Doubt By John Patrick Shanley: Play Analysis

viewed with suspicion in the church. Throughout the play, those with power attempt to assert it

In the play Appropriate that was put on at Colorado State University, is a play about the Lafayette's, an dysfunctional family that gets mixed up in racial situation. The purpose of putting on this play was to show how with all the racial tension going on around the world, everyone has their only views on what happens. This also showed how being put in to situation, like the Lafayette’s were put in, make it a lot harder to deal with. During the play they show how different people look and react are racism. The director was showing how different nationalities and religions, try to deal with situation even if it all blows up. They were able to show how different people tend to acted towards racism tension.

The adults in Salem, Oregon in Stephen Karam’s Speech & Debate had good reason to treat the teens as if they were children. If Diwata, Solomon, and Howie were an accurate representation of the other students at the school, it is no wonder that the parents, teachers, and school board sought to exercise an abundance of control and provide too much guidance in their lives. The three teens dealt with “grown-up” issues throughout the play, but they tried to tackle them in characteristically childish ways.

In the play along with the movie The Crucible, John Proctor and Abigail Williams have interesting relationship bound by adultery and lies. Abigail becomes obsessed with John and will do anything to be with him. John quickly shuts down her fantasy ideas and tells her that what happened between them was a one-time thing that will never take place again and a mistake on his part. With this knowledge, she soon spends all her time plotting to get John all to herself and to make him fall in love with her, even if that means taking out John’s wife, Elizabeth. We see many examples of this forbidden relationship through their secret encounters and arguments in both examples of the story, still, there were more scenes of John and Abby alone in the movie than in the play. One could wonder why this occurred and why the relationship between them was made more intimate and serious in the movie than the play. John and Abigail had more scenes alone together in the movie rather than the play because of the time period the screenplay was written and the movie was produced along with adding more drama.

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

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. I believe Father Flynn is innocent because of Sister Aloysius’ paranoid demeanor and he has reasonable explanations for everything he is accused of.

Doubt, a film taking place in New York during the 1960s, focuses on the accusation of a priest, Father Flynn, being a child predator by a nun, Sister Aloysius. The credibility of Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn are often brought into question throughout the film. As the evidence gathered was mostly circumstantial and created through assumptions, Father Flynn did not harm Donald Miller at any instance despite the constant pressure from Aloysius to admit his guilt by leaving the parish.

What is doubt? According to google “a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction.” Father Flynn is accused of a sexual relationship with a young boy named Donald, a young African american boy new to the school. Sister Aloysius does not like Father Flynn and she believes that he is up to no good and wrong doing. Sister Aloysius accuse Father Flynn of sexually abusing Donald. Based on the evidence in Patrick Shanley’s play. I think Father Flynn is guilty based on his weird behavior around Donald and not telling the truth.

In the past 5 years, He has changed parishes 3 times. He never told anyone why he changed parishes so much. In one of his sermons he expresses that, “ I’m sick. No one knows I’ve lost my last real friend. I’ve done something wrong.” (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.” (Shanley 32). After all the arguing, Father Flynn threatens Sister Aloysius and Sister James starts to believe Flynn.

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. 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. Flynn states that Sister Aloysius should have spoken to the pastor not the nuns in his last parish. Why does it seem like he doesn’t want Sister Aloysius to talk to the nuns? Did he really have a secret? It makes me very suspicious when he says, “You have no right to go rummaging through my past!” (Shanley 53) If you truly have nothing to hide then you should be fine with

The National Anthem was written in 1814 and was adopted by America in 1931. Years after adopting the National Anthem people are ready to fight and die for it. Recently at Harrison High School a ninth grader by the name of Philip Malloy states he had his first amendment rights taken away. Philip was supposedly singing the National Anthem at a time of respectful silence. What people did not know was that Philip was lying about being stopped for singing. Philip did not have his rights taken away because he had ample opportunities to apologize to Ms. Narwin, his actions caused her to get fired and receive threats from people in America, Philip used his college money to switch schools after she was fired then he proceeds to say, “I do not know the words.”

In this excerpt “from The Tell-tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe creates the supercilious character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of character motivation, internal thoughts, and actions, Poe portrays a story about deception and reveals the feelings of superiority, and ultimately guilt, that is invoked by the pretense of innocence.

In the Heights a play full enthusiasm and full of energy, it won many awards including a

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. He seems almost too focused on coming up with excuses for why he is abnormally close with Donald. His actions make him seem very skeptical about his intentions and actions in regards to Donald Muller. Father Flynn then goes and talks to Sister James separately to talk with her about the accusations. By talking to Sister James alone, Father Flynn not only broke the rules but also seems suspicious. Father Flynn seems suspicious by talking to Sister James due to him taking time out of his day to go and try to convince her of his innocence. During the conversation between Father Flynn and Sister James, Father Flynn seems to threaten Sister James in a way: “You might lose your place as well” (Shanley 40). Father Flynn goes out of his way to convince Sister James of his innocence, which is very odd behavior considering she is at a lower position than himself. Father Flynn also goes and talks to Sister Aloysius against the