![]() His parents insisted he pursue an education, even sending him to a fashionable school in Paris. Therefore, Becket's rise to power is extraordinary. The medieval feudal system was strictly hierarchical and the concept of social mobility had barely been breached. The world remained largely feudal at this time, meaning that the king ruled under the pretense of divine right, with the entire society below him organized around financial responsibility to him. Thomas Becket was born to parents of moderate means in Cheapside, a poor London neighborhood, circa 1118. It is important to understand the general idea of this story to best appreciate Eliot's play, since he would have assumed his audience was familiar with the story. ![]() Instead, the profundity of the experience derives from the themes of Becket's friendship with the English King Henry II, a relationship that in its dissolution touches on themes of class, power, and personality. ![]() ![]() One of those historical events that has gained the weight of myth through its extraordinary and complicated circumstances, the murder of Thomas Becket is notable for more than the martyrdom it produced. ![]()
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