T.S. Eliot: *Murder in the Cathedral* (1935)
*Murder in the Cathedral* is a verse drama by T.S. Eliot, written for the Canterbury Festival in 1935. It dramatizes the historical assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, transforming a political killing into a profound meditation on martyrdom, temptation, spiritual pride, and the conflict between Church and State.
**Plot Summary**
The play opens with a Chorus of the Women of Canterbury, expressing fear and foreboding. Thomas Becket returns after seven years of exile in France, following his bitter conflict with King Henry II. He is visited by four Tempters:
1. **First Tempter:** Offers sensual pleasure and careless ease.
2. **Second Tempter:** Offers power, wealth, and the office of Chancellor.
3. **Third Tempter:** Suggests an alliance with the barons against the King—political resistance.
4. **Fourth Tempter (the most subtle):** Urges Becket to seek martyrdom for earthly glory and posthumous fame—to do the right deed for the wrong reason.
Becket rejects all temptations, resolving to accept martyrdom not because he desires it but because he will not betray his conscience. On Christmas morning, he preaches a sermon on the true meaning of martyrdom. Four knights arrive from the King and, after a heated debate, murder Becket at the altar. The knights then address the audience directly, offering rational, legalistic justifications for their act. The Chorus laments and finally accepts the paradox: the blood of the saints fertilizes the Church.
**Major Themes**
- **Temptation and the Will:** The most dangerous temptation is spiritual pride—seeking martyrdom for self-glorification. Becket's famous line: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: / To do the right deed for the wrong reason."
- **The Chorus:** Eliot's Chorus represents ordinary human fear and suffering, unable to comprehend but finally witnessing transcendence.
- **Church vs. State:** The play explores the limits of political power. Becket insists: "The King is not the Church."
**Style and Legacy** Eliot uses varied verse forms—lyrical choruses, conversational blank verse, homiletic prose for Becket's sermon, and parodic rhymed couplets for the knights. The play is ritualistic and anti-naturalistic. *Murder in the Cathedral* remains a modern masterpiece of religious drama, admired for its poetic power, psychological depth, and unsentimental exploration of authentic faith and the cost of witness.