Doubt: A Parable

Doubt: A Parable is a 2005 play by John Patrick Shanley that analyzes an instance of doubt and suspicion in a Catholic school in the Bronx in the 1960s. In nine scenes, the play tells the story of principal Sister Aloysius’s suspicions about an inappropriate relationship between a priest, Father Flynn, and a young male student.

The play opens with Father Flynn giving a sermon, utilizing a parable about a young sailor whose ship sinks and crew dies, leaving him alone on the sea. After he fashions a boat and sets a course by the stars, a storm rolls in and the sailor is unable to see the stars for the next twenty days and begins to doubt his navigation. Father Flynn explains that the congregation is full of members experiencing similar spiritual doubts, but says, “Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone” (6). The next scene shows the principal, an older woman, Sister Aloysius, meeting with a young nun, Sister James. Sister Aloysius cautions Sister James to distrust her students, and to be more distant with them. Sister Aloysius also asks Sister James what she thinks of Father Flynn, whom Sister James describes as brilliant.