Q: Deeply explain the dramatic verse, “Murder in the Cathedral” by Thomas Stearns Eliot.
“Murder in the Cathedral” is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935 at Canterbury Cathedral. It is often called T. S. Eliot’s first play, and is probably Eliot’s
best-known play; his only completed work of historical drama. The play portrays
the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writing of Edward Grim, a clerk who was an eyewitness to the event.
The book is divided into two parts. Part one takes place in the Archbishop Thomas Becket’s hall on 2 December, 1170. The play’s most striking feature is the use
of a chorus in the Classical Greek manner.
Following this initial success, it had a long
critically acclaimed run at the Mercury
Theatre in London under Ashley Dukes and Martin Browne. It scored again in the WPA Theatre in New York, and in the spring following the liberation of France it succeeded in a translation by Henry Fluchele. The form of Murder is unique in that Eliot developed his new form and then, after writing this one play, he
decided that it was at a dead end and made no further use of It. Additionally, Francis Fergusson has so ably pointed out, Dante is
probably the most dramatic of poets, and the definition of dramatic form which Eliot derived from Dante can be applied with some success to Murder.
The play begins with the internal conflict of
Thomas Becket, Archbishop
of Canterbury, as he
faces the imminent threat of death at the hands of King Henry II’s knights. Set in Canterbury
Cathedral in the year
1170, the play revolves around the moral and spiritual
dilemmas faced by Becket as he confronts the clash between his
loyalty to God and his duties as a servant of the king. One
significant quote that encapsulates this tension is when Becket declares, “The last
temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
As Becket grapples with his fate and the consequences of his actions, he is
visited by four tempters who embody various worldly temptations including power,
glory, martyrdom, and peace. Each
tempter tries to sway Becket from his path, highlighting his inner
struggles and the external pressures he faces. One notable quotation that
exemplifies this is when the Fourth Tempter
entices Becket with the promise of peace through compromise, stating, “Peace, peace, peace! The last temptation is the greatest
treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
Eliot masterfully explores martyrdom, sacrifice, and the struggle for moral
integrity in the face of adversity. Becket’s unwavering commitment to his principles ultimately leads to his
martyrdom, as he chooses to defy the king’s authority and uphold the sanctity
of the Church. This theme is poignantly captured in Becket’s reflection, “Unbar the
doors! Throw open the doors! I will not have the house of prayer, the church of
Christ, The sanctuary, turned into a fortress.”
In the final act, Becket meets his fate with stoic acceptance,
embracing his martyrdom as a testament to his unwavering faith. As he faces his
assassins, he delivers a stirring speech affirming his dedication to God and the Church that proclaiming, “I am ready to
die, and for the right reason.” This climactic moment underscores the triumph of
spiritual conviction over worldly power, leaving a lasting impression on the
audience and inviting reflection on the nature of faith and sacrifice.
Throughout the verse, Eliot’s creations into intellectual life is his rejection of the barren, arid
quality of man’s Contemporary spiritual state, which is evidenced in the poems
by a number of “imagistic
forms Sand and dry rock, gashouse ugliness, sandwich paper litter, parvenu
vulgarity, Prostitution, hysteria, betrayal, death and half death; underlying
all of which are the two Main tokens of spirItual failure neutrality and
separation.” The
primary way in which this Chorus corresponds to its Greek ancestor has been touched upon by Eliot in “The Need for Poetic Drama,” where he points out that “the chorus has always fundamentally the same uses. It Mediates between
the action and the audience; it intensifies the action by projecting its Emotional
consequences, so that we as the audience see it doubly, by seeing its effect on
Other people.”
In conclusion, Eliot’s play “Murder in the
Cathedral” is a
rich and multifaceted play that explores a range of complex including power and politics, faith and religion, martyrdom, temptation,
suffering and redemption, the nature of leadership, and the conflict between
church and state. The play offers profound insights into the human condition and the
timeless struggle for moral integrity and spiritual fulfillment. Ultimately, the
play challenges audiences to reflect on the nature of power, the complexities
of religious belief, and the eternal Quest for meaning and purpose in a world
fraught with conflict and uncertainty. In accordance with, George Williamson has pointed out that for Eliot “the historical sense is a sense of the changing and the
permanent which sharpens the perception.”
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