The Scarlet Pimpernel Themes

Baroness Orczy’s historical novel The Scarlet Pimpernel takes place in 1792, approximately three years into the French Revolution. For years prior to the Revolution, French peasants lived a meager existence at the hands of the French aristocracy. In 1789, the French lower class began to revolt, and by 1792, King Louis XVI was imprisoned and the French Republic was formed. Orczy’s novel opens during a time in history known as the Reign of Terror, when…

As the Scarlet Pimpernel, a cunning master of disguise, Sir Percy Blakeney deceives the French government and saves aristocrats from bloody death at the hands of the rebellion and their unforgiving guillotine. Due to a series of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s increasingly outlandish and ingenious costumes—including an impoverished hag, an old Jewish man, and even a captain of the French guard—a vast majority of the French émigrés who find sanctuary in Great Britain “owe…

Baroness Orczy portrays the Scarlet Pimpernel, the protagonist and title character of her novel, as the epitome of British restraint and humility. He risks his life to save aristocrats from the guillotine of the French Revolution, but because of his secret identity, he never truly receives formal recognition or reward for his good deeds. Instead, the Scarlet Pimpernel is content to operate largely undetected and unrecognized, rewarded only by his internal joy for saving…