People know more about Fawkes from this movie than from history. And now, his face has become a symbol for the struggle against oppression. What a joke.
You say to do a little research. What sources do you base
your research on?
The thing is, Guy Fawkes and the plotters DID fight against oppression....or at least that's what they thought. It was catholic oppression. How can you sit there and say catholics weren't oppressed when their entire religion was basically outlawed? They had no rights to hold any business in the country. The priests were booted out of the country.
As someone who studied British History, specifically from the 1400s through the 1700s, your view on Guy Fawkes is very opinionated and likely influenced by Protestant propaganda taught in a protestant school (depending on which curriculum, english school books in protestant schools made the plotters to be evil as where it was the opposite with catholic schools) or on some obscure internet website. I should point out that I'm atheist, so I don't lean to the Catholic or Protestant side.
Yes, Guy Fawkes and the Plotters planned to blow up Parliament. But you're not exactly looking at
why. You have to understand that a person's religion back in that culture was their life. Hell, look at the 100 year war. That was fought over religion (catholic v protestant). If a person couldn't practice their religion (especially Catholics), they were essentially doomed for the afterlife.
Basically, both Queen Elizabeth and later, King James were to be open minded about catholicism and had no issues with catholics practicing in England. But because of some catholics that threatened Elizabeth's rule, and making threats for King James' throne so that his daughter (a catholic) could step in and take over, laws were passed which basically excommunicated the church from England. All Priests were shipped off, laws were in place that gave catholics no rights whatsoever. Catholics couldn't practice their religion and lost their rights.
While some catholics brought this on themselves, the entire catholic population of England was punished. And through catholic belief, if you can't practice your religion and confess to a priest (because they had to leave England thanks to the throne), catholics felt as though they were damned to hell.
In comes King James (a moderate protestant) to the throne and many catholics thought he be more lenient. But James was influenced and upheld everything including exiling the rest of the Priests out of the country. Back then, it was a direct attack on their faith. So, the plotters decided to attempt to blow up parliament because James' daughter was next in line to the throne and she was catholic.
Yeah, blowing up parliament might have been an extreme plan. But a lot of extremities took place in that time period, and a lot of it was influenced by religion from both sides. Whether or not Guy Fawkes was a bad person really boils down to your opinion of how far you'd go to fight for your rights. But don't sit there and say that catholics didn't suffer from oppression.
TLDR; The plotters did it because they couldn't practice their catholicism and back then, if you didn't practice it, you were a bad catholic and damned to eternal hell as a sinner.
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Temporary_Jesus
10 years ago
In your post you could pretty much replace Catholic with Muslim and it would be relevant now.
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ixusillwrath
10 years ago
Fighting against bad guys doesn't make you a good guy. Guy Fawkes was a Catholic fascist that wanted to kill the Protestant fascists. He wasn't fighting for equality, he was fighting to restore Catholic dominance.
Not a hero unless you're Bill Donahue.
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delriosong
8 years ago
As someone who studied British History, specifically from the 1400s through the 1700s,
Sure, sure you did.
Hell, look at the 100 year war. That was fought over religion (catholic v protestant).
No, it wasn't. Protestantism had not even been invented when The Hundred Years War was fought. It was fought for the thrown of France.
I've lived upon the edge of chance for 20 years or more...
Del Rio's Song
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delriosong
8 years ago
As someone who studied British History, specifically from the 1400s through the 1700s,
Sure, sure you did.
There was no British History prior to 1707.
I've lived upon the edge of chance for 20 years or more...
Del Rio's Song
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