In about sixth or seventh grade, I read several novels from my grade school library that would be described as "swashbuckling tales of intrigue." I think a cape, a wig, a horse, mastery of fencing, a finely tied cravat, and a readiness to leap into a swordfight or duel at any time are some of the characteristics of a swashbuckling hero. The novels I discovered were all set in France or England during or somewhat near to the time of the French Revolution and here are the three I would list throughout junior high and high school if ever asked my favorite books:
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini.
Here's a few more that would be included in this genre, but I did not read them several times like I did the above three. It is time to try them again:
Man in the Iron Mask by Dumas
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
So today I'll talk about The Scarlet Pimpernel. Our family discovered a great film adaptation of this book which is significantly different in plot detail, but just as wonderful with the character dynamics as the book. I'm sure I have seen the movie over two dozen times, and the book, well I have not only read it myself many many times, but I even talked a highschool boyfriend or two into reading it, maybe as a silly test of combatability--how could we have anything really important in common if he did not enjoy my all time favorite novel?
The Scarlet Pimpernel is all about delayed recognition. For the thrill and the principle of it, a British gentleman uses various disguises to sneak into Paris and rescue imprisoned French aristocrats during the Reign of Terror. He had just married a brilliant French actress and was ready to let his wife in on his secret when he heard that she was responsible for denouncing some of his French friends for treason to the Republic. So he plays his role as a shallow, slow-thinking, fancy-dressed dandy even more carefully with her.
The movie and the book both have great ways of showing how Marguerite and Percy play a game with each other at parties and when alone, with cold civility and a refusal to let the other one recognize true feelings and identity. Marguerite is just miserably wondering what she saw in him when she married him and why she can't see it anymore, and Percy is totally in love with her but has to keep her in the dark as long as he is committed to his project of rescuing people.
Another main character suffers from the inability to recognize the Scarlet Pimpernel, and that is the French government official, Chauvelin, who is mixing with London socialites to discover the master of disguise when he might have his guard down on safe soil. Time and time again he is right next to Percy and has no idea that Percy is the Pimpernel. It is so fun as he marches through the story firmly believing in his superior wits and to know that his day will come when he also has to agonize: "How could I have been so blind?"
The film adaptaion that I love so much was made in 1982 and stars Jane Seymour, Anthony Andrews and Ian McKellen. How come I don't own this yet? And if you have not yet put it on your Netflix queue, read a few of the first customer reviews on this link and you'll be persuaded. . .http://www.amazon.com/Scarlet-Pimpernel-Region-2/dp/B00005NSZB
Authors of a story . . . what would we ever do without them?
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