THE GUNPOWDER PLOT

                    

            The Gunpowder Plot occupies an important place in British history. When James I became King of England in 1603, Catholics in England expected James to be more tolerant of them. However, he fined Catholics for not attending the Church of England services and ordered all Catholic priests to leave England. Therefore, Catholics wanted to kill King James and put his daughter Elizabeth on the throne. Robert Catesby and his fellow conspirators made a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the day it opened. This plot would not only kill James, but also everyone who was sitting in the House of Parliament. They rented a house near the Parliament and started tunneling a cellar. They had 36 barrels to blow up Parliament.

            Guy Fawkes was a member of these Catholics and an explosive expert. He was given the job of lighting the fuse, but he was found with 36 barrels and arrested one day before the opening day of the House of Parliament. He was taken to the Tower of London and after four days,he confessed to the plot. When he was going to the block, he jumped from the gallows and broke his neck. The other conspirators had been hiding in a house in the Midlands. Catesby and two other crew members were shot and the remainder were also taken to the Tower of London and after the trial they were hanged.

            Every year on 5^th November, The Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes is remembered. In every part of England, huge bonfires are lift, fireworks are set off and effigies of Guy Fawkes are burned. This is to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, not a political issue. This kind of important historical event is also the subjectofseveral productions such as V for Vendetta, Sherlock Holmes, even BBC published an article about ‘’What if the Gunpowder Plot had succeeded?’’ in 2011.