In the confrontation that ensues, Ambrosio kills Elvira and flees. Just as Ambrosio is about to violate her, Elvira appears. The myrtle unlocks the doors to Antonia's house and puts her in a deep sleep. Matilda, however, offers her assistance, summoning a demon that gives Ambrosio a magical myrtle branch. One day, Ambrosio molests Antonia, but the watchful Elvira drives him away before he can cause any major harm to the girl.Īmbrosio despairs of being able to possess Antonia. He makes frequent visits to her family's house under the pretense of offering counseling to the gravely ill Elvira, but in truth he wants to get closer to Antonia. Meanwhile, Ambrosio sees Antonia in church and immediately begins to desire her. Still, Lorenzo vows to help Elvira and Antonia. However, Elvira is a common woman who married a Marquis, and she knows that there are numerous problems inherent in lowborn women marrying noblemen. Lorenzo visits Elvira, Antonia's mother, to ask for her daughter's hand in marriage. However, the Prioress tells the men that Agnes has died from a mysterious illness. Lorenzo decides to assist his friend and his sister, and the two men attempt to rescue Agnes from the convent. Raymond impregnated Agnes during one of these nightly visits, and now he vows that he will rescue her and make her his wife. Agnes's parents vowed her to a convent, but she and Raymond met nightly to declare their love for each other. Raymond explains that he and Agnes fell in love over the course of Raymond's dramatic journey through Europe, an odyssey that involved sly bandits, vengeful aunts, and frightening ghosts. Lorenzo is stunned to discover that Raymond is the lover of Agnes, Lorenzo's sister and a nun. The monk struggles with his desires, but eventually succumbs to temptation and breaks his vows of chastity by having sex with Matilda. His lack of sympathy comes to haunt him, however, when a young monk named Rosario is revealed to be the beautiful Matilda, a woman who has come to the monastery out of love for Ambrosio. Antonia's mother Elvira has come to the city seeking the assistance of Raymond, the Marquis de las Cisternas - one of Lorenzo's best friends.Īmbrosio is the most virtuous and strict monk in the whole city when he discovers that a young nun named Agnes has gotten pregnant despite her vows, he turns her over to the cruel Prioress with no regrets. Lorenzo and Antonia meet while listening to Ambrosio, and fall in love instantly.

Ambrosio is a famous monk Lorenzo is a wealthy young nobleman and Antonia is a beautiful young woman.

The novel opens on a diverse cast of characters in eighteenth-century Madrid.

The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis