# I explained — The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel

> Chapter companion for The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.

## What happens

The chapter reflects on the five years since the fall of the Bastille, tracing France's descent from the promise of liberty and fraternity into the tyranny of the Revolutionary government, marked by mass executions, political purges, and the disillusionment of the populace.

## Themes in this chapter

### Revolution and Tyranny

The chapter contrasts the initial ideals of liberty and fraternity with the subsequent tyranny of the oligarchy.

### Innocence vs. Corruption

Highlights the martyrdom of innocents and the corruption of revolutionary ideals by power-hungry leaders.

### Ambition and Power

Describes how lust for power led to the downfall of successive revolutionary figures.

## Character check-ins

### Robespierre

Implied as a central figure in the ongoing tyranny and purges.

### Danton

Mentioned among those who perished, a victim of the Revolution's internal violence.

### Hébert

Listed as one of the victims of the revolutionary purges.

## Key lines

> Nearly five years have gone by! Five years, since the charred ruins of grim Bastille⁠—stone image of Absolutism and of Autocracy⁠—set the seal of victory upon the expression of a people’s will and marked the beginning of that marvellous era of Liberty and of Fraternity which has led us step by step from the dethronement of a King, through the martryrdom of countless innocents, to the tyranny of an oligarchy more arbitrary, more relentless, above all more cruel, than any that the dictators of Rome or Stamboul ever dream of in their wildest thirst for power.

Five years after the Bastille's fall, the promise of liberty and fraternity has degenerated into a tyranny worse than any ancient despotism.

_Sets the thematic tone of disillusionment with the Revolution._

> All, all have perished, one after the other: victims of their greed and of their crimes⁠—they and their adherents and their enemies. They slew and were slain in their turn.

Every revolutionary leader has died, killed by their own greed and by their rivals in a cycle of violence.

_Summarizes the self-destructive nature of the revolutionary leadership._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_triumph_of_the_scarlet_pimpernel_se/chapters/i
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_triumph_of_the_scarlet_pimpernel_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_triumph_of_the_scarlet_pimpernel_se/chapters