Lauren+Gouthro

//**__The Scarlet Pimpernel__**//

Baroness Orczy


 Baroness Emma Orczy, or full name Baroness Emmuska Magdalena Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy, was born on 23 September 1865 in family estate //Tarna-Örs//in Hungary. Baroness Emma was the second daughter of her father Baron Felix Orczy, composer and conductor, and his wife Emma. During her childhood she enjoyed many luxuries, including free time. One would've found her climbing the acacia trees and enjoying the constant company of her extended family and friends coming to feasst and dance. However, after a peasant uprising on 22 July 1868, the Orczys moved to Budapest. Orczy then attended schools in Brussels and Paris studying the arts before the family moved to London. She began learning English at the age of fifteen, which was also she entered the West London School of Art. Thus began her lifetime love of painting and drawing. Some of her works were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Her personality was shy and quiet, yet one could see the young Baroness was maturing with aristocratic poise, an intense gaze set in her eyes. At the Orczy home there was constant socializing with writers, members of the court and accomplished musical composers as Franz Liszt. It was in the studio at Heatherley's, a school Orczy attended after the West London School of Art, that Orczy met fellow artist and future husband Henry Montague Barstow. They married in London in 1894 and had one son. When writing the Scarlet Pimpernel, Set during the French Revolution, it is the first in her series of mystery adventure novels starring the Scarlet Pimpernel/Sir Percy Blakeney as swashbuckler aristocrat. She wrote it in five weeks, which she thought as an amazing time in her life.

__[|About: Baroness Emma Orczy]__

Other Works By Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Other works by Baroness Orczy include
 * //The Elusive Pimpernel// (1908),
 * //The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel// (1919)
 * //The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel// (1922)
 * //The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel// (1929)
 *  //The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World// (1933)
 * //The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel// (1933).

====It also inspired a successful theatre production, a number of film adaptations including the black and white 1934 version starring Leslie Howard, and a BBC television series. ====

[|www.online-literature.com]
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;">Scarlet Pimpernel: Plot
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**﻿** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">The Scarlet Pimpernel, a story set in 1792, when the french revolution was among us. The unpopular aristocrats, or those of higher class, gave heavy taxes and the people of France are overthrowing his monarchy. Baroness Orczy unravels the mystery of the a daring English nobleman who saves the lives of French aristocrats facing execution by the guillotine and his clever wife, who faces not only the difficulty of dealing with her own pride, but choosing between two of her most loved people. Her husband, and her brother. Yet with her brother at stake, and her and her husband drifting apart, Lady Blakeney must do something. Else her supposedly dim-witted husband and her beloved brother could both end up dead. With Lady Blakeney at fault!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;">**French Revolution**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">While Britain's colonies were working toward becoming the United States of America, France was suffering from economic crisis and on its way to its own revolution. Between 1715 and 1771, French commerce had increased, France was second only to Great Britain in trade. It was exporting sugar, coffee and indigo that had been developed in its Caribbean colonies. Transportation was improving. But the advance in commerce did not produce well-being for the common people. The population of France had grown to between 24 and 26 million. Farmers around Paris consumed over 80 percent of what they grew, so if a harvest fell by around 10 percent, which was common, people went hungry. In July, 1788, a hailstorm destroyed crops. France had its worst harvest in forty years, and the winter of 1788-89 was severe. Getting no relief from their hunger, people rioted. Thus the French Revolution began.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">[|French Revolution]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">In both towns and countryside, it seemed that the Revolution was not producing the hoped-for results. Instead of bringing unity and a quick, political resolution, as intended by its originators, the Revolution was producing further conflicts. The events of the 1790s brought France no closer to determining how and whether social equality could be achieved through political measures. This very issue continues to vex modern society—long after the social stresses of 1789 have dissolved into the dustbin of history. Indeed, it remains one of the most vibrant legacies of the French Revolution.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">-

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Timeline During French Revolution
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">This is a timeline of major events in the French Revolution from bonjourlafrance.com. Due to the length of the timeline, only every other year up to 1797 is included. For the full timeline, visit:[| bonjourlafrance.com]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">1789

 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">January 24: Summoning of the States-General
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">May 5: Meeting of the States-General [[image:http://endtimepilgrim.org/bastille.jpg width="567" height="423" align="right"]]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">June 17: National Assembly declared
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">June 20: Tennis Court Oath
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">July 9: National Constituent Assembly declared
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">July 11: Necker dismissed
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">July 14: Storming of the Bastille
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">August 4: Surrender of feudal rights
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">August 27: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">October 5-6: Outbreak of the Paris mob; Liberal monarchical constitution

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">1791

 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">April 2: Death of Mirabeau
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">June 20-25: Flight to Varennes of the royal family
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">July 17: Champ-de-Mars massacre
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">September 30: Dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">October 1: Legislative Assembly meets
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">August 27: Declaration of Pillnitz ( Frederick William II and Leopold II)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">1793
> ===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;"> === > === ===
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">January 21: Execution of Louis XVI
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">February 1: War declared against Britain, Holland, Spain
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">March -- : Royalist revolt in the Vendée
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">April -- : Power centered in the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">June 2: Arrest of 31 Girondist deputies
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">July 13: Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">August 23: Levy of entire male population
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">September 17: Passing of the Law of Maximum Général: a comprehensive program of wage and price controls
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">October 16: Execution of Marie Antoinette
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">October 31: Execution of Girondists
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">November 10: Abolition of the worship of god: Cult of Reason
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">December -- : Retreat of the allies across the Rhine

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">1795

 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">March 5 : Treaty of Basel (Prussia withdraws from war)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">April 1 : Bread riots in Paris
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">June 8 : Death of the dauphin ( Louis XVII)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">August 22 : Constitution of 1795
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">October 5 : Napoleon's "whiff of grape-shot"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">October 26 : Convention dissolved; Directory begins

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">1797

 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">April 18 Preliminary Peace of Leoben
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">July 8 : Cisalpine Republic established
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">September 4 : Coup d'Etat at Paris (republicans over reactionaries)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">October 17 : Treaty of Campo Formio

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">The majority of this book is in English, however due to the place that it is set, many french terms are used. Because of this, it becomes difficult if you do not know the meaning of the words. Also, not all of the unidentifiable terms are in french, just places that one who doesn't live in France or England might not know. All in all, a glossary would be extremely useful. A few of the terms in //The Scarlet Pimpernel// can be found below. You may find an entire list of terms by buying it on this website: [|gradesaver.com]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Calais**: Calais is the port town across from Dover on the English channel to which travelers arrive when going from England to France. It is where Chauvelin chases Percy after they both flee Dover in search of aristocratic fugitives.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**citoyen:** Citoyen is the French word for citizen. Various characters are referred to as 'citoyen' by Chauvelin and his other French henchmen.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Comtesse**: Comtesse is the French word for Countess. The Comtesse de Tournay, then, is married to a Count, namely the Vicomte de Tournay

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Dover:** Dover is a small town on the southernmost tip of England. One can cross from Dover to Calais through the narrow Strait of Dover.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Madame de la Guillotine:** Madame de la Guillotine is the nickname that the French people gave to the guillotine, an instrument designed for executing people with a huge blade that drops from a pulley to decapitate its victims.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**noblesse:** Noblesse is the French word for nobility.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Place de la Greve:** Place de la Greve is the square in front of the main government building in Paris - where the public guillotine executions were held during the 'Reign of Terror.'

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">**Geography**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">//land:// 545,630 sq km <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">//water:// 1,400 sq km <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">//note:// includes only metropolitan France; excludes the overseas administrative divisions || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">//border countries:// Andorra 56.6 km, Belgium 620 km, Germany 451 km, Italy 488 km, Luxembourg 73 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Spain 623 km, Switzerland 573 km ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;">**Location:** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;">**Geographic coordinates:** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">46 00 N, 2 00 E ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;">**Map references:** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Europe ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;">**Area:** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">//total:// 547,030 sq km
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;">**Land boundaries:** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">//total:// 2,889 km
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;">**Coastline:** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">3,427 km ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;">**Climate:** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Generally cool winters and mild summers, but mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean; occasional strong, cold, dry, north-to-northwesterly wind known as mistral ||



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[|about.com]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">**Guillotine** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// "Madame Guillotine" //



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">The Guillotine was designed by Dr. Joseph Guillotine, a man described as kindly who wanted to make execution more humane, as the guillotine quickly became a symbol of tyranny during the French Revolution. Victims were placed on a bench, face down, and their necks positioned between the uprights. The actual beheading was very quick - often to the gathered crowd's disgust - taking less than half a second from the blade drop to the victim's head rolling into the waiting basket. However, ebate rages over whether the quickness of the execution was humane or not. as many doctors put forward the notion that it could take up to thirty seconds before the victims lost con consciousness <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[|ww.napoleonguide.com]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">**18th Century French Fashions** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">** Men's Fashion: ** Men’s styles tamed a bit at the end of the last century but sparked right up again with a vengeance in the flamboyant and frivolous department. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Men’s coats became fuller and longer, long vests were left open to reveal piles of ruffles and lace, all the while elaborately embroidered and trimmed in gold and bedazzled with jeweled buttons and stuffed with ruffly sleeves. Breeches became fitted and close to the knee. Top it all off with a powered wig and carry a sword

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">** Women's Fashion: ** In the last few eras men dressed more splendidly and feminine than women, but in this century, women, not wanting to be outdone, picked it up a notch and as a result gowns became more elegant and more overly ornate. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Case in point, the //pannier// gown. Most likely it started out innocently enough, a typical floor length skirt flouncing around a form-fitting bodice. So why not make it wider on each side to emulate "baskets being carried to market" to go along with that whole idle rich “fantasizing they lived the Sheppard’s life” deal? The sides got larger and larger and larger and suddenly gowns were 6 feet wide and needed whale boned cages to keep them standing erect. Pretty soon two ladies couldn’t walk side by side without taking up the entire walk. And you would think that having to remove arms off of chairs to allow the ladies to sit would have been a clue to things having gone to far.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">[|headoverheelshistory.com]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">**Character descriptions of the main characters in the novel**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Percy Blakeney (a.k.a the Scarlet Pimpernel)**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Percy Blakeney appears to us first as the maligned husband of Lady Blakeney -- one of the richest, most fashionable men in England, but also a reputed dunce. He is built like a truck, apparently, with big shoulders and muscles, but this only adds to his reputation as stupid. What his dashing looks, height, and the lazy look in his eye hide is that Percy is, of course, secretly the Scarlet Pimpernel who raids the barricades of France to save condemned French aristocrats from the guillotine.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Marguerite St. Just / Lady Blakeney**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Lady Blakeney, while living in France as an actress, was famous for her beauty, charisma, wit, and intelligence. When she marries Percy Blakeney, no one's quite sure what she's thinking, since he's considered a dull turkey and she a renowned socialite. The marriage between the two is drifting, and not until later in the story does Marguerite realize that she loves her husband. No-one might be able to tell, but the coldness Sir Percy has been treating her with is the reason for her constant insults. She only wants a reaction from the face that she deems a stranger. But she discovers her husband's secret identity and we see her husband's heroism through her eyes.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">**Chauvelin**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">Chauvelin, the novel's chief villain, is a French agent who has English diplomacy rights. He is in England looking for the Pimpernel and anyone else who is attempting to rescue French aristocrats. His 'hard-hearted, vengeful' nature contrasts with the dashing Pimpernel. He blackmails Lady Blakeney into finding information about the Scarlet Pimpernel, at which point, Marguerite has no idea who it is. The only way that Lady Blakeney agrees to this is because otherwise he would kill her beloved brother, Armand St. Just

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Below is a link to a interactive activity which gives background information over the setting for the Scarlet Pimpernel. It explains the little red flower known as the scarlet pimpernel to the //one hundred// people killed per day by the infamous guillotine: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;">