Ideas for Research and Discussion

Study the after effects of the Revolution and the Terror, and how the people's exhaustion led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. How did the French Revolution influence European history through the 19th century?

Study the leaders of the Revolution: Jean-Paul Marat, Georges Danton, Maximilien Robespierre. How did they gain power so quickly? How were they different? How did the revolution they started eventually destroy them? Discuss the real-life character of Maximillien Robespierre, and how he is portrayed in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Focus on the irony of his writing, "Any individual who usurps the nation's sovereignty shall be immediately put to death by free men," and the fact that he was himself put to death under this rule in 1794.

In The Scarlet Pimpernel, Robespierre and Chauvelin discuss the fate of Thomas Paine, languishing in a French prison. Study the life of the American writer and patriot Thomas Paine, who wrote Common Sense (Penguin Books, NY, 1986) which was highly influential in the beginning of the American Revolution. How did Paine become involved in the French revolution? How did he end up in prison. You can also read The Rights of Man by Paine, his defense of the French Revolution and answer to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (These two books are published together by Anchor Books, NY, 1989)

Compare the French Revolution with the Russian Revolution of 1917. Both of these revolutions were highly influential, but did not fulfill their final goals: why not? Compare them to the American Revolution. Did the American Revolution fulfill its goal?

How is the slogan of the French Revolution - "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" - seen in an ironic light through The Scarlet Pimpernel?

Imagine you are a newspaper reporter, viewing these scenes: the first scene with its grisly executions, the scene where The Scarlet Pimpernel saves those scheduled to be guillotined, the final scene showing Chauvelin's fate. Be sure to write in a journalistic style, giving your readers the facts with vivid descriptions. Be sure to include a headline.

Break your class into two sections. One half will be The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, the other, Robespierre's Committee of Public Safety. The teacher will read these words out loud, and each side will tell how they would describe this idea:

sacrifice * love * deception * masks * cruelty * revolution

With these ideas, create a real debate between the two sides. How do their opinions differ? How are they the same? Can the two sides be reconciled?

Many consider the French Revolution to be the forerunner of the violent revolutions of the 20th century. On the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, the French author Leon Daudet wrote, "Commemorate the French Revolution? That's like celebrating the day you got scarlet fever." After your studies, think about it - Victor Hugo wrote: "You must remember this - the Revolution had its reasons. Its fury will be absolved by the future. Its outcome is a better world." Do you agree? Do the ideals of the French Revolution absolve the Terror?

 

Resources:

Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, by Simon Schama (Knopf, NY, 1989)

Last Letters: Prisons and Prisoners of the French Revolution, by Olivier Blanc (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, NY, 1987)

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Penguin Paperback, NY, 1987); First published in 1762, this book of philosophy makes the case for civil liberty and equal rights for all; it was highly influential to both the French and American Revolutions.

 

Other novels about The French Revolution:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Oxford University Press, 1993)

Scaramouche by Raphael Sabatini (Chronicle Books, NY, 1992)

Ninety-three by Victor Hugo (Carroll & Graf Publishers, NY, 1988)

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (Penguin Books, NY, 1976.) Les Misérables is more about the time after the Terror, but the student revolutionaries in the novel are highly influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution.

 

Online:

Read the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.

Compare it to our own Declaration of Independence.

Read Wordsworth's (1770-1850) poem "The French Revolution As It Appeared to Enthusiasts At Its Commencement"

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