Guy FAWKES AND PARLIAMENT
1)
The
banging on my closet door was getting more intense and insistent.
I couldn't let Guy stay in my closet indefinitely. My parents
would not be thrilled with my current circumstances. I highly
doubted they would accept the current situation as gracefully as I
had. If anything, they would have been dialing 911 as soon as
their fingers could find a phone. I did what any other person
with a steady stream of historical house guests would have done - I
grabbed my umbrella in case I needed to defend myself.
When I opened my closet door to let Guy out, the fight left
him. He sat
in stunned silence on the floor of my closet and he had the same look
that a deer trapped in headlights might have. I couldn't decide
if he was going to faint or cry. Guy
Fawkes was not at all what I expected. This was the man
responsible for an assassination attempt on King James? If
anything, he seemed to be quite gentle. I couldn't imagine this
man hurting a fly!
I tried to allow him time to gather his thoughts
before I bombarded him. Actually, I tried really hard not to put too
much pressure on him at all. I didn't know how much he could
take. After some time, I was finally able to persuade him to sit
on my bed. I felt bad for the guy. My futon had to be more
comfortable to sit on than my three-inch heels. It was obvious
that Guy Fawkes had no way of understanding what had just happened to
him.
"Is this the work of the devil? Am I to pay
for my sins now? I know taking a human life is a sin.
Please, have mercy on me," he said, speaking slowly and
meticulously. I
thought it sounded like Guy Fawkes had this speech pretty well planned
out.
How could I respond? I didn't know what force
had brought him here. I decided to err on the side of
caution. It would be much easier to tell him that he was
dreaming. "This isn't the work of the devil, Guy. You are
having the most vivid dream of your life. Soon you'll be home, so
please try to relax." I tried to be as confident and soothing as
possible.
"You are sure? I am not being punished?"
Guy Fawkes needed an extreme amount of reassurance.
"I am absolutely positive. If you don't mind
me asking, where did you think you would be?" This man was making
me curious...in a way that Queen Boudicca's strength and King Arthur's
arrogance hadn't. I truly could not fathom this man attempting to
take another man's life. Yet, that is how history remembers him.
"The others and I were adding the final touches to
our mission," he said, looking at me searchingly. Like
somehow I
was supposed to understand what he was talking about!
"I am really sorry, but I'm not sure what you
mean. Will you start at the beginning?" I tried to be as
patient and understanding as possible.
He suddenly looked very tired and much older.
"I will tell you my tale. It makes a man weary. I did what
I had to do and I would not change it, even if I were able to."
"My
story begins during a time of religious upheaval. I am Catholic,
you see, and because the English King James is Protestant,
Catholics are being persecuted. I was approached by a man named
Robert Catesby. This man had concocted a great plan to even the
odds against us and to return England to the true religion...
Catholicism. It sounds quite radical and I understand that it
is. Our aime is to destroy Parliament...with the king
inside. Yet there was no other way. The Protestant King
James
did not appreciate our choice of religion. Why should we respect
his?" Guy Fawkes began to get more and more animated. I
guess his passion derived from his faith.
2)
"Mr. Catesby has a grand plan. He intends to
seize Princess Elizabeth while the King, clergy, and nobility are
convened within Parliament, which we will explode with gunpowder.
We have been diligently working at
bringing in gun powder, in barrels, and placing them in the basement of
Parliament. It is quite difficult to sneak munitions in
unnoticed. I was elected to start the fire that would return
England to the Catholic Church. This explosion will bring King
James and his Protestant ways to an end. When the young Princess
is old enough, Mr. Catesby intends to install her on the thrown...as a
Catholic Queen."
"A Catholic nobleman, by the name of Lord Monteagle,
is supposed to attend this Parliament session. I have heard rumor
that one in our ranks has forewarned him of our intent. I only
hope, if it is so, that this Lord Monteagle will understand our
enterprise and not attempt to stop us. I am beginning to have an
eerie feeling that all is not right. Everything is going
according
to plan and it is November 4th, the day before the mission is set to
take place. I was attending my post when I found myself in that
dark and enclosed space." Guy Fawkes pointed at my closet like he
expected a dragon to come through it.
It appeared that I had brought Guy Fawkes to the
future right before he was supposed to be captured. I felt so
sad. How could I send a man to his death...because that is
exactly what awaited Guy Fawkes. I sat there in my room for
quite a while and tried to figure out how - and if - I could do
it. When I brought myself out of my contemplation, Guy had fallen
asleep. It may have been the hardest thing that I have ever done,
but I knew I couldn't change history. I, sadly, began to read the
story of Horatio Nelson.
3)
Author's
Note:
I took the opportunity to learn more about Guy Fawkes because I had
never heard of him before I moved to England. On November 5th,
the British people celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, also called Bonfire
Night. In the movie, "V for Vendetta" the character Guy is actually
based on Guy Fawkes. A lot of you might see a resemblance between
the mask he wears and the portrait above. While doing my
background research I had a difficult time deciding if he was
considered a hero or a villain by the British people. I have come
to the conclusion that he was a villain. Bonfire Night was
established in order to celebrate the failed assassination attempt on
King James's life. At this celebration, an effigy of Guy Fawkes
is burned...an event, I would imagine, not normally carried out for
heroes. The letter that I mention in my story is actually what
led to the capture of Guy Fawkes. The recipient brought it to the
attention of King James and the king conducted a search of
Parliament. Guy Fawkes was discovered and taken to the Tower of
London. The story claims that he remained defiant until his
captors brought in "the rack." At that point, he gave up all the
names of those who had participated in the plot. I wanted my Guy
Fawkes character to seem sad and thoughtful about what he had to
do.
I wanted to include a side note after receiving my feedback from
Laura. She informed me of something that I hadn't come across in
my research that is another interesting element to the story of Guy
Fawkes. Laura informed me that he committed suicide - by throwing
himself off of the gallows - before he could be hanged. He was a
true revolutionary...even at the end of his life.
The courage of Horatio Nelson
Illustration information:
1) "Houses of Parliament, London, Sun Breaking Through the Fog"
by Claude Monet, 1904, at New
Scientist.
3) Guy Fawkes at Happy Guy Fawkes
Night.
Bibliography
"Account
of Guy Fawkes" by William Russell and Charles Coote from The History of
Modern Europe: With An Account of the Fall of the Roman Empire; and a
View of the Progress of Society, from the Rise of the Modern Kingdoms
to the Peace of Paris, in 1793 (1822). Web Source: Google
Books.
"Guy
Fawkes", 2009, at Wikipedia.
