The Scarlet Pimpernel

A French actress who rose from the Comédie Française to the toast of Parisian salon society, the brilliant and beautiful protagonist Marguerite falls in love with and weds the somewhat vapid Sir Percy Blakeney, but his affections falter when he learns that she was responsible for the arrest and execution of the Marquis de St Cyr. French spy Chauvelin threatens to have her brother executed unless she helps him discover the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. When she learns that the secretive hero is her husband, Marguerite decides to risk her life to save both men.

Though not the titular protagonist, Marguerite is the novel’s most important character: Most of the story is seen from her perspective, and the central moral dilemmas are hers to solve. The author, herself a baroness, holds Marguerite up as the ideal noblewoman—a perfect combination of intelligence, social grace, success, beauty, boldness, goodness, and determination—traits readers can easily admire and support.  

The main antagonist, Chauvelin is a member of the odious Committee of Public Safety that holds revolutionary France in its grip and executes a hundred aristocrats a day out of sheer revenge. A diplomat and spy, he’s “nearer forty than thirty—a clever, shrewd-looking personality, with a curious fox-like expression in the deep, sunken eyes” (42). Chauvelin’s great goal is to capture and execute the Scarlet Pimpernel, whose clever rescues torment the Frenchman, and he conducts his search with ruthless, cruel efficiency. He glories in the pain he can inflict on his enemies, including Marguerite, whom he torments with threats against her brother. Chauvelin’s evil laugh, gleeful hand-rubbing, and cynical joy at the misfortunes of his opponents mark him as one of literature’s classic bad guys. 

A member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, young Sir Andrew falls for one of the French aristocrats he helps rescue, Suzanne de Tournay. Sir Andrew joins Marguerite to find and warn the Scarlet Pimpernel that Chauvelin knows his identity as Sir Percy Blakeney. Andrew’s calm demeanor, gentlemanly courting of Suzanne, and absolute loyalty to the Scarlet Pimpernel typify the high quality of the men who surround the secretive hero.

A son of the Duke of Exeter, Lord Antony also is a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. He’s “tall, well set-up, broad of shoulders and merry of face, [and] his laughter rang loudly wherever he went. [He is] [a] good sportsman, a lively companion, a courteous, well-bred man of the world, with not too much brains to spoil his temper […]” (15). Lord Antony appears early in the story as an example of the men of audacity and bravado who rise to the exciting challenges of rescuing innocents from the French guillotine. He insists that his purpose is entirely to enjoy the thrill of the chase; it’s for his good friend Sir Andrew and their leader, Sir Percy, to demonstrate the deeper, more serious motives that underlie the League’s purpose. 

Proprietor of the old and respected Fisherman’s Rest inn, Jellyband and his lovely daughter, Sally, provide lodging, meals, and refreshment to locals and visiting dignitaries. “Portly in build, jovial in countenance and somewhat bald of pate” (9), Jellyband knows well his clientele, anticipates their needs, and respects and admires the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, whose members frequent his inn. Sally, who’ll inherit The Fisherman’s Rest and is herself a worthy innkeeper, proves popular with the locals and catches the eye of swaggering adventurer and League member Lord Antony Dewhurst. Father and daughter represent the best of the English common people, a far cry from the author’s depiction of the surly French peasants just across the English Channel. 

Young Armand, a commoner, pitches woo to the daughter of the Marquis de St Cyr, who orders the young man severely beaten for the effrontery of presuming to date above his station. His sister, Marguerite, retaliates by charging the marquis with collaborating with Austria against France’s revolutionary government. Armand and his sister believe in the French revolution but, despite their bad experience with the marquis, they don’t support the wanton bloodshed now unfolding there. Armand tries to help those who would find a more peaceful path; his activities become known to Chauvelin, who threatens to kill Armand unless Marguerite helps the French spy uncover the Scarlet Pimpernel’s identity. In the story, the primary opponents race to get to Armand first; thus, he serves as a plot coupon or MacGuffin, a device on which the action turns. 

Still in her mid-teens, Suzanne, daughter of the Comte and Comtesse de Tournay, is rescued along with her mother by the Scarlet Pimpernel and his volunteers Sir Andrew and Lord Antony. She falls in love with Andrew; their romance develops in the background as the story progresses. A childhood friend of Marguerite, Suzanne loves her despite her mother’s anger toward Marguerite over her involvement in the death of the Marquis de St Cyr. As a story character, Suzanne’s purpose is threefold: to point up the close sympathy between the nobles of France and England, to make clear the exemplary character of her suitor, Sir Andrew, and to delineate the problems that have dogged Marguerite since her time in France. 

Wife of the still-endangered Comte de Tournay, the Comtesse is grateful for her rescue and that of her children, Suzanne and the vicomte, but she despises Marguerite for her part in the death of the Marquis de St Cyr. The comtesse serves the story as a face of the fear and struggle felt by innocent aristocrats during the Reign of Terror; she also adds dramatic impact as a thorn in Marguerite’s side. 

Still in his teens, the proud Vicomte de Tournay, brother to Suzanne, feels he must challenge Percy Blakeney to a duel to defend the honor of his mother, who publicly snubs Marguerite for her part in the death of the Marquis de St Cyr. Percy manages to wave him off, but the vicomte represents well the spirited, if sometimes foolish, courage of the beleaguered French nobility. 

A pompous guard at one of Paris’s city gates, Bibot keeps watch against escaping aristocrats. Pompously, he tells his audience of peasants that, although the Scarlet Pimpernel deceived another sergeant and escaped with a group of aristocrats, “I’m not going to be caught like that fool Grospierre” (5), who was executed for his failure. Moments later, Bibot himself is hoodwinked by the Pimpernel. He’s the first character in the book to be outwitted by the English avenger; his arrogance symbolizes overconfidence among the French government and people.