Question!?
Was King Henry seriously in love , like ? Or was he just obbsessed with Becket as a friend?
share A homosexual relationship is inferred by many...meh, could be.
I like to think that Becket became the king's conscience. Henry needs Becket's frank, pull-no-punches honesty while being surrounded by "yes men". This, I think, is illustrated by an exchange between them while riding through the recaptured French town;
HENRY: "Why must you destroy all my illusions..?"
BECKET: "Because you should have none, my prince..."
The tragedy, with Becket's eventual split with Henry, is the king left all alone in his world of illusions with no heart, which Becket was.
Ditto.
When you watch the chemistry between the two,it's almost like a old married couple but what caused Henry to despair was that Becket had been given the freedom to "escape" from the life he knew as the King's most trusted friend.
Becket found long sought after peace as a priest,and Henry (seeing this)could do nothing but envy him.
I got the impression that Henry almost resented Becket for being the superior intellectually, through wit, and in humility.
After watching this movi, Iwent and researched the royal family. Alhough this play is a fictional account of what may have happened,it's a pretty good guess
at how things stood.
After all,what prompts a man to kill his best friend?
"Lehmunade! do you see anyone coming?"
"The answer is a lemon.."
Yes, the homosexual inference is there, but not really pertinent... and Tfami...
Henry did not kill his best friend.... he was drunk and mumbles his drunken question "who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"..... I do not believe for a moment he actually premeditated this to mean 'go kill Becket for me'. When he addresses the crowd at the end, I believe him sincere when he says the perpetrators will be found. He is selfish, arrogant, ego-ridden, and a lush... but he is loyal, honest, and decent. He is more hurt by Becket's murder than anyone.