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Murder in the Cathedral
The chorus in Murder in the Cathedral is composed of ordinary women of Canterbury who are neither saints like Thomas Becket nor sinners like the Knights. They are, like the audience, onlookers who...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The four temptations faced by Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, are variations on the three temptations Jesus faced when Satan tempted him in the desert, plus a fourth. As the play...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Martyrdom is undoubtably a central theme in 'Murder in The Cathedral' by T.S. Eliot. Before beginning any assignment on a theme, be sure you know what the terms mean. A martyr is someone who is...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The first reason why T. S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" is called a poetic play is that it is written in poetry rather than prose. There are many other qualities, though, that make it...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Chorus in the play Murder in the Cathedral by T.S Eliot is a group of Canterbury women (Though, no definite number of women is mentioned). Dramatically very significant in the play, the chorus is...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The first three tempters offer Becket reward in this life in return for his taking back his judgments against the King. They are, in some ways, reminiscent of the three temptations of Jesus at the...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The four knights in Murder in the Catherdral act as agents of King Henry II and actually carry out the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. At the end of the play, three of the four...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The entire play is built around the inevitable death of Thomas as he chooses to be obedient to God and God's call on his life rather than give in to the king's commands, which Thomas views as being...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The historical events behind Eliot's verse drama pertain to an on-going quarrel between King Henry II--who is reported to have shouted, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"--and Thomas...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The chorus in Murder in the Cathedral functions like a chorus in a Greek drama, commenting on the play's unfolding action. The women who comprise the chorus voice the thoughts of the average...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The story of what happened between Thomas a Becket and Henry 11, King of England is certainly tragic, and the themes and causes that run through it certainly have roots in religious issues. The...
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Murder in the Cathedral
In his play Murder in the Cathedral, T. S. Eliot makes use of the chorus found in Ancient Greek plays. In Ancient Greek plays, the chorus was a group of characters who "described and commented upon...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The qualities that set Murder in the Cathedral apart from a typical realist drama of the 1930s are its use of a Greek chorus and its Medieval miracle play motif. Murder in the Cathedral is a...
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Murder in the Cathedral
While Becket has honorable qualities and espouses his ambitions as being toward holiness only, his world view permitted competition against the ambitions of the King of England to be an element of...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral is about the Archbishop of Canterbury's moral struggle against Henry II. Henry has stripped him of the chancellorship of England because the archbishop has excommunicated...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The scene containing the knights' speech provides comic relief, and its function is to force the audience to think about the gravity of the situation. The knights and their justification of the...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The three priests function as a group in a similar fashion to a Greek chorus early in the play, in that they speak to the audience about Becket before he comes onstage. However, the priests are not...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Hello! 'Murder In The Cathedral' highlights the controversial enmity between King Henry II and Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket's eventual murder at the hands of knights loyal to...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot is a drama based on real-life assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. The play is derived from the eyewitness account provided by...
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Murder in the Cathedral
It is interesting to consider this question by not only considering the external conflict between King Henry and Thomas, but also to think about the internal conflict that Thomas himself faces as...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Technically, Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot, does not portray modern drama, as it is not a play about the making of modern plays, but instead it is a modern drama, and can be said to...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The title simply states what happened: Thomas a Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral.Eliot's play is based on real events. In the twelfth century, England's King Henry II clashed with the...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Thomas Becket is the tragic hero in this play for two reasons. One, his friendship with Henry II, who supposedly made the comment, "Will anyone rid me of this priest?!" in the midst of his guards...
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Murder in the Cathedral
T.S. Eliot was first and foremost a poet, and in this 1935 play, commissioned by George Bell, the bishop of Chichester, to critique Nazi abuses of power, Eliot writes primarily in verse. In fact,...
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Murder in the Cathedral
In Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot, martyrdom is related to the the theme of obedience and the internal warfare within man of flesh vs spirit. The historical Thomas Becket was a friend to...
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Murder in the Cathedral
I would argue that Murder in the Cathedral doesn't so much concern the conflict between the individual and the state as that between an individual representing a higher social and moral principle...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The 4 Tempters and the 4 Knights may or may not be played by the same actors, but they are quite different. Just as the devil does when Jesus goes out into the wilderness, so also the Tempters come...
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Murder in the Cathedral
One of the really interesting aspects of this play is the way in which history is shown to merge with the present in a very real and tangible way. The play was originally written for performance as...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Author T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) wrote Murder in the Cathedral with the specific intent of it premiering at the 1935 Canterbury Festival in the cathedral's Chapter House--less than 200 feet from...
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Murder in the Cathedral
I am assuming you are referring to the play Murder in the Cathedral, not the Jean Anouilh’s version Becket. In this play, Thomas Becket does reply to the fourth tempter - after a short hesitation....
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Murder in the Cathedral
Did Thomas Becket have a tragic flaw? In the classical sense, I suppose you could say that his flaw was pride. However, that pride manifested itself in obedience to the church and fulfilling his...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Eliot sought to combine his poetic talent with the form of drama in this excellent and outstanding text. It is easy to see the massive influence that poetry has on this play, as there are only two...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Christianity is clearly at the very forefront of this play as Thomas in his position as Archbishop of Canterbury is forced to choose between devotion to God and his understanding of spirituality...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Although Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot takes place in a medieval Roman Catholic setting, the play itself strongly reflects Eliot's sensibility as an Anglo-Catholic, or member of the Church...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The chorus in Murder in the Cathedral functions in almost exactly the same way as a Greek Chorus: commenting on the deeds of the characters and interpreting the significance of events within the...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Because it's written in verse. You might hear it called a poetic play, or indeed, a "verse drama": all that means is that the dialogue is patterned into a verse form. If you looked at a...
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Murder in the Cathedral
T. S. Eliot's magnificent play, Murder in the Cathedral, deals with the last days of Thomas Becket following his return from exile in France in 1170. Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had spent...
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Murder in the Cathedral
It is very important to remember that Eliot wrote the play to be performed as part of the 1935 Canterbury Festival, and it was actually performed only a very short distance from the actual place...
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Murder in the Cathedral
T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral is based on an actual historical event, the murder of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, on December 29, 1170, in Canterbury Cathedral, probably at...
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Murder in the Cathedral
You will find it helpful in response to this question to analyse the function of the Chorus in Greek drama and compare it to how Eliot utilises the Chorus in this masterful example of modern drama....
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Murder in the Cathedral
I believe this play's themes can be considered "modern," and that the play itself, then, can be considered a modern drama. If one looks at the play literally, there are still places in the world...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The political comparison that is clear from this play is the temptation of power and the battle that occurs when different parties believe that they have the most power and should be obeyed. This...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral and Waste Land have some similarities, and many diffierences. It would be impossible to go through all of them. But one major similarity, which was prominent in much of...
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Murder in the Cathedral
You would do well to view the Chorus in this excellent play as a continuation of the kind of Chorus that is found in ancient Greek plays. The Chorus functions as something of an intermediary or a...
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Murder in the Cathedral
In T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral, one reason Archbishop Thomas Becket is isolated is due to the fact that he went into exile in France for seven years. The second reason Becket is...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The crucial point in this sequence in the play is, I think, the appearance of the Fourth Tempter. The Freudian id represents the hidden, unconscious desires of the individual which are often...
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Murder in the Cathedral
What is significant about the way in which Eliot uses history in this play is that he takes a historical event about which little is known and fleshes it out into a spiritual drama that...
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Murder in the Cathedral
The Chorus is a fascinating character in this play, as it performs a role that is similar to that of the Chorus in Greek tragedies in terms of being a character in the play, offering a commentary...
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Murder in the Cathedral
It is clear that the views and feelings of Thomas surrounding his death are used by Eliot to explore one of the central themes of the play, which can be described as the conflict between flesh and...
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Murder in the Cathedral
Before the Interlude, and after the four Tempters have completed their various attempts to encourage Thomas to swerve from his duty to the church and his faith, the Chorus, the three Priests and...