Medieval and Classical elements in Murder in the Cathedral

Abstract

Eliot has worked out a scheme of objective correlative for his dramas by fashioning his plots under the
shadow of Greek myths and providing an under pattern of liturgy for all of them. Murder in the Cathedral,
Eliot's first successful attempt at poetic drama, admirably illustrates the playwright’s effective use of myth
and ritual as ‘Objective Correlative’ in the play which conforms to his technique of the formalist-realist
synthesis. Although Eliot was called upon to write this play on the old theme of St.Thomas' martyrdom, on
the occasion of Canterbury festival, he was aware of the advantage of addressing a limited audience of
Christian people in the Christian theatre. Yet he was trying to install poetry in the theatre even for those who
were not interested in theology. Hence Eliot had deliberately chosen to build an outer fabric for the drama
under the shadow of a Greek myth, which implicitly helps the audience in understanding the course of the
play. Murder in the Cathedral is analogous with Dante's Divine Comedy.