I believe the conflict and change within the main character, Thomas Beckett, was very
drastic. Thomas went from running away from his problems, to facing them and ultimate killing
himself because of it. At the beginning of the play Thomas was running away from people that
wanted to kill him or hurt him, because of his belief that the king didn't have power over the
church. Throughout the play, Thomas questioned himself on why he was doing what he was
doing, and in the end he decided that if death was coming he couldn't cheat it. I admire Thomas
on how made his final decision based on what he truly believed. Thomas's final decision, was
what he believed in. I think that if he was content with his decision and if he felt that it was the
best choice, than I am happy for him and don't disagree that he should have waited for the
I think that the personification of the Tempters helped a great deal in the play. I feel that
the tempters helped the reader understand why Thomas did what he did and they also helped the
reader understand and put Thomas thoughts in order of importance to him. I liked it how they
described how Thomas could have so much and be happy if he would just go along with the king,
instead of against him. I feel that without the tempters, the play wouldn't have shown the reader
the reason behind Thomas's decisions.
I feel that the significance of the Christmas Sermon was to tell the people that he would
probably be leaving them and it would be his last sermon. Thomas talked about how a martyr is
a special thing and that only special people that will remembered forever receive that great honor.
To me, it seemed as though he thought maybe he would be a martyr or that he might not because
of his reasons behind the decisions he made, either way he wanted the people to remember him.
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