Transcript T. S. Eliot*s Murder in the Cathedral

T. S. Eliot’s
Murder in the Cathedral
“Division”
Part I: The Historical Thomas a Becket
Part II: T. S. Eliot
Part III: Modernism
Part IV: Reflections on Murder in the Cathedral
Part I:
THE HISTORICAL THOMAS A BECKET
Early years.
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Born in 1118 or 1120.
Worked his way up.
Studied canon law, but was not a priest…
In 1154 (in mid-30’s) was named Archdeacon
of Canterbury by Bishop Theobold.
1155: Chancellorship of England
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A position of great power.
Very close to the king of England.
Helped collect revenues – land taxes.
King Henry II sent his son to live with Thomas,
and the son saw Thomas as a king of fosterfather.
 King Henry II
1162: Archbishop of Canterbury
• (in his early 40’s)
• Was ordained a priest on June 2, and an
archbishop on June 3.
• After his ordination, Thomas did an aboutface. He took his religious life seriously, and
quit the post of Chancellorship.
The Trouble Starts…
Early 1164:
The Constitutions of Clarendon
• The King wanted all the clergy to sign off a
document giving the State more power, the
Church less.
• In particular, it said that priests should be tried
in a civil court and given over to civil
punishments – including mutilation and
execution.
• Becket refused to sign.
October 1164
• Becket was tried at Northhampton Castle.
• Was convicted of criminal charges.
• Stormed out of the room, and fled to the
Continent.
• King Louis VII (France, of course) offered him
protection.
The next 6 years:
• Becket spent 2 years at Pontigny, a Cistercian abbey.
• Henry II, meanwhile, kept shooting edicts after him;
Becket parried with threat of excommunication and
interdict against Henry and the English bishops.
• Pope Alexander III agree with Henry’s ideas about civil
vs. ecclesial rule, but wanted to be diplomatic; papal
legates were sent in 1167 to arbitrate a peace between
Henry and Thomas.
• In 1170, papal delegates were sent to impose a
solution: Henry offered a compromise, and Thomas
was allowed to return from his exile.
June 1170
• Henry is crowned Young King at York by three
bishops.
• This had always been the right of the
Canterbury bishop.
• Becket excommunicated all three.
• When Henry heard about it, he is reported to
have said…
"What miserable drones and
traitors have I nourished and
brought up in my household,
who let their lord be treated
with such shameful contempt
by a low-born cleric?"
Four Knights Take a Hint
1. Reginald fitzUrse
2. Hugh de Morville
3. William de Tracy
4. Richard le Breton
• All head to Canterbury to fulfill the king’s
wish, and kill Becket.
December 29, 1170
• Becket is at prayer with the monks.
• The knights come in and demand he come
with them.
• He refuses.
• They go outside, retrieve weapons they had
left, and come back inside.
• Becket begins Vespers, and the knights
return…
As reported by Edward Grim, who was
himself wounded in the attack:
“...The wicked knight leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of
the crown which the unction of sacred chrism had dedicated to
God. Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he stood
firm and immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees and
elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and saying in a low voice,
'For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready
to embrace death.' But the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as
he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated
from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain,
and the brain no less red from the blood, dyed the floor of the
cathedral. The same clerk who had entered with the knights placed
his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and,
horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about the
pavements, crying to the others, 'Let us away, knights; this fellow
will arise no more.[14]”
The aftermath:
• The monks prepared Becket for burial; he was
found to be wearing a hair-shirt, etc..
• In two years he was canonized by Alexander III.
• The four knights were excommunicated, and
served for 14 years each in the Holy Land in
reparation.
• In 1173 – 1174 Henry II did public reparation at
Canterbury.
• Canterbury became a site for pilgrims to travel
throughout the Middle Ages.
Part II:
T. S. ELIOT
Young Life & Education
• 1888: Born 26 September in New England. Grew up in St.
Louis, a sickly literary child from a wealthy family.
• High school: Smith Academy (St. Louis) and Milton
Academy (MA).
• College: Studied philosophy at Harvard, graduating in 3
years at the age of 21 / 22.
• 1910: Moved to Paris and studied philosophy at the
Sorbonne.
• 1911-14: studied Indian philosophy and Sanskrit back at
Harvard.
• 1914-16: studied at Oxford (but spent a LOT of time in
London) … got married in 1915 (!)
• ABD Ph.D. at Oxford (although he wrote the paper).
Eliot’s Marriage
"I came to persuade myself that I was
in love with Vivienne simply because
I wanted to burn my boats and commit
myself to staying in England. And she
persuaded herself (also under the
influence of Pound) that she would
save the poet by keeping him in
England. To her, the marriage brought
no happiness. To me, it brought the
state of mind out of which came The
Waste Land.“ – Eliot, privately, in
in his 60s
Ages 22 - 40
• Lectured at colleges, taught at high schools (all
in England) and eventually got into the
publishing industry. He went back to teach at
Harvard for a year.
• Around the age of 39 (1927) he converted
from being a Unitarian to being an “AngloCatholic” and became a British citizen.
Ages 40 -77
• In 1938, Vivienne was committed to a mental
institution. (She died in 1947.)
• 1938-57: Eliot’s companion was Mary
Trevelyan, who wanted to marry him.
• 1957 (age 68): He married Esme Valerie
Fletcher. He was 68, she was 30.
• Died 4 January 1965 (77 years old).
T. S. Eliot earned the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1948.
Vivienne Haigh-Wood (Wife 1)
Mary Trevelyan (the companion)
Esme Valerie Fletcher (Wife 2)
Some of Eliot’s Key Works
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The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
The Waste Land (1922)
The Hollow Men (1925)
Ash Wednesday (1930)
Murder in the Cathedral (1935)
Four Quartets (1945)
Part III:
MODERNISM
The Rise of Modernism
• Started in 1890’s, but “High Modernism” came
into its own after WWI (1914-18).
• War shook faith in the moral basis, coherence,
and durability of Western civilization.
• Reality: harsh, dissonant, “the panorama of
futility and anarchy which is contemporary
history”
• People questioned if traditional literary modes
could represent the new postwar world.
Modernist Movement in Literature
Involves a direct and radical break with
traditions of Western art and culture.
Experimentation with new forms and new style.
New = fragmentation, disorder
Old = ordered and integrated, thanks to myths
and religions
Violations of traditions – traditional forms,
traditional syntax, traditional coherences of
narrative language.
Some new things:
• Stream of consciousness
• “Automatic writing” (writing freed from control of
conscious, purposive mind)
• Parallels / echoes:
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expressionism
surrealism
Cubism
Futurism
Abstract expressionism
atonal music (Youtube Stravinsky, Schoenberg)
Expressionism
Munch, The Scream
Surrealism:
Cubism:
Picasso, Weeping Woman
Futurism
Umberto Buccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
Abstract Impressionism:
Jackson Pollack, #5, 1948
Atonal Music
• Schönberg, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
(1932)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcaiqL-hFCU
• Stravinsky, The Flood (1962)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCzh3HnbE
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1922:
Irish: James Joyce’s Ulysses
English: Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room
American expatriot: T. S. Eliot’s The Waste
Land
Avant-Garde
French military metaphor – “advance guard”
A small, self-conscious group of authors and artists
who deliberately undertake to, as Pound put it,
“make things new.”
Violate accepted conventions and proprieties.
Explore hitherto neglected or forbidden subjects.
Assert autonomy.
Shock sensibilities by challenging norms and pieties
of the bourgeois.
From Modernism….
• After WWII (1939-45), post-modernism
developed.
• …. And we won’t get into that, but if you read
Samuel Beckett over the summer – he’s postmodernist.
Part IV:
REFLECTIONS ON MURDER IN THE
CATHEDRAL
Modern Parallels for:
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The Chorus
The Tempters
Thomas
The Priests
The 4 Knights
Themes
• Justice
• Law
• Natural Order / Civil Order / Supernatural
Order
• Society, Government, Church, Self
• Good and Evil, Virtue and Sin, Guilt and
Salvation
Questions:
How does Eliot echo Aeschylus?
Why did Eliot choose this ancient form of
drama?
How does Eliot experiment with the ancient
form?
How does Eliot use ancient forms and medieval
stories to comment on life in post-WWI
society?
End.