Doubt Essay

In the play Doubt, by John Patrick Shanly, Sister Aloysius is treating Father Flynn unfairly. Sister Aloysius is the principal of St. Nichols School, who is suspicious and always doubt everyone, especially Father Flynn. She thinks that Father Flynn is guilty, but has no proof. Sister Aloysius doesn’t like Father Flynn in the school and his ideas. She treats him unfairly. Sister Aloysius treats Father Flynn unfairly when she still accuses Father Flynn of giving the altar wine to Donald Muller after Father Flynn tells her the truth. She treats him unfairly by forcing him to request the transfer without proving if Father Flynn is guilty or not and also makes him resign by lying about his past.

First, Sister Aloysius accuses Father Flynn that he gave a wine to Donald Muller. In the play, when Father Flynn and Sister James are at Sister Aloysius’s office, Sister Aloysius tells Father Flynn that “there was alcohol on [Donald Muller’s] breath” (Shanly 33) and Sister James “did smell it on his breath” (33). After that, Father Flynn tells her the truth that “Mr. McGinn caught [Donald Muller] in the sacristy drinking alter wine” (33) and Donald Muller begged Father Flynn “not to be removed from the altar boys” (34). Father Flynn tells her that he was with Donald Muller in the rectory because he was scared that he will be removed from the altar boys because Mr. McGinn caught him drinking wine. After Father Flynn tells the truth Sister Aloysius still has doubt that he is lying and so she wonders if “it’s easier to believe him?” (35). Moreover she’s not satisfied with Father Flynn’s story, so now she’s going to “corroborate [Father Flynn’s] story with Mr. McGinn” (35) to confirm if Father Flynn is telling the truth. Sister Aloysius doesn’t as...

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...unfairly by bringing up his past and lying that she has called the last parish.

Finally, Sister Aloysius never proved that Father Flynn is guilty and accuses him without any proof. Sister James asks Sister Aloysius that if she “ever prove it [to]… [Her] self?” (57) And Sister Aloysius tells her “no” (57). Sister Aloysius never proved that Father Flynn is guilty, but she tells Sister James that she “was sure” (57) that Father Flynn is guilty of giving the altar wine to Donald Muller. She makes Father Flynn resign from the school by lying about his past. Sister Aloysius demanded the truth of what happened in the rectory and Father Flynn told her that Donald Muller was with him in the rectory to tell him not to be removed from the altar boys because Donald Muller was caught drinking the altar wine. After telling her the truth she still looks at Father Flynn as guilty.