What are you studying search ask question novelguide rooms. Armand chauvelin is the arrogant representative of the french revolutionary government who doggedly pursues the scarlet pimpernel from dover to calais only to be foiled in the end by the pimpernels clever plotting. Nationalism in both its positive and its negative aspects is one of the themes of the scarlet pimpernel on the positive side we see what britain regards as its finest qualities the cause of liberty and devotion to others good embodied in the daring exploits of the scarlet pimpernel on the negative side however we see much chauvinism demonstrated toward france in chapter iii for. Perhaps the most noticeable symbol in the book is of course the hastily scrawled little device a tiny star shaped flower p 104 the symbol that serves as the novels title the scarlet pimpernel itself although the novel never explicitly states why sir percy chooses this flower as his symbol a clue may lie in its color in the opening chapter the red blood that flows through