The Summary of The Samaritan Acts and Scenes
Act III Scene I Summary
It is Friday morning in Alvita and Montano's classroom during an Ethics lesson. Nicole, their Ethics teacher, enters and finds the classroom in a mess, but puts it in order. She reviews the previous lesson, reminding the students of the two parts of the human heart they had mentioned - the mind and the spirit. She informs her students that in their present lesson, and in the weeks that follow, their focus would be on the second part of the heart - the spirit.
Introducing her topic, she tells the students that there are two types of spirits; the good and the evil. Relating her lesson topic to her students' environment and the Bible, Nicole informs them that the spirit that obeys rules is the good spirit and is associated with the Maker because it follows His rules, while the spirit that disobeys is the evil spirit/the Beast and is associated with the Destroyer because it leads to destruction.
Alluding to Biblical history, she asks the students about what happened in the Ancient Near East in 587 BC Alvita informs her (and the class) that Jerusalem and the Temple fell after a long siege by the Babylonians. Nicole relates the evil spirit that was prevalent in Jerusalem, and that which led to the destruction of the city and the temple - idol worship, murder, dishonesty, corruption, robbery, sexual perversion and injustice - to the same spirit that is prevalent in their Municipality.
Appearing to foreshadow that justice would, at one time, be meted to the perpetrators of destruction in their Municipality, she alludes to Euripides, the famous Greek playwright who said: "Slow but sure moves the might of the gods, and coats Euripides' words with her own, and says the mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.
Nicole has to end her lesson prematurely when it is interrupted by Narine in the company of Inspector Bembe who claims he is undertaking an important investigation and would like to examine her office. As Nicole walks out, Narine informs her that she had not thought The Samaritan mater would go to that level, and requests she updates her on what transpires.
Study Questions on The Samaritan Act 3 Scene 1
← Act1 Scene 1 ← Act1 Scene 2 ← Act1 Scene 3 ← Act2 Scene 1 ← Act2 Scene 2 ← Act2 Scene 3 ← Act3 Scene 1 ← Act3 Scene 2 ← Act3 Scene 3 ← Act4 Scene 1 ← Act4 Scene 2 ← Act4 Scene 3a. Identify two character traits of Nicole on pg 87
b. Mention the two types of spirits that the heart has. the Temple?
c. What major reason is given by Nicole's students for the fall of Jerusalem and the temple?
d. Pick out and illustrate one theme raised in the scene.
e. Identify an instance of Biblical allusion in the scene.