alt title(s): Pimpernel
We seek him here, we seek him there.
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven? Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel. — Sir Percy Blakeney
Comte de Frou Frou: Have no fear! The Scarlet Pimpernel will save us!
Blackadder: Ha! Some hope. The Pimpernel is the most over-rated human being since Judas Iscariot won the AD31 Best Disciple Competition.
—
Blackadder The Third
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a classic action-adventure story written by Baroness Emmuska Orczy and turned into a play in 1903-05. This wildly popular tale is set during
The French Revolution, an era when screaming, toothless peasant mobs rose up against the aristocracy and began slaughtering them wholesale. (Madame la Guillotine was a very busy woman at this time.) It seemed there would be no hope for the French Nobs, until a dashing hero arrived on the scene to snatch those destined for death from the hands of the bloodthirsty and fanatical Revolutionary government. This hero was a mysterious masked figure known only as
The Scarlet Pimpernel (note: a
pimpernel is a small red flower with five petals), and together with his small band of followers, he managed to spirit many a doomed aristocrat safely to England.
But who
is this "Scarlet Pimpernel"?
The beautiful expatriate French actress, Marguerite Blakeney, doesn't know, but she's recently discovered that her brother, Armand, is one of his band of followers. Unfortunately, Armand's been captured by the Revolutionaries, and if Marguerite doesn't help Citizen Chauvelin, the slimy French ambassador, discover the Pimpernel's true identity, Armand will be executed.
To whom can Marguerite turn for help? Certainly not her foppish, empty-headed dandy of a husband, Percy. He barely has the brain cells to choose what outrageous outfit he'll wear to their next social function. He surely couldn't be of any use in finding out who the Pimpernel really is.
Then one day Sir Percy leaves for France, and Marguerite makes a discovery which will turn her world upside down...
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a notable work of Western literature, which would go on to influence popular culture throughout the generations. It's an early precursor to the
Spy Drama genre of fiction, and it can also be argued that the Pimpernel himself is a proto-
Superhero. It arguably created the modern concept of the
Secret Identity. Like
Batman, he's a
wealthy personage who hides behind a foppish face by day and performs dashing and heroic deeds under the cover of darkness. Like
Superman, he hides his intellect and intentions behind a mask of clueless ignorance. He also uses an iconic symbol (the Pimpernel flower) to denote his identity. Truly, modern-day movies and comic books owe a lot to this character. Even
Anime seems to have been influenced a bit by him, judging by the number of series (like
Trigun and
Trinity Blood) which feature seemingly dorky — yet secretly competent — heroes... who often wear red.
The Scarlet Pimpernel would go on to spawn a series of sequel books, operettas, musicals, and TV movies. (The 1982 adaptation starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour is this editor's favorite.) The
Pink Carnation book series features characters who took up where Sir Percy left off (i.e. the Carnation, and prior to that, the Purple Gentian).
This story has also been the subject of many a parody:
- The Daffy Duck cartoon The Scarlet Pumpernickel
- A memorably funny episode of Blackadder the Third in which no less than three people claim to be the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Blackadder and Baldrick kill two of them. The third was Blackadder (though just to receive a large amount of money). (Technically, he denies he's the Scarlet Pimpernel, but just to convince George he is.)
- Carry On Don't Lose Your Head had the "Black Fingernail"
- Wayne And Shuster: "Close Encounters of the Brown Pumpernickel Kind"
- Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny: In the song Beelzeboss, the devil says he'll "fill KG with his demon gel" and "make him squeal like the Scarlet Pimpernel".
- The Court Jester features, as a plot point, the "Purple Pimpernel", a birthmark on the butt of the royal heir-in-hiding. A frequent gag in the movie is for a character to prove the pedigree of the prince by pulling down his diaper, prompting genuflection and cries of "Your Majesty!"
This story provides examples of:
