Gunpowder Play Research Paper

The Gunpowder Play
Throughout the 1500s religious tensions were high in England. The Reformation was a movement under the rule of King Henry VIII in which protestants began to question the Roman
Catholic Church’s teaching and the authority of the Pope, because of this Protestants rose to power. When King Henry VIII died his son, Edward VI, became king in 1547 and under his rule the power of the Protestant Church became stronger. His sister, Queen Mary I, became queen in
1553 and briefly tried to reinstate catholicism at the helm of religious teachings in England, but died only five years later. Queen Elizabeth I was crowned and under her rule protestantism reached the height of its power. The queen became nervous, thinking that catholics were

After the Queen died in 1603 James VI, King of
Scotland, was appointed King of England. Like his predecessor James VI was a protestant, but because his mother was catholic he believed that he could bring peace between the churches and to the country. Anne of Denmark, James VI’s wife, converted from protestantism to catholicism which led many catholics to believe that under his rule their quality of life would improve. A peace treaty between Catholic Spain and Protestant England was signed in 1604, at this meeting
English catholics hoped that Spain would get James to agree to make life easier for them, but he did not.
In 1605 an angry group of catholics led by Robert Catesby became fed up with the treatment of catholics at the hands of the Protestant monarchy and developed an elaborate plan to assassinate King James VI and exterminate his parliament. The plot to blow up the House of
Lords during the State Opening of England’s Parliament was foiled by an anonymous letter sent to authorities on October 26. At midnight on November 4, the House of Lords was searched

Shakespeare’s father, John, was a covert catholic and friends with William Catesby whose son, Robert Catesby, was the plot’s head conspirator. Illegal catholic documents were found in John Catesby’s home that had been shared by John Shakespeare. Adding fire to the flame, The Mermaid Tavern in London, owned by
Shakespeare’s closest friends was a meeting spot for the conspirators as they plotted to obliterate the protestant king. Because of all of this Shakespeare became worried he would be accused of treason, he wrote Macbeth to set the record straight on where he stood.
Macbeth is about a king who is visited by witches and told that he would be king. His wife thirsts for the crown and insists that Macbeth kill the current king, King Duncan, to seize the throne. Macbeth becomes an unreasonable and tyrannical murderer, killing anyone he even thinks may try to take the crown from him. In the end Lady Macbeth goes mad with guilt and kills herself and Macbeth himself is murdered by Malcolm, whose family was killed by Macbeth.
The parallels between Macbeth and the Gunpowder Plot are clear, a power hungry, overly ambitious man killing an innocent king and in the end being punished for it. The