The world in which people live today is composed of hungry predators, forcing the innocents to shield by any giving power they get. In the play by John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable, the principal of St. Nicholas school, Sister Aloysius, is trying to protect a fellow student from the hands of a possible sexual predator who is believed to be Father Flynn. Sister Aloysius feels worried about the situation and tries confronting Father Flynn but the lack of authority she has in the parish motivates her to break her vows in order to protect the student, Donald Muller. The lack of authority Sister Aloysius faces is due to the strict policy imposed by the Catholic religion. In the Catholic religion there are rules that must be follow at all times, even in the rectory the readers can conclude that …show more content…
Sister Aloysius was aware of this statues when she states, “ We might as well be separated by the Atlantic ocean, I used to potter around out here, but Monsignor Benedict…rightly discourages from crossing paths with priest unattended (Shanley 18-19) .The Catholic religion has an order of precedence which places the religious Brothers and Sisters down the line in the lowest possible position. This limitation of power made it impossible to take matters in to her own hands, forcing Sister Aloysius to direct to a higher religious leader. Over viewing the problem, Sister Aloysius feels the necessity to get someone higher that can resolve the problem but since she is a women she cannot directly go to the bishop as she states, “The hierarchy of the church does not permit my going to the bishop” (Shanley 23) . Sister Aloysius feels incompetent, unable to relay on help as she says, “Here, there is no man I can go to, and men run everything” ( (Shanley 22). The feeling of limited power encourages her to stand up for what she believes is right. The feeling of motivation Sister Aloysius gets, comes from a previous situation when in a school named St.
Boniface a priest had to be stopped (Shanley 22). Donald Muller makes no exemption to the fact that he is the first black student in St. Nicholas (Shanley 21). At that time, segregated schools had just opened the doors to black students. Although it was okay for them to go to school they were still exposed to many dangerous situations including nonacceptance. Sister Aloysius is worried about the safety of the student as she states, “Our first Negro student. I thought there’d be fighting a parent or two to deal with…I should’ve foreseen the possibility” (Shanley 21). According to Psychology Today, “the oldest motivational theory on the books, organisms behave as they do because they are following a set of biological pre-programmed instinctual urges” (Felmans). This explains the instincts Sister Aloysius is exposed when she says, “Of all the children. Donald Muller. I supposed it makes sense…He’s isolated. The little sheep lagging is the one the wolf gets” (Shanley 21). The instincts she feels motivates her to act on the situation in order to protect the
student. People tend to protect something they care about. In this case Sister Aloysius confronts father Flynn about a possible unhealthy relationship that he may have with the student. Father Flynn is in denial and uses the student situation to announce that he is just trying to protect him as well, “That black boy needs a helping hand or he’s not going to make it here!” (Shanley 40). Sister Aloysius is not convinced by his words pointing out that she is a grown woman with experience (Shanley 35). According to Ana Cristina Villas, a consecrated laywoman, women don’t really have a big presence in important decisions (Harris). This forces Sister Aloysius to break her vows by lying to Father Flynn of a supposed call she made to the last rectory Father Flynn had previously worked in (Shanley 53). The breaking of vows is a serious situation by the Catholic church. Of course, confessions and repentance are available for those who seek forgiveness. Sometimes people have to access resources that might not be the best ones to solve the problem. The situation that was going on pushed Sister Aloysius to break her vows in order to protect the student. As she once stated before, she was an experienced woman and had been in those kinds of situations before. Lying is never okay, but if that is the only way to solve the problem our Lord and Savior will understand.
The play “Doubt” by John Patrick Shanley began with a sermon by Father Brendan Flynn, a well liked and enlightened neighborhood priest, who says, "Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty". (Shanley 6) Sister Aloysius Beauvier is a strict traditional nun, who was declared to protect and secure St. Nicholas Church School. Father Flynn seems to be the protagonist in the play and Sister Aloysius is the antagonist. The whole play, sister Aloysius Beauvier suspected Father Flynn of molesting a 12-year-old boy named Donald Muller, who is the first African-American student in the St. Nicholas Church School. I think that Sister Aloysius’s overreacting, because Father Flynn is innocent. In the middle of these two characters, Sister James is a young and innocent teacher who wants to be neutral between the conflict of Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn.
This whole play by Arthur Miller shows how our community will turn on each other to save ourselves no matter if it’s right or wrong and it’s true in our society today. It also shows how a good man regained his happiness and holiness by standing up for what’s right against the lies and sacrificed himself for the truth.
John Patrick Shanley creates a movie as a whole I feel was more informative than the play. In the play you have 4 characters Sister Aloysius, Father Flynn, Sister James, and Mrs. Muller. While the movie introduces a few other characters, for instance the children. For me the children made a difference because they for one made me understand what kind of kids Sister James was dealing with. I really thought that being able to see the way Father Flynn interacted with all of the young boys including Donald Muller was really helpful when trying to draw your conclusion of Father Flynn versus when reading it your left to imagine for instance; what some of the kids are like. The way the book sets you up your left leaning to Father Flynn being exactly what Sister Aloysius accuses him to be. We also get to see how sister James interacts with the kids and how Sister Aloysius influences her to change the way she deals with and teaches her class.
Are adults overprotective of their children? To what point do we protect children? Where should the line be drawn? Along with those questions is how easily children can be influenced by these same adults. Two poets, Richard Wilbur and Billy Collins, express the ideas of how easily children can be manipulated and how sometimes adults think they are protecting their innocent children, when in reality they are not. Wilbur and Collins express these ideas in their poems through numerous literary devices. The literary devices used by Wilbur and Collins expose different meanings and two extremely different end results. Among the various literary devices used, Wilbur uses imagery, a simple rhyme scheme and meter, juxtaposition of the rational and irrational, and a humorous tone to represent the narrator’s attempt to “domesticate” irrational fears. Conversely Collins uses symbols, historical interpretations, imagery, diction and other literary devices to depict the history teacher’s effort to shield his students from reality. In the poems, “A Barred Owl,” by Richard Wilbur, and “The History Teacher,” by Billy Collins, both poets convey how adults protect and calm children from their biggest, darkest fears and curiosities.
A reputation can be so well established that if one person in power does a wrongdoing people will not believe it. For example when Mrs. Muller says, “Let me ask you something. You honestly think that priest gave Donald that wine to drink?” (47). Donald’s mother is questioning sister Aloysius because she does not believe Father Flynn would do something like that. He has a reputation of being a great priest and his reputation is better than Sister Aloysius’. Mrs. Muller states, “You’re not going against no man in a robe and win, Sister. He’s got the position.” (47). Just by Father Flynn being a male he has a higher reputation than a nun, which he knows and can accumulate for his actions. In the hierarchy of the Church, the head male priest is the most dominant. Therefore, nobody questions what he is doing; he has a reputation of being this influential priest who gives great sermons. He knows that he has the power to do what he wants and has his fellow Monsignor and other men in the ...
... Nonetheless, the signs also point to Father Flynn hurting him, because he was violating him. People’s assumptions are based upon personal experience and gut feeling, also on their upbringing; nature and nurture. Shanley uses inference in this play to create doubt in the audience’s minds'. The verdict is never in, on Flynn; guilty or not guilty. Shanley’s audience is left to be the jury.
Here, Alyss learned that she would need to live up to the real world responsibilities that people have to live up to everyday. Once in England, she was staying with a family that constantly tormented her about her claims of living in Wonderland, which caused her to lose faith in the place where she grew up and had to treat her beliefs and childhood as if they did not exist in order to live a normal life. Alyss even said, “Yes, it was a solution… Become just like everyone else.” (148) She began to accept the life of a normal girl and took on responsibilities like getting married. “If she’d had time to think about it, Alice might have stopped herself, considering the idea too whimsical. But the words had a force of their own, and only after she said them aloud did she realize just how appropriate the idea was. ‘Let’s have a masquerade.’” (172) At this point in time, Alyss Heart, or Alice Liddell, had just begun to take on the responsibility that any young adult would take at her
At certain times it might feel right for some people to help the people that they love by lying. Elizabeth, Proctor's wife, does not tell the truth about her husband's affair in front of the society to protect her husband. She describes her husband as a “good and righteous man” in the court (Miller 113). However, that is not the truth. When a person loves someone, he or she would do anything to help that person. Some people choose the right way, while the others choose the wrong path. Elizabeth decides to lie for the first time just to save Proctor from the problems that he might face if the truth is revealed. Similarly, a teenage girl lies about her friend’s abortion to protect her. De Paulo says, “People tell these serious lies to protect something when the truth could threaten something that they really value” (Kelleher 1). In this case, the girl took the same step to save her friend. People do not want to see their loved ones suffer. As a result, they hide the truth to protect that person from danger. To protect others, they forget the bad outcomes and the trouble they might have to face for telling lies. Not only do people lie for others, but they lie for their own
As an act of portraying parallelism, Miller renders the characteristic of self-pride between Danforth and McCarthy. In the play, Miller reveals one of the multiple methods in which Danforth shows his pride. For instance, Danforth “is a grave man in his sixties, of some humor and sophistication that do not, however, interfere with an exact loyalty to his position and his cause” (79). This establishes an image that Danforth is not to be interfered with. Miller enables the reader to understand that Danforth is a sober gentleman when it comes to the court. Danforth’s method of defense against an unanswerable question is using the court as an excuse and turning the question around to get citizens arrested. Likewise, J. Ronald Oakley, author of The Great Fear, noted that McCarthy had a thirst for everlasting fame. McCarthy was once nicknamed “Pepsi Cola Kid” (200) and “Water Boy of the Real Estate Lobby” (200). After all the fame he received, he was still not satisfied. Finally, in an “extemporaneous speech” (200) he was able to get beneath the skins of the citi...
A 21st century audience would look at the play from the perspective of needless hysteria and accusations and would be amazed that human nature when put into these situations reacts the way it does in the play. In modern time we are able to appreciate the play without being concerned with the parallels of McCarthyism. Although my selected scene is only three-quarters way through the play it is very conclusive in the way that it shows the ability of the court to accept the condemnations of people looking for vengeance and the girls’ lies throughout the trials. The historical background to the play, although quite old still relates to human life and behaviour. It shows the willingness of human beings to blame anyone but themselves.
Daisy lacks self confidence which made it harder to raise her fifteen year-old son Donny. There were many instances where Daisy pondered on what she can do better to help Donny in school, but as she put forth an effort, she always resisted. “She remembered when Amanda was born. Donny had acted lost and bewildered. Daisy had been alert to that of course, but still, a new baby keeps you busy of course….”(570) When Daisy saw this happening, she never stopped to reassure Donny that even though he had a sister, it was not going to change their relationship. Daisy should have reassured her son by correcting the problem as soon as it surfaced, then Donny should have understood. When Donny started to have problems in school, Daisy gave up without trying, and let a tutor dictate her son’s activities especially when the teacher questions Daisy about Donny’s actions, Daisy replied, “Oh I’m sorry, Miss Evans, but Donny’s tutor handles these things now…” (572) In school Donny’s behavior changed soo drastically that he started to stay out late and Daisy just sat back and let this happen. “The tutor had sat down so many rules![She] were not allowed any questions at all about school, nor were to speak with his teachers…,Only one teacher disobeyed…”(572) Because Daisy didn’t believe in herself or her word, she let others control and therefore his behavior worsened.
Miller wrote The Crucible as a parallel to the anticommunist hysteria in the 1940's. It may also be seen as a mirror to Hitler's Germany, and the pseudo-science of the time which dictated "purity". Today, however, The Crucible shows a resemblance to an entirely different kind of social hysteria. Accusations of sexual-abuse against child-care providers and others are now sometimes referred to as "witch hunts" when the accusers are suspected of lying, as in Miller's play. Children's advocates will of course tell us that we must believe children's claims of abuse, because, tragically, it does occur. However, a recent trend has shown that more and more accusations are false, and even when the accused are found innocent, their lives can be changed forever. This paper will examine the similarities between Miller's The Crucible, and the sexual-abuse "witch hunts" of today.
To conclude, The Crucible, all began from simple accusations against a hand full of girls and later developed into great hysterias that are still known today. The author conveys that not all people who claim to be motivated by principles are, most are motivated by greed or
...der further than what we have in front of us. We want to impose our opinion on everything. We want to relate to it in a way that can only be done through out imagination. So, due to this, when we are not given the flexibility, then the context no longer becomes entertaining. The viewers do not want to be told how to think. Given these points, if they are influenced to believe that Sister Aloysius is a cruel individual like the movie portrays, then at the end of the movie and book when Sister Aloysius says, “ I have doubts! I have such doubts!” they will take that as a confession from her, and be further lead to believe that the accusations against Father Flynn are false. I think John Patrick Shanley chooses specific diction to create a conflict that has no precise resolution,he wanted the reader get lost in story and enter into their own story manifested within.
Doubt: A Parable follows Sister’s Aloysius, the principal in a Catholic School, as she investigates Father Flynn, who she suspects of molesting a student, Donald. Sister Aloysius is certain that Father Flynn is guilty, but does not have any evidence to prove that guilt. Shanley is depicting that one does not need evidence to be certain of one’s guilt. Sister Aloysius enlists in the help of a younger nun, Sister James to gather evidence and confront Father Flynn. However, Sister James finds difficulty in believing Father Flynn’s guilt, and harbors doubt and uncertainty. The characters’ position on doubt vs. certainty divides their personalities. Sister Aloysius is a strict and strong-willed character, while Sister James has an insecure and innocent