The sixteenth-century Morality Play Everyman (1500) was praised by Eliot for its versification, which he emulated in his own play. Readers of Murder in the Cathedral will quickly notice how Eliot incorporated this play's use of symbolic characters, like Death, Kindred, and Beauty, into the Three Tempters in his work.

John Milton's Samson Agonistes (1671) is a religious drama in verse, much like Eliot's play. It delves into the Biblical hero Samson's captivity among the Philistines and his quest to renew his faith in God.

Barry Unsworth's 1995 novel Morality Play explores the lives of performers of medieval dramatic works and raises questions similar to those in Eliot's play, especially regarding how the law of man, contrasted with the law of God, can be manipulated to serve the interests of the powerful.

Sophocles's Antigone, a tragedy from the 5th century B.C., is quite similar to Murder in the Cathedral in its examination of the conflict between human and divine law. This play also features a Chorus, much like the one in Eliot's play.

Eliot's verse, particularly "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Journey of the Magi," and The Waste Land, shares many themes with Murder in the Cathedral, such as individual spiritual decay, the yearning to be guided by a higher authority than man, and the fear of the unknown.