Gunpowder Play Research Paper

The Gunpowder Play

Throughout the 1500s religious tensions were high in England. The Reformation was a

movement under the rule of King Henry VIII in which protestants began to question the Roman

Catholic Church’s teaching and the authority of the Pope, because of this Protestants rose to

power. When King Henry VIII died his son, Edward VI, became king in 1547 and under his rule

the power of the Protestant Church became stronger. His sister, Queen Mary I, became queen in

1553 and briefly tried to reinstate catholicism at the helm of religious teachings in England, but

died only five years later. Queen Elizabeth I was crowned and under her rule protestantism

reached the height of its power. The queen became nervous, thinking that catholics were

planning a revolt to place someone of catholic faith on the throne and because of this she treated
them cruelly, ordering that 100 catholic priests be questioned and killed. In 1570 the Pope
excommunicated the Queen, the tension between the protestant and catholic churches eventually
led to war between Spain and England in 1585.

After the Queen died in 1603 James VI, King of

Scotland, was appointed King of England. Like his predecessor James VI was a protestant, but

because his mother was catholic he believed that he could bring peace between the churches and

to the country. Anne of Denmark, James VI’s wife, converted from protestantism to catholicism

which led many catholics to believe that under his rule their quality of life would improve. A

peace treaty between Catholic Spain and Protestant England was signed in 1604, at this meeting

English catholics hoped that Spain would get James to agree to make life easier for them, but he

did not.

In 1605 an angry group of catholics led by Robert Catesby became fed up with the

treatment of catholics at the hands of the Protestant monarchy and developed an elaborate plan to

assassinate King James VI and exterminate his parliament. The plot to blow up the House of

Lords during the State Opening of England’s Parliament was foiled by an anonymous letter sent

to authorities on October 26. At midnight on November 4, the House of Lords was searched

and
the now infamous Guy Fawkes was discovered with 36 barrels of gunpowder - enough to reduce
the House and everyone in it to rubble. Fawkes was arrested and the other conspirators fled. The
ensuing race to capture the criminals and anyone associated with them caused anxiety among
even the innocent. Anyone suspected of treason was executed.
It is no coincidence that William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a story about an overly
ambitious man who commits treason, was written in 1606.

Shakespeare’s father, John, was a

covert catholic and friends with William Catesby whose son, Robert Catesby, was the plot’s head

conspirator. Illegal catholic documents were found in John Catesby’s home that had been shared

by John Shakespeare. Adding fire to the flame, The Mermaid Tavern in London, owned by

Shakespeare’s closest friends was a meeting spot for the conspirators as they plotted to obliterate

the protestant king. Because of all of this Shakespeare became worried he would be accused of

treason, he wrote Macbeth to set the record straight on where he stood.

Macbeth is about a king who is visited by witches and told that he would be king. His

wife thirsts for the crown and insists that Macbeth kill the current king, King Duncan, to seize

the throne. Macbeth becomes an unreasonable and tyrannical murderer, killing anyone he even

thinks may try to take the crown from him. In the end Lady Macbeth goes mad with guilt and

kills herself and Macbeth himself is murdered by Malcolm, whose family was killed by Macbeth.

The parallels between Macbeth and the Gunpowder Plot are clear, a power hungry,

overly ambitious man killing an innocent king and in the end being punished for it. The

character
created in King James’ image, King Duncan, who in real life had been a war-loving brute is
portrayed as a thoughtful, divinely-appointed ruler with “golden blood” which pleased James
immensely.
The universal theme exhibited in Macbeth is excessive ambition, Macbeth was so greedy
for power that he lost sight of sanity and ended up provoking his own death. This reflects the
sociopolitical time in which Shakespeare wrote the story.
I, Madisen DeMent, certify that I have personally completed this
assignment based on my own personal efforts. I understand if I use
outside sources, I must properly give my source(s) credit using the APA
format and my paper should not include more than 20% of direct quotes
from other sources. I understand if I do not provide proper credit to
outside sources, I will be documented for plagiarism and be required to
resubmit a new assignment. I will not divulge the content of this
assignment or any of my work, generally or specifically, to any current or
future James Madison High School students. DATE: 5/29/2018