Scarlet Pimmernel Essay

In the novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel, the second main character is a woman of the name Marguerite Blakeney, and another main woman character named the Comtesse. The story begins in the Comtesse’s point of view, with her worrying and fretting about her husband’s safety. Lady Blakeney is a largely emotional character and goes through many emotions of love, sadness, and anger throughout the story. Marguerite and even the Comtesse are talked about all throughout the story, and are crucial for the story to have any plot and are proved to not be “fit in the box” characters.

The Comtesse de Tournay is a caring person. Right when she finally gets safely to England, she frets about her husband’s safety. She begs to know who the Scarlet Pimpernel

is to ask him to bring her husband to England for her (Coxhead 6). Others believe she is a disrespectful person. When Lady Blakely arrives, she tells her daughter Suzanne not to go near her, for she believes Marguerite is a cruel person for sending St. Cyr’s family to the guillotine ( Coxhead 11). Yet, on the contrary, they are mistaking the Comtesse’s fear of safety for her daughter Suzanne.
Marguerite St.

Just is rude. She speaks in an upsetting tone and mocks others. When talking to the others in the bar, she says, “Hoity-toity citizens, what fly stings you, pray?” (Coxhead 11). As she says this, it makes the reader feel negative about Marguerite. Lady Blakeney speaks harshly to people she just met; accordingly, she speaks harsh about people not being nice to her after she is rude to them. The people in the bar feel annoyed as she speaks trifled to them, and the Vicomte almost precedes to fight her if she keeps speaking like this to them. Marguerite speaks harshly even to her husband, Sir Percy. She says, “Money and titles may be hereditary, but brains are not” (Coxhead 12). Others may believe that Marguerite is actually a kind person because of when she pays for a poor man’s dinner (Coxhead 9). Yet, right afterwards she begins to mock the rest of the inn for not treating her like royalty. Lady Blakeney freaks out when the Comtesse takes her daughter away from her; therefore, makes fun of the way the Comtesse looks by saying, “La! Sir Andrew, did you ever see such an unpleasant person? I hope when I grow old I sha’nt look like that” (Coxhead 11). This sentence shows how much of a rude person Marguerite can be, and how she believes she should be treated with the utmost

respect.
All in all, the lady characters in The Scarlet Pimpernel are exceedingly emotional and expressive people. Starting with how the Comtesse frets about her daughter Suzanne and her husband’s safety. Then there is Marguerite Blakeney who goes through emotional times about her husband and and rudeness to others who don’t show their utmost respect for her.