MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL

:A RASA PRESPECTIVE
FOUR MAJOR RASA IN MURDER IN THE
CATHEDRAL
 BHAYANAKA RASA(TERRIBLE SENTIMENT)
The title Murder in the Cathedral portrays
ambience of terror, horror and fear, spawning
Bhayanak rasa.

The social and political anarchy too provides

the Bhayanak Rasa.

The chorus of Canterbury initiates the

sentiment of horror:
“Now I fear disturbance of the quiet-
Seasons :
Winter shall come bringing forth death
from the sea,…
Disastrous summer burn up the beds of
our streams
And the poor shall wait for another
decaying October. …”
 RAUDRA RASA(FURIOUS SENTIMENT)
Raudra Rasa is found in the second part of the
play when the knights enter to kill Archbishop.

The knights are in their violent mood. Their

demeanor is highlighted in the words:
“Three knights: This is the man who was the
tradesman's son
the back stairs brat who was born in
Cheapside
This is the creature that crawled upon
the King; …
The man who cheated , swindled, lied;
broke his oath and betrayed his King.”

The Raudra Rasa again gets intensified when

they attack Beckett and kills him.
 VIRA RASA(HEROIC SENTIMENT)
Vira rasa is found in, Thomas Beckett. The feeling of
courage and fearlessness is deeply rooted in his heart
and is the result of his faith in God and his willingness
to sacrifice himself for the people of Canterbury .

He is bold, courageous and intrepid in his treatment of

the knights. He answers them boldly,
“It is not I who insult the king,
And there is higher than I and the king. …
It is not Beckett who pronounces doom,
But, the law of Christ’s Church ,the
Judgment of Rome.”(188-193)

When the priests bar the door of the cathedral to

prevent the knights from entering, Thomas forbids them,
“Unbar the doors! Throw open the doors!”
He surpass any limits of human judgment to recognize as
a martyr when he says, “ I give my life
To the law of god above the law of man.(343-344)”
 KARUNA RASA(PATHETIC SENTIMENT)
In the play Karuna Rasa pervades from
beginning till the end, the chorus informs the
readers about the somberness and darkness of
their lives:
“ Since golden October declined into
Somber November …
Death in waste of water and mud,
The New Year waits, breathes, waits
Whispers in the darkness.”

The priests reflects on the hard times they faced

since the archbishop was forced to desert them:
“Seven years since and summer is
over.
Seven years since the Archbishop
left us.(51-52)”
 Karuna Rasa
Karuna rasais emphasized in the Christmas morning
sermon of Beckett when he declares the possibility of his
death:
“ Dear children, I donor think I shall ever
Preach to you again; and because it is
Possible that in a short time you may have
Yet another martyr. …”(57/80-83)

The aftermath of the murder scene intensifies the Karuna

Rasa . Beckett sacrificed his life for a noble cause, and thus
savored the death of a martyr.

The Karuna Rasa is again intensified in the words of the

three priests:
“ O father, father ,gone from us, lost to us, …”
 CONCLUSION
Using Bharata’s Rasa sutra , in the study of
Murder in the Cathedral proves to be a bona
fide that touches the nethermost parts of the
human existence, heart and soul. It gives a
radiance over dialectics of experiencing all
that the characters in the play go through and
makes the readers take a journey along with
the characters , experiencing all what they
and the poet himself might have felt during
the course of the play.
 THANK YOU

Presented by :Sreeparna Sengupta

MA Final.