The play is a re-enactment of the conflicts between King Henry II and Thomas Becket as the latter (Henry's best friend) ascends to power, becoming the king's enemy. Having built his play on Becket being Saxon (when he was actually a Norman whose family was from near Caen and was called Becquet, Bequet or Becket in Old Norman), Anouilh could not recast the play to accord with historical facts, so he decided to let it stand.Īspects of the content that can safely be considered true are the conflicts between England and France, church and state, and the outline biography of Becket. It was not until he showed the finished play to a friend that he found out the old book he had based it on was historically incorrect in certain important aspects. He did so, finishing the first part in only 15 days. He and his wife read the 30 pages about Thomas Becket, and she urged him to write a play about Thomas. In the introduction to the play, Anouilh explained that he based it on a chapter of an old book he had bought because its green binding looked good on his shelves. However, there are one or two similarities in the interpretation. Eliot's 1935 play on the same subject, Murder in the Cathedral, which was intended primarily as a religious treatment. Background Īnouilh's interpretation of the historical story, though often ironic, is more straightforward than T. It contains many historical inaccuracies, which the author acknowledged. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's assassination in 1170. Becketīecket or The Honour of God ( French: Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu) is a 1959 play written in French by Jean Anouilh. For other uses, see Becket (disambiguation).
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