Summaries and Critical Commentary

Abstract

(1–50) The first Chorus starts the action, establishes the situation, and sets time, place and atmosphere. The women reveal expectancy at Thomas’s return, but fear the unpredictable. This Chorus creates a sense of waiting, of an interlude, and of the passing of time. The apprehensive Chorus approach the Cathedral full of premonitions. A confusion between safety and threat fills their minds. They experience a compulsion to be present, to ‘bear witness’ to events beyond their control. From the opening questions the Chorus move into the second paragraph of natural images representing the seasonal cycle, but even this is disturbed by recollections of martyrs, by hints of Peter’s denial of Christ. It draws a contrast between personal comfort and the discomfort of acknowledging allegiance to God. Thomas’s return is associated with the disturbance of equilibrium, even a breakdown of the natural order.