"Orczy introduced a new idea into the collective consciousness: a heroic figure who creates a lounging foppish alter ego to hide his (or her) true heroic nature."
—Peter Royston.[4]
The title character, Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who transforms into a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist, established the "hero with a secret identity" in popular culture, a trope that would be seen in subsequent literary creations such as Don Diego de la Vega (Zorro), Kent Allard/Lamont Cranston (The Shadow), Clark Kent (Superman), and Bruce Wayne (Batman).[5] The Scarlet Pimpernel exhibits characteristics that would become standard superhero conventions, including the penchant for disguise, use of a signature weapon (sword), ability to out-think and outwit his adversaries, and a calling card (he leaves behind a scarlet pimpernel at each of his interventions).[6] By drawing attention to his alter ego, Blakeney hides behind his public face as a slow-thinking, foppish playboy, and he also establishes a network of supporters, The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, that aids his endeavours.[6] A plot technique from Pimpernel also used by some superheroes is the spurious "love triangle", where a woman is torn between attraction to her staid husband and the dashing hero—although they are in reality the same man.[3] Marvel co-creator Stan Lee stated: "The Scarlet Pimpernel was the first superhero I had read about, the first character who could be called a superhero."[3]
The popular success of the novel is considered to be based on the myth of the aristocratic hero with a double life, along with the love story and conflict of loyalties.[1] Dugan says that "Behind the wigs and Mechlin lace cuffs lies an enduring human story of love, misunderstandings, conflict of loyalties, audacious bravery – and a dramatic double life." and this is a major part of the story's enduring popularity.[1] Another aspect is the "Englishness" of the hero in the era when the British Empire began to shrink.[7]
