Once again, I'm not sure if this really qualifies for my 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge. I think I have a vague memory of reading this back in college. And it is shorter than 100 pages. However, I'm including it anyway, because 1) I read it 2) It's a classic!
Murder in the Cathedral is a play that T.S.Eliot wrote for a religious occasion. It is written in a way that very conscientiously copies an Ancient Greek Tragedy. Most of the play is written as a poem in Eliot's unparalleled style; moving, uncannily accurate, yet at the same time, mysterious in its power. What a poet! I love Eliot because although he is modern, he hearkens back to when poetry was truly accessible to the unsophisticated reader. You can read him at so many levels and yet he packs a wallop.
The play begins when St. Thomas a Becket is returning to England after seven years in exile in France. The women of Canterbury act as the chorus would in a Greek play, setting the scene and the mood, which is full of foreboding. This continues through the play. There is danger in air. Thomas is long-awaited and beloved of the people of Canterbury but they fear for his life. Thomas had realized that he can no longer hide in France but must come back to shepherd his flock. The King, Henry II, was his great friend back when he was secular and served as the king's Chancellor. However, after Henry made him Archbishop (in hopes of controlling the church's power in England) Thomas experiences a conversion and becomes a devoted Christian, much to the ire of the king.
There's no real action to speak of here, except at the very moment when Thomas is murdered. Before this we have the women of Canterbury talking, the priests of Canterbury's response to news of his return, greeting him and then trying to protect him when they realize there's an attempt being made on his life. There are four tempters, abstract beings, who come in and are devices through which it is revealed to us Thomas' thoughts as he reacts to each of their temptations. We know Thomas struggles with a love of worldly success and pride. The great temptation for Thomas is becoming a martyr for his own vainglory instead of for Christ. One dominant theme throughout the play is that Thomas doesn't choose martyrdom but rather bravely meets his inevitable fate in accepting his martyrdom.
Eliot is brilliant in that the language leading up to the murder is written in highly evocative poetry. Once the murder happens, which is the only real action of the play and in full, brutal view of the audience, the language switches to prose. The four knights, who've just stabbed Thomas to death, turn and talk to the audience in tones that are very ordinary, reasonable and overly polite. They talk rather like tired political men in a parliamentary debate discussing some minor issue. It is actually funny! And yet it conveys how worldly, blind, banal and self-serving our earthly realm is. One sees immediately how Thomas was truly otherworldly and Christlike.
The end of the play is very emotional. Instead of being bleak, as everything was leading up to the terrible sin of murder, a sense of light breaks through. Everyone is deeply inspired by Thomas' great example. The universal need for God's mercy becomes a palpable one. In the end one feels spiritual strength because Thomas was strong.
There is so much to this play. The metaphors, the deeper spiritual meanings, the religious references abound! I was glad to revisit it. Really I had so little memory of the first time I read it, it was like I had never read it before! I highly recommend it. I would love to see it performed somewhere.
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