The Jealous Monk Robert Browning’s, “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister” involves a jealous monk with much hatred of, Brother Lawrence, the “perfect” monk. Irony, diction, and syntax are clearly evident in this dramatic monologue. Throughout the poem the nameless monk is constantly expressing his anger and sarcasm through the use of syntactical irony. This particular monk is angered at a fellow monk, as evidenced by ‘If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence, God’s blood, would not mine kill you!’ which seems ironic knowing he is a religious monk. He is taking out his anger to a great extent, which is not good church practice. Obviously it seems that Brother Lawrence is good at what he does, and the jealous monk hated him for that.
The monk goes back and forth thinking to himself as to what makes Brother Lawrence so perfect. Brother Lawrence is in the church’s secluded Spanish garden where he tends to all the gardening needs while unaware of his presence, watches for any mistake he may make. “He-he! There his lily snaps,” his sarcastic laugh shows he is mad and does not make sense. He describes Brother Lawrence’s every move during and after dinner as he cleans his plate, lays it on “own shelf…
(his) fire-new spoon… goblet… rinsed like something sacrificial… marked with L. for our initial!” He rambles on about tedious things that Brother Lawrence does. He mocks how he sets his forks and knives not ‘cross-wise, to my recollection.” He also says how he sips his wine respectfully (as if he is good), while Brother Lawrence ‘drains his at one gulp.’ It almost seems as if the monk is not thinking straight, losing his mind or may be dying of old age.
The Essay on Why Do Bad Things Happer To Good People
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? These two questions have bewildered mankind throughout the centuries. Even the greatest philosophers and theologians have yet to develop a concrete answer. Philosophers, theologians, and even religious leaders have developed many hypotheses. Some of these hypotheses support each other while others conflict. It is for ...
As a monk, he plays the total opposite of an actual monk. He puts down the innocent Brother Lawrence, when he himself is the rotten one. Browning expresses certain words with diction. A monk does not watch girls wash their clothes and hair at the bank. “Steeping tresses in the tank, Blue-black, lustrous, think like horsehair’s,” the selfish monk does this, not the innocent Brother Lawrence. As a monk, one should not look upon women showering themselves and washing clothes.
Being the opposite of a monk he also owns a dirty book, “My Scrofulous French novel… If I double down its pages at the woeful sixteenth print,” he also knows exact pages of the book to look at. Towards the end of the poem the monk plans to rid himself of his fellow Brother, by sending him to Hell. He speaks of slipping his French novel revealing ‘Belial’s gripe,’ Belial being one of the classical devils of Hell, the Lord of Lies. One may determine that the monk intends to present a false message to his Brother in order to damn his soul. It is clear that he is not following his title as a monk; he is a traitor to his own name.
Throughout Browning’s “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”, he exposes different devices used. Irony, diction, and syntax all play a major role in each stanza. By creating a jealous and contradicting monk, Browning is able to achieve well-written dramatic monologue.
