# LI: Monna Brigida's Conversion explained — Romola

> Chapter companion for Romola by George Eliot.

## What happens

Monna Brigida, a widow of fifty-five, is confronted by a troop of Piagnoni boys during the Carnival who demand she give up her worldly vanities—rouge, false hair, and pearl-embroidered biretta—as an 'Anathema' that endangers her soul. Overcome by spiritual alarm and the boys' relentless candor, she submits, removing her cosmetics and hairpieces, and is left feeling exposed and humiliated. Romola arrives to comfort her, covering her with a black drapery and reassuring her that her natural appearance is more beautiful and expressive. Monna Brigida, in a moment of conversion, resolves to embrace the Piagnone way of life, accepting that she must be good and that her old age is now a matter of spiritual concern rather than vanity.

## Themes in this chapter

### Female Agency and Marriage

Monna Brigida's identity is tied to her appearance and social standing as a widow; her forced renunciation of vanity highlights the limited agency women have over their own bodies and self-presentation in a patriarchal religious society.

### Political and Religious Corruption

The Piagnoni boys' aggressive enforcement of Savonarola's moral dictates, using public humiliation and pressure, illustrates the coercive and potentially corrupting nature of religious zealotry.

## Character check-ins

### Romola de' Bardi

Romola comforts her cousin Monna Brigida after the Piagnoni boys strip her of her vanities, offering her own drapery and words of reassurance about the beauty of natural aging.

### Monna Brigida

Monna Brigida undergoes a forced conversion, giving up her rouge, false hair, and embroidered biretta under pressure from the Piagnoni boys, and resolves to become a Piagnone.

### Bratti Ferravecchi

Bratti follows Monna Brigida and Romola, offering a cross for sale, and successfully sells one to Monna Brigida for a grosso, remarking on the inevitability of sin and the value of blessings.

## Key lines

> The truth was, Monna Brigida had a consciousness on the one hand of certain 'vanities' carried on her person, and on the other of a growing alarm lest the Piagnoni should be right in holding that rouge, and false hair, and pearl embroidery, endamaged the soul.

Monna Brigida was aware of her own vanity, but she was also becoming increasingly worried that the Piagnoni might be correct in believing that such adornments were sinful.

_This captures Monna Brigida's internal conflict between her desire to maintain her appearance and her growing fear of religious condemnation._

> If her soul would prosper better without them, was it really worth while to put on the rouge and the braids?

She wondered if it was truly worth wearing makeup and false hair if her soul would be better off without them.

_This highlights her struggle between worldly vanity and spiritual salvation._

> It is only Satan who can like to see you. Your Angel is sorry. He wants you to rub away the red.

The cherubic boy tells Monna Brigida that only the devil would appreciate her painted face, and that her guardian angel is saddened by it and wishes her to remove the rouge.

_This illustrates the Piagnoni's use of religious imagery to pressure individuals into renouncing vanity._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/romola_se/chapters/li-monna-brigida-s-conversion
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/romola_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/romola_se/chapters