Melmoth the Wanderer · Chapter
VII explained
Monçada receives a letter from his brother Juan detailing a plan for his escape from the convent.
What happens
Monçada receives a letter from his brother Juan detailing a plan for his escape from the convent. Juan has taken refuge in Madrid, using disguises and seeking a Jewish moneylender to fund the liberation. Monçada struggles with doubt and fear but eventually retrieves a note from Juan under the garden door, reigniting his hope.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Alienation
Monçada's profound isolation in the convent is emphasized through his despair and the monotony of his existence, contrasted with the hope of escape.
Temptation and Faith
The letter tempts Monçada with the possibility of freedom, testing his faith in divine providence and his own moral resolve.
Family and Dependence
Juan's risky efforts to liberate his brother highlight the bonds of family and the dependence Monçada has on his brother's courage and resourcefulness.
Characters to notice
- Juan di Monçada
The narrator who receives a letter from his brother and retrieves a note under the garden door, experiencing intense hope and fear.
- Alonzo
The alias used by Monçada in the correspondence; the recipient of Juan's plans and the one who retrieves the note.
- Juan di Monçada
The brother who writes the letter, detailing his disguises and plans to bribe a Jew for Monçada's escape.
Key passages
“All is settled—I have fixed the Jew on ‘Jewish terms.’ He affects to be ignorant of my real rank, and certain ( future ) wealth, but he knows it all, and dare not, for his own sake, betray me.”
Juan has made a deal with a Jewish moneylender, who pretends not to know Juan's true identity but is aware of his noble birth and future inheritance, and will not betray him out of fear of the Inquisition.
Juan's plan to bribe a Jew for Monçada's escape, using the threat of the Inquisition as leverage.
“There is a wretch in your convent, who took sanctuary from parricide , and consented to become a monk, to escape the vengeance of heaven in this life at least. I have heard, that this monster cut his own father’s throat, as he sat at supper, to obtain a small sum which he had lost at gambling.”
Juan describes a lay brother in the convent who is a parricide, having murdered his father for gambling money, and who now lives as a monk to avoid punishment.
Juan identifies a corrupt monk as a potential accomplice for the escape, highlighting the moral depravity he is willing to exploit.
“I am now in Madrid, pledged body and soul never to quit it till you are liberated. If you possess resolution, this is not impossible—the doors even of convents are not inaccessible to a silver key.”
Juan declares he will remain in Madrid until Monçada is free, asserting that bribery can open even convent doors.
Juan's determination and belief that money can overcome any obstacle, including the convent's security.