The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a fictional English nobleman who secretly rescues French aristocrats from the guillotine during the Reign of Terror, from Baroness Orczy's 1905 novel of the same name.
The character poses as a foppish idler while conducting daring rescues, establishing the "hero with a secret identity" archetype that influenced countless successors.
By extension, a scarlet pimpernel is anyone who eludes capture through cunning disguise or who aids others in escaping danger: He was the scarlet pimpernel of the resistance, smuggling refugees across the border.
The name comes from a small red wildflower the character uses as his calling card.
- flowerPlant's reproductive organ
- guillotineVertical beheading apparatus
- disguiseIdentity-concealing alteration
- French RevolutionLate-1700s republican upheaval
- aristocratPerson of noble birth
rescue · hero · masked · swashbuckler · nobility · Marguerite · Percy · dandy · fop · old lace · secret identity · charade · daring · escape · smuggle · English Channel · secret passage · Reign of Terror
- swashbucklersswashbuckler, swashbucklers, swashbuckling, pirate, pirates
- 1900s LiteratureThe Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Heart of Darkness, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray
- British novelsPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
- Napoleonic EraNapoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte, Bonaparte, Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic Code
The Scarlet PimpernelTartuffe
Baroque comedy of imposture
Iago · Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde · Dorian Gray · wolf in sheep's clothing · fifth columnist