Doubt Play Conflict

Most people have had some sort of conflict affect their lives at least once. That conflict could alter a person’s views of the world around them. In the play Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, conflict is used to grasp the reader’s emotions and cause the reader to rethink their preconceived notions about the characters in the play. Doubt takes place in 1964 in St. Nicholas, which is a school and Catholic Church in New York. The play focuses on a priest named Father Brendan Flynn and a nun named Sister Aloysius Beauvier. The conflict highlighted in this play is between these two characters. After Father Flynn starts taking an African American student under his wing, named Donald Muller, Sister Aloysius suspects Father Flynn is up to no good. She

Firstly, Father Flynn is much more modern than Sister Aloysius would like him to be. Father Flynn suggests that in the Christmas Pageant the school should, “include a secular song” (Shanley 28). The reader is now aware that Father Flynn is not a traditional priest. The reader now thinks that Father Flynn wants to modernize the church. This statement is significant because it reveals the gap in ideals between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius. Sister Aloysius does not want modern ideas in the church because she thinks that the corrupt the good nature of the current traditions. Also, Father Flynn uses a ballpoint pen. Sister Aloysius found a ballpoint pen in Sister James’s room once and commanded Sister James to take away any ballpoint pens she found because ballpoint pens do not promote good penmanship. Because Father Flynn uses a ballpoint pen, Sister Aloysius has a hatred for Father Flynn. Finally, Father Flynn adds sugar to his tea. While this fact may seem insignificant, it is not that way at all. Sister Aloysius and Sister James do not add sugar to their tea because it is considered sinful. It is more traditional to drink tea without sugar. However, Father Flynn puts three spoons of sugar into his tea. This contemporary style to drinking tea enrages Sister Aloysius because she does not want any modern customs in her