The Scarlet Pimpernel

Summary

The Scarlet Pimpernel opens in Paris in September 1792, at the height of the Revolution's Terror, where crowds gather at the city gates to watch aristocrats caught trying to flee. Sergeant Bibot boasts that no one will slip past him, yet the hideous old woman whose cart he waves through, after she hints that her grandson inside has smallpox, is the mysterious Englishman known as the Scarlet Pimpernel, and the Comtesse de Tournay and her children are hidden beneath the load. The scene shifts to the Fisherman's Rest at Dover, where Lord Antony Dewhurst and Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, members of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a band of nineteen English gentlemen under an unknown leader, welcome the rescued Comtesse, her daughter Suzanne and her son the Vicomte. There they meet Sir Percy Blakeney, one of the richest men in England, a lazy, foppish dandy with an inane laugh, and his French wife Marguerite, formerly an actress in Paris and called the cleverest woman in Europe. The Comtesse snubs Marguerite because she is known to have denounced the Marquis de St. Cyr, who went to the guillotine with his sons; Percy has never let his wife explain, and their marriage has cooled into proud, mocking distance. Chauvelin, the French Republic's envoy in London, has his agents attack the two young Englishmen and steal their papers, which include a letter compromising Marguerite's beloved brother Armand St. Just. At the opera Chauvelin offers her a bargain: help him discover the Pimpernel's identity, or Armand will die. At Lord Grenville's ball she reads a burning note revealing that the leader will be in the supper-room at one o'clock, and passes this on; Chauvelin finds there only Sir Percy asleep on a sofa. Before dawn at their house in Richmond, Marguerite tells Percy the truth about St. Cyr, and he pledges that Armand will be safe, then sets off on a journey. Exploring his study, she finds a gold ring engraved with the little red flower and realises that her foolish husband is the Scarlet Pimpernel, now walking into Chauvelin's trap. With Sir Andrew she pursues him across the Channel to Calais. At the inn of the Chat Gris, Percy faces Chauvelin, disguised as a priest, and escapes by giving him snuff laced with pepper. Marguerite follows Chauvelin's soldiers by night to the hut of Père Blanchard on the coast, where Armand and the Comte de Tournay are hiding. She is seized and gagged, but the fugitives slip away to Percy's yacht, the Day Dream, and the old Jewish carter Chauvelin hired and had beaten turns out to be Percy himself. Husband and wife are reconciled, and the book ends with the wedding of Sir Andrew and Suzanne. The novel followed a stage version by Orczy and Montague Barstow and was published in 1905.

Plot or Argument

• Chapter I: Paris, September 1792

  Crowds at the West Barricade; Sergeant Bibot's boasts; the old hag's cart that carries the de Tournays to safety.

• Chapters II-VI: Dover

  The Fisherman's Rest, the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, the arrival of the refugees, the Comtesse's snub of Marguerite, and the first portrait of Sir Percy as an idle fop.

• Chapters VII-X: The bargain

  Marguerite parts from Armand; Chauvelin's agents rob Lord Antony and Sir Andrew; at the opera Chauvelin forces Marguerite to choose between her brother and the Pimpernel.

• Chapters XI-XIV: Lord Grenville's ball

  Marguerite reads the scrap of paper, betrays the one o'clock meeting, and Chauvelin waits in the supper-room beside the sleeping Sir Percy.

• Chapters XV-XVII: Richmond

  At dawn Marguerite tells Percy about St. Cyr and begs help for Armand; he promises it and departs, then kneels on the steps where she has walked.

• Chapters XVIII-XXI: The discovery

  Marguerite finds the signet ring in Percy's study, understands who he is, and races with Sir Andrew to Dover, where weather delays them.

• Chapters XXII-XXV: Calais

  At the Chat Gris Marguerite watches Percy meet the disguised Chauvelin and escape him with a pinch of peppered snuff.

• Chapters XXVI-XXIX: The trap

  Chauvelin hires a Jewish carter to guide him; Marguerite follows on foot to Père Blanchard's hut, is captured, and hears a voice singing God save the King.

• Chapters XXX-XXXI: The escape

  The fugitives get away by sea; the beaten carter proves to be Percy, who carries Marguerite to the boat; a wedding closes the story.

Characters

• Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel

  Wealthy English baronet who hides daring and intelligence behind the manners of a fop.

• Marguerite Blakeney, Percy's wife

  Brilliant French former actress, née St. Just, torn between her brother and her husband.

• Chauvelin, French envoy and antagonist

  Cold, clever agent of the Revolutionary government sworn to unmask the Pimpernel.

• Armand St. Just, Marguerite's brother

  Moderate republican who secretly joins the League and is endangered by a stolen letter.

• Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, member of the League

  Loyal young lieutenant who accompanies Marguerite to France and loves Suzanne.

• Lord Antony Dewhurst, member of the League

  Jovial young nobleman who calls the rescues the finest sport there is.

• Comtesse de Tournay, French refugee

  Proud aristocrat rescued from Paris who refuses to receive Marguerite.

• Suzanne de Tournay, the Comtesse's daughter

  Marguerite's old schoolfriend, who marries Sir Andrew at the end.

• Comte de Tournay, fugitive

  The Comtesse's husband, still in France, whose rescue draws Percy to Calais.

• Mr. Jellyband, landlord of the Fisherman's Rest

  Opinionated Dover innkeeper who distrusts all things French.

• Bibot, sergeant at the West Barricade

  Boastful guard who lets the disguised Pimpernel through his gate.

Lessons

• The mask of folly

  Percy lets all of London think him a fool so that no one will suspect the man who outwits the Revolution. The novel shows that true courage often goes unrecognised and that appearances, especially the ones society laughs at, can hide great strength.

  • Why does Percy keep up his foolish act even with his own wife?
  • What clues does Orczy give before Chapter XVIII that Percy is not what he seems?
  • Is it ever right to deceive people who love you in order to protect others?

• Pride on both sides

  Percy and Marguerite love each other, yet each waits for the other to give way first, and their pride nearly costs Percy's life. Their reconciliation comes only when Marguerite acts for him without thought of herself.

  • What does Percy believe about Marguerite and St. Cyr, and why does he never ask her?
  • What finally breaks down the barrier between them?

• Loyalty under pressure

  Chauvelin's bargain forces Marguerite to choose between her brother and a stranger she admires. She chooses wrongly at the ball, then spends the rest of the book risking everything to undo it, showing that a fault can be redeemed by costly action.

  • Was Marguerite wrong to pass on the note at Lord Grenville's ball? What else could she have done?
  • How does Marguerite make up for what she did?
  • Why is Chauvelin's bargain so cruel?

• Rescue as a calling

  The League risks its members' lives for strangers, and Lord Antony jokes that it is all for sport. The Comtesse and Suzanne suspect a nobler motive, and the novel invites readers to see the play of wit and danger as a cover for real self-giving.

  • Why does Lord Antony say the League acts only for sport?
  • What does the League's vow, to obey its leader and rescue the innocent, ask of each member?

Context

The story is set in September and October 1792, the season of the September Massacres in Paris and the proclamation of the French Republic, when many nobles and priests fled abroad and those caught were tried by revolutionary tribunals. England received thousands of French émigrés. Orczy mixes real figures, such as Chauvelin, who was the French envoy in London in 1792, Lord Grenville, the Foreign Secretary, and the Prince of Wales, with her invented league. The novel takes the side of the hunted aristocrats and portrays the Paris mob in harsh terms, in the tradition of Burke and Dickens.

Composition

Orczy and her husband, Montague Barstow, first wrote the story as a play; after a trial run in Nottingham in 1903 it opened in London in January 1905 with Fred Terry and Julia Neilson and became a long-running success. The novel, published in London in 1905, followed the play. Percy's disguise as a Jewish carter in the later chapters draws on the stock caricature of Jews found in much popular fiction of the time.

Reception

The novel was a bestseller and Orczy wrote some dozen sequels and related books, beginning with I Will Repay (1906) and The Elusive Pimpernel (1908). Its pattern of a seemingly harmless gentleman with a secret heroic identity, a calling card and a band of loyal helpers became a model for later masked heroes such as Zorro. The 1934 film starring Leslie Howard is the best-known adaptation.

Comparisons

• a-tale-of-two-cities

  Both novels set English and French characters against the Paris of the Terror, and both end with a rescue from the guillotine's reach; Dickens's Sydney Carton dies for others, while Orczy's Percy escapes in triumph.

• the-count-of-monte-cristo

  Both heroes hide their true selves behind assumed identities and vast wealth, but Dantès works for revenge and Percy for rescue.

• the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

  Like Robin Hood, Percy leads a band of loyal companions, delights in disguises and outwits a powerful official with cheerful daring.

• the-innocence-of-father-brown

  Chesterton's dumpy little priest and Orczy's lazy dandy are both underestimated by everyone around them, and both hide sharp minds behind harmless faces.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The cart and the old woman at the West Barricade in Chapter I. Notice how Orczy shows the Pimpernel's method before she ever names him.
• Every scene of Sir Percy's laugh, clothes and foolish talk in Dover, London and at the ball, and who is watching him when he speaks.
• Chauvelin's bargain with Marguerite at the opera in Chapter X and what she does with the scrap of paper at the ball in Chapters XII-XIV.
• The dawn scene at Richmond in Chapter XVI, and especially the last paragraph, which shows the reader what Marguerite does not see.
• The old Jewish carter Chauvelin hires in Calais, and how much attention Orczy draws to his height and his voice.

Key terms and names

Scarlet pimpernel

A small red English wildflower. The leader of the League signs his notes with a drawing of it, and the same device is engraved on Percy's ring.

The League

Twenty English gentlemen, one to command and nineteen to obey, sworn to rescue innocent people from the Revolution's tribunals.

Aristo

The Paris crowd's scornful word for an aristocrat. In Chapter I the crowd gathers to watch aristos caught at the barricades.

Accredited agent

An official representative of a government abroad. Chauvelin holds this post for the French Republic in London, which lets him move in English society while hunting the Pimpernel.

Fop

A man vain about clothes and manners. Percy plays the fop so well that London thinks him a fool.

Calais

The French port across the Channel from Dover where Marguerite and Sir Andrew land and where Percy meets Chauvelin at the Chat Gris inn.

Day Dream

Percy's yacht, which carries the rescued fugitives, and finally the Blakeneys, back to England.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension How does the Comtesse de Tournay escape from Paris in Chapter I, and who was driving the cart?
2. Comprehension What does Chauvelin threaten to do to Armand, and what does he ask Marguerite to do in return?
3. Comprehension What does Marguerite find in Percy's study, and what does she do as soon as she understands it?
4. Interpretation Why do you think Percy pretends to be a fool even in front of his own wife? What does he gain, and what does it cost him?
5. Interpretation Lord Antony says the League acts only for sport. Is he telling the truth? What does the League's vow in Chapter IV suggest?
6. Interpretation The narrator says pride on both sides stood between Percy and Marguerite. Which of them is more to blame, and how is the barrier finally broken?
7. Interpretation How does Orczy make Chauvelin a worthy opponent instead of a simple villain?
8. Big Question Is it right to deceive people in order to save lives? Compare Percy's disguises with Marguerite's deception at the ball.

Faith Connections

• John 15:13 (Scripture)

  Jesus says no one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. Percy and his League stake their lives for strangers, and Marguerite risks hers for the husband she has wronged.

• 1 Corinthians 1:27 (Scripture)

  Paul writes that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. London laughs at Percy as a fool, yet the clever Chauvelin is beaten by the man everyone despises.

• Proverbs 16:18 (Scripture)

  Solomon warns that a haughty spirit comes before a fall. The narrator's picture of the barrier of pride between Percy and Marguerite in Chapter XVI shows how near their pride brings both of them to ruin.

• Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) (Great Conversation)

  Burke defended the old order of France against the Revolution's appeals to abstract rights and lamented the treatment of the French royal family. Orczy's picture of the Paris crowd belongs to the same English response to the Revolution.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: The Revolution has made innocent people into hunted prey, and someone must rescue them. A man who seems harmless can do what a known hero could not, because no one watches him. Therefore Percy hides behind folly, and the plot proves the method: Chauvelin, who looks for a hero, overlooks the dandy asleep on the sofa and the carter in his own cart.

Rhetorical device: dramatic irony. In Chapter XIV Chauvelin waits in the supper-room for the Pimpernel beside the sleeping Sir Percy; a reader who suspects the truth watches the hunter stand next to his quarry without knowing it.

Debate: Resolved: Marguerite was justified in betraying the Pimpernel's meeting to save her brother.

Memory Work

We seek him here, we seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven?—Is he in hell? That demmed, elusive Pimpernel?

one to command, and nineteen to obey. All of us Englishmen, and all pledged to the same cause—to obey our leader and to rescue the innocent.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Trace the clues to Percy's secret identity from the Fisherman's Rest to the ring in Chapter XVIII and argue whether Orczy plays fair with the reader.

Comparison with A Tale of Two Cities: Sydney Carton and Sir Percy Blakeney are both Englishmen who seem worthless and save others from the guillotine. Compare how each man's hidden worth is revealed and what each story says about heroism.

Medical Lens

Medicine plays little part in the novel, but the opening escape turns on the period's terror of contagion: the disguised Pimpernel clears the barricade by hinting that the child in the cart has smallpox, and the Comtesse later remembers the old hag speaking of the plague. Smallpox was still endemic in the 1790s, a few years before Jenner's vaccine, so the bluff plays on a well-founded fear. Elsewhere there are the physical ordeals of the climax: Marguerite's exhaustion after her night march, when she can no longer stand, and the beating Percy takes in his carter's disguise.

• Ch. I

  The old woman at the West Barricade mentions smallpox in her cart, and Bibot steps hastily back and lets her through.

  Plague Epidemic
• Ch. XXIX-XXXI

  Chauvelin's soldiers beat the supposed carter, who later proves to be Percy, sore but able to carry Marguerite along the cliffs.

  Pain

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write a new adventure for the League: a rescue at another Paris gate, told from the point of view of the guard who is fooled.

• Dialogue

  Write the conversation Percy and Marguerite might have had on the Day Dream crossing back to England, after all the masks are off.

• Poetry

  Write your own four-line rhyme in the style of Percy's verse at Lord Grenville's ball, about a hero who hides in plain sight.

• Classroom

  List every clue in Chapters II-XVII that hints Percy is the Pimpernel, and decide which one a sharp reader should have noticed first.

Further Reading

• Eldorado, Baroness Orczy

  A 1913 Pimpernel novel in which the League attempts to rescue the young Dauphin.

• The Elusive Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy

  1908 sequel in which Chauvelin uses Marguerite to trap Percy in France.

• A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

• Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke