_Becket._ Here. No traitor to the King, but Priest of God, Primate of England. (_Descending into the transept._) I am he ye seek. What would ye have of me?
_De Morville._ Save that you will absolve the bishops.
_Becket._ Never,-- Except they make submission to the Church. You had my answer to that cry before.
_De Morville._ Why, then you are a dead man; flee!
_Becket._ I will not. I am readier to be slain than thou to slay. Hugh, I know well that thou hast but half a heart To bathe this sacred pavement with my blood. God pardon thee and these, but God's full curse Shatter you all to pieces if ye harm One of my flock!
_Fitz Urse._ Seize him and carry him! Come with us--nay--thou art our prisoner--come!
(_Fitz Urse lays hold of Archbishop's pall._)
_De Morville._ Ay, make him prisoner, do not harm the man.
_Fitz Urse._ (_Advances with drawn sword._) I told thee that I should remember thee!
_Fitz Urse._ Do you hear that? Strike, strike.
(_Strikes the Archbishop and wounds him in the forehead._)
_Becket._ (_Covers his eyes with his hand._) I do commend my cause to God.
_Rosamund._ (_Rushing down the steps from the choir._) No, no, no, no. Mercy, Mercy, As you would hope for mercy.
_Grim._ O, God, O, noble knight, O, sacrilege!
(_Sword falls on Grim's arm, and glances from it, wounding Becket._)
This last to rid thee of a world of brawls!
_Becket._ (_Falling on his knees._) Into thy hands, O Lord--into thy hands--! (_Sinks prone._)
_De Brito._ The traitor's dead, and will arise no more.
(_De Brito, De Tracy, Fitz Urse rush out, crying "King's men!" De Morville follows slowly. Flashes of lightning through the Cathedral. Rosamund seen kneeling at the body of Becket._)[7]
The physical action of this extract instantly grips attention. Interested at once by this action, shortly we rush on unthinking, but feeling more and more intensely. In this extract action is everywhere. The actionless _Cymbeline_ is undramatic. This extract is intensely dramatic.
Just what, however, is this action which in drama is so essential? To most people it means physical or bodily action which rouses sympathy or dislike in an audience. The action of melodrama certainly exists largely for itself. We expect and get little but physical action for its own sake when a play is announced as was the well-known melodrama, _A Race for Life_.