[fantasyfan]

This is a very fine work. It is a powerful exploration of the intensity of spiritual conflict which is relevant to all who face such situations. Eliot generally follows the conventions of Greek tragedy in that the drama follows the unities of place and action--though it spreads the time over three days.

Here are some reactions I had to the opening section of the play up to the temptation section.

The outer conflict is between Henry and Becket; the inner conflict is within Becket and the universal level is between the eternal/spiritual and temporal/material.

The chorus is wonderful. They are not mere commentators but crystalise very real concerns related to everyday life. They question the relevance to martyrdom in the world. They must deal with reality:

"Now I fear disturbance of the quiet seasons:
winter shall come bringing death from the sea,
Ruinous spring shall beat at our doors,
Root and shoot shall eat our eyes and our ears,
Disastrous summer burn up the beds of our streams
And the poor shall wait for another decayin October. "

The three priests are icons of belief approaches.
The first priest is basically pessimistic.

"Shall these things not end
Until the poor at the gate
Have forgotten their friend, their Father in God, have forgotten
That they had a friend?"

The second priest is politically conscious and willing to take an optimistic line.

"The Archbishop whall be at our head, dispelling dismay and doubt.
He will tell us what we are to do, he will give us orders, instruct us.
Our Lord is at one with the Pope, and also the King of France."

The third priest is the most spiritual and the least worldly; he has a deep sense of the mystery of destiny's great wheel:

"for good or ill, let the wheel turn.
The wheel has been still, these seven years and no good.
For ill or good, let the wheel turn.
for who knows the end of good or evil?
Until the grinders cease
And the door shall be shut in the street,
And all the daughters of music shall be brought low."

The speeches by the priests are followed by an extended chorus--one which tries to find peace by simply avoiding conflict and running away from the problem:

"O Thomas, Archbishop, leave us, leave us, leave sullen Dover, and set sail for France. . . set the white sail between the grey sky and the bitter sea, leave us, leave us for France."

So even in these opening pages we get a striking dramatic rendering of the deep spiritual conflicts the play wil explore.

These conflicts continue in the Temptations of Thomas which follow and which provide a series of attempts to outline the inner strengths and weaknesses of the Archbishop.