Murder in the Cathedral

The plot of Murder in the Cathedral concerns a historical disagreement between a secular leader and a religious leader. King Henry II represents earthly power, while Archbishop Thomas Becket represents spiritual power. The secular, earthly power of King Henry is that of day-to-day governance in England. The political world, for example, is firmly rooted in the realm of earthly power, and the king ruled over this earthly world with supreme authority. Notably, the characters in the play condemn the fleeting, temporary nature of earthly power. Kings inevitably die and are replaced, and this reality renders earthly power transient at best. Thus, any laws made by earthly powers can be unmade by the next king. This transient form of power is contrasted with the permanence and immortality of spiritual power. Because religious laws are believed to be derived from God, they are said to endure beyond the life of any one person. However, although the religious laws are portrayed as more enduring, they are also thought to be infinitely more complex and incomprehensible because they belong to a divine world that exists beyond the understanding of mere humans. Thus, the characters’ lives are spent navigating the comprehensible but transient earthly laws and the permanent but inscrutable spiritual laws that govern their world, and the disagreement between Becket and the king derives from a long disagreement over which realm is more important.