Doubt, A Parable By John Patrick Shanley: Play Analysis

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In the play Doubt, a Parable written by John Patrick Shanley, explains how doubt can lead to certainty and how an individual assurance can lead back to doubt. The relationship between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius is a back and forth conflict between certainty and doubt. While Father Flynn knows for a fact that he has not done anything to Donald Muller, the first African-American student to attend the school, but Sister Aloysius does not believe that Father Flynn is innocent. It is Sister Aloysius doubt that makes her act out from her position. Throughout the play Shanley demonstrates how Father Flynn sermons relate to the relationship between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn stand at from the beginning of scene I to the ending of the play. …show more content…
During the sermon Father Flynn says, “The message of the constellations- had he imagined it because of his desperate circumstance? Or had he seen Truth once and now had to hold on to it without further reassurance?” (Stanly 14) This phrase that Father Flynn stats talks about how the relationship between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn is. Sister Aloysius had seen truth once eight years ago at St. Boniface where a priest she noted had to be stopped. Knowing what had happen eight years ago made Sister Aloysius become very cautious with other priest especially when it came to protecting her students. Then when Father Flynn started acting differently when Donald Muller returned from his office Sister Aloysius begins to doubt Father Flynn. “Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty” (Shanley 14). It is Sister Aloysius doubt that makes her begin to pay more attention to Father Flynn and his actions. The doubt that Sister Aloysius has towards Father Flynn when he explains to her why Donald Muller went to his office in the first place and the reason why he did not say a thing was to protect him from being kicked out of the altar boys had only grown Sister Aloysius doubt. Sister Aloysius doubt grow so much that she was certain that something was going on between Donald Muller and Father Flynn. Father Flynn first sermon was the most important one because it set a tone on how doubt effects people and act upon uncertainty. However even without a sermon Shanley still finds a way to show the relationship between Father Flynn and Sister

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