murder in the cathedral-derya

7/30/2019 Murder in the Cathedral-Derya

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Nazlpnar 1

Muzaffer Derya Nazlpnar

Prof. Dr. Gnseli Snmez i

Euro-American Drama

14th March 2012

THE QUALITIES OF THE PRIESTS IN MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL

The action and dialogue of the play reveal the specific qualities of each Priest in

Murder in the Cathedral. After the opening chorus, Priests enter and supply the audience with

information which is necessary to the historical background of the play. However, each priest

characterizes himself. The First Priest is a man of inaction, concerned primarily with what is

past: Seven years and the summer is over. / Seven years since the Archbishop left us (Eliot

177) The second Priest, the man of action, concerned with what the Archbishop does, asks

what the purpose of intrigues and conferences is, and in asking provides solid historical

information. The Third Priest, with stoical indifference, philosophizes:

I see nothing quite conclusive in the art of temporal government,

But violence, duplicity and frequent malversation.

King rules or barons rule:

The strong man strongly and the weak man by caprice (Eliot 177).

Considering the correspondences, the First Priest is Prufrockian, lost in memories of

what was; the Second is concerned with things, a man of this world, and the Third is the

speaker of paradoxes in Ash Wednesday .That is, the Priests are clearly distinguishable one

from the other. An understanding of the correspondences defines and reinforces the meaning

of the play itself. Further appearances of the Priests confirm their special limited quality.

The First Priest is primarily concerned with the state of affairs, wanting most of all a peace.

His last lines reveal two qualities which are essentially Prufrockian, fear and the propensity to

think of what might have been:


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Nazlpnar 2

I fear for the Archbishop, I fear for the Church,

I know that the pride bred of sudden prosperity

Was but confirmed by bitter adversity.

..................

Had the King been greater, or had he been weaker

Things had perhaps been different for Thomas. (Eliot 178-179)

The Second Priest is almost pleased that his Lord has returned. He will be there like a

rock, a physical thing. He will be seen, and this Priest gains strength from what he can see:

We can lean on a rock, we can feel a firm foothold

Against the perpetual wash of tides of balance of forces of barons and landholders.

The rock of God is beneath our feet. Let us meet the Archbishop with cordial

thanksgiving:

Our lord, our Archbishop returns. And when the Archbishop returns, our doubts are

dispelled. (Eliot 179)

This is the man who ask everyone to show a glad face, the strong man who would

defend his archbishop: I am the Archbishops man. The Third Priest can only revert to type

after such an outburst, and he apostrophizes once more:

For good or ill, let the wheel turn.

The wheel has been still, these seven years, and no good.

For good or ill, let the wheel turn.

For who knows the end of good or evil? (Eliot 179).

The rest of the scene belongs to the Second Priest, who is concerned with the

appearances of the people, asking them to put on pleasant faces and give a hearty welcome. In

terms of the plays symmetry, this priest is the one who dominates the scene, because the

Archbishop is present in the flesh. He does not appear in the last scene after Thomas has been


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killed. The last scene, in which the Second Priest is absent, suggesting that all action is over,

is significant. The First Priest mourns for Thomas death and returns to the world of fear in

which he began. He has not learnt fully the lesson of sacrifice which Thomas had taught in his

sermon. Now like Prufrock in his poem, this First priest must resort to the thoughts of what

might have been. He must mourn due to the dramatic type he represents. Neither has the Third

Priest learnt from his experience. He now rejoices in an unconvincing fashion, because

Canterbury has one more martyr to add his calendar. Thomas said in his sermon that

Christians should both rejoice and mourn in the death of martyrs. We mourn for the sins of

the world that has martyred them; we rejoice that another soul is numbered among the Saints

in Heaven ... (Eliot 199). The First Priest mourns and the Third rejoices. That is, they have

not understood the design of god which creates a martyr and which Thomas has understood.

murder in the cathedral-derya

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