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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Monk, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Catholicism and Hypocrisy
The Folly of Pride
Morality
Appearance vs. Reality
Human Nature
Summary
Analysis
Ambrosio has just dismissed the other monks from his room. Alone, he basks in his vanity and his pride as he remembers how deeply his sermon moved the congregants. He feels better than all other mortals, having never given into temptation. Still, he considers that he may yet succumb to lust and desire—he is a man, after all! As he says this, he gazes at the picture of the Virgin Mary, whose image he has grown more affection for over the years. He praises her virginal features.
This scene reveals that Ambrosio isn’t quite as saintly as he at first appeared: his private ruminations reveal that he is full of pride and relishes the praise his pious reputation earns him. Ambrosio’s appraisal of the portrait of the Virgin Mary is also somewhat suspect—he seems overly fixated on her physical features, suggesting that his interest in her goes beyond religious adoration and borders on sexual attraction.
Themes
Just then, Ambrosio hears a knock at the door. “It is only Rosario,” calls out a soft voice. Ambrosio orders Rosario to enter. Rosario is a young novice at the monastery, and not much is known about him. He is sweet and gentle but reserved. He is almost as pious as Ambrosio, whom he holds in such high esteem that it practically borders on idolatry. Ambrosio is similarly taken by Rosario and treats him with less “severity” than he does the others, almost like a son.
Rosario’s quasi-worship of Ambrosio borders on idolatry and thus adds to the book’s critique of Catholicism. Though the narration doesn’t state it explicitly, the favoritism that Ambrosio shows Rosario, whom he treats with less “severity” than he does the others, could further reflect Ambrosio’s vanity: he likes Rosario because the boy worships him and makes him feel good about himself.
Themes
Rosario says he’s come to Ambrosio to ask him to pray for his friend, who is gravely ill. Ambrosio agrees. Then Rosario praises Ambrosio’s talent as an orator. He almost wishes he’d never met him or heard him preach, because now he cannot bear to think of the suffering he’d incur should he lose Ambrosio’s friendship. Just then, the bells ring out for evening prayers, and Rosario announces that he must leave. He throws himself before Ambrosio’s feet for a blessing, then he departs.
Rosario’s gushing praise of Ambrosio in this scene bolsters the theory that vanity is what draws Ambrosio to the young novice: he favors Rosario above the others because Rosario’s adoration of his talent as an orator boosts his self-esteem.
Themes
After vespers (evening prayers), Ambrosio stays in the chapel to listen to the nuns’ confessions. One nun (Agnes) lets a letter fall from her habit, and she’s alarmed when she realizes Ambrosio has seen it. He demands to read it, and she reluctantly acquiesces. The letter, addressed to Agnes, orders her to wait for the letter-writer at the garden-door at midnight the following night. He reminds her that she has promised herself to him. When Ambrosio finishes reading it, he sternly explains that he must forward the letter to the prioress. Agnes pleads with Ambrosio for mercy, but Ambrosio refuses, angrily proclaiming Agnes a sinner. Agnes explains that she had sex with her seducer in the gardens of St. Clare one night and is now pregnant. The convent will punish her most cruelly for her mistake, she explains, and she pleads again for Ambrosio to not show the prioress the letter.
This scene confirms Lorenzo’s earlier suspicions about the letter’s content were correct: it was a love letter from Raymond to Agnes. In the letter, Raymond seems to lay out instructions for the couple to elope together. Agnes’s explanation also reveals another shocking truth: she has broken her vow of celibacy in order to have sex with Raymond, and she has become pregnant as a result. Ambrosio’s callousness toward Agnes further illustrates his hypocrisy as a Christian, as he fails to show her the kind of mercy inherent to the teachings of Christ in the New Testament.
Themes
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Ambrosio refuses to grant Agnes mercy and tells the prioress about Agnes’s sin. He feels bad when Agnes is dragged out of the chapel to receive a cruel and severe punishment, but he ultimately decides he’s done the right thing. Wanting to clear his mind, he heads to the abbey garden. In a corner of the garden is a little grotto, and there he encounters Rosario. He stands in silence and watches Rosario from a distance, then he approaches the boy and invites him to sit beside him.
The prioress—another hypocritical figure, apparently—seems to be just as unmerciful as Ambrosio. Though she doesn’t specify how she plans to punish Agnes for her transgression, the reader can guess that the punishment will be most severe. Ambrosio’s momentary guilt over the role he has played in Agnes’s suffering shows that he is not totally devoid of a conscience, yet his choice to ignore his feelings of guilt show that he values maintaining his reputation as a severe and unyielding enforcer of Church doctrine over doing the right and merciful thing and interfering on Agnes’s behalf.
Themes
Rosario gestures toward lines of verse engraved on a marble tablet in the grotto, praising the poem’s imagery of the idyllic world of a hermit free from the vices of society. Ambrosio argues that not having to ward off temptation would make a person feel restless and gloomy, however. And Rosario should be grateful for his life in the monastery, which shields him from the sinful outside world yet also affords him the comforts of modern society. Suddenly, Rosario jumps up and proclaims that he wishes he had never laid eyes on Ambrosio. Then he runs from the grotto.
Rosario’s comments about sin and temptation point to the idea that abstract moral frameworks and other social norms cannot compete against human nature. Rosario suggests that a person can’t ward off temptation forever: eventually, the urge to act on their baser human instincts will undermine their desire to uphold their personal morals. Ambrosio, on the other hand, has a more optimistic outlook about a person’s ability to choose to act morally in the face of temptation. Rosario’s behavior in this scene is peculiar and perhaps suggests that he is hiding something important from Ambrosio.
Themes
Rosario returns to the grotto before long. Observing a nightingale in a tree, he confesses that his late sister Matilda used to listen to the nightingale’s song in her dying days. This is news to Ambrosio, who never knew Rosario had a sister. Rosario explains that his sister loved a noble man, Julian, who was engaged to someone else. Matilda hatched a plan to ingratiate herself with Julian by becoming a domestic servant to Julian’s wife. The plan worked—until Matilda confessed her love, resulting in Julian sending her away. Matilda returned to her father’s house and then died only a few months later.
The nightingale is a frequently occurring symbol in literature. Its symbolic associations vary throughout literary history, ranging from creativity to virtue to mourning. Here, it evokes mourning, as Rosario remembers that his sister Matilda used to listen to the nightingale’s song in her dying days. Matilda is yet another character who acts on passion and suffers as a result, adding to the book’s affirmation of a conventional moral framework.
Themes
When Ambrosio expresses pity for Matilda, Rosario suddenly cries out that Ambrosio should feel pity for him, too. He admits he has a big secret, and it’s weighing heavily on his conscience. After some cajoling, he finally comes clean. He (she) is actually Matilda, and Ambrosio is her beloved. Ambrosio was ready to flee after learning that Rosario is actually Matilda, but hearing this second revelation makes him freeze, giving Matilda an opportunity to further explain herself.
At first it seemed that Rosario idolized Ambrosio’s religious devotion, but Rosario’s (Matilda’s) admission here adds a new layer of significance to his apparent worship of Ambrosio. Matilda’s disguise reinforces the book’s claim that outward appearance is not always a reliable indicator of inner truth.
Themes
Matilda explains that her father was chief of the noble house of Villanegas. He died when she was a baby, leaving her his immense fortune. The sons of Madrid’s noblest families sought her hand in marriage, but she turned them down—she’d been raised by an uncle who instilled in her “more strength and justness” than the average woman tends to have, so none of the suitors interested her. The uncle also taught her about the beauty of piety. One day, she happened upon the cathedral of the Capuchins, saw Ambrosio for the first time, and knew she had to have him. Her love for him only grew as time passed, dampened only by her ever-present fear that her true identity might one day be discovered. That’s when she decided to just come clean and tell Ambrosio the truth herself. She pleads with him that she be able to stay.
Matilda has already lied to Rosario about her being a woman, so it’s fair and logical to doubt the veracity of the backstory she offers here, too. This scene creates tension as the reader is left to wonder whether Ambrosio’s uncharacteristically merciful treatment of Rosario/Matilda will continue now that the youth’s true identity has come to light. Will Ambrosio justly punish Matilda for her deception and force her to leave the monastery? Or will he allow her to stay out of vanity, not wanting to condemn somebody who has inflated his ego with her constant displays of praise and admiration?
Themes
Matilda’s bold confession shocks Ambrosio and fills him with many conflicting emotions. Then he pulls away and tells her she can’t possibly stay. A woman can’t live at the monastery, and especially not one who loves him—the temptation would be too great. Matilda insists that she has no impure intentions: she only loves Ambrosio for his virtue, and she’d no longer have feelings for him if he were to lose it. But Ambrosio won’t budge, and he demands that she leave tomorrow.
Ambrosio’s insistence that Matilda poses too great a temptation to stay at the monastery contradicts his earlier claim that it can actually be a positive thing to face temptation, since it offers a person the chance to actively affirm their faith and moral obligations. This contradiction suggests that Ambrosio’s religious devotion is not actually as firm as his reputation would suggest. Perhaps he has only managed to behave to morally because he has yet to face temptation.
Themes
Undeterred, Matilda threatens to plunge a dagger into her chest, killing herself, if Ambrosio forces her to leave. Then she rips open her habit, exposing her left breast. Ambrosio stares “with insatiable avidity upon the beauteous orb,” and his body fills with many intense feelings. Feeling unable to resist temptation any longer, he runs from her and returns to his cell.
Matilda’s act of exposing her breast goes against her earlier insistence that she would not tempt Ambrosio: it’s clear that she has been concealing her inner, unvirtuous intentions from him. Ambrosio’s staring “with insatiable avidity upon the beauteous orb” that is Matilda’s breast suggest that Ambrosio is just as susceptible to baser human urges as any other mortal—he’s not the saint that people imagine him to be.
Themes
Alone in his cell, Ambrosio tries to work through his confused feelings. Would it really be so bad to keep Matilda around? Maybe they could remain friends like they were before she revealed her true identity. After all, she’s not made any move to tempt him, having kept her gender a secret from him all this time. But suddenly his thoughts drift to Matilda’s exposed breast, and he blushes.
Ambrosio’s logic here is desperate and faulty: he seems unwilling (or is perhaps too proud) to admit that he wants to keep Matilda around because he desires her as much as she apparently desires him.
Themes
Ambrosio’s sleep that night isn’t great—all night, he dreams of nothing but “the most voluptuous objects.” In some of his dreams, he kisses Matilda passionately. In other dreams, the Virgin Mary appears, and he imagines that he is “kneeling before her,” and she looks down on him sweetly as he “presse[s] his lips to hers.”
Ambrosio’s dreams—manifestations of his unconscious desires—reinforce his susceptibility to his baser human urges. His moral uprightness is not as unshakeable as his reputation would suggests: rather, “voluptuous objects” are just as enticing to him as the average sinner. Ambrosio’s dreams about the Virgin Mary, which border on sexual fantasy, further highlight the fragile and dubious nature of his religious devotion.
Themes
Ambrosio and Matilda reconvene in the garden, and Ambrosio, having realized that it was his lust that compelled him to let Matilda stay, tells her she must leave in three days. Matilda protests, but Ambrosio holds firm. Just then, he cries out and declares that he “ha[s] received [his] death”: a snake has bitten him. Ambrosio, overcome with pain, sinks into Matilda’s arms. Matilda cries out for help, and Ambrosio’s fellow monks run to the garden to assist him. Father Pablos inspects the wound and announces that there is no hope: Ambrosio has been bitten by a cientipedoro, the deadliest of snakes, and he will die within three days.
The snake that bites Ambrosio evokes the Book of Genesis in the Christian Bible, in which a snake tempts Eve into disobeying God by eating forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. This association seems to foreshadow that Ambrosio will succumb to temptation if he survives the snakebite (though at this point, his survival seems unlikely).
Themes
The monks carry Ambrosio to his cell. Pablos gives him a medication and urges him not to overexert himself with conversation, then everyone but Matilda (as Rosario) leaves. She offers to entertain Ambrosio with some singing, and he obliges. Matilda sings the ballad of Durandarte and Belerma. Ambrosio has never heard such beautiful singing, and he imagines that Matilda’s voice must be more heavenly than that of an angel. But he can’t stop thinking about caressing her. Ambrosio shuts his eyes to try to banish his sinful thoughts, feigning sleep.
Even as he lies on his apparent deathbed, impure thoughts about Matilda continue to consume Ambrosio. This adds more weight to the idea that he is not as above temptation as his reputation suggests. Instead, he is just as suspectable to human instinct as anyone else. Ambrosio’s susceptibility to temptation gestures toward the book’s stance that natural human instinct is more powerful than abstract moral ideals.
Themes
Matilda, apparently thinking that Ambrosio is asleep, muses aloud about her desire for him and about how much their relationship has changed since she revealed her true identity to him yesterday. She begins to weep and turns away from him. Ambrosio opens his eyes to sneak a look at her and takes in her beauty. Finally he calls out to her, and she turns to face him. He reflects on how much she resembles the portrait of the Madona on which he has gazed with such affection and religious devotion. Matilda, as though reading his thoughts, reveals that, in an effort to endear herself to Ambrosio, she had her portrait commissioned to be painted in the style of the Madona and sent to the abbey. Then she watched as Ambrosio unconsciously and unknowingly gazed affectionately upon her.
Matilda’s admission about the portrait of the Madona further establishes her as a crafty and untrustworthy character: she has been careful and calculating in her efforts to endear herself to Ambrosio. At this point, the reader can’t help but wonder what else she is hiding. Knowing that the portrait was painted to resemble Matilda—someone Ambrosio is physically attracted to—recasts his adoration of the portrait in an impure light.
Themes
Not knowing how to respond to this shocking revelation, Ambrosio orders Matilda to leave him alone. Matilda pleads with him to let her stay, and Ambrosio agrees to let her remain at the monastery for three more days.
It should be blatantly obvious to Ambrosio that he is struggling to resist his desire for Matilda, yet he allows her to stay at the monastery anyway. In his weakened state, his determination to uphold his personal morals and his vow of celibacy falters.
Themes
Over the next couple days, Ambrosio’s condition improves, and eventually he’s able to leave his bed. He and Matilda covertly meet in the grotto, and he notices that she is gravely ill. He pleads with her to let Father Pablos tend to her, but Matilda refuses, running off to her cell. Alone later, Ambrosio laments the life he and Matilda could have had together were he not devoted to the church. Later, he is told that Matilda (as Rosario) has summoned him to her cell: she is on her deathbed. Alone with Ambrosio in her cell, Matilda explains why Ambrosio has recovered while she is dying: while Ambrosio was asleep, she kissed his wound and sucked out the poison.
Matilda’s act of sacrifice could indicate her selflessness. However, given her history of deception, it is more likely yet another concealed attempt at seduction. It’s clear that Ambrosio’s ability to suppress his desire for Matilda has weakened considerably since he first learned the truth about her identity, so perhaps Matilda is merely faking her illness as part of some calculated scheme to seduce him by preying on his emotional vulnerability: if Matilda has truly sacrificed herself so that Ambrosio may live, surely returning her romantic advances is the least he can do to repay her.
Themes
Ambrosio, amazed and disarmed by Matilda’s great sacrifice, lowers his defenses. Meanwhile Matilda declares that in her dying hour, her ability to ward off temptation has been considerably weakened: she wishes to indulge in the sin of pleasure before she dies. Unable to deny his desire for her any longer, Ambrosio seizes Matilda and kisses her, disregarding “his vows, his sanctity, and his fame,” acting entirely on impulses of “pleasure and opportunity.”
At long last, Ambrosio succumbs to temptation and has sex with Matilda, breaking his vow of celibacy. If Matilda’s claim to be near death was merely a calculated lie meant to manipulate Ambrosio into letting his guard down, then her deceitful maneuver has paid off. The swiftness with which Ambrosio succumbs to temptation points to the power of human instinct to undermine abstract morals: he yields at the first hint of temptation, only barely putting up a fight to suppress his sexual desire.
Themes
