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Murder in the Cathedral

            Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in September 26th 1888. A poet, playwright and a literary critic, TS Eliot became a man that paved the way for the advancement of Anglo-American literature. According to most people he became the prime leader of the modernist movement in the field of Literature as his poetry and drama revolutionized the genres, as did his critical analysis of different forms of literature. His revitalizing work finally awarded him the Noble Peace Prize of Literature in 1948.
             "Murder in the Cathedral" is TS Eliot's version of the murder of Thomas Beckett by 4 Royal Knights when they overheard the king wishing that the Archbishop (Thomas Beckett) would be taken care of. Despite the lack of importance the King put into these words, the knights proceeded to fulfill his wish and murdered the bishop. TS Eliot decided to make the drama more psychological, as he was deeply engrossed in the ever increasing secular world. Being highly religious, he proceeded in including a moving message in the play about martyrdom and power; the might that was shared between the crown and the church.
             Being a literature modernist, TS Eliot had not forgone a sense of unorthodox workings in his play. His play challenges contemporary values and attitudes by focusing on points that were ignored in the world of depression and post World War 1. The 1930's been the year of Depression (or at least the end of it) and was a fairly peaceful period in the wake of the devastating World War and the economic stagnation caused by the depression. Drama and other forms of literature that were published in the time frame were based on the themes of comedy or romance. A drama such as "Nagy Szerelem" (A Great Love) that was made in 1935 had obvious romantic appeal. The reason for this trend was to cheer up the battered spirits of a country overwhelmed by war and living in poverty. "Murder in the Cathedral" however leant more towards the religious side of drama and not only is it based on a notion that was overtaken by leaps in technology and the current political forecast but it had a sad, almost tragic pace as it replays the murder of Thomas Beckett.


Essays Related to Murder in the Cathedral

1. Murder in the Cathedral

... ; we acknowledge/ That the sin of the world is upon our heads; that the blood of the martyrs and the agony of the saints/ Is upon our heads'"' (Murder 88). Realizing the state of despair they are in the chorus asks for mercy and forgiveness, calling out in the last lines, '"'Lord, have mercy upon us./ Christ have mercy upon us'"' (88). A close look into the characters of Murder in the Cathedral reveals that, '"'Murder in the Cathedral is not just ... a dramatization of the death of Thomas Becket; it is a deep-searching study of the significance of martyrdom'"' (Jones 59). Eliot takes the...

  • Word Count: 1484
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Murder in the Cathedral

... and so Thomas avoids them. Hence this value is accepted in today's society and present context. The attitude towards power in murder in the cathedral is prominent throughout the text. It can be divided into religious power, the power held by the church and those in high positions in the church, and kingly power, the power held by kings. The power held by the church was revered in the past. Since society was so heavily based on religion ... prominent figureheads in the community. The priests would preach to the people and so their views held much power in society. The people looked to th...

  • Word Count: 1169
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Murder in the Cathedral

... first book of poems, Prufrock and Other Observations, was published in 1917. The Waste Land, for which he won the Dial Award, was published in 1922. In addition to his large body of poetry, Eliot wrote a number of 'verse' dramas including Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Cocktail Party. Murder in the Cathedral With his best-known play, Murder in the Cathedral (1935), based on the murder of Thomas Becket, Eliot hoped to revive poetic drama. Commissioned for ... the 1935 Canterbury Festival, it is an effective combination of theater, liturgy, and verse. Thomas Beckett ...

  • Word Count: 1325
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Medieval Church Cathedrals

... enamel background, with details picked out in gold and the faces raised up in relief. The casket depicted scenes of his murder, burial and ascent into paradise. His soul is carried aloft by angels. A full-length portrait of him was included in the mosaic decoration of the cathedral of Monreale. Saints were also immortalized in the jamb figures located on either side of the main portal door. The first carved figures a visitor meets ... (www.bbc.co.uk). By the first half of the thirteenth century, the ... ...

  • Word Count: 443
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The Brilliance of T. S. Eliot

... declared that the "primary problem" in Hamlet is not the character but the play, because the character has to bear the burden of an "inexpressible" emotion "in excess of the facts as they appear." Though he never himself accepted the honor, he is ranked as the most famous and influential literary critic of the 20th century. Eliot as Playwright Main Plays Sweeney Agonistes Murder in the Cathedral The Rock The Family Reunion The Cocktail Party The Confidential Clerk The Elder ... Statesman Eliot later tried his hand at plays, beginning with "Sweeney Agonistes ," (published 1926; first p...

  • Word Count: 4134
  • Approx Pages: 17
  • Grade Level: High School

6. historical background of The Murder in the Cathedral

... quest for a modern poetic drama.The effectiveness of 'the Rock'choruses ensured that the device would become an important feature of 'Murder in the Cathedral',although in the later the effects were more varied and dramatic. The Canterbury Festival had begun in 1928 with John Masefield's 'The Coming of Christ'.Canterbury was not only the arch-diocese of the country ;it was the most ancient Christian shrine in the land ,santified by the 'hooly blisful man whose cult was ... the reason for Chaucer's Canterbury Piligrim's journey.When George Bell, Bishop of Chicester ... ...

  • Word Count: 448
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Growth of Novels In The Victorian Age

... a murder mystery. In the opening chapter a drowned man is found floating on Thames. The Italian writer Italo Calvino has called the novel "an unqualified masterpiece, both in its plot and in the way it is written." The Mystery of Edwin Drood was published in 1870, but Dickens did not manage to finish it. He planned to produce it in 12 monthly parts, but completed only six numbers. The story is chiefly set in the cathedral ... city of Cloisterham and opens in an opium den. "Ye've smoked ... as many as five since ye come in at midnight," the woman goes on, as he chronically complains. "P...

  • Word Count: 6746
  • Approx Pages: 27

8. The Armenian Holocaust

... quickly irritated the Sultan and during a peaceful protest in a cathedral in the Turkish city of Erzurum, the Sultan dispatched a battalion to attack the protesters killing over a dozen and wounding over two hundred. This marked the first occasion since the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks where Christians resisted soldiers in Turkey.4 This rise in Armenian Nationalism expressed by the ARF sparked the initial massacres of 1894. The first of these attacks took place in the Armenian city ... he or she paid the appropriate taxes. Unfortunately for the Armenians, the Muslims lacked t...

  • Word Count: 1964
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. English Literature in the Twentieth century

... popularity much beyond their own time. The use of poetry in drama has a long history. In the first half of the twentieth century, several poets contributed to a short-lived revival of poetic drama. T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral (1935), on the subject of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, had a considerable impact; but the plays which followed, most notably The Cocktail Party (1950), blend the London West End theatrical conventions with poetic ... diction rather less comfortably. In the 1930s, the poet W.H. Auden also contributed to several plays...

  • Word Count: 10566
  • Approx Pages: 42

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