Since women were disregarded as being insignificant, a lot of things happened in front of them because the men knew that other people wouldn't listen to them, since they were just women. T.S. Eliot uses the choir to witness all that is happening, "We are forced to bear witness." (Chorus) This gives him and advantage. Since women were uneducated, he portrays them as people who do not think and ponder things but merely repeat what they see and what they know, without any of their own interjections, "They know and do not know." (Thomas)

T.S. Eliot also uses the chorus to help foreshadow events, "O Thomas, Archbishop; return, return to / France. / Return. Quickly. Quietly. Leave us to perish in quiet. / You come with applause, you come with rejoicing, but / you come bringing death into Canterbury: / a doom on

At the end of Part II, after Thomas has been murdered, the Chorus shifts its character dramatically, from going from a machine that is running normally at the beginning, to a machine that has a sort of strain on it in the middle, to a machine that has broken down and is no longer a machine at the end. "How can I ever return, to the soft quiet seasons? ... In life there is not time to grieve long. / But this, this is out of life, this is out of time, an instant eternity of evil and wrong." (Chorus) The women have witnessed all that has happened and know now that things cannot return to normal, that the ultimate sin has been committed and have changed their character from going along with everything to knowing that what has happened was not right and screaming out against it.

In Part II, the Chorus shifts moods from one of fright to one of suspense, waiting, and desolation. " What sign of the spring of the year? / Only the death of the old: not a stir, not a shoot, not / a breath. Do the days begin to lengthen ... Still and stifling the air: but the wind is stored up in the/ East. / The starved crow sits in the field, attentive..." (Chorus) T.S. Eliot uses imagery in what the Chorus says to portray their mood. The starved crow sitting in the field that has no gre

Some common words found in the essay are:
TS Eliot, II Thomas, Chorus Chorus, II Chorus, Canterbury Chorus, Thomas Archbishop, Quietly Leave, ts eliot, Murder Cathedral, Living Chorus, chorus women, mood play, chorus chorus, living partly, living partly living, partly living, thomas archbishop, mood play women, living chorus, play women, shift mood play, starved crow, ts eliot women, women ts eliot,
Approximate Word count = 856
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)