In fact, he is an incredibly clever man who, disguising himself as the dashing Scarlet Pimpernel, takes on the task of creatively rescuing French noble families and escorting them safely to Britain. He does so as many different characters, including an old hag and a shabby-looking Jewish person, and he fools everybody, including his wife, and escapes in the end through his wit. Sir Percy goes to show that appearances don't always match reality on many different levels.

Lady Marguerite, too, is a complex character, although not nearly as complex as her ingenious husband. She is a woman who is guided by her emotions more than by anything else. When she condemns the French noble and his family, for instance, it is out of the desire for revenge, because the man had treated her brother badly. She is an intelligent woman, but she is quick to judge others and form opinions about them without really looking more deeply into their characters. She even does this with her own husband, mistaking him for dull when he most certainly is not.

Marguerite does, however, have the redeeming quality of remorse. When she agrees to help Chauvelin catch the Scarlet Pimpernel (again to try to save her brother), she has no idea that she is actually betraying her own husband. When she finds out, however, she is horrified and immediately tries to undo what she has down. Her true remorse leads to her husband's escape and to the couple's reconciliation.