Murder in the Cathedral

Overall, Eliot uses the shape and conventions of Greek tragedy both to evoke the idea of fate and to imbue this historical tale with the weight of myth and symbol. There are many conventions that he uses from Greek tragedy, including the Chorus, the nameless characters like priests, the series of obstacles that enter one by one, and the verse. By invoking Greek tragedy, his story becomes necessarily about fate and individuality. Where Greek tragedy sought to mourn the tragic forces of the universe that are so much bigger than man, it also celebrated the strength of characters who declare their individuality in the face of such forces. Eliot adapts this understanding to a more optimistic, Christian purpose by suggesting that Christians mourn the world that kills martyrs, while celebrating the sacrifice. It is a similar mystery and contradiction, although Eliot's conception is about subsuming one's individuality to God rather than flaunting it in the face of greater forces. Perhaps Eliot's most important use of Greek convention is the Chorus, which for the Greeks served to include the audience in the action, offering them a way to witness the inevitability and weight of myth as more than passive theatre spectators. Eliot allows the Chorus to do this for his audience, to the point that knights even directly tempt the audience in the final moments, essentially asking: have you learned from Thomas's sacrifice? By having his own Chorus transcend their weakness in their last speech, Eliot suggests that any Christian is capable of such transcendence.