93 pages • 3 hours read
Emma OrczyThe Scarlet Pimpernel
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1905A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Reading Context
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:
