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The Scarlet Pimpernel
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The Scarlet Pimpernel

novel by Orczy
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

The Scarlet Pimpernel, romantic novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, produced as a play in 1903 and published in book form in 1905.

The novelā€™s protagonist, Sir Percy Blakeney, ostensibly a foppish English aristocrat, is secretly the Scarlet Pimpernel, a swashbuckling hero and elusive master of disguise who rescues French aristocrats and smuggles them out of France to safety during the French Revolution. His nemesis is Citizen Chauvelin, a ruthless agent of Robespierre.

The author chronicled further adventures of the hero in such sequels as The Elusive Pimpernel (1908) and The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1933). In film versions, Leslie Howard starred as Sir Percy in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935). Barry K. Barnes portrayed the character in The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1938), and David Niven played the role in The Fighting Pimpernel (1954).

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.