Editing Murder in the Cathedral

{{Short description|Play by T. S. Eliot}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Thomas Becket Murder.JPG|thumb|Thirteenth-century [[manuscript illumination]] depicting Becket's assassination]]

'''''Murder in the Cathedral'''''  is a [[verse drama]] by [[T.S. Eliot|T. S. Eliot]], first performed in 1935 (published the same year). The play portrays the assassination of [[Archbishop]] [[Thomas Becket]] in [[Canterbury Cathedral]] during the reign of [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writing of [[Edward Grim]], a clerk who was an eyewitness to the event.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/middle_ages/thomas_becket_henry_ii/revision/6/|title=Thomas Becket and Henry II|publisher=BBC}}</ref>

Some material that the producer asked Eliot to remove or replace during the writing was transformed into the poem "[[Burnt Norton]]".<ref>Eliot, T.S., ''New York Times Book Review'', 29 November 1953<br>Cited and quoted in: ''T.S. Eliot: Four Quartets'',
A casebook edited by Bernard Bergonzi, Macmillan, London, 1969, page 23</ref>

==Plot==
The action occurs between 2 and 29 December 1170, chronicling the days leading up to the [[martyr]]dom of [[Thomas Becket]] following his absence of seven years in France. Becket's internal struggle is a central focus of the play.

The book is divided into two parts. Part one takes place in the Archbishop Thomas Becket's hall on 2 December 1170. The play begins with a Chorus singing, foreshadowing the coming violence. The Chorus is a key part of the drama, with its voice changing and developing during the play, offering comments about the action and providing a link between the audience and the characters and action, as in Greek drama. Three priests are present, and they reflect on the absence of Becket and the rise of temporal power. A herald announces Becket's arrival. Becket is immediately reflective about his coming martyrdom, which he embraces, and which is understood to be a sign of his own selfishness—his fatal weakness. The tempters arrive, three of whom parallel the [[Temptations of Christ]].

The first tempter offers the prospect of physical safety.
{{poemquote|
Take a friend's advice. Leave well alone, 
Or your goose may be cooked and eaten to the bone.
}}

The second offers power, riches, and fame in serving the King.
{{poemquote|
To set down the great, protect the poor,
Beneath the throne of God can man do more?
}}

The third tempter suggests a coalition with the barons and a chance to resist the King.
{{poemquote|
For us, Church favour would be an advantage,
Blessing of Pope powerful protection
In the fight for liberty. You, my Lord,
In being with us, would fight a good stroke
}}

Finally, a fourth tempter urges him to seek the glory of [[martyrdom]].
{{poemquote|
You hold the keys of heaven and hell.
Power to bind and loose: bind, Thomas, bind,
King and bishop under your heel.
King, emperor, bishop, baron, king:
}}

Becket responds to all of the tempters and specifically addresses the immoral suggestions of the fourth tempter at the end of the first act:

{{poemquote|
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.
}}

The Interlude of the play is a sermon given by Becket on Christmas morning 1170. It is about the strange contradiction that Christmas is a day both of mourning and rejoicing, which Christians also do for martyrs. He announces at the end of his sermon, "it is possible that in a short time you may have yet another martyr". We see in the sermon something of Becket's ultimate peace of mind, as he elects not to seek sainthood, but to accept his death as inevitable and part of a better whole.

Part II of the play takes place in the Archbishop's Hall and in the cathedral, 29 December 1170. Four knights arrive with "Urgent business" from the king. These knights had heard the king speak of his frustration with Becket and had interpreted this as an order to kill Becket. They accuse him of betrayal, and he claims to be loyal. He tells them to accuse him in public, and they make to attack him, but priests intervene. The priests insist that he leave and protect himself, but he refuses. The knights leave and Becket again says he is ready to die. The chorus sings that they knew this conflict was coming, that it had long been in the fabric of their lives, both temporal and spiritual. The chorus again reflects on the coming devastation. Thomas is taken to the cathedral, where the knights break in and kill him. The chorus laments: "Clear the air! Clean the sky!", and "The land is foul, the water is foul, our beasts and ourselves defiled with blood."

At the close of the play, the knights address the audience to defend their actions. While the rest of the play is in verse, their speeches of justification are in strikingly contemporary prose. They assert that while they understand their actions will be seen as murder, it was necessary and justified, so that the power of the church should not undermine the stability of the state.

==Performances==
[[File:Murder in the Cathedral (movie poster).jpg|frame|right|Movie poster for ''Murder in the Cathedral'']]

===First performance===
[[George Bell (bishop)|George Bell]], the [[Bishop of Chichester]], was instrumental in getting Eliot to work as writer with producer [[E. Martin Browne]] in producing the pageant play ''[[The Rock (play)|The Rock]]'' (1934). Bell then asked Eliot to write another play for the [[Canterbury Festival]] in 1935. Eliot agreed to do so if Browne once again produced (he did). The first performance of ''Murder in the Cathedral'' was given on 15 June 1935 in the Chapter House of Canterbury Cathedral. [[Robert Speaight]] played the part of Becket. The production then moved to the [[Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate]] in London and ran there for several months.  In 1947 it was performed by [[Pilgrim Players]] at the [[Gateway Theatre (Edinburgh)|Gateway Theatre]], [[Leith Walk]] in the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe 1947|first Edinburgh Festival Fringe]]. A significant performance of the play was held on 15 February 2018. Nithin Varghese, an assistant professor at [[St Berchmans College]] in [[Changanassery]], directed the play for the first time in [[Kerala]]. This performance was part of the golden jubilee celebration of the postgraduate program in English at the college. The play was staged on the outdoor stage located in front of the Arts Block, and received positive recognition from the audience for its adherence to [[T. S. Eliot]]'s original text.

===Television and film===
{{Main|Murder in the Cathedral (1951 film)}}
The play, starring [[Robert Speaight]], was broadcast live on British television by the [[BBC]] in 1936, during its first few months of broadcasting TV.<ref>{{Cite web| title=The History of the BBC: Here's Television – Part 3 | url=http://www.teletronic.co.uk/herestv3.htm | publisher=The Television History Resource Site | access-date=8 May 2009}}</ref>

The play was later made into a black and white film with the same title. It was directed by the Austrian director [[George Hoellering]] with music by the Hungarian composer [[Laszlo Lajtha]] and won the Grand Prix at the [[Venice Film Festival]] in 1951. It was released in the UK in 1952.<ref>''The New York Times'' Movie Reviews [https://www.nytimes.com/1952/03/26/archives/the-screen-in-review-eliots-murder-in-the-cathedral-britishmade.html Murder in the Cathedral]. Retrieved 23 October 2022.</ref><ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q3241557|title=Murder in the Cathedral|description=(1952)}}</ref> In the film the fourth tempter is not seen. His voice was that of Eliot himself. Hoellering wrote that "in stage productions [the knights' final] speeches amused the audience instead of shocking them, and thereby made them miss the point—the whole point of the play." In light of this, he asked Eliot for changes; and Eliot made major reductions to the speeches and added a shorter speech.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eliot |first1=T. S. |last2=Hoellering |first2=George |title=The Film of Murder in the Cathedral |date=1952 |publisher=Faber and Faber Limited |location=24 Russell Square, London, W. C. 1 |pages=13–14 |url=https://archive.org/details/filmofmurderinca0000elio/mode/2up }}</ref>

It was filmed by the ABC in 1962.<ref name="play">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/3-forgotten-australian-television-plays/|title=3 Forgotten Australian Television Plays|first= Stephen|last= Vagg|date=27 August 2022}}</ref>

===Opera===
The play is the basis for the opera ''[[Assassinio nella cattedrale]]'' by the Italian composer [[Ildebrando Pizzetti]], first performed at [[La Scala]], Milan, in 1958.

===Recordings===

Full-cast recordings of the play include the following, with the actor playing Becket.

* 1938 [[Reynolds Evans]] by ''[[Columbia Workshop]]'' (abridged for radio)
* 1953 [[Robert Donat]] by [[Angel Records]] 
* 1968 [[Paul Scofield]] by [[Caedmon Records]]
* 1976 [[Richard Pasco]] of [[The Royal Shakespeare Company]] by [[Argo Records]]
* 1988 [[Peter Barkworth]] by [[BBC Radio 4]] broadcast

==Criticism by Eliot==

In 1951, in the first [[Theodore Spencer]] Memorial Lecture at [[Harvard University]], Eliot criticised his own plays in the second half of the lecture, explicitly the plays ''Murder in the Cathedral'', ''[[The Family Reunion]]'', and ''[[The Cocktail Party]]''. The lecture was published as ''Poetry and Drama'' and later included in Eliot's 1957 collection ''On Poetry and Poets''.

==Parodies==
In Series 3, episode 2 (1972), ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' used the play as the basis for the weight loss product informercial, Trim-Jeans Theater:

{{blockquote|
Priest: I am here. No traitor to the King.

First Knight: Absolve all those you have excommunicated.

Second Knight: Resign those powers you have arrogated.

Third Knight: Renew the obedience you have violated.

Fourth Knight: Lose inches off your hips, thighs, buttocks and abdomen.
}}

In 1982, the play was lampooned by the Canadian/US TV comedy show ''[[Second City Television|SCTV]].'' In a typically surreal SCTV sketch, the play is presented by [[NASA]] and "[[Buzz Aldrin]]'s [[Project Mercury|Mercury III]] Players,"  with space-suited [[astronauts]] as the actors, and proceedings narrated by [[Walter Cronkite]] as if they were a NASA Moon mission. "[Spacesuit transmission from astronaut] Mission control ... I think we've found a body."  The mission is aborted when the doors of the cathedral will not open, and not even Becket's [[Extra-vehicular activity]] can open them.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[E. Martin Browne|Browne, E. Martin]]. ''The Making of T.S. Eliot's Plays''. London: Cambridge University Press, 1969.
* Browne, E. Martin.  "T.S. Eliot in the Theatre: The Director's Memories", ''T. S. Eliot – The Man and His Work'', [[Allen Tate|Tate, Allen]] (ed), Delta, New York, 1966
* Hoellering, George. "Filming Murder in the Cathedral." ''T.S. Eliot: A Symposium for His Seventieth Birthday''. Ed. Neville Braybrooke. New York: Books for Libraries, 1968. pp.&nbsp;81–84
* [[Russell Kirk]] "Eliot and His Age: T. S. Eliot Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century". Wilmington: ISI Books, 2nd Edition, 2008.
* [[Robert Speaight]]. "With Becket in ''Murder in the Cathedral''", ''T. S. Eliot – The Man and His Work'', Tate, Allen (ed), Delta, New York, 1966.
* Roy, Pinaki. “''Murder in the Cathedral'': Revisiting the History of Becket’s Assassination". ''T.S. Eliot’s 'Murder in the Cathedral': A Critical Spectrum''. Eds. Saha, N., and S. Ghosh (Sanyal).  [[Kolkata]]: Books Way, 2014 ({{ISBN|978-93-81672-74-7}}). pp.&nbsp;45–52.
* Colella, Massimo, «Vivendo e in parte vivendo». Fenoglio traduttore di Eliot, in «Italianistica», XLIII, 2, 2014, pp.&nbsp;145–151.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{FadedPage|id=20200965|name=Murder in the Cathedral}}
* Edward Grim's account of the murder of Thomas Becket from his ''[[s:Edward Grim's account of the murder of Thomas Becket|Life of Thomas Becket]]''
* [https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-canterbury-1935-murder-in-the-cathedral-1935-online Canterbury 1935:Murder in the Cathedral] at the [[British Film Institute]]

{{T. S. Eliot}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murder in the Cathedral}}
[[Category:1930s debut plays]]
[[Category:1935 plays]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Thomas Becket]]
[[Category:Plays set in England]]
[[Category:Works set in churches]]
[[Category:Plays based on real people]]
[[Category:Martyrdom in fiction]]
[[Category:Plays by T. S. Eliot]]
[[Category:Plays set in the 12th century]]
[[Category:Plays based on actual events]]