The Gunpowder Plot�of 1605

1603

• James I became King of England

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• He fined Catholics for not attending the Church of England services and he put Catholic priests to death.
• He was Protestant!

1604

• Robert Catesby (the brains behind the operation) and a group of Catholics plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the day it opened; after plotting for over a year.

1604

• The gang were made up of Catholics and they were angered that the Protestant King and Parliament would not let Catholics practise their religion.

Guy Fawkes

Robert Catesby

Guy Fawkes

• Since Catesby couldn't work alone, he gathered like-minded men; including the famous Guido (Guy) Fawkes, an explosives expert; to help him.
• The gang's plan became known as the Gunpowder Plot.

The Plot—May 1604

• Guy Fawkes and Thomas Percy rented a house near to the Houses of Parliament
• Fawkes called himself John Johnson and pretended he was Percy's servant.

The Plot—Cont’d 1604

• Next, they began to dig a tunnel...
• Why a tunnel?

Well, imagine you had a huge heap of gunpowder and you wanted to get it into the most important building in the country without anyone noticing. Not an easy task.

The Plot—Cont’d 1604

• The tunnel was meant to run from the cellar of their house and under the street, ending up underneath the Houses of Parliament—perfect for smuggling that gunpowder.
• Guy Fawkes was given the job of keeping watch over the barrels and lighting the fuse.

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The plan takes shape

• Time passed and the plotters kept digging...
• Until, in March 1605, they had a stroke of luck. A cellar underneath the House of Lords became available for rent.

House of Lords

The plan takes shape

• The plotters abandoned their tunnel and packed the cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
• They covered the huge heap of barrels with bundles of firewood; just in case anyone looked inside.

The Plot Thickens

What next...?

The most deadly and dangerous part of the Gunpowder Plot was in place.

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Who sent the warning?

• Ten days to go. The gunpowder was ready. The plotters were ready. What could possibly go wrong?
• Well, all it took to upset those careful plans was a very mysterious letter.
• Lord Monteagle, an MP – and cousin of Francis Tresham, and good friend to King James I—received a letter, at dinner on October 26th 1605.

Who sent the warning?

• A tall, mysterious stranger had handed it to his servant in the street earlier in the evening.

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• The letter warned him not to go to attend the State Opening of Parliament, on November 5^th; as something terrible was going to happen.

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• Monteagle showed the letter to Robert Cecil, but they were slow to act. King James was away hunting and many ministers were suspicious it might be a fake.

What to do?

• For a few days all was quiet.
• Meanwhile, the plotters quickly found out about the letter.
• Catesby wasn't going to give up though.
• He sent Guy Fawkes down to the cellar to check that the gunpowder stores were still safe.
• All the gang could do now was wait.

4^th November 1605

• Guy was arrested and taken to the Tower of London.
• The Gunpowder Plot had failed.

• The King ordered a search of the cellars.
• Guy was found with a pile of wood and the gunpowder.

Torture in the Tower

• After his arrest in the cellar, Fawkes was taken to see King James and his court.

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He refused to answer most of their questions and made it very clear that he didn't have any regrets at all. Perhaps, most annoyingly for the King, Fawkes wouldn't reveal who the other plotters were. Reports written at the time quote him as saying, “You would have me discover my friends.”

Torture in the Tower

• After his audience with the King, Guy Fawkes was taken to the Tower of London; in the hope that the guards could get him to talk.
• Fawkes was tough and determined not to give away any secrets.

Next, Guy Fawkes was tortured on the rack, in an effort, to get him to reveal the names of the others. Eventually he did under torture. Their trial was at Westminster Hall in Parliament; in January 1606.

Torture in the Tower for The other plotters

• Meanwhile, the other plotters had been hiding in a house in the Midlands.
• Soldiers surrounded the house.
• Catesby, Percy & the Winter brothers were shot dead.

• The remaining plotters were taken to the Tower of London.
• They were tried, and found guilty of High Treason.

Torture in the Tower for The Other Plotters—January 1606

• Hung: The prisoner was hung but cut loose just before they lost consciousness.
• Drawn: Their stomach was then sliced open and their guts pulled out. The heart would be pulled out last, and shown to the dying person.
• Quartered: Finally, the head would be cut off and the body cut into four quarters.

All seven were sentenced to be...

Their heads were placed on spikes for everyone to see.

THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER

• Every year on 5^th November, the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes is remembered.

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• Throughout England – in towns and villages – huge bonfires are lit, fireworks are set off and a stuffed model of a man, like a scarecrow, is burnt on the bonfire. This is to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.

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Rhymes and chants

Remember, Remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason, why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy

Stick him up on high

Put him on the fire

And there let him die

Bonfire food

• People bake potatoes, eat sausages and soup and a sticky cake called Parkin made of oatmeal, ginger, treacle and syrup.
• There are wonderful firework displays all over the country.

The Gunpowder Plot and Act II, iii

• “Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. Oh, come in, equivocator” (Macbeth 2.3).
• The insistent reference to equivocation seems to be alluding to the Catholic priest Henry Garnet, (AKA Father Garnet & AKA Farmer) who was hung, drawn and quartered for his role in the Gunpowder Plot and was deeply criticized for equivocating & wrote a “Treatise on Equivocation”. Allegedly, Garnet had heard confession from Robert Catesby, one of the plotters, which revealed his intention to kill the King, but obeyed the Seal of the Confessional by keeping it secret. Jesuits were particularly associated with equivocation, which is a way of avoiding the sin of lying by implying something untrue through ambiguous phrasing. Garnet’s defense of equivocation was extremely damaging in his trial, and the porter’s light-hearted remarks seem to be playing on popular derision of the priest.
• Watch for further equivocation (a respondent who avoids giving a clear direct answer; liars) throughout the play as a whole.