Is Guy fawkes a hero?

Yeah it’s more or less to recognise that he & his cohorts dastardly plot….....well, went up in smoke for want of a better term. Me, I just like any excuse to let off some fireworks, yay! :¬)

I’ve never considered him a hero and think it is the foiling of the plot that is celebrated. However, revisionist history might reveal otherwise.

No, he was a religious extremist.

I was discussing Guy Fawkes with my british mother and she told me that she always thought he was concidered and hero. (not personally, she said. Maybe to others?)
He was excommunicated from the Catholic church for his actions.

I don’t think what he did was heroic at all @The_Idler I know he was an religious extremist
Like I said, The celebration with the fireworks is what throws me off. Gun powder – Fireworks. He was a terriost.

If he is considered a hero, why has the whole country been burning effigies of him, once a year, for the past 400 years?

@The_Idler I didn’t know about the burning effigies.

Why would I ask, if I knew the answer?

Yeah “penny for the Guy.” Wow that takes me back, pushing Uncle Guy in a wheelbarrow on bonfire night….....ahhhh, happy days! :¬)

@ucme that sounds like fun

@Deja_vu Pretty much, although he had a sore bum by the end of the night XD

@Deja_vu I didn’t mean that to seem like “Durr, durr, stupid question”…I was just saying “We burn effigies of him, so I guess he’s not considered a hero” backwards.

He was a theocratic wannabe dictator and a terrorist. Fuck him.

Just so we’re clear, V for Vendetta portrays him as awesome and a half, so it is easy to see where some people might be confused.

No, he is not a hero. People use him as a symbol of anarchy. He actually wanted a dictatorship.

@weeveeship Do you have a link with info on it?

No, Guy Fawkes is not historically considered a hero. On the 5th of November, ‘Guy Fawkes night’ (or as it’s more popularly known now ‘Bonfire Night’) is celebrated to commemorate the failure of Guy Fawkes and those he worked alongside in the ‘gunpowder plot’. With this stated, some do deem Guy Fawkes a hero, often as they admire his passion and drive to revolt against a government that he believed oppressed his religion. Unfortunately, upon failing, the gunpowder plot actually led to far harsher treatment of catholics in the British empire making the conspirators actions counter-productive.

To those who believe that Guy Fawkes desired anarchy this was not the case to my knowledge. He is perceived as a symbol of anarchy as many believed that had his plot been successful it would have led to extremely instability (and perhaps even a power vacuum) in British society. The intention of the conspirators was to kill the then head of state, King James I and replace him with his catholic daughter ensuring a more powerful status for catholics. In my opinion the instability was far more probable.

@papayalily I always figured it fitting that the character in ‘V for Vendetta’ wear a Guy Fawkes mask as Guy Fawkes was battling tyranny to some extent as the character in the film does; they also appear to share similar methods. It’s unfortunate that this “revolutionary mindset” seems to often lead to delusions of grandeur.

It would be sort of like if the US had adopted a “September 11th Day”. Which should have happened but did not for want of moral outrage.