Murder in the Cathedral

Reginald Fitz Urse, designated as the first knight and described by the third knight as the leader of the group of four, introduces the other three knights when they turn to the audience to defend their decision to murder Becket. Urse does not himself offer an argument in defense of Becket’s execution, claiming that he’s unqualified as an orator, since he’s a “man of action,” not of words. Urse appeals to the fact that the audience is composed of Englanders, saying that Englishmen “believe in fair play: and when you see one man being set upon by four, then your sympathies are all with the under dog.” He also associates critical thinking and rationality with the audience, claiming that, as Englishmen, they will need to hear both sides of the case (they’ve already witnessed Becket’s reasons for martyrdom, so now they must hear the knights’ justification for murder) in order to arrive at a judgment of who’s morally in the right.