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John Patrick Stanley Doubt Play Summary

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The play Doubt by John Patrick Shanley is impressively structured play about the very title. It pins two monumental characters against one another over accusations of possible child molestation of an altar boy by a high ranking church official. Sister Aloysius is the principle that accuses Father Flynn of these actions and is relentless in her accusations of Father Flynn even without any hard evidence, but she has no doubt that he is guilty. Doubt is the title of the play and it shows you why it is titled this throughout the play. John Patrick Stanley did not only make a play about doubt, but leaves his readers in doubt themselves after the rollercoaster that is the play is titled after. The play begins with Father Flynn giving a sermon on Doubt to his church. He is giving this sermon to try and give his crowd hope and to let everyone know that it is not only them who experiences doubt. This about one of the only parts of the story where you do not feel doubt about anyone or anything but it portrays Father Flynn as a good man trying to help his church goers. The beginning feeling of doubt comes in after Sister James tells Sister Aloysius about her class and discovers that Donald Muller, the first african american to attend …show more content…

After Father Flynn leaves and it seems that victory has been achieved for Sister Aloysius she overcame with doubt herself which brings it back to opening scene of the sermon that Father Flynn gives about doubt. Even the most hardened and sure people experience doubt about something and Sister Aloysius is left in doubt after all that has happened. Also since Father Flynn left after the false call it leaves his possible wrongdoings still in the air and along with Sister Aloysius’ doubts it leaves the readers and audience in doubt with the ending. This a clever action by John Patrick Stanley as not only does he name his play Doubt but leaves up for speculation for the

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561 Words | 3 Pages

(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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851 Words | 4 Pages

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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703 Words | 3 Pages

Twenty people were executed as a result of the Salem witch trials, a reign of terror that swept up most of the characters in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. Salem is a small Puritan town ruled by a theocratic government. The social order of Salem starts with the church leaders and wealthy male land owners and ends with young, unmarried woman and slaves. The church is structured as an earthly representation of biblical law and possesses the power to persecute those outside the holy edicts. Women are subservient to men, cannot own property and are viewed with suspicion in the church.

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1416 Words | 6 Pages

Father Flynn works very hard to defend himself when he was getting accused. Sister Aloysius and Sister James called Father Flynn for a meeting about the winter pageant, but they have an underlying cause. Sister Aloysius brings up the suspicions she has about his relationship with Donald Muller. Father Flynn gets very offended and defensive of his actions to the sisters. He goes on about how he is different when it comes to discipline compared to the iron fist of Sister Aloysius.

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1486 Words | 6 Pages

The power of belief shapes events into hardline certainties and creates situations where opinions will define the term success. In John Patrick Shanley’s story Doubt: A Parable, Sister Aloysius forms doubts about Father Flynn’s actions and diligently tries to expose Father Flynn based off of negligible evidence. A Catholic school in the Bronx is stuck at the crossroads as a rigid disciplinarian nun and the liberal parish priest share different views pertaining not only to their religion. The principal, Sister Aloysius, accuses Father Flynn of having inappropriate relations with the school’s first black student. She goes on a personal crusade to expunge Father Flynn from St. Nicholas without a fragment of validation expect her moral certitude.

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858 Words | 4 Pages

Conflicts take time and questioning to unfold the hidden truth behind a problem. In the course of a lifetime, confidence in a belief continues to grow until a roadblock stops it and changes the way of thinking. Confronting a problem that contradicts a popular belief is presented in Arthur Miller’s character, Reverend Hale, from The Crucible. Reverend Hale has been called to Salem to examine Reverend Parris’s daughter, Betty, for precise signs of the devil. As the play draws out, As Hale witnesses the corruption of the Hale’s stance on the problem changes and contrasts his initial thought on the matter.

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1169 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout John Patrick Shanley’s play Doubt, Sister Aloysius tries to expose the truth about how Father Flynn could be having an inappropriate relationship with Donald Muller. Sister Aloysius becomes aware of this possibly inappropriate relationship after Sister James tells Sister Aloysius that Father Flynn had a private meeting with Donald. Then, Sister Aloysius talks to many people to see if her speculations are true, and by doing that, she hopes that the truth will cause Father Flynn to leave St. Nicholas. After reading the play Doubt, I believe that Father Flynn is having an inappropriate relationship with Donald Muller because of Father Flynn’s behaviors and Sister Aloysius’ conversations with many

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1766 Words | 8 Pages

In the play Doubt, a Parable written by John Patrick Shanley, it explains how doubt can lead to certainty and how an individual assurance can lead back to doubt. The relationship between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius is a back and forth conflict between certainty and doubt. While Father Flynn knows for a fact that he has not done anything to Donald Muller, Sister Aloysius does not believe that Father Flynn is innocent, and it is her doubt that makes her act out from her position. Throughout the play, Shanley demonstrates how Father Flynn’s sermon’s relates to the relationship between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn. Father Flynn’s sermons talk about doubt, intolerance, and gossip have their own message that illustrate the relationship between

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775 Words | 4 Pages

In their perspective, is a good name more important than the truth? The Intentions of Reputability “I am accused?” (Miller 1273). Elizabeth softly spoke these words in Act 2 of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and would not be the last character to question their accusation.

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796 Words | 4 Pages

In Susan Glaspell's play “Trifles,” there is a difference between the men and women’s way of perceiving evidence to Mr. Wright’s murder case. The men spend most of their time searching for solid evidence upstairs where Mr. Wright's murder takes place. However, the women spend most of their time in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen. Instead of seeking tangible evidence, they inspect the condition of the items and acknowledge how they have been muddled around. Different perspectives lead to a variety of discoveries such as the women’s way of perceiving evidence.

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1181 Words | 5 Pages

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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1011 Words | 5 Pages

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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1021 Words | 5 Pages

How can someone be so clueless about what people are telling him and the truth? Then there is putnam who has a history of accusing people of things like witchcraft  so that he can buy their land. Throughout the whole play he has been against everyone and is just trying to gain

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1094 Words | 5 Pages

Sister Aloysius and Sister James talk to Father Flynn who soon becomes very defensive. Father Flynn was asked about why he and Donald had a secret meeting after gym class. Flynn states, “It was a private matter.” This statement is concerning in the Sister’s eyes, because what can a private meeting be about with a 12 year old boy. This exemplifies that Father Flynn has something to hide because why would he hide the fact that a 12 year old kid drank he church wine from the principal.

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1313 Words | 6 Pages

Over the course of Hamlet, many of the main characters engage in role play as a mechanism to achieve their own interests. Prince Hamlet is one of these characters, and his act proves to be one of the most important aspects of the play. Throughout the play, role-play (especially Hamlet’s) significantly affects the plot, and ultimately strains the relationships between several characters. Hamlet is among one of the most important characters to engage in role play. In act one, scene 5, shortly after being told that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellus that he plans to feign madness, and he says, “As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition

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