Murder in the Cathedral

Richard Brito, designated as the fourth knight, begins his speech by saying that he has nothing to add to the previous speakers’ “particular lines of argument.” He instead reframes the way Becket’s murder has been framed before him (as an execution by the knights) by asking who, indeed, should be held responsible for killing the Archbishop. By asking this question, Brito aims to get the audience to see that Becket was himself fully responsible for his death. Brito describes Becket as suicidal and insane, reminding the audience that Becket himself insisted, against the priests, that the doors to the Church be opened and his executors, the knights, be allowed to enter. Though Brito paints Becket in such a negative light, he ends his speech saying that thinking of Becket’s death as the result of his “Unsound Mind” is the “only charitable verdict” which the audience could give to a man who, according to Brito, had done a great deal of good for Canterbury in the past—before his spiritual rebellion against the king.