Stearns Eliot, Thomas - Murder in the Cathedral

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Discover T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral," a pivotal play created for the 1935 Canterbury Festival. It examines Thomas Becket's profound inner conflict and martyrdom, emphasizing themes of faith, ambition, and the tension between divine will and personal ambition.

Concetti Chiave

  • The play was commissioned for the Canterbury Festival in 1935, focusing on Thomas a Beckett's murder due to his opposition to Henry II.
  • Eliot emphasizes Beckett's internal conflict and doubts about martyrdom, questioning whether it's for God's glory or personal ambition.
  • The murder scene depicts Beckett accepting his fate, drawing parallels to the Negative Way of St. John of the Cross, embracing suffering for spiritual triumph.
  • Eliot's poetic style shifts based on characters: Priests speak in frantic, broken lines, while Beckett uses calm, liturgical language.
  • The Knights speak in verse, employing rhythmic and rhymed expressions that parody hymns, contrasting with Beckett’s solemn prose prayer before his death.

What was Eliot's inspiration for the play?

The play as written for the Canterbury Festival of June 1935, for which Eliot had been invited by the bishop of Winchester to write something on some episodes of local history. Eliot chose the murder, by four Knights, of Thomas a Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral. The murder was the result of his opposition to Henry II (1170).
Yet, instead of representing Beckett's personal struggle with his outer enemies, Eliot focused on his inner conflict , on his temptations and even on his doubts about the nature of his martyrdom: did he really seek it for God's greater glory or, ambitiously, for his own? The answer to this question comes at the end of the play when, offering his blood for Christ's blood, Beckett accepts death in His name.

The murder scene

The scene opens with the priests' hysterical attempts to bar the door and save the Archbishop. But Beckett, with a violence reminiscent of Christ in the Temple among the merchants, orders them to open the church and let the enemy in, since it is out of time that his decision is taken and because it is through suffering that will now conquer. There is here the same conception of the Negative Way of St, John of the Cross: it is "by fighting , by stratagem or by resistance" that he will triumph, but by giving himself up, annulling himself in God's will. He has already conquered the "beast", for example the temptation to die for his own personal glory, a "BEAST" that is even worse than the four beasts named by the priests (lion, leopard, wold and boar), and is now ready to face the other "beast" embodied by the knights . So he does not oppose them and is killed.

Eliot's poetic style

Eliot's poetic style varies, in this scene, according to the characters. The Priests' language ia mainly short and broken, marked by urgency , as of scared people . Beckett, however, after his first outburst, speaks in calm, simple, unrhymed lines, insisting on using certain words and images, especially "blood and death", which had a liturgical tone in his sentences. The "slightly tipsy" Knights, on the contrary , speak in verse: at first all together, in rhyme quatrains all ending in repetitive rhythmical expressions , then separately , accusing Beckett with one-line sentences built on the same

rhythm and rhyme pattern, an irreverent parody of hymns. Taking up the same rhythm and their last word "traitor", the Archbishop answers the knights' accusations and reveals their treachery . Then , with a last prayer in prose ,

which sounds like one leg verse, he dies , commending his soul and the Catholic Church to God Almighty.

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Domande da interrogazione

  1. What inspired Eliot to write the play for the Canterbury Festival?

    2. Eliot was invited by the bishop of Winchester to write about local history for the Canterbury Festival in June 1935. He chose the murder of Thomas a Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral, focusing on Beckett's inner conflict and temptations rather than his external struggles.

  2. How does Eliot depict the murder scene in the play?

    3. The murder scene begins with the priests' frantic attempts to protect Beckett, who instead orders them to open the church to his enemies. Beckett's decision reflects the Negative Way of St. John of the Cross, as he triumphs not by resistance but by surrendering to God's will, having overcome his personal temptations.

  3. How does Eliot's poetic style vary among characters in the play?

    4. Eliot uses different poetic styles for each character. The priests speak in short, urgent lines, while Beckett uses calm, unrhymed language with liturgical tones. The knights speak in rhymed quatrains, parodying hymns, and Beckett responds with a rhythmic pattern before dying with a prayer.

  4. What is the significance of Beckett's inner conflict in the play?

    5. Beckett's inner conflict is central to the play, as it explores whether his martyrdom is for God's glory or his own ambition. This question is resolved when Beckett offers his blood for Christ's, accepting death in His name, highlighting the theme of self-sacrifice and spiritual triumph.

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