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The Scarlet Pimpernel

 

The primary attraction of this delightful tale lies in the fact that it is, in essence, a good story. Although enormous embellishments or an author’s rudimentary charm can and often do transform ordinary happenings into interesting reading, Orczy didn’t just write well when it came to The Scarlet Pimpernel. She wove, she spun, she confected. And the product is what can only be called and remembered, long after it has been read, as a ripping good story. It’s not just Orczy’s delightful dialogue, honest character portraits, and apt descriptions that draw us in. It’s the knowledge that the book we hold in our hands—or rather, read on our screens—follows the hearty tradition of man passing down to man a “good one” about heroism, adventure, and (of course) romance.

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel does contain captivating tidbits of all three elements. We find heroism in spades in the courageous champion of the book. The Scarlet Pimpernel is both man and icon: during the turbulent Reign of Terror following the French Revolution, he and his band of men rob the guillotine of its innocent victims time and time again. The Scarlet Pimpernel maintains his anonymity both in France and in England, although both parties “seek him everywhere.” Nobody knows why he and his League risk their lives for the innocents; they only know his title, his deeds, and his mark: a little blood-red flower known as a scarlet pimpernel.

 

Orczy didn’t skimp on the adventure either. The story skips by chapters from Paris to London to Paris again, following the action of the audacious Pimpernel and the other main characters. Among the characters is the beautiful French actress Marguerite, who lives in London because of her marriage to her English husband, Sir Percy Blakeney. Percy and Marguerite are a famous couple; Marguerite bewitches with her tongue and her beauty, while Percy’s foppish obsession with fashion and his languid humor cause others to tolerate (if not enjoy) his seeming simple-mindedness.

 

The adventure really begins when the villainous Citizen Chauvelin, an acquaintance of Marguerite’s from France, informs her that her brother Armand is in danger of the guillotine because of his involvement with the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvelin promises Marguerite Armand’s life if she’ll help him discover who the audacious Pimpernel is. Struggling with her conscience and unable to turn to her mindless husband, Marguerite gives in.  She intercepts a bit of seemingly meaningless information and passes it along to Chauvelin, who sends Armand to Marguerite and sets out after the Pimpernel.

 

What follows is a dangerous chase over two countries by multiple characters with intriguing plot turns. The culmination of the chase is the climax of the book, when readers start to wonder who was chasing whom after all. All throughout, the reader will find himself falling for the anonymous Pimpernel’s charm, heartily sympathizing with the beautiful Marguerite, extremely disliking the keen mind of Chauvelin, and hoping against hope that the daring Pimpernel will make it out of this one alive.

 

Orczy wraps up the tale with a dose of the third essential element—romance. Marguerite and Percy’s strange relationship quivers with tension throughout the book, while lesser characters Sir Ffoulkes and the young Suzanne mingle their own sweet story through the action.  Both love stories tie in to the suspense of the final climax and the answer to the one unresolved question: Who is this man, the Scarlet Pimpernel?

 

The answer awaits you on our bookshelves—read and find out! It’s this kind of reading that reminds us: not all old books are snoozers. Adventure, romance, heroes and villains—The Scarlet Pimpernel has it all. How’s that for a good story?