Of The Temptations Of Becket In Cathedral By T. S. Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral

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Recommended: Religion in Shakespeare

Matt Hershberger
English IV: Period 3
28 January 16, 2014
Relations of the Temptations of Becket and Jesus
In the play, Murder in the Cathedral, by T.S. Eliot, is a British play written in the 1930’s that tells a story of Archbishop Thomas Becket. Thomas Becket parts from England because of a past conflict with the king. When Thomas Becket returns to Canterbury, England there is a lot of turmoil among the ordinary people and the kingdom. Becket does not know if he should become close friends with the king, be acquaintances with the king, or to die as a martyr. Thomas Becket resembles Jesus because both are tempted with temporal pleasure, temporal power, and the glory of martyrdom.
First, Thomas Becket is tempted by a courtier to be led into temporal pleasure. The Tempter offers Becket the chance to recapture all the pleasure and power he had with the King (MC 39). The benefit of this temptation is that Becket will get to relive his past friendship and confident to the King (Alvarez 74). Thomas is very intelligent and has the wisdom to know the future consequences of this temptation if he is willing to accept. He knows the he cannot go against the Church because the Church is on his side. Becket also knows that that going back to past pleasures had been harmful to the King and himself (Staunton 1). Becket responds to the temptation telling him that he cannot repeat the past, and should allow God’s will to work in their lives (Moran 3).
Meanwhile, Thomas Becket has a choice to make amends with the King. The conflict of this temptation is Thomas vs. King Henry or the crown and the Church (Alvarez 75). Becket later rejects this temptation to stay true to the Church because he wants to be remembered for what he did for...

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...from all the others because he is looking at a mirror of his own desires. Becket feels dying a martyr is what God wants to be done, and that he is affiliated with death (Stockton 7). He knows that a martyr dies in imitation of Christ, yet is a smaller figure of Christ, and thinks it is the key to heaven.
In conclusion, Jesus and Becket compare equally because both are tempted with temporal pleasure, temporal power, the glory of martyrdom, and both are put to death for something they truly believed in and also for the sake of other that they care about. Jesus knows God’s will but he hesitates to fulfill and asks for more time, but comes to understand it is what his Father wants. Becket is tempted and gives into the temptation of dying a martyr, where Jesus did not have a choice to die. Both Jesus and Becket resist temptations but Becket falls into martyrdom.

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