Becket Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Jesse C. Gatlin Jr.

Critical Essay by Jesse C. Gatlin Jr.

SOURCE: Gatlin, Jesse C., Jr. “Becket and Honor: A Trim Reckoning.” Modern Drama 8, no. 3 (December 1965): 277-83.

In the following essay, Gatlin investigates the role of honor in Becket.

What is honor? A word. What is in that word honor? What is that honor? Air. A trim reckoning! … Honor is a mere scutcheon.

—Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I

Honor travels in a strait so narrow,

Where one but goes abreast.

—Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida

Jean Anouilh uses the phrase “The Honor of God” as the sub-title of his play Becket. In the English translation of the play by Lucienne Hill,¹ the word “honor” appears more than twenty times, spoken by a variety of characters in a variety of situations.² It is as if Anouilh were determined to explore the meaning of the word by a sort of comprehensive dramatic demonstration of what is really essential...
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