There is an old English rhyme that implores every patriotic Briton to “Remember, Remember, the 5th of November.” This was the date of a foiled attack on the English parliament known as the Gunpowder Plot. The man poised to light the fuse on the 36 barrels of gunpowder stockpiled under the house of lords in 1605 was the Catholic agitator Guy Fawkes. Since the date of his capture the popular understanding of Fawkes has undergone a remarkable transformation. He has gone from being a nearly forgotten triggerman, to a reviled villain burnt in effigy, to a valiant folk hero, to a symbol for internet “hacktivists.” Does “Guy Fawkes” the symbol have anything to do with Guy Fawkes the man? Tune-in and find out how rambunctious political theatre, Hungry Scots, and a man with all sorts of Rizz play a role in the story.      

Works Cited

Beardsley, Martyn. The Gunpowder Plot Deceit. Pen & Sword History, 2018.

Call, Lewis. “A is for anarchy, V is for Vendetta: images of Guy Fawkes and the creation of postmodern anarchism.” Anarchist Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, 2008.

Croft, J. Pauline. King James. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Fraser, Antonia. The Gunpowder Plot: Terror And Faith In 1605. Hachette, 2010.

Holland, Nick. The Real Guy Fawkes. Pen and Sword History, 2017.

Jardine, David, and Christopher Wright. A Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot. John Murray, 1857.

Snow Phillipa. “Mask Up: How the Guy Fawkes Mask Became one of the Iconic Design Objects in Recent History.” Pin-Up Magazine, no 29. Fall/Winter 2020/21. pinupmagazine.org

Sharpe, J. A. Remember, Remember : A Cultural History of Guy Fawkes Day. Harvard University Press, 2005.