Worksheet for Murder in the Cathedral
1. This play was written for production at the _________________________ Festival in June _____________.
2. T.S. Eliot made alterations to the original script in _________ and finally produced a fourth edition in the year
____________. This is the version of the play we are reading.
3. Part I of the play takes place in the _____________________________ on __________________________.
4. The first scene of Part II of the play takes place in ___________________________ on _________________.
The second scene of Part II takes place on the same day but in the _________________________.
5. The cast of this play is quite small. Characters include _____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________.
6. The chorus of women is being drawn (forced) to the cathedral to ________________________________.
7. How long has Thomas a Becket been gone from England? __________________________
8. What do the women fear? _________________________________________________________________
9. “Destiny waits in the _________________________, not in the _________________________________. . .”
10. Using either strength or caprice, what is a ruler’s one law? ________________________________________
11. What does the first priest wonder upon hearing that Becket has arrived in England?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Why might Becket’s horse be in danger? _______________________________________________________
13. When Becket left England, what prediction did he make? __________________________________________
14. (p17) The second priest is relieved that Becket is coming back because ________________________________.
15. What advice does the chorus offer to Becket? ____________________________________________________
16. What line is often repeated by the chorus? ______________________________________________________
What does this line mean to you? _________________________________________________________________
17. (p20) What is so special about the fear they feel? __________________________________________________
18. How does the second priest insult the women? ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
19. Becket knows he could be killed in England. How will his end be? ____________________________________
20. From generation to generation, ________________________________________________________ because
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
21. The first tempter encourages Thomas to treat friends like friends not like ______________________. He should
forget the ____________ and focus on the ____________________.
22. Becket had been a __________________________ before he became the _____________________________.
23. The second tempter encourages Thomas to give up his ________________ power in order to regain his
_____________ power. Holiness can wait. Becket scoffs at this. He says that he alone in England holds the keys to
_____________________________. There is no greater power.
24. The third tempter is a “rough _________________________________,” the _________________ of the nation.
25. Interesting! What is the only ingredient needed for friendship to continue? ___________________________
Meaning? __________________________________________________________________________________
26. Once a friendship has been broken, _____________________________________________.
27. This guy isn’t an Englishman! He’s a _________________ whose family was probably given land and a title
when _______________ conquered England in __________. Because Becket has the support of the King of France
and the Pope, he wants Thomas to help him and his friends ____________________________________________!
28. Becket is sure that he can trust ______ and that no one will ever be able to say that he ____________________.
29. (p35) Why has the fourth tempter chosen to come now? ____________________________________________
30. What is Becket’s only choice? ________________________________________________________________
31. The fourth tempter encourages Becket to wind, wind ___________________________________________.
32. What benefits are there in being a martyr? (4) _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
33. Martyrs are the lowest on _________________ but the highest in ___________________.
34. On page 40, what skillful tool does the fourth tempter weave into his argument? __________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
35. How sad! What is our life on earth? ___________________________________________________________
36. Thomas is an enemy of ________________ and of _________________ because he is too caught up in his own
___________________________________.
37. What have the lives of the poor been like since Thomas left England? __________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
38. The women want Thomas to ______________ himself.
39. Thomas wants to be absolutely sure he does not do the ____________________ for the ___________________.
40. Why is it easier to serve a king than to serve God? _________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
41. (p48) What word meant a very different thing to Jesus than it did to his disciples?
_____________________________
42. How do we simultaneously rejoice and mourn the death of martyrs? ___________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
43. What alone creates a martyr? _____________ Why? ______________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
44. What does a true martyr want? ________________________________________________________________
45. Who was the martyr at Canterbury? ______________________
46. What prediction does Thomas make? _________________________________________________________
47. How can we keep peace in the world? _________________________________________________________
48. Three priests enter, carrying the banners of _______________________________________________________.
49. Any moment in our lives could be a _________________ moment. We only recognize it when we look back.
50. The knights who arrive say they are from __________________.
51. The knights think Thomas should be a servant to the king because _____________________________________.
52. “Swollen with blood,” Thomas is compared to a ___________________.
53. Thomas says he will always be loyal to the king unless _______________________________________________.
54. The knights are behaving erratically. Thomas challenges that if they have charges to make, they should
_______________________________________ so that he can ____________________________.
55. (p62) The second knight accuses Thomas of spreading lies about Henry II to _____________________________
and to ______________________.
56. What is a See? ___________________________________
57. According to the knight, Henry II “restored” all of Thomas’s ____________________ and __________________
after which Thomas ____________________________________________________________________________.
58. What restriction did Henry II try to place on Thomas? ______________________________________________
59. If Henry II has a complaint about excommunicated bishops, he should take it up with _____________________!
60. What is the King’s command? _________________________________________________________________
61. Thomas’s response? ________________________________________________________________________
62. If the knights kill Thomas, he’ll ______ from his _________ and plead his case to __________.
63. Yuck! “What is woven on the loom of fate. . .is woven like a ________________________________________ in
the ________________________________________________________________.”
64. It is the women’s share of the ___________________________ of ___________________ glory to ____________
______________________________________________ and to _________________ them.
65. How true! “Human kind _________________________________________________________.”
66. When will Death come? ____________________________________________________________________
67. Thomas is not in ________________________; he is only near __________________________.
68. “. . .all things/Proceed to a joyful consummation.” Meaning? __________________________________________
69. The priests condemn the knights as the “agents of ____________” who will live lives of ____________________,
absence, and _____________________________________.
70. We should not fear death. We should fear __________________________________________________.
71. (p73) What command does Thomas issue to the priests? ____________________________________________
72. What is true of every consequence and every life? _________________________________________________
73. Thomas says we have fought the “beast” and conquered it. What is the beast? ___________________________
74. What is different about the knights when they enter the cathedral? ____________________________________
75. What is always the “sign of the Church”? _______________________________________________________
76. What does Thomas forbid the knights to do? ___________________________________________________
77. What has rained all over England? ___________________
78. At the end of their lament, the chorus issues orders to wash (4 things) _________________________________.
79. The first knight is _________________________________. He hopes the audience will listen to what they have
to say about the murder because the audience is made up of ________________________, who believe in _________
______________, especially in the concept of ______________________________.
80. The third knight is __________________________________. He wants the audience to know that the knights
were “perfectly _____________________________” in what they did. They acted only to save their ______________.
Sure, it’s a bad thing to _______________________________ and he is “awfully ________ about it.” Naturally,
Henry II will say ________________________________________ and will probably have to punish the knights by
________________________________________________________________.
81. (p80) The second knight is _______________________________, an expert in
________________________________.
He says he will appeal to the audience’s _________, not __________. His point is that Henry II wanted Becket to
“unite the offices of ___________________ and ______________________ in order to unify England after the trouble
between _____________ and ________________. Becket reneged on the deal by putting the interests of the
______________ above the interests of the _______________. The knights killed Becket took the “_________ step”
in the attempt to “secure _____________ justice.”
82. The fourth knight is _____________________________, whose family is well-known for its _______________
___________________________. The question he wants to ask is “______________________________________?”
He thereby implies that it was not the knights but _____________ himself. He says that after achieving power, Becket
became a “monster of _______________. . .undoubted _________________.” Becket could easily have prevented his
death simply by _______________________________________________________. The cause of death on the death
certificate should read “_________________________________________________.”
83. What future for the church does the first priest see? _________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
84. What hope for the church does the third priest see? __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
85. What is the “fate on earth” for “weak, sad men, lost erring souls”? ______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
86. How do “all things” exist on earth? _______________________________________________________________
87. What will create “holy places”? __________________________________________________________________
88. How has God blessed Canterbury? _______________________________________________________________
89. What is “on” our heads? (3 things) _______________________________________________________________
90. The chorus asks Thomas to pray for them. For what? ________________________________________________