The Scarlet 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?”During the French Revolution’s reign of terror, Sir Percy Blakeny puts on a charade that he is nothing more than a dull and slow-witted English fop, but he has a secret alias he goes by called the Scarlet Pimpernel. Despite his superficial appearance of such a harmless man, he actually is a formidable swordsman and an expert escape artist. With France in upheaval, he formed and now leads the “League of the Scarlet Pimpernel,” where he uses his talents to rescue French aristocrats bound for the guillotine.The Scarlet Pimpernel began the literary trope of a dual identity—a regular person who moonlights as a disguised hero.