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Originally Posted by stuartjmz
[...]It was also interesting to read in the notes accompanying the delphi classics edition that the book was rejected at firrst, produced as a play that more or less flopped, then the play's finale was reworked by someone else and took off. So the novel we read is the result of a collaboration of sorts - it makes me wonder what her original version was like, especially the ending.
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That is very interesting to hear. I'd love to know if Marguerite got some more active role in the ending in the original. It seemed to me that so much of what went before (making doubly, triply and quadruply sure we knew how smart she was), and then the desperate chase to warn Percy, was leading us to expect something from Marguerite. So much so that the ending fell a little flat for me - the unfulfilled expectation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum
[...] One interesting point for me was that we really get to see very little of the real Sir Percy. We see him through Marguerite's eyes as the silly fop, we see him in his disguise at the end of the book, but we see very little of him as himself. Probably the only time is when he is in the French inn with Chauvelin.
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It also struck me that we see very little of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Aside from anecdotes told by others, there is his part as the Jew. But there were opportunities where we could have seen the Pimpernel in action near the end when most of the soldiers had run off: a threat to Marguerite could have had him revealed in heroic glory. But the story is almost oddly, given the times being portrayed, short of extreme violence. I guess that's what made it suitable(?) reading material for children.
I think there are a few small insights into the real Sir Percy. The quiet night carriage rides with Marguerite seemed real and more natural than almost anything else. And then there was that scene in Richmond at the end of chapter 16: "he knelt down upon the terrace steps, and in the very madness of his love he kissed one by one the places where her small foot had trodden, and the stone balustrade there, where her tiny hand had rested last." And I'd probably also count his rather Spartan study. So we don't see much, but I think the little bits do start to add up.