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Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, By John Patrick Shanley

565 Words3 Pages

The Seeds of Doubt Grow Quickly Doubt is a rapidly growing vine which can obliterate the truth from a situation. John Patrick Shanley presents a perfect example in his play, “Doubt: A Parable”. Richard Hornby states, in his article “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt,” in reference to the play, “[It] depicts a Pirandellian situation in which guilt or innocence cannot be determined, but even more it depicts the way that a prosecutorial mentality can run amok” (p1). Two of the main characters of this play are Father Brendan Flynn and Sister Aloysius Beauvier. Father Flynn presents a sermon regarding a crisis of faith. The sermon serves to plant a seed of doubt regarding Father Flynn’s faith in the mind of Sister Beauvier. This doubt causes conflict to arise both subtly and swiftly early in the play. There are several similarities and one major difference between Father Flynn and Sister Beauvier. Father Flynn uses the doubt in his mind to take action. However, Sister Beauvier becomes consumed by her doubt which clouds her judgment. Both, Father Flynn and Sister Beauvier have bold personalities, care deeply for the children under their instruction, and allow doubt to creep into their mind. …show more content…

Father Flynn does seem to care deeply about the students as evident by his attempt to interact with them on their level. Sister Beauvier plants a seed of doubt in Father Flynn’s mind when she lies to him by saying, “This morning…I took the precaution of calling the last parish to which you were assigned” (Shanley 8.189). It is this doubt which causes Father Flynn to be proactive in securing reassignment in a new

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It is agued that Father Flynn is indeed guilty. He is so worried about how he looks to others he might do or say anything to cover something up. “I feel as if my reputation has been damaged through no fault of my own” (Shanley 39). Flynn states that he shouldn’t have to worry about a damaged reputation because Sister Aloysius is the one damaging it. Still, he is worried about how is image will be perceived by others.

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Sister Aloysius; she 's in charge of the other nuns, as well as head of the school. Sister James; who is a young an inexperienced nun and teacher. Father Flynn; the head priest. Mrs. Muller and Donald Muller; who are a black mother and her young son. The over all plot follows a controversy between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius.

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If the accusations were not true, there is no reason that Father Flynn should be so nervous. Then we come to find out that Sister Aloysius did not actually call the parish: “I was lying. I made no such call” (Shanley 58). This creates more suspicion around Father Flynn because if he were innocent, he would have no explanation for his leaving. Even though I believe Father Flynn is guilty, the case for Father Flynn’s innocence is also

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(Shanley 32). After all the arguing, Father Flynn threatens Sister Aloysius and Sister James starts to believe Flynn. A common argument against this position is that Father Flynn was really trying to help Donald be successful in school. Father Flynn may have been helping the only Negro in the school. Flynn says, “That back boy needs a helping hand or he’s not going to make it here!”

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Comparison between nuns James and Aloysius The film “Doubt” is set in a Catholic school in the 1960’s and centers in the goings-on of the children that attend the school and their caregivers. It follows the story of a nun, which is helped by another Sister to confront a priest, whom she suspects has abused a student. In the course of the film it’s shown how very opposite individuals interact towards a same topic; even though they both have the same vocation and work in the same place, they react in a different manner to the issue of suspicious. Although Sister Jane and Aloysius, both main characters of this drama, are two devoted nuns who are passionate for education, these two characters differ in their personalities, the ways of educating children and how they interact with people.

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In the play Twelve Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, it is made extremely clear that doubt fogs up proper judgement. At the very beginning of the play the presiding Judge states “If there is a reasonable doubt - then you must bring me a verdict of not guilty”. Making it clear that if all twelve jurors were not a hundred percent certain that the young man had committed the murder he shall be acquitted. One juror, number Eight, stands alone against the 11 others in hope of convincing them that the young man is not guilty. All other jurors highly doubted that the defendants innocents, which led to cloudy judgement on their initial verdicts.

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Father Flynn gets very defensive and works very hard to defend his case to Sister James, which seems like he is trying to get more people on his side. This is almost too much effort to just keep his reputation and prove his innocence. He also leaves the parish when Sister Aloysius claims to have contacted his old parish. Sister Aloysius never truly did this, however Father Flynn still left. The fact that he left when she brought up his old

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In the scene where Sister James and Father Flynn are speaking in the garden, Sister James tells Father Flynn that she has “one bad dream” (38) and she has not “slept right since” (38). Since she cannot sleep she is supposed to be good according to the epigraph, this is juxtaposed against Father Flynn who says “I can’t sleep on occasion” (38). Since he can’t sleep on occasion this means that he is mostly bad and has very little conscience that can keep him

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First off, Father Flynn is being victimized by the fixated principal Sister Aloysius. She accuses him of inappropriately having relations with a child. Every action Father Flynn makes, Sister Aloysius seems to have a certain reprisal for his decision. Sister James, the history teacher for the 8th graders realizes that Sister Aloysius is adjudging Father Flynn’s opinions and calls her out on it: You just don’t like him!

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Reflecting back to his situation with Sister Aloysius, Father Flynn knows that the damage has already been done and ignoring it would no longer be an option he had to prove his innocence, but Sister Aloysius doubt is so strong he is uncertain that he would be able to change her mind on what she thinks of him. When someone’s doubt is as clear to them as certainty they act without rationalizing the situation. This scene occurs after Sister Aloysius had accused Father Flynn of conducting inappropriate things with Donald Muller. In his sermon, Father Flynn says, “You ignorant, badly brought- up female! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation you should be heartily ashamed” (Shanley 35).

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Guilt can only eat at someone for so long. Through Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt: A Parable, a school called St. Nicholas faces some questionable actions, and Sister Aloysius, the principal, attempts to set them right. The Father at the school, Father Flynn, is accused of getting the only black student, Donald Muller, drunk and then molesting him. I conclude that Father Flynn is guilty because of his “clean nails” and resignation.

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Also, the main theme that is underlined by the playwright of Doubt: A Parable is the abuse of the power. Shanley suggested an up-to-date topic, considering several scandals about the Catholic Church’s priests who had had sexual relations with young parishioners. This play with no proofs and it ends with an open-ended. Although in the play Sister Aloysius and Sister James try to judge whether the priest –

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Reasonable doubt proves that critical thinking is important when someone’s life is in someone else’s hands. “Twelve Angry Men” by Reginald Rose, is a play about twelve jury members who must deliberate and decide the fate of a man who is accused of murdering his father. These twelve men must unanimously agree on whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty without reasonable doubt. Just like the jurors, the readers of this play have not witnessed the crime that took place before the trial started. Everyone, but the writer, is in the dark about who committed the crime.

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Father Flynn also tries to stop and changer direction in his conversation with the Sisters. If Flynn had nothing to hide he should have just told the Sisters the truth. Flynn stands and tells the Sisters that he does not wish to continue the conversation when in my opinion; he should try to clear his name here and now. I believe whether or not he abused the boys in the Nicholas school, he definitely had a secret to hide. Sister Aloysius lied and told Father Flynn that she had called his last parish and she spoke to one of the nuns.

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835 Words | 4 Pages

By the end of the film, she is the person who Aloysius confesses her doubt to. As the film is set in the 1960s, religion was in the middle of determining if it should stay the same or reform. This conflict reflects the contrast between Flynn and Aloysius, for Flynn wants to move the parish ahead while Aloysius wants everything to stay the

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