The Yellow Library: December 2009

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a wonderful read, well beyond my expecations! It is a love story, a historical novel, an adventure, and a suspense-filled story all rolled into one! At the recommendation of a friend I decided to read The Scarlet Pimpernel more because I wanted to know what it was about, but was really expecting a boring historical political novel. But as I read it I became more and more immersed into the story and couldn't put the book down. It was amazing! Written by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel was originally rejected by 12 publishers. It was then reconfigured into a stage play in 1903 which then became a hit. The novel was then published in 1905.

The French Revolution: Execution of King Louis XVI. Photo courtesy of https://jspivey.wikispaces.com/Parlement+YK

The story is about our astoundingly beautiful and intelligent french heroine, Marguerite Blakeney, who is married to Sir Percy Blakeney, one of the wealthiest men in England but also one of the most slow-witted and dandiest fops. The year is 1792 and Paris is at the height of the French Revolution and aristocrats are being sent by the hundreds to the guillotine.

Barely a year into their marriage Marguerite and Sir Percy become estranged after Sir Percy learns that Marguerite helped send a Marquis and his entire family to the guillotine. It was not intentional on Margeurite's part to do so but she refused to explain herself to her husband thinking to test his love. Sir Percy is shocked and from then on puts on a mask and distances himself from his wife.

Typical fashion in France in 1793. Photo courtesy of www.costumes.org

In the midst of all this a man who is known only as The Scarlet Pimpernel, and his league of followers, is saving French aristocrats sentenced for the guillotine by secretly whisking them out of France and into England. After Chauvelin, a representative of the French Government and the antagonist in the story, learns that Marguerite's brother Armand is in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel, he forces Marguerite to give him information that will lead him to the Scarlet Pimpernel in exchange for the life of her brother.

Marguerite finally decides to confide in her husband that her brother Armand's life is in danger. Percy sets out after him. Later Marguerite learns that her husband Percy is in fact The Scarlet Pimpernel and realizes the mistake she had made. She sets out after Percy to warn him, risking her life in the process. After amply proving her love and devotion, Percy's love for Marguerite is reawakened and the story ends with the couple reunited.

There are many themes from this novel, but as someone who is about to get married myself, I found that the theme of openness and trust between husbands and wives made the most impression on me. I felt that the author, being a married woman herself in the person of Baroness Emma Orczy, may have written from her own experience.

Richmond, a suburban town in southwest London where Sir Percy Blakeney and his wife Marguerite holds residence in the novel. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

The novel clearly talks against pride, because of which Marguerite refused to explain her mistake against the Marquis to her husband, testing his love. It was also because of pride, that Sir Percy, refused to accept the mistake of his wife and simply wore a mask of cold indifference with her. He was afraid to trust her with his true identity in fear that she might betray him and his league of men as well. Chapter 16 "Richmond" is my favorite chapter which tells of the conversation between Marguerite and Percy in the garden of their oppulent home, where Marguerite finally confides in her husband, where she senses that Percy still has some love left for her, and where Percy longs to take her in his arms to comfort her but is held back by his pride. Later both Marguerite and Percy realize that if they had swallowed their pride and had been open to one another from the very beginning all their troubles could've been avoided.

There are also the themes of the rich vs the poor, and that of dual identities. Here are the famous lines pertaining to the Pimpernel quoted from the novel:

"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?"

Then there is also the cunning of The Scarlet Pimpernel, a quick-wit and a master of disguise, which was wildly entertaining, not to mention contributed to a lot of the suspense in the novel.

The sarlet pimpernel, a humble English wayside flower. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

But perhaps the most lasting influence that this book has had on today's literature is that of brave superheroes who save the lives of those in danger and disguise themselves humbly as ordinary citizens, even as rich ones. Think of the likes of Batman as Bruce Wayne, Superman as Clark Kent, Spiderman as Peter Parker, etc. A scarlet pimpernel is in fact a "humble English wayside flower." During Baroness Orczy's time, Sherlock Holmes was immensely popular and she knew that she had to make her story different. The Scarlet Pimpernel is perhaps the first literary piece to create the concept of vigilante superheroes disguised as humble ordinary people.

Baroness Emmuska Orczy. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

After The Scarlet Pimpernel's success, Baroness Orczy went on to write more stories about The Scarlet Pimpernel and the characters surrounding him, though none have been as famous as the original.