Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot
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Book Reviews of Murder in the Cathedral
Book Review: Murder in the Cathedral
Summary: 5 Stars
In addition to writing poetry, Eliot wrote several plays. I've never seen one o the produced on stage, and I understand they're probably better read than seen. I think Murder in the Cathedral, which recounts the murder of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, is his finest drama.
Basically, the story deals with Thomas' spiritual transformation from a courtier to the king, who once enjoyed all the dividends of earthly success, to a churchman willing to die for the Faith. Having returned from exile in 1170 determined to obey the Pope rather than the King, Thomas struggles first with four tempters who seek to dissuade him. Pleasure and temporal power he easily resists. He's discerned what Eliot seeks to clarify in this play: only God truly shapes history, only God has rightful power.
But an unexpected fourth tempter challenged Thomas more deeply. He urges Thomas to become a martyr, to become a celebrated saint, and thus to control human events from the tomb. To this graver temptation, however, Thomas says no:
"Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:
Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.
. . . . . . . . . .
Servant of God has chance of greater sin
And sorrow, than the man who serves a king.
For those who serve the greater cause may make the cause serve them,
Still doing right: and striving with political men
May make that cause political, not by what they do
But by what they are."
With that discernment (forever needed by those of us who so easily misread our motives because our actions seem good), the archbishop resolves to follow God's way, the way of self-surrender and death. That death comes when three knights arrive, determined to implement the expressed desire of their king, and kill Thomas in the cathedral. Their dialogue illustrates the radical difference between the ways of the Church and those of the world. Thus, when his subordinate priests seek to lock the church doors and save his life, Thomas says: "Unbar the door! / You think me reckless, desperate and mad. / You argue by results, as this world does, / To settle if an act be good or bad." But the way of the Church is the way of Christ, the way of suffering and death. So he declares:
"I am here.
No traitor to the King. I am a priest,
A Christian, saved by the blood of Christ,
Ready to suffer with my blood.
This is the sign of the Church always,
The sign of blood. Blood for blood.
His blood given to buy my life,
My blood given to pay for His death,
My death for His death."
Death comes, the death of a martyr and saint. It's the stuff of which the Church is made . . . the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. Murder in the Cathedral reminds us of that enduring truth.
Book Review: English in spite of all
Summary: 5 Stars
This 1935 play is a gem in English drama.First, the tone, the style, the poetry are purely shakespearian. It gives the play a power it would otherwise never have. The biblical inspiration is not at all clear or direct. There are four tempters and temptations whereas Jesus only had three temptations and one tempter.
The play does not only recall the martyrdom of Thomas Becket. It shows he probably sinned, committed the sin of pride or vanity, though with the best intention : to establish the church as the supreme ruler. Yet this event is also the first fight between the English crown and the church, a fight that will culminate under Henry VIII with the creation of the Church of England.
The play is also a clear argumentation in favor of that extreme act for several reasons. One, sympathy for the underdog is not justice. Two, the killers were absolutely disinterested and were to be banished after the act. Three, this murder was necessary to strengthen the King's power, hence the country. Four, Thomas was a « monster of egotism » verging into mania and he committed « suicide while of unsound mind ».
But the play is a lot wider than that. It defends the simple people who suffer all the time. It defends those who possess some fraction of truth, for which it is worth dying if necessary. It advocates the most total and radical freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom to defend one's ideas to the bitter and bloody end that society will necessarily impose.
Finally it shows that England has three levels of power : the King, the barons and the church, and one level of constant fear and suffering, the people, the labourers. Here the church is curbed to the King's power. Later on the King's power will be curbed to the barons' power with John Landless, and that will be the beginning of parliamentary power, of democracy. Thomas Becket refuses to go that way, hence slowing down history by strengthening the King only and leading England into centuries of strife among barons and between two families to control the throne as the only source and center of power. Parliamentarism will only succeed fully in the seventeenth century. Thomas Becket's choice could have been different, from a political point of view that he refuses from the very start.
Was it a sacrifice for nothing ? We can ask the question because the people will go on suffering for ever and ever, no matter what, in this vision of history.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Book Review: "Blood for blood."
Summary: 5 Stars
The murder and subsequent martyrdom of Thomas Becket is always a chilling tale and one that poet T.S. Eliot does a masterful job in relating. "Murder in the Cathedral" is a look at Becket's return from France, after his fallout with King Henry II, and his murder by knights of the King. The play may be a difficult read for those unfamiliar with Becket's life, and those unused to Eliot's poetically styled play. Yet it is an intriguing look at one of the church's martyrs, told by a man who came to faith later in his life.
The first act of the play centers around Thomas Becket's return from France. He had fled there for a period of years in an effort to avoid the King, and their 'difference of opinion', to put it simply. Becket was first appointed Chancellor by Henry II, and then made Archbishop. King Henry II hoped that by granting Becket both titles he would have more control over the church; but Becket saw things differently, and roused the king's anger when he excommunicated several bishops. Throughout the first act, Becket is set upon by four temptors who reveal his fate to him, serving as a catalyst for readers to learn some of Becket's background and to know that he wasn't purely without fault.
The second act moves at a much faster pace than the previous, with the king's knights denouncing Thomas and trying to persuade him to reverse his decision. When Becket refuses, the knights return and kill Thomas at the altar of the church, a death that he gladly accepts as a martyr for his Lord. The most intriguing part of the play is when, after the brutal murder is completed, the knights turn to the audience and explain their reasons for killing Becket and why it was the right thing to do in an effort to preserve England. "Murder in the Cathedral" is a play that will make readers want to examine the events surrounding Becket's death, and leave them wondering if all those explanations at the end might be right after all.
Book Review: Haunting!
Summary: 5 Stars
My high school put on the play, "Murder in the Cathedral" for their fall drama in 1969. In retrospect, my guess is that few of the players and still fewer of the audience had any real idea as to the momentous events that the play dramatized. Yet, the language has lingered with me from that day to this, now close on forty years later:
"...the stubborn King, and the French King, in ceaseless intrigue, combination...
....meetings unending, and endless, at some place or the other in France...
....you will be left to your own devices, which must be paid for at higher prices...
....It does go against the grain a bit to kill an Archbishop, especially when one has been brought up in a strong Church tradition..."
The play, in fact, dramatized the struggle between Saint Thomas A' Becket and Henry II over the rights of Church and State. Truly, it was a classic confrontation between what ultimately became, under the Tudors, the power of the state relative to the rights of Holy Church. Now, as a high school junior, I had wanted, of course to play Thomas. I wound up as the lowly Second Priest. But, knowing now what I did not know then, I understand that I could not have done the Archbishop's character justice, as I was then a Protestant, at least nominally. In fact, the reasoning of Thomas, particularly with regard to the Temptors, was classic Catholicism.
The play is wonderfully rich in language and meaning. It can be read in one long sitting. And reading it is well worth the time and effort. Pick up this little book, and be richly blessed by the experience.
Book Review: Good Job TreeBeardBooks!!
Summary: 5 Stars
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