The Scarlet Pimpernel

Armed only his wits and cunning, one man recklessly defies the French revolutionaries and rescues scores of men, woman and children from the deathly guillotine. His friends and foes know him only as the Scarlet Pimpernel. But the ruthless French agent Chauvelin is sworn to discover his identity and hunt him down. This is the blurb of the Scarlet Pimpernel. When another person has escaped with the help of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a letter will be sent to inform France of who has escaped and it will be signed off with a Scarlet Pimpernel. Here is a picture of a pimpernel.

 

 

 

 

Chapter I

Chapter 1 is set in France. It is in Paris during the month of September 1792. It talks about the guillotine and how it killed many aristocrats. At the start of the book Sergeant Bibot is mentioned. He is one of best men for the job of making sure that the aristocrats don’t escape past the Channel to England where they can’t be killed. Many try to wear disguises to escape the ‘fond’ embrace of Madame la Guillotine. From what I understand, aristocrats are the lords, ladies, and general noblemen of the country and they have two major crimes, spending too much money because they aren’t thinking and their ancestors.

 

Chapter 2

The second chapter is set in Dover. It is a small country town in The United Kingdom. A group of men are in a cozy inn called The Fisherman’s Rest. The men are all chatting and generally just having a good time. This is where the French aristocrat’s feel their first sense of safety from the blood-stained streets of Paris. There are many new characters that are introduced such as Mr. Jellyband, the landlord of the Fisherman’s Rest and Mr. Hempseed, who is a wise and religious man who quotes the Scriptures a few times throughout this chapter. Most of the men are quite drunk and have been drinking a lot of beer.

 

Chapter 3

In chapter 3 the first French aristocrats have been introduced. It is the de Tournays. There are also 2 other characters introduced, Lord Antony Dewhurst and Sir Andrew Ffoulkes who accompanied the de Tournays on their journey from danger of Paris to the safety of England. They have just escaped Paris with the help of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a man who defies the revolutionary government to help the aristocrats. Lord Antony and Sir Andrew are both part of the league of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is still in The Fisherman’s Rest. Now, even more characters are introduced. They are Armand St Just, Lady Blakenly, Chauvelin and Sir Percy. Armand and Lady Blakenly are brother and sister who only have each other. They were both born in France and in this chapter Armand is leaving England to head back to France. Lady Blakenly is worried because France at that moment was a very treacherous place. Chauvelin is a French spy sent from the French Revolutionary Government to find information about the Scarlet Pimpernel. Once the Scarlet Pimpernel set foot in France he would be able to capture him and he will be sent to the guillotine.

 

 

Chapter 5

In the chapter, you learn that Suzanne is an old school friend of Lady Blakenly. Her mother doesn’t want to see Lady Blakenly, and Suzanne has to follow her mother but she does it with a sad heart although she runs the Lady Blakenly and kisses her before following after her mother. Her mother doesn’t want to see Lady Blakenly because she had her whole family sent to the guillotine. It was because she denounced Marquis St Cyr because he had beaten up her brother after Armand sent a love poem to his sister. She had heard rumours that Marquis had been sending letters to Austria to ask them for troops to help them defeat the Revolutionary Government.

Chapter 6

In chapter 6 Sir Percy is challenged to a duel. He doesn’t accept and laughs at the ‘man’ who challenged him. It was Vicomte de Tournay. Lady Blakenly was imitating his mother and he had tried to avenge his mother.  When he challenges Sir Percy, Sir Percy is astonished and asks him what good would his sword do for him and young Vicomte answers that he wanted to duel. Refusing to duel at that time in France was cowardly and Vicomte was confused on what to do. In the end he gives up.

Chapter 7

Another character is introduced. His name is Chauvelin and he is a spy from the French Revolutionary Government. His job is the gather intelligence on the Scarlet Pimpernel and when he takes a step into France, kidnap him and bring him to the guillotine. He asks Lady Blakenly to find things out for him, but she refuses to. She thinks that the Scarlet Pimpernel is very heroic and she admires his bravery a lot. Chauvelin is described as a sly fox like character who loves the revolutionary new France.