Analysis Of John Patrick Shanley's 'Doubt'

Back in a time where everything is black or white, good or evil, one is either with the church or a witch this leading to the persecution of those against “good”. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller the belief that the church is always right and evil is always lurking caused many to die due to fake accusations. The church, wanting to help, begin to kill of those who were considered impure. There is a danger in having a profound belief in something, one becomes close minded and with time carry on actions that contradict that very belief.

While Proctor is having an affair with Abigail his wife Elizabeth Proctor becomes suspicious with John’s distant behavior. Throughout the play, Abigail struggles to become close to John but John tries to revert his wrong doings and apologize to Elizabeth but Abigail still wants a relationship. Abigail begins to forge lies about others, committing witchcraft and accuses many innocent people who soon met their fate. John Hale is summoned to evaluate Salem and rid the town of evil but, his journey eventually leads him down the opposite path and actually encourages an alignment with evil. Reverend Hale is a “spiritual doctor” whose job is to rid Salem of any evil or spiritual people in this small town.

In the “Time of the Butterflies” is a hidden propaganda novel during the cold war when Catholicism and the western world heavily opposed the evils of Communism. In her novel Julia Alvarez convinces us otherwise through depiction of an atrocious dictatorship and exceptional everyday freedom fighters. Through this she develops a truth to our understanding of an enemy, and highlights the faults in our own faith. In pg.53, the Catholic Church is in full support of the dictator and paints him as a holy saint, a Jesus Christ figure.

To fail, in faith, we must first succeed in doubt and fear. For Wormwood and Screwtape to succeed in their victim falling from faith they must first feed him full of fear and doubt. Throughout the Screwtape Letters, both demons try to bring their subject to worship their father by practicing tactics that lead and misdirect their human to fall from his faith in Christianity. Fear, doubt, and insecurity are the first and foremost tools of misdirection that Screwtape tries to employ Wormwood to exploit. “The immediate fear and suffering of the humans is a legitimate and pleasing refreshment for our myriads of toiling workers”.

The Screwtape Letters In the reading of “The Screwtape Letters” a devil’s advocate by the name of Screwtape advises his fellow nephew, Wormwood to sway a patient into wrong thinking and positioning. A great amount of critical thinking has me constantly trying to describe the forceful tactics of Screwtape and his very sly and cunning ways. While the book is primarily targeted to Christians, it can be read and interpreted differently by a wide range of people (in my opinion). The devil works in many different ways to try and achieve the ultimate goal of gaining another follower.

It shows whoever reads it why lying is a sin. A society or puritans, focused on perfection of religion, is shocked by an occurrence of witches. Witches are the Devil’s evildoers, and should be persecuted at once. Abigal, the drama queen of the play, attempts to kill the wife of the man she loves with witchcraft. They are found, but whenever Abigal and the others attending are being accused, they lie, blaming others of being witches.

Torture played a huge role in the powers of the inquisitors. “Document 5: The Case of Marina Gonzalez” in the book The Spanish Inquisition written by Lu Ann Homza, is an example of how important torture was for confessions however torture was ineffective when revealing truths. To torture an entire group of a population, it would have required a very thorough process. An inquisition began with an Edict of Grace after a Catholic Mass, in which those in community who were guilty of heresy were invited to the town center to declare any acts against the church.

Attending residential school leads to Josh enduring sexual abuse from a priest, which results in Josh committing sexual offenses himself. His exploitation of Karaoke, Jimmy’s girlfriend, is confirmed when “an old photograph and a folded-up card [is found with] Josh’s head… pasted over a priest’s head [,] and Karaoke’s… pasted over a little boy’s” (365). The replacing of new pictures on top of the old ones represents how Josh is taking the position of the priest as the offender, and Karaoke is becoming the ‘new Josh’; the victim. In the present tense narrative, Jimmy becomes aware of Josh’s deed and retaliates by getting revenge, resulting in the death of both Josh and himself. All in all, Josh’s abusiveness relates to his experience in residential school, therefore his exploitive actions depict a direct result of

In his book, “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (1702),” clergyman John Hale comes forth to confront the recent events going on at the time. Initially, Hale alludes to the questionable actions and activities of the townspeople being accused of witchcrafts, and being imprisoned as punishment. In addition, he discloses how everyone suspicious will be accused, not even young children are safe from the hands of this fate. Hale’s purpose of publishing this book was to describe the incident of the Witch Trials, and to reveal his experience of the trials, since his own wife was accused. By employing a didactic tone, Hale relays the actions of the past that targeted the Puritans and those wrongly accused of witchcrafts, so this occurrence

Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, a clergyman had committed the horrid sin of adultery, the same sin as Hester. Dimmesdale’s holy affiliation gave him a kind and pure disposition and this was solidified by his dimwittedness, making him seem almost childlike. By having a character with these qualities, Hawthorne contradicts the stereotype he has set up by having Dimmesdale be “unworth... [y] to [complete his] humblest mission” (71), a quality virtually unheard of among ministers. The author then has Dimmesdale confess his “sin so awfully revealed!”(211) in order for both Hester and Dimmesdale to redeem themselves of sin and restore the goodness.

" This statement would account with the practice that women could not be in the presence of men unless they were a relative to the priest. Punishment also seemed to extend outside of the Roman Catholic Church to women who practiced concubinage. Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1225 C.E. stated that The concubines of priests and clerks who will be beneficed or ordained into sacred orders shall be deprived of an ecclesiastical burial, unless they truly and entirely correct themselves…. Neither shall they receive the kiss of peace nor the blessing of bread in church….

One of the first accused was Samuel Parris’ own slave, Tituba. It was unheard of for a Reverend to have witchcraft practiced under his own roof, and Parris could not afford to lose his reputation. Samuel stood by his children in court as they testified against the accused, and he even helped them by testifying against Rebecca Nurse. People thought for certain that if the Reverend was standing with the girls against the so called “evil witches” that there must be a real problem. Parris even made a statement that the witches were plotting against Christianity, which made sense if the witches were indeed working for the Devil.

As the play moves forward, Proctor tries to protect his wife and tell the truth that the girls are lying. Proctor knows that Elizabeth is innocent. Act III is the time where Proctor is put into a difficult position that he must face. He must confess in order to save his wife, and in order for him to do that he must confess he had an affair with Abigail. We see that Proctor is able to confess to the court, but the judges still believe in the girls hysteria.

John Proctor fears his name’s identity, which is evident near the end of the play when he resists Deputy Danforth and Reverend Hale’s posting his name on the church door, accusing him of witchcraft (IV.712-717). John Proctor is Elizabeth Proctor’s husband, who involved in an affair with Abigail Williams when she was still working as the Proctor’s maid. Elizabeth fires Abigail, once she realizes her maid and her husband’s covert relationship. Elizabeth’s dismissal causes Abigail to become very angry, for women had little power at the time, let alone unmarried women like herself. By playing her Mafia-like wailing and doll piercing games and forcing the other Salem girl to participate, Abigail determines to terminate Elizabeth and keep John for herself (460-473).

The story begins with dialogue between God and the Devil. The Devil claims that a person cannot live by the demands outlined in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In terms that echo the deal made in the Book of Job, God gives the Devil domain over Michael Steel, a successful actor that is in the running for an Oscar, to try and prove his point. Steel decides to live by Jesus’ commands and then is in constant contact with the words of The Sermon on the Mount on the radio, television, and in his own reading.