The Scarlet Pimpernel

Published in 1905, The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emma Orczy, is a historical romance adventure novel about a wealthy English baronet with a secret life as a hero who rescues the innocent from the French Reign of Terror. Told mainly from the viewpoint of his wife, the book—based on the successful London play of the same name—birthed a series of Scarlet Pimpernel novels, movies, and TV productions. It ushered in the secret-identity genre of adventure fiction that includes Zorro, Batman, and many others.

As a child, Baroness Orczy and her aristocratic family escaped a Hungarian peasant revolution and moved to England. Orczy’s Pimpernel character later made her world-famous and restored her family’s fortunes.

Readers are warned that the book contains scenes some may interpret as anti-Semitic. The 2019 Amazon Classics ebook edition forms the basis for this study guide.

Plot Summary

September 1792 is an especially bloody time in France when the guillotine busily lops off the heads of nobles and others deemed enemies of the people by the revolutionary government. A few aristocrats manage to escape with the help of a mysterious hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, known for the notes he leaves in the pockets of bloodthirsty officials, the notes announcing yet another escape and signed with the image of a red pimpernel flower.

On the English coast across from France is The Fisherman’s Rest, a restaurant and inn popular with many of the English upper class. Mr. Jellyband, the rotund and jolly proprietor, and his lovely daughter, Sally, keep the customers well-fed and refreshed with ale and wine. Among the guests one rainy day are Lord Antony Dewhurst and Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, members of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. With them are the latest escapees from the carnage in Paris, Comtesse de Tournay and her teenage children, Suzanne and the vicomte. Suzanne and Andrew are drawn to each other.

Two more guests arrive, the baronet Sir Percy Blakeney and his bride, Marguerite St Just. Recently a performer with the Comedie Francaise and the toast of Parisian salon life, Marguerite gave up France to live in England with Sir Percy, one of the wealthiest men in the country. Marguerite, a supporter of the French revolution, is known to have provided information that led to the arrest and execution of the Marquis de St Cyr and his family. The comtesse, incensed at Marguerite, refuses to greet her and stalks out, but Suzanne, a school friend of Marguerite, steals a quick hug before leaving.

Sir Percy’s ardent pursuit of Marguerite won her heart. Though she confesses to Percy her tragically foolish part in the arrest of St Cyr, whose valets had severely beaten her brother Armand, Percy becomes distant, and Marguerite bitterly regrets the loss of the love that had brought them together. In England, Percy behaves in public like a buffoonish fop, and she hides her disappointment with sharp sarcasm at the expense of her ever-tolerant husband.

Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney depart in the evening. Late that night, as Lord Antony and Sir Andrew sit before the inn’s fireplace discussing the latest marching orders from the Scarlet Pimpernel, they’re kidnapped by a French spy, Chauvelin, who retrieves the Englishmen’s papers and discovers that Armand is one of the Pimpernel’s confidantes.

Later that week at the London opera, Chauvelin whispers to Marguerite that her brother will be executed unless she discovers and reports the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. That night at a grand ball, Marguerite notices Sir Andrew reading a note passed to him, and she tricks him into letting her glance at it. It’s from the Scarlet Pimpernel; the message instructs Andrew to meet him in the dining room at an hour past midnight.

Chauvelin collars her, and she tells him what she learned. Chauvelin arrives early to the dining room, where he finds Sir Percy fast asleep on a couch. Chauvelin waits on another sofa, pretending to be asleep, but no one shows.

Percy and Marguerite return to their mansion on the river west of London. Marguerite tries again to explain her mistake regarding the Marquis; she begs his understanding, but he says she’s asking too much of his honor. Later, awakened by noises, she finds Percy preparing to leave for London. Again she asks his forgiveness; he kisses her hand lovingly this time.

Alone at home, Marguerite wanders into Percy’s private study and discovers that he’s the Scarlet Pimpernel. She receives a message from Chauvelin: he, too, knows the Pimpernel’s identity. Horrified by what she’s done, she convinces Andrew to travel with her to France and find Percy before Chauvelin can capture him.

They arrive at a decrepit inn on the outskirts of Calais, where she hides in a loft and watches as Chauvelin confronts Percy, who outwits the spy and escapes. Chauvelin places soldiers on every road in search of his foe. He then hires a local Jewish man named Rosenbaum to drive him to the lonely hut on the coast where the refugees will meet with the Pimpernel. Marguerite follows on foot.

At the hut, she screams a warning. The soldiers attack the hut, but the refugees have already escaped by rowboat and are aboard Percy’s yacht. Frustrated, Chauvelin orders the men to beat Rosenbaum. The soldiers and Chauvelin depart; Rosenbaum unveils himself as Percy in disguise. He tells Marguerite that he’s known about her dilemma all along and that the fault isn’t hers but his own for not trusting her.

Andrew meets up with them; they escape to the yacht and return to England, where Andrew weds Suzanne, and the Blakeneys resume their now-happy marriage.