After having finished the second book of V for Vendetta, far from unsettling, I would say that reading all of the anarchistic viewpoint, contrasted with the sleazy underworld--and corrupt elite--makes me feel a little giddy at times. Some of it feels like a brazen kid walking out his high school bathroom as he's putting a cigarette out.
Don't Get me wrong, I totally love V.
I love when something is inverted. Take the Guy Fawkes mask, and V's blowing up parliament on Guy Fawkes Day.
The rhyme that V sings:
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, taw’s his intent
To blow up King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
A variant on the foregoing:
Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot!
A stick or a stake for King James' sake
Will you please to give us a faggot
If you can't give us one, we'll take two;
The better for us and the worse for you!
Traditionally the following verse was also sung, but it has fallen out of favour because of its content.
A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah hoorah!
Another piece of popular doggerel:
Guy, guy, guy
Poke him in the eye,
Put him on the bonfire,
And there let him die.
The easiest place to find these songs was on Wikipedia, so that is where I copied them.
Now, the gunpowder treason was a reactionary backlash against Queen Elizabeth, by a Catholic group. As this nursery rhyme makes apparent, Guy Fawkes was not a beloved figure. The song, and the November Fifth--a national holiday in Britain--is a celebration of the state. V uses it as a celebration against the state. Rather than making Guy Fawkes into the traditional villain, instead we get Guy Fawkes as an actual liberator. Rather than using the idea of Guy Fawkes as a tool to continue the status quo, V uses Fawkes as a way of subverting the status quo.
I find this all delightful and is one of the reasons that I am enjoying the book so much.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment