Assault Upon Honor

The patrons of Broadway, fed a steady diet of incest, perversion, and various kinds of cannibalism, may well be expected to stomach anything. But it was shocking to observe the titters and applause with which an entire audience saluted that colm affront to mankind, Jean Anouilh’s Becket. The play is not “immoral,” as that term is normally used of a play; it is, rather, supremely dishonorable, a high mark in the modern assault upon the very concept of honor. It is grimly ironic that the leading actor is one of that band of men who still bears a “Sir” before his name. Laurence Olivier’s participation in this drama is a sign that all memory is lost of the honor once demanded of a knight.

Anouilh purports to tell the story of St. Thomas Becket. Satire, burlesque or attack upon Thomas would have been relatively open and honorable; but Anouilh comes, with a sneering sympathy, to understand the mystery of a man—or, rather, of two men, since England’s King is as important, in the play, as England’s Archbishop. It is the tale of a doomed friendship.

GW

About the Author

Garry Wills

Featured Tags

The patrons of Broadway, fed a steady diet of incest, perversion, and various kinds of cannibalism, may well be expected to stomach anything. But it was shocking to observe the titters and applause with which an entire audience saluted that colm affront to mankind, Jean Anouilh’s Becket. The play is not “immoral,” as that term is normally used of a play; it is, rather, supremely dishonorable, a high mark in the modern assault upon the very concept of honor. It is grimly ironic that the leading actor is one of that band of men who still bears a “Sir” before his name. Laurence Olivier’s participation in this drama is a sign that all memory is lost of the honor once demanded of a knight.

Anouilh purports to tell the story of St. Thomas Becket. Satire, burlesque or attack upon Thomas would have been relatively open and honorable; but Anouilh comes, with a sneering sympathy, to understand the mystery of a man—or, rather, of two men, since England’s King is as important, in the play, as England’s Archbishop. It is the tale of a doomed friendship.