I Will Repay · Chapter
VI: The Scarlet Pimpernel explained
Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel, meets with Paul Déroulède in Paris to discuss the planned rescue of Queen Marie Antoinette.
What happens
Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel, meets with Paul Déroulède in Paris to discuss the planned rescue of Queen Marie Antoinette. Blakeney criticizes the plan as reckless and impossible, but offers his help to ensure the conspirators can escape France if they fail. He reveals he has taunted the Revolutionary Government with his signature to divert attention. Déroulède shows Blakeney his detailed papers and passports, but their conversation is interrupted by Juliette de Marny, who enters to summon Déroulède to his mother.
Themes in this chapter
Honor and Duty
Déroulède's determination to rescue the Queen despite the odds reflects a sense of duty and chivalric honor, while Blakeney's pragmatic caution highlights a different interpretation of responsibility.
Mob Mentality and Populism
Blakeney criticizes the Revolutionary Government's blind fury and the general suspicion in Paris, illustrating how mob mentality hampers rational action.
Love and Sacrifice
Blakeney mentions his wife waiting for him in England, and Déroulède's tenderness toward Juliette suggests personal stakes that motivate their risky endeavors.
Characters to notice
- Sir Percy Blakeney
The Scarlet Pimpernel, who has come to Paris to monitor and assist Déroulède's rescue plan for the Queen, while deliberately drawing the government's attention to himself.
- Paul Déroulède
The Citizen-Deputy who is planning to rescue Marie Antoinette from the Conciergerie, and who has obtained the post of Governor of the Conciergerie.
- Juliette de Marny
The young guest of Madame Déroulède, who interrupts the men's conversation to summon Déroulède to his anxious mother.
- Marie Antoinette
The imprisoned Queen whose planned rescue is the subject of the men's discussion; Blakeney doubts the plan's feasibility due to her pride and fragility.
- Madame Déroulède
Déroulède's mother, who is anxious about the late hour and sends Juliette to fetch him.
Key passages
“My friend! if a terrier were to lose his temper, he never would run a rat to earth. Now your Revolutionary Government has lost its temper with me, ever since I slipped through Chauvelin’s fingers; they are blind with their own fury, whilst I am perfectly happy and cool as a cucumber.”
Blakeney compares the government's anger to a terrier losing its cool, arguing that their fury makes them ineffective while he remains calm and strategic.
Blakeney explains why his taunting of the authorities is a deliberate tactic to distract them.
“Can you take hold of Marie Antoinette by the shoulders, shove her into the bottom of a cart and pile sacks of potatoes on the top of her? ... But can you do it to Marie Antoinette? She’d rebuke you publicly, and betray herself and you in a flash, sooner than submit to a loss of dignity.”
Blakeney argues that the Queen's pride and sense of dignity would prevent her from cooperating with a crude escape, unlike the Comtesse de Tournai.
Blakeney highlights the impracticality of the rescue plan due to the Queen's character.