Doubt

To the naked eye, Doubt and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest may seem like two very different stories (which is true). Deep within the story, however, the conflicts and challenges that the primary characters face, in Doubt and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, are very much similar. The following essay analyzes Doubt and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest through its characters and its conflicts and how both of these shows, despite their difference in the plot, are very much similar. Doubt, written by John Patrick Shanley, takes place in a Catholic school, St. Nicholas, in the Bronx around 1964. One of the shows primary characters, Sister Aloysius, is portrayed as a strict, no nonsense, and straight forward religious woman; Or in simpler terms, an old and mean Catholic nun. She puts order and discipline before friendship and compassion. The show hits its peak when Sister Aloysius accuses the priest, Father Flynn (other primary character), for sexually abusing a student (the first African American admitted to St. Nicholas). Father Flynn was a character who was the exact opposite of Sister Aloysius. He was scene as a good man trying to protect this boy. Without solid evidence, Sister Aloysius presses on with the allegations, possibly ruining Father Flynn’s career and her own. The story ends with you, sitting or laying down with the feeling of doubt and the question of whether or not Father Flynn really do it. The time setting of this story really do create so much and tell a whole lot about the relationship between the two characters, Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn. The story takes place in the early 1960s, the starting point of the Women’s Rights Movement. It was a time when women had a voice or an opinion and could stand for it even if she stood against a man. Sister Aloysius, being a strong woman, and Father Flynn being the leader of the church, you can feel that there was this sort of male versus female battle. Even though she had little to no actual proof of what she was accusing Father Flynn of doing, Sister Aloysius stood her ground and defended what she believed in. It was a kind of Protagonist versus Antagonist, and because we don’t really know who is right, Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn could be either one. During the scene where she and the priest were having their little “duel”, some of her actions were quite similar to what many women do today. The part where she pretends that she called Father Flynn’s old church showed how, even today, women still have tricks up their sleeves to try to make a man crack. Even if Father Flynn did not do it, just a single dirty mark on his record can finish his job as a priest. Internally it wasn’t just Father Flynn versus Sister Aloysius; it was also Father Flynn versus the Church as a body. At the end of the show Father Flynn leaves without admitting to anything and Sister Aloysius sit in a garden and contemplates. She breaks down and what you are seeing is not a conflict between two people anymore, but a conflict within herself. In comparison to Doubt, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest did have similar conflicts and battles between the whole men versus women. This time, however, the story takes place in a mental institution. And this time, the roles are quite reversed. Instead of a man being more superior over a woman, you have a nurse, Nurse Ratched, who is more superior than a patient, R.P. McMurphy. Nurse Ratched personality in the film was similar to Sister Aloysius in the sense that they were both strict. The way that they were acted out, was very different. You see Sister Aloysius as a strong strict woman because of the way she carries herself. Nurse Ratched, however, is more calm and collective. So calm that she comes out being cold, and not caring (a cold hearted B****). R.P. McMurphy on the other hand, was a character full of life. He joked around, played or messed with the other patients. He did what he did and could care less about what others would say. He was the kind of guy who “Lived for the moment”. In comparison to Father Flynn, R.P. McMurphy didn’t care what others would think or say and he wasn’t very submissive. Both of these men did what their counter female characters told them to do, but their approach to doing so were very different. While Sister Aloysius used fear to get try to get Father Flynn to confess, Nurse Ratched used her intimidating character to get not only R.P. McMurphy to do things, but also the other patients. Toward the end of the film, Nurse Ratched finds herself facing a conflict. Not against R.P. McMurphy, but against the patients in the institution. She scares a patient by simply saying “Do you want me to tell your mother'” The patient, so scared, kills himself and Nurse Ratched is attacked by R.P. McMurphy. In the end McMurphy is given a lobotomy and finally is killed by one of his friends in the institution. Though the story or plot of these two films are very different, there characters and the struggles they face are similar. With Father Flynn and R.P. McMurphy, they both had two strong women over powering them; although in doubt Father Flynn was higher in status compared to Sister Aloysius. These two men, with no bad intention whatsoever, find themselves fighting against two women and in the end losing. Father Flynn was more of the calm character, he was a priest. McMurphy was more “Cuckoo” in the sense that he was filled with so much life. The two female characters were similar because they were both strict. Their personality, however, were different in a way. Sister Aloysius was more open about her wanting order. She was easily seen as a mean person. Nurse Ratched, on the other hand, was more calm, collective and very intimidating. Both of these films’ conflicts (person versus person, person versus society, etc) were somewhat similar just with a different character. You see Sister Aloysius against herself and Father Flynn against Sister Aloysius and the Church, in Doubt. And in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, you see Nurse Ratched versus McMurphy and the patients in the institution and Mcmurphy against Nurse Ratched. It goes to show that even two films with completely different storylines can be similar if analyzed correctly.