PERCY BLAKENEY – THE SCARLET PIMPERNAL BY BARONESS ORCZY - #BLOGCHATTERA2ZCHALLENGE2022
*SPOILER ALERT
If there was one textbook that I enjoyed above all
others, it was ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ by Baroness Orczy, a book that gave me a
glimpse into the Reign of Terror that preceded the French Revolution. I had
finished reading ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens and had fallen in
love with Sydney Carton there. Here was yet another character that had all the
right qualities to inspire love – the character of Sir Percy Blakeney, and I fell
in love all over again.
The two main characters were the foppish and languid Sir
Percy Blakeney and his beautiful wife, Marguerite St. Just, who had been an
actor. In those days, the aristocrats were in danger, as one chance word could
send them to the gallows. When Marguerite inadvertently became the cause of
condemning the Marquis St Cyr and his sons to death, it estranged her from her
husband.
Marguerite, on her part, was disillusioned with the
lethargic and dandyish life that Sir Percy led. There was so much happening
around and yet, he seemed to take no interest in anything but his shallow life.
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Meanwhile, there was an intrepid group called ‘The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel’ consisting of a group of twenty English aristocrats. Their slogan was “one to lead and nineteen to follow”. Their main task was to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine. Their leader was known as The Scarlet Pimpernel after the little red flower that he drew on the cryptic messages he left. Only the Prince of Wales and the Pimpernel's own followers knew his identity because the work he did was immensely dangerous. Marguerite openly admired the gentleman for his daring exploits.
The villain of the piece was Citizen Chauvelin, the sly French
envoy to England. He began to blackmail Marguerite because he had got the
information that her brother, Armand, was hand in hand with the Pimpernel. He promised
to save Armand if she volunteered information on the whereabouts of the Pimpernel.
Against her wishes, Marguerite confided in her husband,
entreating him to save Armand. Percy promised to do so, and he left for France
the very next day.
Imagine Marguerite’s horror when she realised that her
foppish dandy of her husband was the Scarlet Pimpernel. He had been living a
double life to hide his actual identity. It was only then she realised what an
amazing actor he was, a master of disguise, the perfect swordsman, and a quick
thinker, so different from what she had imagined him to be. She also rued the
fact that due to her machinations, again unwittingly, Chauvelin now knew the
Pimpernel’s identity and his role in rescuing the aristocrats.
The hero and the villain met at an inn at Calais, where
the latter was all set to capture the famed Scarlet Pimpernel. However, once
again, Sir Percy managed to give him the slip, heavily disguised, and Chauvelin
was left to bemoan his loss.
The story ended on a happy note as Percy and Marguerite rediscovered
love again now that the misconceptions and the facades had been torn apart. They
returned to England on their schooner aptly named ‘The Day Dream’.
Baroness Orczy wrote her play ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ and
staged it at Nottingham’s Royal Theatre on 15th October 1903. It did
not do too well, and she rewrote the last act and staged it again in London at
the New Theatre on 5th January 1905. This time, it did amazingly
well, with over 2000 performances, having turned into one of the most popular
shows in the UK.
Baroness Orczy
Wikipedia
The book titled ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ was published two
years after the play, and it met with such éclat that the author wrote several
sequels that made her ‘charming daredevil hero’ the darling of theatregoers and readers.
Many films on The Scarlet Pimpernel were made, right from
1917 onwards up to 1950. The most popular version was in 1934 starring Leslie
Howard, Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey. The story was remade for television
and for radio shows and proved to be as popular in all the versions it was
turned into. For as they say, courage, adventure and romance go hand in hand,
and walk into people’s hearts.
Courage, adventure and romance go hand in hand. So well put and this story does prove that too. :)
ReplyDeleteManali, this was one of my favourite books, while growing up. I loved the thrill and adventure, and of course, the dashing hero.😊😊
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with the book and Sir Percy in grade 7. He was the hero that we would dream off! Thank you for reminding me of him!
ReplyDeleteMe too, Harshita! He was the most dashing hero ever, and the charm of the tale lay in how well he hoodwinked his enemies.
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