The Scarlet Pimpernel
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| 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.'' —Sir Percy Blakeney (ch.12) |
The literary character
The action takes place during the French Revolution, when a secret society of English aristocrats, called the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, is engaged in rescuing their French counterparts from the guillotine. Their leader, the Scarlet Pimpernel, takes his nickname from the small red flower with which he signs his messages. No one except his small band of 19 followers, and possibly the Prince of Wales, knows his true identity.
Baroness Orczy wrote numerous sequels. Other of her works are related to the series, including The Laughing Cavalier (1914) and The First Sir Percy (1921), about an ancestor of the Pimpernel's; Pimpernel and Rosemary, about a descendant; and The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World (1933), a depiction of the 1930s world from the point of view of Sir Percy. Some of her non-related Revolutionary-period novels reference the Scarlet Pimpernel or the League, most notably The Bronze Eagle (1915).
Precursor to superheroes
The Scarlet Pimpernel is often cited as an early (perhaps the earliest) precursor of the superhero of United States comic books: he is an independently wealthy person with a secret identity which he maintains in action by disguises, while in public life he appears as a politically irrelevant dandy to draw attention away from himself. In his hero guise, he accomplishes good, in a field in which the state is not competent to act, with his superior reasoning and fighting abilities. However, he never in the entire canon takes a life or indeed seriously wounds a foe. He even has a symbol in his name, which he does use as an emblem, though not on a costume. Johnston McCulley's Zorro (1919) and Bob Kane's Batman (1939) later followed the same pattern.
Film and other media
Hollywood took to the Pimpernel early and often; most such movies have been based on a melange of the original book and El Dorado (1913). Film treatments were done as early as 1917 and again in 1928 and 1937.
The 1934 Film
The 1934 film produced by Alexander Korda, directed by Harold Young and starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon, is widely regarded as the best screen adaptation, although Orczy herself believed Oberon miscast. It was also remade by Leslie Howard in 1941 as Pimpernel Smith, set in Nazi Germany instead of Paris. The film was spoofed in Carry On, Don't Lose Your Head, which portrays the adventures of the master of disguise, The Black Fingernail (Sid James).Cast
- Leslie Howard - Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel
- Merle Oberon - Lady Marguerite Blakeney
- Raymond Massey - Citizen Chauvelin
- Nigel Bruce - The Prince of Wales
- Walter Rilla - Armand St.Just
- Anthony Bushell - Sir Andrew Ffoulkes
- O.B. Clarence - Count de Tournay
- Ernest Milton - Robespierre
Other versions
A popular TV adaptation was filmed in 1982, starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen. A British TV series based on the novel, produced by ITC Entertainment, aired for a season in 1956. The novel has even been parodied as a Warner Bros cartoon short featuring Daffy Duck (as the Scarlet Pumpernickel) alongside Melissa Duck, in 1954.By contrast, a 1950 version (The Elusive Pimpernel) starring David Niven has been widely panned by serious fans of the canon.
In 1987, the BBC sitcom Blackadder III included an episode, "Nob and Nobility", in which the Scarlet Pimpernel is praised by everyone, apart from Mr. E. Blackadder, who sees nothing admirable in "filling London with a load of garlic-chewing French toffs... looking for sympathy all the time simply because their fathers had their heads cut off". The episode ends with Blackadder killing two Noblemen claiming to be the Pimpernel. Unfortunately, Prince George was about to give some money to the Pimpernel just before he died, so Blackadder claims to be the real Pimpernel, thus taking the money.
The BBC filmed the story as two 3-part mini-series in 1999-2000 with Richard E. Grant in the title role and Martin Shaw as Chauvelin. The series was shown on the A&E network in the United States.
Returning to the work's stage roots, a 1997 Broadway musical based on the story was composed by Frank Wildhorn and written by Nan Knighton. This musical starred Douglas Sills as Sir Percy Blakeney, Christine Andreas as Marguerite Blakeney, and Terrence Mann as Citizen Chauvelin. For more information, see The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical).
In print, one of Simon Hawke's Time Wars novels, The Pimpernel Plot (1985), involves the Scarlet Pimpernel. Steve Jackson Games published GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel, by Robert Traynor and Lisa Evans, in 1991, a supplement for playing the milieu using the GURPS roleplaying game system.
Plot
Marguerite Blakeney, a French woman, is married to a wealthy fop, Sir Percy Blakeney. The couple have become estranged as a result of her earlier unintentional denunciation of a French aristocratic family, resulting in their being sent to the guillotine. Like many others, Marguerite is entranced by stories of the Scarlet Pimpernel — an anonymous hero who, through a combination of courage and daring, has rescued many aristocrats from Madame Guillotine, and brought them safely to England.
Marguerite's beloved brother, Armand, is discovered to be part of the Scarlet Pimpernel's organization, and he is therefore in danger of being executed. Marguerite is blackmailed by the wily French ambassador to England, Citizen Chauvelin; if she helps him discover the Pimpernel's identity, Armand's life will be spared. She cannot face the thought of losing her brother, and she hopes that the Pimpernel will be able to save himself. She passes along some information, meaningless to her, to Chauvelin. She is contemptuous of her seemingly witless husband, so she does not go to him for help.
When Sir Percy leaves for France, Marguerite realizes, to her horror, that he is the Pimpernel — the man she has betrayed. She follows him to France to try to warn him. Sir Percy outwits Chauvelin, and manages to rescue Armand, as well as the father of Marguerite's schoolfriend. Touched by his wife's remorse, and by her devotion and courage, he forgives her, and the reconciled couple return to England.
The subsequent books in the series deal with other characters with whom Blakeney comes into contact, and with the activities of his followers, Lord Tony Dewhurst, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, Lord Hastings, and Marguerite's brother, Armand St. Just.
Historical accuracy
Orczy was more invested in telling a good tale than in strict historical accuracy. Her sympathies are plainly (and understandably) with the aristocracy, and there are several distortions of historical record and characterization. In particular, the career of Chauvelin, the recurring villain of the series, is much altered; in fact, Bernard-Francois, marquis de Chauvelin, survived the Revolutionary period to become an official under Napoleon I of France and a noted liberal Deputy under the Bourbon Dynasty, Restored.
Scarlet Pimpernel Books
- The Scarlet Pimpernel (play 1903, novel 1905)
- I Will Repay (1906)
- The Elusive Pimpernel (1908)
- Eldorado (1913)
- Lord Tony's Wife (1917)
- The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1919) collection of short stories
- The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1922)
- Sir Percy Hits Back (1927)
- The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1929)
- A Child of the Revolution (1932)
- The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1933) collection of short stories
- Sir Percy Leads the Band (1936)
- The Gallant Pimpernel (1939) collection of four novels
- Mam'zelle Guillotine (1940)
'The Tartan Pimpernel'
Inspired by the title Scarlet Pimpernel, the "Tartan Pimpernel" was a nickname given to the Rev Donald Caskie (1902-1983), formerly minister of the Paris congregation of the Church of Scotland, for aiding over 2,000 Allied service personnel to escape from occupied France during World War II.
External links
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