Contraversy in Play Doubt
Certainty will lead to Doubt by Dylan Dubson
In an immoral place such as that presented in John Patrick Shanleys’ award-winning playwright Doubt, it would be unwise to assume the architect of the play would honor and comfort us with a greater and certain ending of the masterpiece. This brings us to the obvious question of what is certainty and how we can be certain of anything. According to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “There are various kinds of certainty. A belief is psychologically certain when the subject who has it is supremely convinced of its truth. Certainty in this sense is similar to incorrigibility, which is the property a belief has of being such that the subject is incapable of giving it up.” If we are directed and instructed by this statement, a reader cannot have a firm grasp on whether Father Flynn did in fact physically abuse the vulnerable, colored character of Donald Muller, living in 1964, surrounded by a rising discontent of the white privileged working class society (also responsible of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. that same year). However I afforded to be unwise, biased, and by my best judgment, decide (without evidence) Father Flynn did in fact harass Donald. This decision was obvious to me by three subliminal pieces of evidences awarded by the author. The first evidence is the suspicion and the accusations attacking Father Flynn of giving young Donald Muller wine when called to the rectory. Now, of course Flynn defends himself by disputing Donald drank the wine by himself because of the nerves of being a lonely black boy in 60’s Bronx. However, when confronted with this exclamation by Sister Aloysius, Flynn immediately contracted into a cornered cat, with a sharp, witty defense strategy. “I don’t wish to continue this conversation at all further,” said Father Flynn upon exiting. Father Flynn says he covered for the boy because he cared, yet the story is immediately made unconvincing when Sister Aloysius
In an immoral place such as that presented in John Patrick Shanleys’ award-winning playwright Doubt, it would be unwise to assume the architect of the play would honor and comfort us with a greater and certain ending of the masterpiece. This brings us to the obvious question of what is certainty and how we can be certain of anything. According to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “There are various kinds of certainty. A belief is psychologically certain when the subject who has it is supremely convinced of its truth. Certainty in this sense is similar to incorrigibility, which is the property a belief has of being such that the subject is incapable of giving it up.” If we are directed and instructed by this statement, a reader cannot have a firm grasp on whether Father Flynn did in fact physically abuse the vulnerable, colored character of Donald Muller, living in 1964, surrounded by a rising discontent of the white privileged working class society (also responsible of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. that same year). However I afforded to be unwise, biased, and by my best judgment, decide (without evidence) Father Flynn did in fact harass Donald. This decision was obvious to me by three subliminal pieces of evidences awarded by the author. The first evidence is the suspicion and the accusations attacking Father Flynn of giving young Donald Muller wine when called to the rectory. Now, of course Flynn defends himself by disputing Donald drank the wine by himself because of the nerves of being a lonely black boy in 60’s Bronx. However, when confronted with this exclamation by Sister Aloysius, Flynn immediately contracted into a cornered cat, with a sharp, witty defense strategy. “I don’t wish to continue this conversation at all further,” said Father Flynn upon exiting. Father Flynn says he covered for the boy because he cared, yet the story is immediately made unconvincing when Sister Aloysius