In The One Alone and Murder in the Cathedral, Iris Murdoch and T.S. Eliot both interrogate the concept and cultural impact of martyrdom, he from a Christian, she from a post-Christian perspective.⁴The One Alone pays homage to Eliot's work which Murdoch had long known well: in 1940, whilst an undergraduate at Somerville College, she played the Leader of the Chorus in a performance of Murder in the Cathedral at Christ Church, Oxford.⁵ Her copy of the play, which is inscribed "Iris Murdoch Oxford 1940", is held in the Iris Murdoch Special Collections in Kingston University Archives.⁶ Pencilled marginalia mark her lines to speak and give directions to kneel, sit or stand. The experience of learning and performing Eliot's rhythms formed a lasting influence on Murdoch's writing which feeds covertly into the diverse choruses in her novels, as well as overtly into The One Alone.⁷