Jessica+Guan

// The Scarlet Pimpernel // by Baroness Orczy 

Baroness Emma Orczy was born in Hungary on September 23, 1865. Orczy was the daughter of composer Baron Felix Orczy de Orczi and Countess Emma Wass von Szentegyed und Czege. Her parents left Hungary in 1868, fearful of the threat of a peasant revolution. They lived in Budapest, Brussels, and Paris, where Emma studied music without success. Finally, in 1880, the family moved to London where they lodged with their countryman Francis Pichler at 162 Great Portland Street. Orczy attended West London School of Art and then Heatherley's School of Fine Art. [|Baroness Emma Orczy] //The Scarlet Pimpernel// is a novel written by Baroness Orczy, published in the year 1905. The book tells the story of a mysterious figure that goes by the name the Scarlet Pimpernel. The Scarlet Pimpernel helps the French aristocrats escape France and flee to England.
 * Baroness Emma Orczy
 * The Scarlet Pimpernel

Main Characters: [|Character link] The setting of //The Scarlet Pimpernel// takes place in the year 1792, in Paris, France. The year of 1792 holds several historical milestones such as the first Columbus Day celebration, or Denmark abolishing slave trade. But the most significant hisotrical event in the novel //The Scarlet// Pimpernel is the French Revolution. [|Events of 1792] The French Revolution had its uprising in 1789, three years before the setting of T//he Scarlet Pimpernel,// and finally ended after ten years, in 1799. This revolution was not caused by one particular event but a series of events. The country of France found itself struggling with economic difficulties along with tax payments, in which the lower class such as peasants had to pay a great amount of. Traders, merchants, and farmers were worn down by the burden of paying for the aristocrats' gluttonous lifestlye. After built time, the growing population of France learned the greatness of equality and freedom and soon even demanded it; therefore, leading to the outburst of the French Revolution in 1789. Some consider the end of this war 1799, when Bonaparte was entitled the "First Consul" while others believe that the war did not truly end until 1804 when Napolean became the emperor of France. [|French Revolution] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The 674,843 km2 of land that is France is located in western Europe and borders the nations of Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. France is inhabited by an estimate of 65,821,885 people with a density of 116/km2. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Geography of France]
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sir Percy Blakeney - husband of Marguerite St. Just; a French aristocrat, rich and fashionable
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Marguerite St. Just - wife of Sir Percy Blakeney; was an actress while living in France; beautiful and witty
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Armand St. Just - brother of Marguerite
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sir Andrew Ffoulkes - works with the Scarlet Pimpernel
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Chauvelin - main antagonist of the book; a French agent who is in England looking for the Scarlet Pimpernel; blackmails Marguerite to help him find the Scarlet Pimpernel
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sir Antony Dewhurst - also works with the Scarlet Pimpernel; gets caught by Chauvelin in a pub
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; vertical-align: super;">Setting
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The French Revolution
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Geography

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">In France, they speak the language of French. Freedome of thought and belief is preserved in France. Several religions are active such as Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism but a 2006 poll concluded that 37% of the population is agnostic, 32% is atheist and only 27% believed in any form of god or superior being. The basic unit of France is the family. The structure of a regular French family has evovled after World War II from extended family to nuclear family, which consists of the mother, father and their children. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|French Culture] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The citizens of French generall eat a "simple" breakfast that consists of tea or coffee, bread and pastries. Lunch and dinner are the main meals of the day. Traditionally, the obesity rate in France has been lower than the other countries in Northwestern Europe but over the recent years, France has succumbed to the new fast food, American products and the new agricultural industry. The youth of France has gravitated to the American eating habits therefore disrupting their former low obesisty and heart disease rate.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Culture
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Food

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The legal drinking age in France is officiall 18 and as is the cigarette smoking age. Although smoking has been a part of French culture, on the 1st of February in 2007, France has tightened their restrictions on smoking by banning smoking in all public areas with excpetions of special designated areas for smokers.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|French Food]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Since the 17th century, fashion has been an important aspect of French culture. France, especially Paris, is often known as the fashion capitol of the world. For example, the haute couture orignated in Paris, France. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">"Haute couture" is French for "high sewing or high dress making." <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">During the 17th - 18th century, France was under the reign of Louis XIV who notably introduced the idea of wearing big, curly wig because he was going bald. France endured over a century of wearing big, powdered wigs. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Fashion

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">After World War II, the fashion trend for women turned into tiny waists, big busts, and full skirts in 1947. In 1945, the fashion magazine //Elle// was created in France. Also, famous and well known designers, even today, emerged during this period. France is home to several internationally known fashion designers such as Chanel, Dior, Chloe, Givenchy, Vuitton and many more.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">In the 1960's, the youth turned more and more to London and casual fashion. Because of this, in 1966 Yves Saint Laurent launched a //prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear)// line, therefore expanding manufacturing. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|French Fashion] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">France is the most visited country in the world with an annual number of 82 million foreign visitors. France offers several cities for tourists to see, Paris being the most popular. France holds many things for foreigners to enjoy such as beaches, ski resorts, cities and even rural areas. Paris has some of the world's largest museums, such as the Louvre, the world's most visited art museum. The most visited sight in France and the most well known is the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower draws in around 6.2 million tourists each year. After the Eiffel Tower, the museum Louvre comes in second with a number of about 5.7 million. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|French Tourism]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Travel

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The highest class in France are the politicians, wealthy families, and powerful business owners. The next level, the middle class, includes peopls with white-collar jobs or with jobs that bring in high income or stable income that can provide an easy lifestyle. The lower class is made up of the ble-collar jobs where many people are involved in food service, work retail and other laboring jobs. Unemployment is also common in the lower class. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Social Classes of France]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Class

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">﻿﻿﻿The guillotine is a device used for executions by decapitating a person's head. It consists of a tall frame in which a blade is suspended and released downwards towards the victim's neck. This device became popular during the French Revolution where it became a part of French culture. The guillotine then afterwards was used in several other countries. It was the main method of execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The guillotine gets its name from Doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French Physician, who proposed six articles in favor of capital punishment to the National Assembly on the 10th of October in 1789. Although, Guillotin did not actually invent the guillotine, his name was just an eponym for the device. In fact, guillotine was a supporter of more humane methods of punishment. The actual inventor of the guillotine was Antoine Louis.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Guillotine

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The six articles presented by Guillotin:
 * 1) Article 1: All offenses of the same kind will be punished by the same type of punishment irrespective of the rank of status of the guilty party.
 * 2) Article 2: Whenever the Law imposes the death penalty, irrespective of the nature of the offense, the punishment shall be the same: decapitation, effected by means of a simple mechanism.
 * 3) Article 3: The punishment of the guilty party shall not bring discredit upon or discrimination against his family.
 * 4) Article 4: No one shall reproach a citizen with any punishment imposed on one of his relatives. Such offenders shall be publicly reprimanded by a judge.
 * 5) Article 5: The condemned person's property shall not be confiscated.
 * 6) Article 6: At the request of the family, the corpse of the condemned man shall be returned to them for burial and no reference to the nature of death shall be registered

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Guillotine]

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