recalled to life?' And the old man answers: 'I can't say.'" Through the novel, Dr. Manette is a proven "good soul", respected by the revolutionaries as well as his family. However his memories of the time in unjust imprisonment has had a negative effect on him. Obsessive making of shoes is only a distraction from the feelings he does not want to deal with. The shoes could be a symbol of freedom. Cinematic and theatrical portrayals In the 1935 film A Tale of Two Cities, Dr. Manette is played by Henry B. Walthall. In the 1958 film adaptation, Dr. Alexandre Manette is played by Stephen Murray. In the 1980 TV movie A Tale of Two Cities, Dr. Manette is played by Peter Cushing. In the 2008 Broadway musical