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igenlodeI've been re-reading Baroness Orczy: was reading "Eldorado" in the bath last night. Because ours are all the 1950s 'yellowback' editions, I hadn't realised these are actually pre-WW1 novels... quite useful for picking up 'period' tips as to Edwardian morals and mores, in addition to the general historical thriller stuff!
It never occurred to me previously to wonder just how this particular "Scarlet Pimpernel" book got its name, as the title doesn't appear to be relevant to anything that happens in the story... This is the novel in which Marguerite's gentle brother Armand 'goes rogue', attempts to sacrifice himself (against orders) to save a woman's life and finds himself manoeuvred into betraying his leader instead... he really gets out of it amazingly lightly, considering, with most of the repentance having already happened off-screen by the time we actually work out what he has done. But then he is Marguerite's impractical little brother (literally: it's mentioned that she is the taller of the two), which gives him something of a free pass so far as Sir Percy is concerned. A bit ironic, though, given the angst that arose between them in the original "Scarlet Pimpernel" novel when it was Marguerite who was believed to have betrayed a man to his death...
Poor Marguerite really is pretty useless, as usual; I think the only time she ever accomplishes anything useful in these novels is when she is blackmailed into working against her husband instead of trying to rescue him. Every time she tries to help she always ends up getting taken hostage and thereby making matters worse -- as many readers have pointed out, she really doesn't deserve the sobriquet of "the cleverest woman in Europe"! But the big sister/little brother element introduced by having her interact with Armand in this novel adds an extra dimension to the usual gamut of relationships among the cast, even if it would have been much more sensible for her to remain out of France altogether.
Once she has been discovered failing to smuggle material in to her husband, it does seem rather remiss for no-one to suspect that she might also attempt to smuggle material out -- I was expecting her to be asked to commit the vital letters to memory rather than hiding them in her dress. But of course this would make it impossible for Armand's betrayal to be kept from her...
It never occurred to me previously to wonder just how this particular "Scarlet Pimpernel" book got its name, as the title doesn't appear to be relevant to anything that happens in the story... This is the novel in which Marguerite's gentle brother Armand 'goes rogue', attempts to sacrifice himself (against orders) to save a woman's life and finds himself manoeuvred into betraying his leader instead... he really gets out of it amazingly lightly, considering, with most of the repentance having already happened off-screen by the time we actually work out what he has done. But then he is Marguerite's impractical little brother (literally: it's mentioned that she is the taller of the two), which gives him something of a free pass so far as Sir Percy is concerned. A bit ironic, though, given the angst that arose between them in the original "Scarlet Pimpernel" novel when it was Marguerite who was believed to have betrayed a man to his death...
Poor Marguerite really is pretty useless, as usual; I think the only time she ever accomplishes anything useful in these novels is when she is blackmailed into working against her husband instead of trying to rescue him. Every time she tries to help she always ends up getting taken hostage and thereby making matters worse -- as many readers have pointed out, she really doesn't deserve the sobriquet of "the cleverest woman in Europe"! But the big sister/little brother element introduced by having her interact with Armand in this novel adds an extra dimension to the usual gamut of relationships among the cast, even if it would have been much more sensible for her to remain out of France altogether.
Once she has been discovered failing to smuggle material in to her husband, it does seem rather remiss for no-one to suspect that she might also attempt to smuggle material out -- I was expecting her to be asked to commit the vital letters to memory rather than hiding them in her dress. But of course this would make it impossible for Armand's betrayal to be kept from her...
