Post by Dennis of Ravenscar on Jun 25, 2014 10:37:05 GMT
Character Profile:
Sir Guy of Gisburne
“I’m not your whipping boy!”
“Aren’t you Gisburne?...” Guy of Gisburne & Robert de Rainault, The Children of Israel
Guy seems to be a rather tragic character and is perhaps the classic case of a deprived childhood. Our initial impression of the man when we first see him is as a Norman knight in his early twenties. He seems to be quite a capable soldier although he does seem to come off second best after any encounter with the outlaws. From what we can determine from his mother’s (Lady Margaret’s) account in the episode The Cross of St Ciricus, Guy’s childhood must have been a misery. It was a childhood deprived of love and the only emotions present were jealousy and vicious hatred.
A young Lady Margaret fell in love with a nobleman’s son. However, her father had already promised her to Lord Edmund of Gisburne for political reasons and to build alliances. When she was married to Edmund, Margaret duly followed her obligation and duty and tried hard to be a good wife. But try as she might she could never forget her young love. Edmund frightened her as he was cruel and violent and was subject to incredible rages. He also blamed her for failing to bear children. After several years, bored with his marriage, Edmund left England to gain fame and glory with King Richard in the Crusades. Margaret dreaded his return and wished him killed in some battle.
One winter’s day in December a messenger came with the news that Edmund was dead. Margaret was, not surprisingly, rather glad, although she did feel guilty as she couldn’t mourn his death and longed to be with the man she really loved.
The following April her love came to her and they married secretly hoping that the marriage would be accepted by her new husband’s father. However, fate was against them. Edmund was alive! He returned to find Margaret with child. Margaret begged for forgiveness and threw herself upon Edmund’s mercy. Edmund accepted her back, not on compassionate grounds but only because it was expedient to do with the social impact things would have otherwise.
When the child was born, Edmund became even more cruel and brutal, especially to the young Guy. Margaret feared for the child’s life. Edmund wanted to know Guy’s natural father but Margaret would not relinquish the information that he wanted. This resulted in Edmund having to accept the child for social and political reasons. While in company the atmosphere was cold but at home the atmosphere was one of pure hatred. Guy as a young boy was puzzled and hurt by his father’s lack of affection and would go running to his mother and ask why his father hated him so. In the end Edmund told him that he wasn’t his son and feeling betrayed from all sides Guy became more withdrawn and viewed his father and mother with equal venom. He never confided in his mother again and become much like his father; cold, remote and cruel. Guy’s real father was the Earl of Huntingdon. Margaret kept this fact from both the noblemen as the Earl already had a rightful heir, Robert of Huntingdon.
When he was old enough Guy left home and became a page in the service of the Duke of Gloucester, where perhaps Guy’s life took a turn for the better. Guy remembers his time there with fondness. He found some much needed love and respect in the Gloucester household although he managed to frequently spill the wine - a fact that the Duke never forgot and teased Guy about whenever they met. When King John divorced the Lady Gloucester Guy sided with them in setting up the pretender Arthur against King John and his new French bride. An understandable act since the Gloucesters were the closest thing he had to family. However, the Gloucester’s bid for power failed due to Robin’s intervention and Guy was lucky not to be implicated in the plot with them.
Later Guy became a Squire and then a Knight fighting in the wars in France, in the region of Argentan. He fought alongside a knight called Bertrand. Guy liked to think themselves as friends but from Bertrand’s point of view Guy was more of an acquaintance who happened to be fighting on the same side. When they later met after Guy had contacted him to help in hunting down Robin Hood, Bertrand teased Guy about his weight gain and his new scars. However, when Guy tried to remind Bertrand about rescuing him from some incident he denied all knowledge saying that Guy had him confused with someone else. Bertrand didn’t really like Guy and was only present because Guy happened to be paying the Brabancons for their time. When Guy gave orders to the Brabancons they looked to Bertrand for confirmation before proceeding with the orders. Bertrand also commented on Guy’s “bravery” when he attacked the sacred tree.
His first term of service was with the Abbot Hugo, where he was charged with keeping the forest clear of poachers. This led him to be called Guy the Gamekeeper by the local Saxons. It was here when he first came to blows with Robin and breached the codes of the feudal system by treating Robin as a serf instead as a Freeman. He promptly threw Robin and Much into prison for poaching without even allowing them a chance to give an explanation. Later he took service with the Sheriff as his steward, where he seemed to be torn between respect and hate for his new employer. On the one hand he seems desperate to please the Sheriff, getting the guards to cheer at de Rainault’s wedding and trying to capture Robin Hood. Yet also he resents Robert’s put-downs and insults and readily seeks other positions either with the Gloucester family or to take service with the Earl of Chester. From various episodes we can tell Guy has become a fair soldier, he survived the wars in France. He also scorns superstitions, which is to his credit in the case of the “bewitched” sword in Robin Hood and the Sorcerer. However, his lack of spiritualism is revealed in the Lord of the Trees when he succumbs to Herne’s curse and falls victim to voices in his head. Something that Hugo warned him about but Guy chose to ignore. As time progresses Gisburne learns from his mistakes and does try to improve himself. After being beaten by Robin in the initial episode he improves his sword fighting and stops to think before pursuing the outlaws into the forest. He also shows a strong display of logical thinking in trying to prove that Robert of Huntingdon was Robin Hood, by remembering the colour and type of a horse and by interrogating the torturer with the right questions to get Robert before he left. However, despite all these strengths Guy maintains a measure of arrogance over confidence that is a real hindrance both at court and on the field of battle. This is something both the outlaws and social rivals such as Ralph of Huntingdon use and exploit to get the better of him.
Guy does not seem to cope too well with women and is unable to deal with any emotional issues. This is probably due to his upbringing and lack of emotional exposure as a child, having learned to bury such things within himself. We can first see Guy’s approach to women when he creates trouble for Jennet and has her and her husband branded as witches after she had spurned his advances. He even terrorises the fellow villagers into providing evidence to force a conviction. When she accuses him of seduction in court Robert comments to Guy after he gives a blustered defence that she was trying to bewitch him with, “if she were to bewitch me I would be inclined to let her!” Guy doesn’t show any sign of concern for Jennet or her husband or the fate that they would have to face as convicted witches, and would probably dismiss any thoughts that he might have with the argument that a peasant should never refuse any demand of a noble. The only time when something stirs from within Gisburne is that he seems vaguely sympathetic to the Lady Mildred, as he can see what it is like being with someone that you don’t get on with. This slight rapport has dissipated later on, when in The Children of Israel he lusts after the Jewess, Rachel. He finally gets tired of the Sheriff’s complaints and decides to offer his services elsewhere. He notices Rachel one day at the castle and makes off with her after the confusion of the riots in Nottingham. He seems surprised that Rachel hates him for doing so, even though he let her father and family escape the riots. Guy thinks that she will fall for his magical charms and his position, and jettison all her commitments to her family and religion. When Rachel declares that she will never love him and that she will kill herself first Guy dismisses it with “Don’t be stupid”.
Guy displays the more sinister sides of his character in the first episode, where he mercilessly butchers Much’s father and mother and burns their home when they refuse to tell him where Robin and Much are. He also allowed the Brabancons to brutalise and presumably rape the women of Wickham in the Lord of the Trees. In The Enchantment Guy quite coolly cuts the rope and lets Ralph of Huntingdon plummet to his death. “The Sheriff was right. He said you’d go far.” With regards to religion Guy has no respect there either. He had no hesitation in posing as a leper to steal the sacred Cross of St Ciricus. I am of the impression that he was following the Sheriff’s orders to reduce the influence the Abbot had over the common people and the superstition of the Miracle Cures, although this is not made clear in the script.
Guy also demonstrates that he is quite the opportunist, and seeks to capitalise whenever he can on other people’s misfortunes, especially the Sheriff’s. When de Rainault loses his position to Philip Mark, Guy immediately offers his service to the new Sheriff, shoving de Rainault into the background whilst offering Philip a drink. He is also delighted when Philip exiles Robert to Sherwood in the night and provides him with “new” clothing as a disguise, although he does seem a little cautious with Philip’s praise of his achievements. However, when Philip is later killed Guy manages to retain his previous position when de Rainault is restored to power. I am always curious as to why this is. If I were de Rainault and I was let down by my retainer I would be loath to have him back should I get back into power. Perhaps it was because de Rainault knew Gisburne well and would be able to deal with him or perhaps he was focusing all his venom on the rather obnoxious de Guiscard. The triumph of getting back into power for de Rainault was reward enough and he could humiliate Gisburne later at his leisure.
Guy’s time for revenge seemed to come when he was “converted” to the sons of Fenris in The Time of the Wolf, and he is given the opportunity to kill the Sheriff when he refuses to join. However, he is reluctant to slit de Rainault’s throat with a knife, as he acknowledges the Sheriff’s entitlement to an honourable death being a nobleman. Guy seems to be very uncomfortable with the Sons of Fenris and the axe throwing games they enjoyed with the Sheriff. So, despite the hatred of the all the insults the Sheriff threw at him and with the betrayal and lies after the fiasco with the grain and William Brewer, Gisburne was quite happy to throw his lot in with the Sheriff, particularly when they think they’ve found the dead body of Robin Hood and can use it to gain favour with King John.
Although Guy doesn’t trust the Sheriff he sees de Rainault as a useful contact in promoting himself higher in status. For all his faults, Guy finds common ground with the Sheriff and anything that Robert will do, Guy can identify with. He displays a sense of loyalty and shows great cunning with King John in The Prophecy when he manages to get his man to infiltrate the outlaws. “Mark” gains their confidence and while trying to contact Gisburne is captured and imprisoned because Gisburne is also locked up, for losing some prisoners to the outlaws in an earlier encounter. When the outlaws come to rescue Mark, Guy has to be knocked unconscious by the escaping Mark so that he doesn’t raise the alarm and to gain the outlaws trust. Later Guy is released from jail to face a ranting King John who is rather annoyed about losing his prized prisoner, to say the least. Guy rather skilfully manipulates John to direct his anger against his Seneschal de Leon by stating that all John’s problems were his fault and if he has listened to him all these troubles could have been avoided . When John rounds on de Leon, he panics and unfortunately blusters that it was the King’s fault. A mistake that earns him a night in jail and a fall from John’s favour. Guy is also quick to proclaim John as King, when the news of Richard’s death arrives.
Initially Guy seems to be the fall guy character to which all the bad things happen. It is quite easy to have him portrayed as the grunt, the unfortunate fellow who always gets beaten by the outlaws. However, thanks to the writers we are able to see Guy in different situations interacting with different people. He is on the one hand very predictable in some situations but he is also able to behave quite differently in others and this is what makes him so interesting, perhaps more so than any of the “merries”, who mostly only act within the tight-knit group of outlaws. He is quite frequently the Sheriff’s whipping boy, but although he is obviously the less intelligent of the two, he tends to fare much better when left to his own devices. He is a man of action, but he is certainly capable of coming up with some very good ideas in his attempts to capture Robin Hood.
The notion of him being Robin’s half-brother is also a very poignant one. The Earl of Huntingdon seems pretty hard-nosed, but he obviously loves Robert and brought him up well. If Guy had had the same kind of background it is likely that he would be a completely different person. This hint that his character is redeemable, especially if he got away from the Sheriff, makes for a great many interesting speculations on his future after the end of Time of the Wolf, and I feel sure that if a fourth series had been made Gisburne’s future would have been decided.
“I’m a soldier, not a courtier.” The Prophecy
Robin, “Maybe Gisburne’s learning to think.”
John, “That makes him dangerous.” - Lord of the Trees
Written by Dennis of Ravenscar
First appeared in Nothing's Forgotten newsletter issue 4, July 1996