The impact of the ‘Gunpowder, treason and plot’

England’s potential 9/11

On the 5th of November, most Brits will have celebrated the day their King and the government of England, Scotland and Wales were almost assassinated. To emulate the explosions that might have changed the political scene of 1605 in one fell swoop, fireworks are lit to split the sky and crash on the eardrums.

Except of course, what we are really celebrating is that the plot failed and the perpetrators were caught – which is why there are usually gruesome effigies perched aloft raging bonfires, referred to as a ‘Guy’, after plotter Guy/Guido Fawkes. With only hours to spare, Catholic extremists were stopped and the 9/11 of its day was averted.

Dramatic impact

Of course there had been tensions in society between Catholics and Protestants, and indeed between the established Anglican Church and Puritans – only 15 years later some of the latter sailed off on the Mayflower to start a new life. But knowing just how close the entire political system had come to destruction from some hard line Catholics had a profound impact on society – and on the arts that entertained it.

In the months immediately after the plot was uncovered Shakespeare wrote Macbeth. He echoes the neuroses of his audience by examining the impact of illegally disposing of an anointed king, when Macbeth murders noble King Duncan:

Confusion now bath made his masterpiece! Most sacrilegious murder bath broke ope The Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thence The life o’ the building! (Act II, Sc. 3)

Straight after Duncan’s murder, he has the Porter allude to one of the priests associated with the Gunpowder conspiracy who had written A Treatise on Equivocation: 

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 (Act II, sc. 3)

The equivalence of opposites (fair is foul and foul is fair) and double-dealing are dominant themes in Macbeth.

A safe celebration?

To celebrate his survival of the plot, James I had a medal cast that depicted an Eden-like serpent lurking in the flowers, perceiving that treachery might lurk amongst his courtiers.

Shakespeare dramatises just such treachery in the words of conspirator Lady Macbeth:

‘Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't’

(Act I, sc. 5)

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most topical plays. Perhaps to cover up that he had family links with some of the Catholic conspirators, Shakespeare resoundingly endorses the legitimacy of James I’s monarchy in the play. Usually, he steered clear of overt references to the monarchy of the day – but this time, perhaps his life depended on it.