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Father Flynn In Patrick Shanley's Doubt: A Parable

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In the system of law you are innocent until proven guilty. But at this time Father Flynn is guilty until proven innocent. He proves himself to be guilty because he is a harmful and scary man. Father Flynn’s sermon shows the attendees of the church the elements of doubt and suspicion. In his sermon he states that no one knows that he is sick and that he’s done something wrong. The evidence shown in Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt: A Parable, I conclude Father Flynn is guilty because he’s more than friendly to Donald and he abuses his power at St. Michael’s church. Father Flynn is guilty because he is more than friendly to Donald Muller. Donald has just moved to St. Michael so he is an easy target for Father Flynn. No one has an eye on Donald …show more content…

Father Flynn tries many times to leave Sister Aloysius’s classroom without giving her information on her suspicion with Donald. “I don’t wish to continue this conversation at all further. And if you are dissatisfied with that, I suggest you speak with Monsignor Benedict” (Shanley 55). Father Flynn proves that he can get out of legal trouble by bringing up Monsignor Benedict as a scapegoat. If this info were to be brought to The Monsignor he would deny all allegations making him innocent. Father Flynn’s reputation causes him to stay out of trouble with Monsignor Benedict. Father Flynn is also very corrupt; he has worked for four different churches including St. Michaels. He wouldn’t need to keep relocating to different churches if he wasn’t guilty. After Sister Aloysius lied about calling his old parish Father Flynn gave up his title at St. Michaels. “You have no right to go rummaging through my past! Call the pastor and ask him why I left! It was perfectly innocent. I am a good priest! And there is nothing in my record to suggest otherwise” (Shanley 48). Father Flynn tells Sister Aloysius to contact his last parish knowing he had a high rank there. After Sister Aloysius lied to Father Flynn about contacting his last perish, he resigned his rank thinking she contacted them. Father Flynn is guilty because he knew that his last parish would be enough proof for Monsignor to fire him. Father Flynn resigned to make it seem

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(Shanley 6). Father tells the congregation that he has done something wrong but he does not tell anyone what he did. This sermon is right before Sister James finds out about Flynn and Donald’s relationship. When Sister James and Sister Aloysius confront the situation to Father Flynn, He denies everything. He says, “It was a private matter.”

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For example, while it is obvious that Sister James is comprehensive, optimistic and delicate, because she wants the approval from her superiors and students; Sister Aloysius, on the other hand, presents herself as determined, strict and a calculating person, due to the fact that she presents extreme care about details and thinks they are very important for knowing the truth. Maybe age plays an important role on defining how both of them behave. Sister Aloysius is an older woman, which makes her more experienced than Sister James; perhaps, this is why it was easier for Sister Aloysius to find Father’s Flynn sermon quite suspicious and instructs her fellow nuns to address her if they know of anything shady about the priest actions or behavior, while Sister James didn’t though that there was something behind the sermon about

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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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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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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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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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