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Conflict In Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel

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Ronald Reagan once said: “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” In Baroness Orczy’s novel The Scarlet Pimpernel, which took place during the French revolution, an elusive hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, was saving the lives of innocent nobles who would otherwise be killed, risking his life in doing so. Lady Marguerite Blakeney and her imbecile husband, Sir Percy, had not been maintaining a meaningful relationship. When forced to make a relatively quick choice, Marguerite chose the life of her brother Armand over that of the Scarlet pimpernel, only to have made the shocking discovery that this admired hero was her husband, and unbeknownst to him he being followed and was close to being trapped. In the book both external and internal conflicts exist. External conflict is illustrated through the conflict between Sir Percy and Lady Marguerite, which arose through a failure to communicate. Their situation was worsened by the fact that they both had too much pride to approach the other …show more content…

The external conflict is seen in the situation that arose between Sir Percy and his wife Lady Marguerite, which was caused by lack of communication and trust, and was intensified by each of their prides. Internal conflict is exhibited through Lady Marguerite’s conflict about whether she should save her brother or the allusive hero known as the Scarlet Pimpernel, which ends up saving her marriage. At the end of the novel we learn that Lady Marguerite, Sir Percy, Armand, and the fugitives that the Scarlet Pimpernel had gone to save, all make it to England safely. While the book’s ending is not entirely clear, it is a relatively happy one. Although they never resort to violence, the way Sir Percy and Lady Marguerite handled their conflict is not exactly considered peaceful. Hence, even according to Ronald Reagan, conflict exists in Baroness Orczy’s

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