Doubt: A Parable

Unconditionally, the character, personality, and mind-set of Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep) in John Patrick Shanley's play, "Doubt" is directly mirrored to that of Nurse Ratchet in Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.It is a well known common knowledge that it is, not only wrong, but outright dangerous to `assume.' Sister Aloysius `assumes' something wrong and unethical and perhaps even sacrilegious is taking place between Father Brendan Flynn and the first black student (Donald Muller) at the Catholic grammar school in the Bronx.Father Brendan is not only the basketball coach for the school but his main obligation is being the pastor who holds mass on Sunday's at the schools church. Sister Aloysius Beauvier is the principal of the catholic school. Her philosophy of life and behavior are as old as she is. She maintains an iron, strict and heavy hand in keeping the young students in line. All the students as well as the nuns who teach in the catholic school, and are mostly as old as she is, fear her.Sister James (Amy Adams) was the exception. She was the youngest of the nuns and did not fear Sister Aloysius. However, she overbearingly respected her to the point it could be construed as being fear as well. Sister James was the complete opposite of Sister Aloysius beginning with her age. Sister James was young and her character and personality was that of a caring, and loving nun. Her students loved her as much as they hated and feared the principal, Sister Aloysius.Donald Muller, the first and only black student at the catholic grammar school, was an altar boy. He confided to Father Brendan, after a sermon the Father presented to the congregation that, he too, wanted to become a priest himself. Father Brendan was grateful and thanked the altar boy, Donald Muller, for the positive comments concerning the sermon he presented to the Sunday mass congregation.Father Brendan Flynn was considered a good priest. He was friendly, respectful, lovable and sympathetic toward the young students. He would often empathize with the sometimes off- the-collar behavior of the students.Donald Muller is caught by another altar boy drinking the Holy Communion Wine, which represents Christ's blood offering to Humanity. Father Brendan calls Sister James classroom and tells the Sister to send Donald Muller to the rectory. Only two people know of Donald's sacrilegious act, the altar boy who saw Donald drink the wine and Father Flynn. Father Flynn decides to break one of the altar boy's strict rules, and decides not to remove Donald from serving as an altar boy.Donald Muller returns to the classroom and Sister James notices a visible apprehensive and troubled appearance in Donald Muller. The worst of it, however, is the smell of alcohol in Muller's breath. Sister James does not question nor does she confront Donald Muller; she is concerned but brushes it off. Later Sister James witnesses Father Flynn placing a shirt belonging to Donald Muller in Donald's locker located in the altar boys small locker room area next to the vestibule.The principal, Sister Aloysius calls a meeting with Sister James to discuss plans for a forthcoming Christmas play to be performed by the students. It is during that meeting that Sister Aloysius, extemporaneously, expresses her concern for the attention Father Flynn is giving Donald Muller. Sister James innocently, but concerned as well, tells Sister Aloysius what she had witnessed.Later Sister Aloysius confronts Father Flynn and lets him know she is, not only thinking the worst, but assumes the inconceivable. Father Flynn has no choice and tells Sister Aloysius the reason he called Donald Muller to the rectory and why Donald's breath smelled of alcohol. Sister Aloysius is not satisfied with the explanation and tells Father Flynn she will pursue the matter further. She refuses the suggestion to question Donald Muller stating Donald would lie on what happened to protect Father Flynn.Father Flynn is not seriously concerned, but has no choice and removes Donald Muller from the altar boy services.The next sermon Father Flynn presents the congregation on Sunday mass is titled, "Doubt." He tells the Sunday mass congregation of this parishioner who, while in the confession booth tells her church priest that she is troubled by something she witnessed a friend doing, but is not sure if it has any substance. She has no proof and only `assumes' the worst. The priest tells her to go home and cut a pillow repeatedly and to come to the confessional and tell him what happened. When the time comes, the parishioner tells the priest there were, thousandths... no, millions of feathers flying all over the room, the home, and the street. The priest tells her to go back and gather every single feather. She responds that was impossible. "Yes," the priest said to her, "That is how gossip is... millions of feathers that cannot be taken back once they fly out of the pillow."Sister Aloysius gives Father Flynn an ultimatum; get a transfer or she would contact every parish he had served in to find out his character profile from every one of them. Father Flynn tells her he could fight her and win, but decides to leave the parish and school as she suggested. Father Flynn knew he was in a catch-22 situation; he was doomed if he fought her unfound allegations and doomed if he left the parish instead. It did not matter if he won against her allegations, it would be impossible to gather the millions of feathers that came out of the pillow. On the other hand, in leaving the parish he would take the pillow with him leaving only doubt behind.Later Sister Aloysius breaks down, like a little girl who confesses she has done something wrong, and tells Sister James she feels a great amount of doubt about the assumptions, unfound allegations and innuendos she accused Father Flynn of. She also confesses to Sister James that she lied to Father Flynn about some steps she had taken to find out all she could about his past as a priest. She doubts she has done the right decision.____________________________I have provided a synopsis of the play. You as a reader or viewer must read or see the play and make your own decision based on the circumstantial evidence provided in the play. As a reader or viewer of the play, you become a juror on the stage of world opinion. If after reading or viewing the play, you conclude without a doubt the assumptions, and allegations have substance, you must then find Father Flynn guilty. On the other hand, if you feel the slightest inclination towards "doubt," you must then acquit Father Flynn of the assumptions and allegations presented by Sister Aloysius.It is always dangerous to "assume." One must never "assume." There has been many cases where individuals, as well as entire families, have been destroyed based on an "assumption" which was later, too late, proven wrong or false.It is always impossible to gather all the millions of feathers that false accusations, innuendos and gossip spread out of the pillow.Playwright, John Patrick Shanley, has done an excellent job in prodding and inciting the individual's mind regarding "doubt." I strongly recommend reading and viewing his play, "Doubt."

I saw "Doubt" this weekend down in the Twin Cities. While you are more likely to see a national touring company of a Tony Award winning musical, such as "The Light in the Piazza" (which we will see in a couple of weeks), Tony Award winning dramas do make it out to the hinterlands from time to time. What was rare was that the cast was headed by Cherry Jones, who won her second Tony Award for originating the role of Sister Aloysius on Broadway. Usually you have to go to New York City to see the stars in the show (or maybe Los Angeles, which is where I saw Michael Crawford do "Phantom"), so this was a real treat. The draw might have been an award-winning actress, but by the end of the performance the star is John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize winning play."Doubt: A Parable" is set in a parochial school in the Bronx in the Autumn of 1964 and begins with a homily by Father Flynn that questions the role of doubt in the modern world and sets the stage for the drama. The priest asks the audience, "What do you do when you're not sure?" Then Sister Aloysius, the principal of the school, has a meeting in her office with young Sister James, who is warned about being too passionate about teaching history to her students in general and in particular not to turn FDR into a secular saint. Sister Aloysius is not a sympathetic figure, especially given that our introduction to the nun is to watch her crush the joy of teaching out of a young teacher. However, then she makes Sister James aware that she has concerns for a new student, Donald Mueller, the school's first black child. Her concern is not because of the boy's race, but because she suspects Flynn has been "interfering" with the boy.Distance makes it difficult to remember the times, but an undercurrent of the play is how Sister Aloysius is strictly old school while Father Flynn has embraced the directives of the Second Vatican Council to make the clergy more accessible to their parish and become like "members of their family." Shanley does not get into deep theological issues but finds a telling point of contention in Sister Aloysius' dismissal of the song "Frosty the Snowman" as an example of paganism. Yet despite our lack of agreement with her strict conservatism, it is impossible not to be concerned about Sister Aloysisus' suspicions regarding the charismatic young priest who likes his fingernails to be slightly long.I have a background in competitive debate so one of the things I appreciated in Shanley's drama is how he balances the two sides to create the requisite titular state. When I was dissecting the play with my wife on the way home from the theater I discovered that while I (male Italian raised Lutheran) was looking at the play from the assumption of the priest's innocence, she (female Irish raised Catholic) was assuming he was guilty. Of course the play works both ways, but certainly there have been more than enough headlines about stories of abuse in the Catholic Church in the past decade to make it easier for the play's audience to jump to the same conclusion as Sister Aloysius.Coming to a decision as to the "truth" of what happened between Father Flynn and the young boy is a question of when you decide to place your bet on who to believe. Sister Aloysius begins the play with her suspicions and moves towards certainty on her own timetable. Sister James serves as a warning not to decide too early, but Shanley clearly wants us to come to our own decisions before the drama's "resolution." Waiting until you are sure is to repeat Hamlet's tragic error, which is not to say that Sister Aloysius is the Dane's opposite because she is not guilty of the proverbial rush to judgment. The term "reasonable doubt" is never used in the play, but it certainly comes into play as the nun commits to certainty in advance of having absolute proof, mainly because being denied such proof cannot, in her mind at least, preclude action. Sister Aloysius wants to know what really happened between Father Flynn and Donald, even if the boy's mother is willing to turn a blind eye.For me the point at which Sister Aloysius becomes heroic is when Father Flynn threatens her for her refusal to follow Church protocols. He seeks to convince her that she has no choice, because failure to obey would basically send her to Hell for disobedience. But she sees herself in the same danger if she falls to do what she can to save one of her children, and in her decision to damn herself for the right reason and his decision to coerce rather than persuade is where my doubts were erased. For me the most delicious irony is the way Sister Aloysius' crucial phone call mirrors Father Flynn's point earlier in the play about the value of true stories. The final line of the play is also dripping with irony in a very conscious effort by Shanley to leave his audience exactly as he wants them to be.

Very interesting play. Delves into many important topics that leave the reader questioning the way they live their lives. Very good.

This play is an up and down rollercoaster of emotions, frustration, irritation and resignation. The righteousness of others skews are perception of what is being told to us. We can't always see the truth when we are conflicted by the messenger. There is no middle ground it's either right or wrong. I'm still running through the play as I type my review and I can't stop thinking how the truth wasn't important. It was the truth that was believed to be the truth that mattered.The crusaders who are trying to right all their perceived wrongs in the world in the behalf of other's, yet don't take the time to talk to the people they are "helping" are only furthering their own agenda instead of correcting anything.A conversation is just that and its how we get to know a person and their hopes, dreams and beliefs. Their is always more than what we see from afar.

Read this play for a class and it’s actually really good. I usually don’t like the readings that teachers assign but this one was a gem. Quick, straight to the point and easy read. Would recommend! Also came in really good condition.

But I had to read this for college. And let me just say that it was such an easy read because it is a fantastic book/play. I thought the movie was great, but the book was amazing. I read it in less than two days because I couldn't put it down. If you're thinking of getting this book...you won't be disappointed.

Extremely well written. Superb. Well worth reading.

Très contente de cet achat

Speaks volumes about where we are now and how we can become entrenched in our own views without precedence. Wonderful exploration. Really great story

Ich habe dieses Buch in der Schule zusammen mit meinem Englischleistungskurs gelesen.Vorneweg muss ich sagen, dass dieses Buch durchaus verständlich für Leute mit nicht allzu perfekten Englischkenntnissen ist.Zu der Geschichte:Ich finde das Buch ist John Patrick Shanley wirklich gelungen, da es nicht so selbst bezogen, sondern auf uns alle übertragbar ist. Die Frage nach Schuld oder Unschuld ist dabei eher zweitrangig, es geht primär über gesellschaftliche Konflikte die entstehen können, wenn Gerüchte verbreitet werden.Meiner Meinung nach ist das Buch lesenswert, da es mir persönlich die Tragweite menschlicher Handlungen bewusst gemacht hat und die damit (oftmals) einhergehenden Probleme.

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