Becket Becoming Archbishop Analysis

Becket becoming Archbishop plays a key role in his martyrdom. Below the obvious guise that one must be part of the clergy in order to become a martyr lies the true reason: being appointed Archbishop introduced Thomas to God. Thomas himself has said that before he came to be appointed he was not a religious man. Yet he ensnares himself onto the holy web, and the spider whispers his swan song. Who could blame the man for wishing to follow what he truly thinks is right. Becket is a compassionate man who does prove himself to be an honest and goodnatured boy. He saves those in distress and protects them from his ruthless friend (Becket). It takes no stretch of the mind to accept is reversal to religion, yet he takes it too far. This religious fervor disillusions him into thinking his only option is to leave this world. The fourth tempter confirms that idea by saying, “All other ways are closed to you / Except the way already chosen” (Eliot 36). The tempter is explaining to Thomas how God chooses who gets to become martyrs, and that God has already chosen for him to die. Whether or not this fact is accurate, Becket receives it as truth and through his …show more content…
To have the feeling that no one could love him, to have his old childhood friend abandon him, to be accused of a crime he has not committed, to be condemned to jail could bring the strongest of people to hopelessness. Thomas Becket’s negative state of mind is best shown by the fourth tempter. The entity prods Becket to seek the path of martyrdom, to which he replies, “Who are you, tempting with my own desires?” (Eliot 39). The book implies that the tempters are the internal monologue of Thomas Becket. Becket is suicidal because he does not feel he is loved. Since suicide is considered a sin, Becket has no intention to stop the knights from taking his life so that he does not have to do it for