How we cite our quotes: Volume.Part.Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #10
"The only danger," I replied, "is that Sir Percival Glyde may have been recalled to London by the news of Laura's escape. You are aware that he had me watched before I left England; and that he probably knows me by sight, although I don't know him?" (3.1.3.33)
Sight and recognition are a crucial part of the book's identity theme. The idea that Sir Percival may know Walter but that Walter doesn't know Sir Percival is all sorts of terrifying: recognition is, as this quote expresses, power.
Quote #11
"For the last time I say it—on my honour as a gentleman, on my oath as a Christian, if the man you pointed out at the Opera knows me, he is so altered, or so disguised, that I do not know him." (3.3.5.58)
Time alters nearly every character in this novel—people suffer from illness (Marian), eating too many pastries (Fosco), trips to South America (Walter), and stays in asylums (Laura). Physical alterations become downright commonplace, but the real trick is determining whether physical changes alter people's inner selves. How does identity change over time?