Please to remember the Fifth of November

By: John Skidmore
Copy Layout Editor

“Remember, remember the Fifth of November, the gunpowder, treason and plot; I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”

These are the opening lines of a popular nursery rhyme regarding Guy Fawkes Night. Fawkes and this rhyme have leapt into popular culture recently as a result of the blockbuster movie “V for Vendetta,” based on the cult classic graphic novel of the same title, authored by Alan Moore.

The graphic novel features a mysterious anarchist flying about a futuristic London wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. The character, “V,” incites a revolution against a totalitarian government kept in power by lies and fear in an intelligent and overtly theatrical manner. This is what many of you know regarding Fawkes, but this isn’t exactly how the real Fawkes would be represented.

The fifth of November marks the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, and is commonly referred to as Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night. On this night, Fawkes and several other Roman Catholic co-conspirators snuck into the cellar of the Houses of Parliament intending to blow up the building while King James I of England, his family and most of the extended aristocracy were currently inside the Houses of Parliament for its state opening.

Fawkes and company had rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords nearly half a year prior to the state opening on the fifth of November and proceeded to fill it with gunpowder. By the time Fawkes was caught, about 1800 pounds of gunpowder in barrels were hidden beneath the House of Lords.

This act was about religion. Fawkes and his fellows were Roman Catholics trying to kill a new Protestant king. These men were captured in the act and tortured for their attempted regicide, murder and destruction of property. Fawkes was tortured in order to find out who his co-conspirators were, and after a while, he gave in, but he only told the authorities people that they already knew and had either apprehended or killed already.

Fawkes was then ordered to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but when he was placed on the gallows he jumped, snapping his own neck instead of undergoing even more torture.

An interesting story involving one of the people labeled as Fawkes’ co-conspirator was that William Shakespeare was somewhat involved in the scheming. Critics allege that the reason Shakespeare wrote “Tragedy of Macbeth” in 1606 was to appease the king because authorities were suspicious of his loyalty due to the accusation that he was involved. Furthering these accusations was the fact that Shakespeare’s daughter refused to take holy communion, illustrating that the bard may have had Catholic sentiments, allying him against the Protestant king.

After Fawkes’ death in 1606, it became an annual tradition for the king and parliament to commission a sermon, collectively referred to as the “Gunpowder Plot Sermons,” commemorating the event. Nowadays, Guy Fawkes Night is commemorated by a large bonfire and fireworks. In England, people recite the nursery rhyme poem and burn effigies of Fawkes, also commonly referred to as “the guy” on massive bonfires. Children create these effigies and place them in the streets to beg for money, crying “Penny for the guy” to those passing by. The night ends with massive displays of fireworks all over England.

Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa and parts of the United States.