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Passage Realised: The Confrontation of Guy Fawkes and King James the First

"Let him be brought before me, then, directly," said the King. "I am impatient to behold a wretch who has conceived so atrocious — so infernal a design against me, and against my children. Hark 'e, Salisbury, one caution I wish to observe. Let a captain of the guard, with his drawn sword in hand, place himself between me and the prisoner, and let two halberdiers stand beside him, and if the villain moves a step, bid them strike him dead. You understand?"

"Perfectly," replied Salisbury, bowing.

"In that case, you may take off his bonds — that is, if you think it prudent to do so — not otherwise," continued James. "I would not have the knave suppose he can awe me."

"Your Majesty's commands shall be fulfilled to the letter," returned the Earl.

"Lose no time, Salisbury," cried James, springing out of bed, and beginning to dress himself without the assistance of his chamberlain.

The Earl hastily retired, and ordered the attendants to repair to their royal master. He next proceeded to the chamber where Guy Fawkes was detained, and ordered him to be unbound, and brought before the King. When the prisoner heard this mandate, a slight smile crossed his countenance, but he instantly resumed his former stern composure. The smile, however, did not escape the notice of Salisbury, and he commanded the halberdiers to keep near to the prisoner, and if he made the slightest movement in the King's presence, instantly to despatch him. [Book the Second, "The Discovery," Chapter XIV, "The Examination" pp. 258-59]

Commentary

At first glance, Cruikshank has failed to communicate the tension in the meeting between the would-be regicide and King James I. In the volume, where the reader encounters the text and the illustration almost simultaneously, Cruikshank's illustration underscores Fawkes's self-confidence as he confronts the monarch whom he intended to murder. In the April 1841 illustration for that number of Bentley's Miscellany, facing page 329, Fawkes, arms crossed, smoulders resentment, as one would expect; however, Cruikshank's James mildly studies his enemy, with no tension visible in his face or posture. Consequently, upon his first introduction to the illustration, the serial reader had no sense of James's apprehension, or his orders to strike Fawkes dead if he becomes aggressive. Thus, the proleptic reading would have missed a number of the dimensions in the bedchamber scene, and the gaps would have become apparent to the serial reader only once he or she had reached the end of the monthly instalment.

Although in the magazine serial the illustration appears against the opening page of the sixteenth instalment (which began on page 329 with Book Two, Chapter XIII, "The Flight of the Conspirators"), the picture clearly anticipates the confrontation between the lead conspirator and the Stuart monarch in Chapter XIV, "The Examination," on page 343, the second-to-the-last in the April 1841 instalment. The illustration thus creates a sense of anticipation in the serial's readers as they wonder about the outcome of the interrogation: Will Fawkes attempt to attack the King and be killed on the spot? Will he be able to resist torture, or will he betray his fellow-plotters? The illustration fails to convey James's grudging admiration for Fawkes, whom he compares to Mutius [sic] Scaevola, the Roman who attempted to assassinate the Etruscan tyrant Lars Porsenna [sic, p. 344] in 508 B. C., and thrust his hand into the fire to demonstrate his stoical determination, as Livy recounted in his Ab Urbe Condita (27-9 BCE). James does not seem to be aware of the irony of his classical allusion, praising the would-be assassin at his own expense.

Although the King orders that a Captain of the Guard draw his sword between himself and Fawkes when the prisoner enters, Cruikshank is correct as showing the Earl of Salisbury actually holding the sword. Ainsworth indicates that there are six halberdiers guarding the King before Fawkes enters, escorted by a further two, but the illustration shows three accompanying Fawkes, left, and just two guarding the King, right; however, Cruikshank may have organised the composition in this way for the sake of compactness, implying the presence of the remaining three halberdiers off-frame. The ornate four-poster bed is consistent with the scene being set in the inner chamber of "the royal sleeping apartment." The King interviews Fawkes while in a rather modest "chair of state," surrounded by the chief members of the royal council: the Earl of Marr is presumably the robed figure standing just to the right of the throne, with the Duke of Lennox just behind James, to the left. Cruikshank has sufficiently individualises them only by their costumes, but avoids drawing the eye away from the two principals.

References

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Guy Fawkes, or The Gunpowder Treason: An Historical Romance. With 22 illustrations by George Cruikshank. London: Cunningham & Mortimer, 1841 (first edition). Rpt., London: George Routledge & Sons, n. d. [See the text and images of the novel posted in May 2013 at Project Gutenberg Australia's website: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1302021h.html .]

Vann, J. Don. "Guy Fawkes in Bentley's Miscellany, January 1840-Noevember 1841." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. P. 20.

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Last modified 27 August 2018