Murder in the cathedral as poetic drama

Murder in the Cathedral

An Analysis of Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral

Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral is certainly a uniquely dramatic work. Eliot (1951) has written his own intention concerning its style: "As for the versification, I was only aware at this stage that the essential was to avoid any echo of Shakespeare…Therefore what I kept in mind was the versification of Everyman" (p. 27). Everyman, a medieval morality play that likely influenced the Bard, is (like Murder) directly religious and unabashedly direct. Yet Everyman was written for a Christian audience at a time when Christendom had not yet quite come completely undone. Eliot's poetic drama, coming four full centuries later, hardly has the self-same audience (even if it was penned for a religious festival). Eliot's audience, whether Christian or not, is modern: and Eliot's poetry is written for a modern audience. And even though he attempts (in style) to distance himself from Shakespeare, he still has more in common with the Bard than with Osborne or Shaw. The latter carry a certain sense of cynicism that Eliot has none of. The author of The Waste Land is a collector of ancient literary scraps and cultural artifacts, attempting to salvage what he can and make sense of the fragments. The author of Cathedral is a man who has found faith (Eliot converted to the Church of England after his migration from America) and is attempting to make sense of it in the modern world.

Murder in the Cathedral, therefore, is a work that is at once both medieval and modern -- a point that makes it unique among all dramatic works of the 20th century. Yet, unlike Hamlet (who also has one foot in the medieval world and one foot in the modern), Eliot maintains a poise that is purposeful and direct and does not veer off into feigned insanity. Like Midsummer Night's Dream there is an element of fantasy in its the psalm-like delivery. This paper will analyze just how Eliot's poetic drama reflects both the old world and the new.

It is not only the versification that makes Murder in the Cathedral medieval: it is also the way Eliot handles the subject. The essence of medieval (and Catholic) England is reflected in every line: "While the labourer kicks off a muddy boot and stretches his hand to the fire, / & #8230;destiny waits for the coming. & #8230;Who has stretched out his hand to the fire and remembered the Saints at All Hallows, / Remembered the martyrs and saints who wait? And who shall / Stretch out his hand to the fire, and deny his master?" (p. 12). Here Eliot evokes both a sense of place and time (the labourer and his muddy boots conjure images of feudalism and peasantry while the fire and the memories of saints, martyrs, and a master call to mind images of Christ and the Church). Yet the method Eliot employs to bring these images to mind is dubious: he does not, after all, give us a catechism directly (as Everyman does). Eliot's religious tones are mixed with questions -- are introduced as speculations. (The play, of course, will end with prayer -- but it takes the blood of the martyr to induce it. In the beginning, the thoughts of medieval England are heavy not with a sense of God but with a sense of self.) With a stroke, Eliot fuses together modern doubt with medieval faith and produces a poetic drama