Chels

It’s quite often the case that we mistake heroes of folklore for historical figures – there’s no evidence to suggest that Robin Hood or Finn MacCool really existed, but their stories are so well known, and so ingrained into our culture, that it’s easy to forget they’re works of fiction. What’s less common, however, is the opposite case – when a real historical figure becomes thought of as folklore, or that we lose sight of their original history through time, and they become figures in stories they weren’t associated with. 

Guy Fawkes isn’t necessarily a hero of folklore – he was a real person, after all – but I think his legacy has turned him into a character, rather than a historical figure. As far as rebels go, he’s more of a Robin Hood than an Oliver Cromwell.

As of posting, tonight is Bonfire night in the UK, or Guy Fawkes night. As our tradition goes, we light fireworks, and light bonfires and effigies of Guy Fawkes. If you don’t know who Guy Fawkes is, he was a political rebel who attempted to blow up the English parliament in 1605, in what is referred to as the Gunpowder plot. The aim of the plot was to assassinate King James I, as part of the increasingly violent conflicts between Catholics and Protestants as a result of Henry VIII’s Reformation. King James was a Protestant king, and the members of the Gunpowder plot sought to reinstate a Catholic monarch.

These days, the specific political tensions of the time have been long forgotten outside of the history classroom, and Guy Fawkes is remembered for the broad crime of attempting to blow up parliament. As such, he’s become a figure of general political rebellion and protest. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing (although I’m no authority on the matter), but I wonder how many people would feel the same way about him, be it positively or negatively, with more context. In fact, the actual facts surrounding Guy Fawkes have become so lost to time that up until an embarrassingly small amount of years ago, I thought that Bonfire night was to celebrate the Gunpowder plot. As it turns out, it’s to celebrate the fact the plot was found out and stopped, and to mock Guy Fawkes for his failure, which, looking back, makes a lot of sense. It doesn’t really seem logical to burn an effigy of someone you’re celebrating. Then again, I don’t know of many people that actually consider it to be Guy Fawkes night these days, never mind who burn an effigy. Now, it seems to just be Bonfire night, a time to set off fireworks and eat hot dogs, with no real meaning.

I think the real shift in Guy Fawkes as a rebel figure came in 2005 with the release of V for Vendetta. The film is all about rebellion against a totalitarian government regime, and the key vigilante wears a stylised Guy Fawkes mask. Ever since the film became popular, around 2006, protesters adopted the mask to protect their own identities during political protests. The mask is used in all kinds of protests across the political spectrum – it’s not tied to any single ideology or viewpoint, aside from, typically, an anti-government or anti-authority stance.

Most famously, though, the mask is used by members of the hacktivist group Anonymous, both to hide their identities, and to identify them as Anonymous, and that’s the association most people would make with the image. That signature upturned moustache, sharp chin, and goatee beard is just as much a representation of Anonymous as it is of Guy Fawkes himself, and I think this shifting of meaning is what has altered the perception of Guy Fawkes.

No longer just a political rebel, Guy Fawkes is now a symbol. It’s no longer necessary to know his story to understand what he represents – his likeness is the face of political dissent and anarchy, whether that was his intention or not.

Setting off fireworks can be a celebration of the Gunpowder plot, or a celebration that it was stopped, an acknowledgement of the Gunpowder plot as an act of political rebellion, or just a nice activity with your family. Over 400 years later, the meanings have been lost to time, but that doesn’t mean it’s meaningless. We just have a few more meanings to choose from.