# Pyrot — Penguin Island character guide

> Pyrot in Penguin Island by Anatole France.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0050-ii-pyrot

## Snapshot

The obscure soldier whose alleged theft of eighty thousand trusses of hay ignites a national scandal, splitting Penguinia into warring camps of accusation and defense.

## Who they are

Pyrot stands at the center of the Affair that convulses Penguinia, a man whose guilt or innocence becomes almost irrelevant beside the passions he provokes. His predicament pits the army, the Church, and the political factions against one another, each side finding in his case a weapon for its own ends. He matters because his name becomes the fault line along which the nation's loyalties, prejudices, and hypocrisies are laid bare.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

The narrator follows Pyrot's wrongful persecution and eventual vindication, treating him as a tragicomic figure.

### [General Greatauk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/characters/general_greatauk)

_rivalry_

General Greatauk is Pyrot's primary antagonist, orchestrating his false conviction for treason out of personal spite.

### [General Greatauk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/characters/general_greatauk)

_rivalry_

General Greatauk is Pyrot's primary antagonist, orchestrating his false conviction for treason out of personal spite.

### [General Greatauk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/characters/general_greatauk)

_rivalry_

General Greatauk is Pyrot's primary antagonist, orchestrating his false conviction for treason out of personal spite.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

The narrator follows Pyrot's wrongful persecution and eventual vindication, treating him as a tragicomic figure.

## In the story

### [Book V: Chatillon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/book-v-chatillon)

A character who opposes Chatillon, embodying the voice of reason and dissent.

### [Book VI: The Affair of the Eighty Thousand Trusses of Hay](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/book-vi-the-affair-of-the-eighty-thousand-trusses-of-hay)

Central figure in the hay trusses affair, accused and persecuted.

### [I: General Greatauk, Duke of Skull](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/i-general-greatauk-duke-of-skull)

A middle-class Jew who entered the Penguin army; falsely accused by Greatauk of stealing eighty thousand trusses of hay.

### [II: Pyrot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/ii-pyrot)

Accused of stealing eighty thousand trusses of hay; imprisoned in a cage at La Cirque; maintains his innocence.

### [Count de Maubec de la Dentdulynx](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/iii-count-de-maubec-de-la-dentdulynx)

The condemned Jew imprisoned in a cage; his relatives seek to prove his innocence.

### [IV: Colomban](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/iv-colomban)

The convicted Pyrotist whose innocence Colomban champions; mentioned as the subject of the placards and memorandum.

### [V: The Reverend Fathers Agaric and Cornemuse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/v-the-reverend-fathers-agaric-and-cornemuse)

The encaged innocent whose guilt is doubted by a few readers of Colomban's memoranda.

### [VII: Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore, the Socialists](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/vii-bidault-coquille-and-maniflore-the-socialists)

The innocent convict at the center of the affair, whose cause is taken up by Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore.

### [Mr. Justice Chaussepied](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/x-mr-justice-chaussepied)

The central figure of the affair; his innocence is doubted by some Republicans, and his case is eventually sent for retrial.

### [Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/xi-conclusion)

Appeal allowed; brought down from cage; retried and convicted again, then rehabilitated by Chaussepied.

### [Book VII: Madame Cérès](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/chapters/book-vii-madame-c-r-s)

Mentioned in connection with the political intrigues surrounding Madame Cérès.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/characters/pyrot
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/penguin_island_se/characters