Is Thomas Beckett Martyring For Himself or Martyring For Christ

Isaac Atayero

Mr. John Campion

A.P. English Language

11/14/11

    In T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral,Thomas Beckett, the protagonist, has to decide whether his martyrdom will be for the sake of Christ or a selfish opportunity to be glorified after his inevitable death. By discerning Beckett’s actions during the play, one can arrive at the conclusion that Beckett chose to continue on his road to martyrdom for his own exaltation. From the very beginning of the play, the audience can figure out that Becket is an arrogant character and would want to do something as egotistical such as allowing himself to be martyred for acclamation.  When the fourth temptor comes to entice Becket with the opportunity to become a martyr for fame, Becket admits that he has already contemplated this. Another clue the reader gets that Becket wants to be martyred for his own glory occurs during the “Interlude” when he delivers a sermon that claims he wants to die for Christ and does not want the glory for himself but implies otherwise. With these facts, the reader can come to the expected decision that Beckett’s decision to be martyred is solely for the glory of martyrdom.

    Thomas Becket was the chancellor to Henry II of England but leaves his position when his king makes him Primate. From this experience, a person can infer that Thomas has problems with being humble and is quite hubristic.Thomas, strong-willed and arrogant, leaves for “seven years”(1025) only to return with intentions of being martyred. Thomas’ pride is neither a secret nor a little known fact for the first priest comments on Thomas’ exile as a conflict between “two proud men”(1026). The priest continues to make his point when he says that Thomas’ “pride always feeding upon his own virtues”(1026).  It is important to note that upon Thomas’ return, he is tempted by a royalist to regain his title as Chancellor. The ever-proud Thomas refuses this because “what was once exaltation, would now be only mean descent”(1030). Thomas prefers “to condemn kings”(1030) than to “serve among their servants”(1030). Thomas’ lack of humility becomes quite evident when he says this.The viewer can get a sense of how arrogant Thomas is after listening to Thomas proclaim :

      I, who keep the keys of heaven and hell, supreme alone in England, who bind

      and lose, with power from the Pope, descend to desire a punier power ?(1030).

Although church officials are supposed to be humble, Thomas is clearly not. Because Thomas is so proud and wants to be the king , he wishes “subjection to God alone”(1027). Because Thomas is “at one with the Pope, and with the King of France,”(1027) he begins to sense that his value has substantially increased and begins to become increasingly arrogant.

      Thomas also shows his lack of humility when “he comes in pride”(1026) like Jesus when he enters Jerusalem during passover. Some of Beckett’s critics have noted that his glorious entrance might signify that Becket was so arrogant that he thought he was equals with Jesus Christ. Thomas is aware of how much the people respect him and must have noted that the people “receive him with scenes of frenzied enthusiasm”(1026). This encourages Thomas’ ego and leads him to begin to find parallels between himself and Christ such as the “strewing [of] the way with leaves and late flowers of the season”(1026).  Another event in the play that hints that Thomas wants to be seen and sees himself as the same as Christ occurs when the fourth temptor comes to visit him. Like Jesus,Thomas had previously been visited by three temptors . When Thomas sees the fourth temptor, he is surprised and says “I expected three visitors, not four”(1051). This might be another example of Becket trying to draw comparisons between himself and Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is visited by three temptors, and of course, Thomas, in all his hubris, expects the same for himself. Immediately from the beginning of the play, T.S. Eliot reveals Becket’s arrogance. It would be far from surprising that a character with such an ego as Becket’s would allow himself to be martyred for selfish reasons.

   After being visited by three temptors that he is able to ward off, Becket is surprised when he is visited by a fourth temptor. Unlike the previous temptors, the fourth temptor is a spiritual temptor. It is possible that the fourth temptor is a figment of Thomas imagination because Thomas admits that the temptor is “tempting with my own desires”(1032) . The fourth temptor  asks Thomas to “think of glory after death”(1032), something that Thomas has “thought, sometimes at your prayers...between sleep and ... early in the morning”(1032). Thomas admits to this and wonders if there is a way he can “neither act nor suffer without perdition ?”(1032). Since the fourth temptor is probably a creation of Becket’s conscience, he appeals to Becket with Becket’s own thoughts. Towards the end of his encounter with the fourth temptor, Becket says :

      Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:

    The last temptation is the greatest treason:

     To do the right deed for the wrong reason”(1033).

   Although this quote might give the illusion that Thomas experiences a peripetea, as the viewer will see in the interlude, Thomas’ original motives are not altered.Thomas dreams of the many advantages of being a martyr such as “the pilgrims, standing in line...bending the knee in supplication”(1032) to him. Thomas  also knows that if he becomes a martyr , he will “have more power than kings”(1032), something he has always wanted to acheive. Thomas has “thought of these things”(1032) and “often dreamt them”(1032). The audience can infer from this that Thomas is not able to resist the appeal of  glory and allows himself to be martyred not for Christ but for the glory.

    A true martyr should not anticipate being inducted to the state of martyrdom.If he does anticipate this, he is not “allowing the wheel to turn” thus not surrendering his will to God. During the “Interlude” in the play, Becket delivers a sermon that anticipates martyrdom and the glory of it. Becket delivers a sermon to his congregation defining a true martyr, telling his people what to think of a martyr. Thomas wants his congregation to think of a martyr as “a good Christian...elevated to the company of saints”(1035). What is important in this sermon is not that Thomas is telling his congregation to think of what a martyr is but that he is telling them to think   of a martyr. If Thomas truly had not wanted “the glory of being a martyr”(1035), as he claims, he would have remained silent about becoming a martyr. In this sermon, the audience sees Thomas using Christ as segue to talk about himself. A person “who has lost his will in the will of God” (1035) would not bring up the topic of martyrdom at all. This was a Christmas mass, Thomas did not need to talk about martyrdom at all. He should have talked about the joy of birth instead of the glory after the death, the beauty of the new messiah instead of the cruel exit of a martyr. When Thomas talks about martyrs, he prepares his congregation for his death and how think of him afterwards. Thomas even has the nerve to say :

         I don’t think i shall ever preach to you again: and because it is possible that in

         a short time you may have another martyr(1035).

        Such ego! Instead of filling the people’s heart with the joy and the merriment of Christmas, Thomas prepares his congregation for mourning. Rather than broadcasting it, a  martyr should be humble about his initiation into martyrdom. Not only does Beckett prepare his audience for his initiation but he assumes that he will be a martyr. Thomas consistently lacks the virtue of humility. After viewing this, it is sensible for the audience to come to the conclusion that Becket wants to be martyred for himself.

   Thomas Becket was never set out to be a church official. Being under the king for so long, spurred Thomas’ arrogance with  a longing for glory and power. When Becket becomes Primate, he gets these and when he realizes he can receive even more glory after death, he decides to be a martyr.The viewer can deduce from Thomas’ overbearing entrance that Thomas wants to be a martyr at the beginning of the play that he wants to be martyred for the fame. Thomas also testifies to dying for fame when he is visited by the fourth temptor and finally during his final sermon in the cathedral. By dying for glory, Thomas perverts his office and does not deserve to be a martyr.