Murder in the Cathedral

1935

Brasch PS3509 L43 M8

London: Faber and Faber

Eliot retells the story of Thomas Becket’s martyrdom in this modernist saint’s life and adaptation of medieval liturgical drama. Setting his verse drama in the days leading up to Becket’s assassination by four of the King’s knights, Eliot dramatises the conflict between Becket (the Archbishop of Canterbury) and Henry II, and explores issues of faith, politics, and the common good. He portrays Becket’s internal struggle as he faces four tempters and must overcome the spiritual threat posed by the Fourth Tempter, who offers martyrdom for the ‘wrong reason,’ for the everlasting glory it promises.