Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral,verse drama by T.S. Eliot, produced and published in 1935.
In A.D. 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket returns to Canterbury from his seven-year exile in France. A women's chorus represents the helpless attitude of the common people toward the schism between church and state, while the ecclesiastical party is represented by Becket's priests, and the royal party by the officers of Henry II. The archbishop, having established relations with the Pope and the king of France, is determined to bring the argument to a crisis, even though he realizes that his life is at stake. Four Tempters show the inner conflict involved in his decision: his youthful love of pleasure, his later ambition for power, the demands of the feudal barons, and the desire for martyrdom. Rejecting all four, he is certain that he must give his life “to the Law of God above the Law of Man,” and on Christmas morning delivers a sermon defending this position....
[The entire page is 235 words long]
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