The Scarlet Pimpernel

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What does it mean to “enlighten” someone? What, then, is the Enlightenment period in history? When and where did the Enlightenment take place, and what new ideas were formed?

Teaching Suggestion: The Scarlet Pimpernel follows the tale of an elite underground group that smuggles French nobles out of the country to save their lives during the French Revolution. One way to introduce the historical context of the novel might be through a discussion of the Enlightenment and its connection to the French Revolution; from there, readers might review or investigate the social classes that made up the three Estates and the way that the Third Estate broke off from the First and Second. Another topic to introduce might be the guillotine and its importance in the French Revolution.

• This 6-minute TED-Ed video describes the French Revolution and how the Enlightenment drove it.
• This article describes the Enlightenment and the ideas that developed during this time.

Short Activity

Use scholarly resources to investigate the Reign of Terror. In your notes or a reading journal, list brief responses to these questions: