The Monk: A Romance

Matilda appears to be a beautiful noblewoman. Disguised as a young man, “Rosario,” she enters Ambrosio’s Capuchin monastery and devotes herself to Ambrosio as his disciple. However, she soon reveals herself as a woman to Ambrosio and seduces him. Matilda embodies multiple negative female archetypes in Western culture: the temptress, the seductress, Eve (Ambrosio gives in to her seduction after he is bitten by a snake), the femme fatale, and the witch. She is the antithesis of the pure and innocent Antonia; she is sexually demanding and possesses not only an education (like Agnes) but knowledge forbidden by the Christian church. Matilda is familiar with sorcery, and she performs satanic rites—bargaining with demons and even Lucifer himself—not only to save her own life but to assist Ambrosio in his rape of Antonia. Matilda functions in the narrative as the “devil” on Ambrosio’s shoulder, encouraging him to commit greater sins as the novel progresses. Although Matilda’s actions at first appear motivated by her love for Ambrosio, Satan ultimately reveals that Matilda is not a woman at all; she is a demon sent by Satan to engineer Ambrosio’s downfall. Her disguise as a young woman is one of the many ways in which the novel pits Appearance Versus Reality.

Matilda’s behavior thus exists so far outside the bounds of “proper” femininity that she is “demonic.” However, the novel still portrays her as incredibly seductive, charismatic, and alluring; Ambrosio is easily overwhelmed by Matilda’s beauty, intellect, and commanding demeanor. In eloquent speeches and debates with Ambrosio, Matilda expresses sentiments popular among political and social revolutionaries in the 1790s: She advocates for friendships between men and women, free love, atheism, the rejection of social and religious conventions, and total personal freedom. In her philosophy, Matilda resembles an exaggerated version of a late 18th-century Jacobin (French revolutionary) or libertine. The Monk suggests that while such radical philosophies might initially seem enchanting, they ultimately lead to demonic outcomes. The novel is highly critical of religious institutions and social conventions, but through the demonic character of Matilda, it also condemns the opposite extremes of atheism and radicalism.

Antonia is the daughter of Elvira and the sister of Ambrosio (though Ambrosio does not learn that Antonia is his long-lost sister until the narrative’s end). Antonia is one of the only characters in the novel whose appearance is described in detail; “scarcely fifteen” (10), she has long blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and a “light and airy” figure (9). The author describes Antonia’s physical beauty because (along with her sexual purity) it is her most important characteristic and potential source of societal value. Socially disadvantaged as the impoverished daughter of a common mother, Antonia wins the love of the noble Don Lorenzo with her extraordinary beauty. However, her beauty ultimately fails to gain her a happy marriage or social advancement, as it also attracts the attention of Ambrosio.

Even more so than by her beauty, the novel characterizes Antonia in terms of her sexual purity. Antonia is modest, meek, and ignorant of the facts of life to a hyperbolic extent; in the novel’s first scene, Antonia is unsure of the difference between men and women. This extreme female purity is celebrated within the novel’s conservative social/religious world, and Ambrosio fetishizes this purity as a woman’s ultimate sexual attraction. However, the novel also points out how this cultural obsession with sexual innocence makes women vulnerable to male desire. Antonia cannot defend herself against Ambrosio’s schemes because she cannot even identify his actions as sexually motivated. Like Agnes, Antonia functions as an innocent victim of religious hypocrisy, but she is less the victim of organized religion than of the perversity of male sexual desire, which—the novel suggests—longs to both possess and destroy innocence. Raped by Ambrosio, Antonia loses her defining characteristic (her sexual innocence), and she thus possesses no further narrative possibilities other than death.

Agnes, a noblewoman, is the sister of Don Lorenzo and the lover of Don Raymond. Agnes serves as a foil to Matilda and Antonia. While the novel portrays Matilda as excessively sexual and Antonia as dangerously ignorant, Agnes represents the novel’s happy medium of chaste but enlightened femininity. The novel emphasizes Agnes’s intelligence, and it specifically portrays her as an advocate of reason; she mocks tales of the Bleeding Nun as well as the convent’s superstitions. However, Agnes’s enlightened attitude does not protect her from either the Bleeding Nun or the Prioress of St. Clare. Instead, Agnes becomes a victim of Religion, Power, and Hypocrisy. Although Agnes has no desire to enter a convent, she is forced to do so by her family. Through Agnes’s narrative, the novel suggests that “tyrannical” family members collude with religious leaders to force young women to endure “the horrors of a Convent” (115). While Agnes begins the narrative in a seemingly more powerful position than Antonia, both Agnes and Antonia ultimately find themselves imprisoned in the underground crypts of St. Clare. The novel suggests that Agnes’s superior social position cannot save her from the social and religious oppression of women; thus, Agnes functions not only as a foil to Antonia but as her double.

Agnes’s narrative arc makes the novel’s argument against religious orders by portraying them as cruel, un-Christian, and needlessly repressive. Even before Ambrosio succumbs to sexual temptation, the novel portrays Ambrosio as sinful in his unfeeling treatment of the desperate Agnes; Agnes reveals the flaws within Ambrosio’s character. Similarly, Agnes represents the antithesis of the Prioress of St. Clare; while Agnes champions Christian virtues of mercy, kindness, and forgiveness, the prioress offers only brutality and vengeance. The novel forgives Agnes’s sexual transgression (she becomes pregnant with Don Raymond’s child before marriage). In a clear rejection of monastic institutions, the novel restores Agnes to her “rightful” place as Don Raymond’s wife at the narrative’s end.

Don Lorenzo, a Spanish nobleman and Agnes’s brother, functions as the traditional protagonist of the novel (with Ambrosio representing the nontraditional protagonist). Like Don Raymond (his closest friend), Don Lorenzo embodies the ideal aristocrat: handsome, virtuous, and quick to defend his own honor and the honor of any lady. Unlike the more fragile Don Raymond or the licentious Ambrosio, Don Lorenzo embodies the novel’s vision of perfect masculinity; he is assertive, commanding, and decisive while remaining faithful to his beloved Antonia.

At the same time, Don Lorenzo’s character reflects a shift in upper-class values toward the end of the 18th century. Don Lorenzo does not only embody traditional aristocratic values but also a new set of youthful Romantic values. Don Lorenzo’s only flaw is that he is sometimes too passionate—a quality admired by the burgeoning Romantic movement as a marker of authenticity. Don Lorenzo expresses admiration of Theodore’s Romantic poetry, and—having fallen in love instantly with Antonia—he does not hesitate to pursue an alliance with a commoner, casting all consideration of social class aside. As Elvira warns him, “this is a fond romantic vision” (165). Thus, Don Lorenzo mixes aspects of the traditional aristocrat with the later romantic heroes of the 19th century. At times, Don Lorenzo also expresses the perspective of the modern, enlightened thinker of the late 18th century, harshly criticizing religious “superstition” and rejecting the “terrors” of the nuns as “puerile and groundless” (279). Don Lorenzo is an essentially static character—his disposition and beliefs remain unchanged by the events of the narrative—but his characterization does reflect shifting ideals of masculinity at the turn of the century, as he combines aspects of the traditional aristocrat, the youthful Romantic, and the rational modern man.

Don Raymond, also known as the Marquis de las Cisternas, is a Spanish nobleman and Agnes’s lover. Like Don Lorenzo, Don Raymond fulfills the criteria of the ideal aristocrat at the end of the 18th century: handsome, virtuous, university educated, well-traveled, and sympathetic to the suffering of the lower classes. Indeed, Don Raymond follows his uncle’s advice to travel Europe in disguise as the commoner “Alphonso d’Alvarada” so that he might “examine the manners and customs of the multitude” (75). Don Raymond’s temporary renunciation of his true social position, however, leads to disastrous consequences. Like the stereotypical gothic heroine who is constantly menaced by villains, Don Raymond falls prey to bandits, is separated from his beloved Agnes by tyrannical family members, and is unwittingly ravished by a cruel seducer (in this case, the ghost of the Bleeding Nun).

While Don Raymond’s characterization does not contain any particular psychological depth—he appears as the stereotypical nobleman more than as an individualized character—the novel overturns convention by constantly placing this nobleman in a weak and even emasculated position. Don Raymond is helpless against the power of the Bleeding Nun, and he is unable to control the Prioress of St. Clare. When he hears the news of Agnes’s death, he descends into hysterical “Madness.” Don Raymond’s relative weakness in the novel (especially compared to Don Lorenzo) also manifests in his sexual transgression; he impregnates Agnes before marriage. While the novel does not treat this as an evil act, it does suggest that Don Raymond’s weaker character leads him to “dishonour” Agnes when a stronger man would have resisted temptation. Don Raymond’s masculinity and social position are both fully restored at the narrative’s end when he marries Agnes and takes over his country estate as the Marquis de las Cisternas. His narrative arc represents social order threatened by forces of disorder (in his case, the unnatural power of the Bleeding Nun and the prioress) but ultimately restored at the novel’s end.

The son of the woman who saved Don Raymond from bandits, Theodore plays several roles in the novel. Adopted by Don Raymond as his valet, Theodore carries out the orders and stratagems of Don Lorenzo and Don Raymond; as noblemen, they are constrained from acting for themselves, so Theodore must act for them. It is Theodore who locates the sorcerer who exorcises the ghost of the Bleeding Nun from Don Raymond, and Theodore who infiltrates the convent to gain knowledge of Agnes. Youthful, handsome, charismatic, and a talented singer, Theodore excels as a valet and demonstrates loyalty to his employer. The narrative portrays Theodore as a passionate and gifted poet, and it is often Theodore’s poems and songs that reinforce the overarching themes of the novel. Theodore also functions as a foil to both Ambrosio and Antonia. Like Ambrosio and Antonia, Theodore is the offspring of a troubled marriage between a common woman and a nobleman. However, where Ambrosio and Antonia both suffer forms of social imprisonment as a result of their parentage—Ambrosio in the monastery, Antonia in her mother’s strict household—Theodore is fully integrated (though as a servant) into the aristocratic social world of Don Raymond and the urban world of Madrid. Theodore suggests the possibility of a happy ending for the offspring of cross-class marriages.

Elvira is the mother of Antonia and Ambrosio, though Ambrosio does not know this until Satan reveals his parentage immediately before his death. Elvira, the daughter of a common shoemaker, married a nobleman and suffered greatly for this violation of class boundaries; her noble relatives took Ambrosio from her when he was only an infant. Elvira believes that the baby died; instead, the relatives left Ambrosio on the steps of the Capuchin monastery. Regretful of her marriage to a nobleman, Elvira discourages a romantic relationship between Antonia and Don Lorenzo. The novel portrays Elvira as an intelligent, virtuous, and loving mother; at the same time, she represents a conservatism that, in attempting to protect her daughter, only endangers her further. In rejecting a cross-class alliance with Don Lorenzo out of caution, Elvira destroys Antonia’s best chance at happiness. Even more significantly, Elvira’s obsession with Antonia’s purity makes Antonia vulnerable to assault. Believing the world to be a corrupt and sinful place, “so base, so perfidious and depraved” (217), Elvira goes to extremes to maintain Antonia’s sexual purity, even refusing to allow Antonia to read the Bible because it contains “improper” language. This excessive protection of Antonia’s innocence leaves Antonia unable to recognize seduction or even sexual assault. Elvira functions as a force of well-meaning social and cultural conservatism that nevertheless fails to protect the innocent from evildoers.