Defending Sir Percy

The Scarlet Pimpernel did not take it upon himself to punish the guilty; his care was solely of the helpless and of the innocent. For this aim he risked his life every time that he set foot on French soil, for it he sacrificed his fortune, and even his personal happiness, and to it he devoted his entire existence. [...] The Scarlet Pimpernel was a personality of whom an entire nation might be justly proud.

~El Dorado by Baroness Orczy

Being the unashamed word geek that I am, I find puns hilarious (even those that cause everyone around me to groan and roll their eyes) and take great delight in oxymorons.  If you don't know what an oxymoron is, let me enlighten you: it's a phrase that contradicts itself, like "jumbo shrimp", "chilled hot chocolate," "boring Jane Austen" or "defending Sir Percy".

Because, you know, Sir Percy doesn't need anyone to defend him.  Seriously.  If there's going to be any defending going on here, Percy's the one who does the defending.  Are we clear on this?

All that said, it has come to the attention of one Miss Amy Dashwood that Sir Percy Blakeney, Baronet, has been getting a bad rap lately.  There seem to be two kinds of people in this world: those who appreciate the Scarlet Pimpernel (spoiler alert: Percy is the Scarlet Pimpernel. All my apologies in advance) and those who don't know what they're missing.  The ones who appreciate Percy as he is meant to be appreciated go by many names, but my favorite term is one coined by the staunchest of them all: the Leaguettes.   The Leaguettes (female members of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel) are faithful fans of the books, the movie, and the man himself (and his lovely wife, but unfortunately she gets forgotten occasionally, especially when we're being jealous of her. Ahem).  Then there is the other camp, the people who think Sir Percy is nice enough and even heroic, but nothing to write home about.  They seem to be laboring under the mistaken delusion that Percy is humorous and even gallant, but unrealistic.  (Technically there's a third group: those who know nothing about The Scarlet Pimpernel [TSP], but we can only hope that they will come out from under their rocks as soon as possible.)

In case you couldn't tell, I'm a Leaguette.  Anne-girl has declared today the Official Percy Day of Hero Week, and so I'm going to take this opportunity to refute the unfounded accusations against poor misunderstood Sir Percy.  (Disclaimer: I'm a huge TSP fan, but I'm not the Fan to End All Fans and therefore am not the ultimate authority on His Awesomeness.  If you want to read an explanation of Percy's greatness by the Greatest Fan herself, go here.)

First of all, I'd like to combat the theory that Percy is a goofball.  Ladies, puh-leeze.  Look, he's a hero in disguise.  And in this case, Mr. Darcy's famous quote about disguise of every kind being his abhorrence doesn't fit, because Percy's disguises have a heroic reason behind them.  He's putting his life on the line for the sake of helpless innocents.  For those of you who don't know, Percy's story takes place during the French Revolution, when Robespierre's Reign of Terror was sending hundreds of people to the guillotine every day.  Sir Percy Blakeney, Baronet, and his band of nineteen brave men pledged themselves to rescue as many French aristocrats as they could, working under the mysterious name of the Scarlet Pimpernel.  Since Percy would be immediately arrested if the French authorities knew who the Scarlet Pimpernel really was, it was necessary for his "public personality" to be as far removed from his real identity as possible, so that no one would ever know that the brainless fop was truly the bravest of heroes.  

Percy is a consummate actor, and his foppish (I do like that word, it's such fun), dandified alter ego succeeded in fooling nearly everyone.  Obviously, it's fooled some of you too.  A dear friend who shall remain anonymous to protect her identity (heehee, shall I refer to her as Madame Pimpernel?) said that she felt his funny way of acting annoys her too much.  "Okay, so, in the movie it's funny... but first time is funny, second time is silly, and third time is a spanking, y'know? He seems to act that way much more than he really needs to."  Now, I'm of the firm opinion that everyone is entitled to her own opinion (just as long as it's the same as mine--- KIDDING, I'm KIDDING) but I have to respectfully disagree with Madame here.  Since I would never be able to say it half so well in my own phraseology, I'll just give you a few words from the man himself.

If we are to succeed, we must maintain our anonymity, mask our identities, even if it means suffering the mockery of others. Being taken for fools, fops, nitwits, even cowards. (from the 1982 movie)

I'm trying my hardest not to just quote Alexandra for this entire post :D but I can't resist it here.  In her recent guest post on Scribblings, she said:

It takes a lot of guts to sacrifice your reputation when with one flick of the eyeglass you could declare that you are The Scarlet Pimpernel and instantly have a nation falling at your feet. A Real Hero doesn’t do his good deeds to get a pat on the back. He often works behind the scenes so as to not get credit. Because credit isn’t the point for him. It’s doing what is right.   

Are you convinced yet? In this day and age, a man's reputation is not what it once was.  Years ago, a man's honor and good name were his most precious possessions.  As Shakespeare famously said, "Who steals my purse steals trash... but he who filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed."  (Be proud of me, Anne-girl-- I wrote that entire quote from memory.)  Sir Percy, like any other respectable gentleman, puts great stock in his honor... yet he's willing to give it up for the sake of something far more important.  If others want to think that he truly is an idiot, he's willing to let that slide because there's something so much greater at stake.

If you still aren't convinced, then listen very closely to what I'm about to say:

Go read El Dorado.

It's unquestionably the best TSP novel ever written, and I firmly believe that I didn't know how much of a hero Sir Percy was until I read that book.  (At the risk of my life at the hands of the other Leaguettes, I should mention here that I heartily disliked Sir Percy at the beginning of the first book.  *ducks broadswords*  Needless to say, I'd changed my tune by the end, once I'd realized that the idiocy was only a mask.)

Brief El Dorado synopsis: Percy and his men are on a mission to rescue the young Dauphin of France, but a series of insanely stupid acts of disobedience on the part of Marguerite's unworthy brother Armand (pardon me while I do a Mr. Knightley-esque ERRRRMMM!) land Percy in prison, captured by his archenemy Citizen Chauvelin.  Chauvelin is seriously one of the worst villains in literature, and I guess you could say that he gets his finest hour in El Dorado. Percy is in his hands, and Chauvelin literally stops at nothing--not even torture--to get Percy to give up the Dauphin.  I could go into a long discourse about the merits of this wonderful book, but I'll save that for an e-mail to Ally and instead just provide you with one of the most beautiful passages in the novel.  Marguerite has just come to  visit Percy in prison (he's being starved to death and deprived of sleep, peoples) and begged him to do what Chauvelin asks, but he refuses.

She understood that long ago he had mapped out the course of his life, and now that that course happened to lead up a Calvary of humiliation and of suffering he was not likely to turn back, even though, on the summit, death already was waiting and beckoning with no uncertain hand; not until he could murmur, in the wake of the great and divine sacrifice itself, the sublime words: "It is accomplished."

Kleenex, please.  Also smelling salts, if you happen to have any handy.  (Why does no one carry smelling salts anymore?  Let's bring back smelling salts!)

Naturally, it all turns out okay in the end (oops, I just spoiled THAT for you) but trust me, this is a book you should not miss.  (Yes, Melody, I'm talking to you.)

One last point before I wrap this up: Percy and Marguerite's relationship at first struck me as being sappy and overdone.  You must remember that I was only twelve when I read TSP, and so excuses must be made.  By the time I saw the movie, however (at sixteen) I was completely won over.  See, the true romance in the Blakeneys' relationship doesn't really come into effect until after the honeymoon.  And for a girl who always wanted to know what came after the happily ever after, that's the best part of the love story.  I firmly believe that Marguerite and Percy were in love when they got married-- but not completely, not yet.  Soon after the wedding, they both began to have (not unfounded) doubts about the other that led to a huge rift in their marriage.  It wasn't until they'd been through various fiery trials that showed each of them just how worthy the other was that they really and truly realized their love for each other.

In my humble opinion, that is.

I should like to also take this time, while I still have your attention (you are paying attention, right? Right?  Hey! Wake up!) to point out some other important elements of Sir Percy's character; namely, his fashion sense (for though clothes are not really his only waking thought, he does know how to dress and who doesn't appreciate that?), his gift for poetry (if a rhyme rhymes, it makes a poem, if you follow me), his inexhaustible wit (sink me, your tailors have betrayed you), his ultimate adherence to fair play (m'dear chap, never would have dreamt of depriving you of your moment of pleasure) and last but not least, his monocle-eyeglass-thingie.

Sink me, if I haven't come to the end.  Are you convinced yet?  If not... *tosses copy of El Dorado* Yours, I believe.

PS: For more about Sir Percy, check out The Day Dream, a blog devoted to this hero and his stories.