Becket

To a great extent, Becket is a two-character play, with the duality of the King and Becket defining the drama. The King is tied, psychologically and emotionally, to Becket throughout the play; Becket is almost his alter ego. He is dependent on Becket for advice, assistance, and emotional support, doing almost everything he says. Left to himself, the King is gluttonous, lecherous, self-centered, cruel, and out of touch with the lives of his subjects. He is a moral monster, and his amoral behavior is portrayed in an exaggerated, larger-than-life manner.

Yet the King has a softer side—“I look a brute but I’m soft as swansdown really” (30)—which he ascribes to Becket’s refining influence. This softer side shows itself in an appreciation for sad songs (29) and his overly emotional nature; the King is ruled by his passions. The Queen Mother says that “You have a rancor against [Becket] which is neither healthy nor manly” (108).

While Anouilh presents Becket in a heroic light, he depicts the King as childish and self-centered. At the same time, the portrayal of the King has depth and inspires sympathy. He is torn by the loss of his best friend—a loss that, ironically, he caused by promoting Becket to archbishop of Canterbury. The King must then live with a confusing mixture of love and hate that gnaws at him daily. The play implies that Becket was the King’s first and only true friend. He had a poor family life growing up and, later, an unfulfilling marriage that led him to look for love with various mistresses. Now, with Becket’s friendship seemingly dissolved, he is condemned to a self-imposed loneliness: “I am learning to be alone again” (82).  

Becket holds out a solution for the King’s dilemma: “I’m waiting for the honor of God and the honor of the King to become one” (100). By curbing his greed and lust for power and practicing humility—as Becket has already done—the King can end his heartache and become friends with Becket again. But he is too drunk with ego and power to make the effort. Ultimately, the King’s love for Becket is really self-love. His idea of friendship does not allow for principled disagreement; everyone who associates with him must practice blind and unconditional loyalty.

When the king elevated Becket in the church, he did not count on Becket’s character being influenced by his new role. This lack of awareness is rooted in the fact that the King recognizes no law or value higher than himself, and this is his ultimate tragedy. 

As bishop of London, Folliot is one of the most important and powerful churchmen in England after the archbishop of Canterbury. He is the King’s diocesan bishop, and he both locks horns with the King and conspires with him against Becket.

Folliot is established from the start in Anouilh’s stage directions as “a thin-lipped, venomous man” (12). In the Privy Council, he attacks Becket for siding with the King against the church, lacing his attack with personal insults: “A miserable little deacon! Traitor! Little viper! Libertine! Sycophant! Saxon!” (13). However, in Act III, after Becket becomes archbishop and stands against the King’s policies, Folliot sides with the King to destroy Becket. Thus, Folliot is shown to be a two-faced and opportunistic man, a typical ecclesiastical “politician.” In this, he forms a clear contrast with Becket. Both Becket and Folliot “switch sides” during the course of the play; but Becket goes from amoral to good, while Folliot does the opposite. The two characters are thus mirror images of each other. 

The female characters in Becket are seen strictly in terms of their relationships to the men. Gwendolen, Becket’s mistress, appears only in the final scene of Act I, though she is mentioned in other scenes. Becket’s love, or lack thereof, for Gwendolen is discussed repeatedly by Becket and the King. Becket declares affection for Gwendolen in their scene together. Even so, Gwendolen regrets that he spends so much time away from her. She senses that Becket does not really love her: “My Lord cares for nothing, in the whole world, does he?” (34)

Becket’s giving her up to the desires of the King lends credence to this. An accomplished musician, Gwendolen is admired by the King for her refinement. Before she goes to the King, she reminds Becket that he too belongs to a “conquered race” and ought therefore to have sympathy for what is about to happen to her; Becket reacts with indifference.

Gwendolen kills herself rather than commit a dishonorable act with the King. She is a plaything and tragic victim of the powerful men in the play. Later, during the peace summit, Becket says of her that “in my soul and conscience, I did not love her” (99). Anouilh does not flesh out Gwendolen’s character or delve into the meaning of her death. Her purpose in the story is to show the depth of Becket’s amorality. 

The Queen and the Queen Mother illustrate the King’s miserable home life. They function mainly as foils to the King and occupy themselves onstage with sewing a tapestry. The Queen rebukes her husband for his marital infidelity and neglect of her, and the Queen Mother compares the indecisive Henry unfavorably to his father. Both women resent Becket’s influence in the King’s life, with the Queen Mother even suggesting that he should be killed: “Sweet Jesus, tear him out of your heart once and for all!” (108). Neither woman grasps that Becket is a model of virtue who could reform the King. Together, the two women increase the pressure on the King that leads to his final breakdown and Becket’s murder. 

King Louis of France appears in Acts III and IV, functioning as a counterweight to King Henry. He is friendly and sympathetic toward Becket and wants to protect him, but he knows he must play the political game like other rulers. Thus, he reluctantly tells Becket that he must stop granting him asylum. Louis is more honest, upfront, and ethical than the other leaders in the play. In contrast to the baseness and selfishness shown by the others, Louis is good-natured, humorous, honest, practical, and principled: “Who cares, I’ll risk it! I like you too much” (96). Anouilh may be flattering his original audience by depicting the French king in a more positive light.