We're All Mad Here
Term Paper for LIT3010 with Dr. Lisa M. Logan
27 November 2004
The Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery by Maria Monk is a torrid, grotesque tale, Gothic in nature and descriptive in text. The focus of Monk’s ‘narrative’ is based around her admission to a convent in Montreal, and the misadventures that afterwards ensue. Among the realistically portrayed characters of debauched priests and ‘devout’ nuns, a shining example of Monk herself is present; the specter of Mad Jane Ray. While Monk is listed in the tale, specifically being the narrator of this adventure, I am of the opinion that one is able to find out more about Monk’s true character by focusing on Jane Ray, rather then the character that Monk lists as herself. Jane Ray’s antics in the convent parallel Monk’s actions in real life; both women carefully thumb their noses at the societies they find themselves in, and make every deceitful attempt to get what they want out of said societies.
Mad Jane Ray is introduced as an older woman, around 30, who is extremely peculiar. Jane Ray is allowed almost free reign within the walls of the convent. Nearly anything that Jane Ray does, that any other character would receive severe penance for, she escapes from, only receiving, “expressions of compassion: ‘Poor creature; she would not do so if she were in perfect possession of her reason.’” (Monk 73) This is not to say that Ray is never punished, as there are a few sterling examples of Ray’s penances, such as the instance where she is gagged, then bound and hung upside down in the confession room. Ray does receive significantly less penances than any of the nuns around her, though. Because of Jane Ray’s conflicting actions and intentions, (at least, as they appear to those around her) she is classified as touched in the head, or mad. However, from close reading of the text, it becomes obvious, that Jane Ray is playing both sides, that is, she has figured out how to give the impression of insanity to all those around her, accept for those that she chooses to let in on the joke. Jane Ray is able to get away with nearly anything, breaking silences, eschewing penances, speaking disrespectfully (“I’m going to have a hunt in the cellar for my old Superior” (Monk 103)), and still manages to escape most penances and even harsh words because of the air of insanity that she had artfully cultivated around her.
Monk, on the other hand, portrays herself as an innocent creature that is sucked into these guilty and evil actions by mere chance, and is not a willing participant. In actuality, however, Monk orchestrated a complicated falsehood that included the events of the convent to cover up her prior life as a prostitute and explain the presence of an illegitimate child. Monk was able to pull off an air of innocence and bruised morality that effectively gained the sympathy of the general public. The portrayal of the narrator was Monk perpetuating her own falsehoods. Monk hinted at the trick she was pulling on her readers through the character of Jane Ray. Through Ray, Monk was able to flip right from wrong on its ear, and allow some careful readers to determine some of Monk’s own characteristics.
Monk grew up in Canada, born in the year 1817. It has been established from numerous sources that appeared after her story was published that Monk never lived in the Hotel Dieu convent, but that she was actually admitted to an institution that reformed prostitutes, the Catholic Magdalen asylum in Montreal. It was also established that Monk had told a variety of falsehoods earlier in her life, including a story involving her mother chaining and beating her. (Shultz 15) Monk’s story of her abuse at the hands of the nuns of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery was so convincing that she was able to enter choice Protestant homes and even receive a marriage proposal from a mayoral candidate from New York City. Monk played on the fears and prejudices of the Protestants towards Catholicism and the Catholic clergy, giving them the story that they wanted to read in order to affirm their misplaced beliefs and better her own status. In this way, Monk was able to get the ends she wanted by imperfect means, just like Mad Jane Ray. (Shultz 17)
Jane Ray’s history is not delved into; the only history she ever speaks of is the history of events within the convent. Ray goes into explicit detail of prior frightening events of the convent, including alleged murder, beatings, torture, and ‘missing’ nuns and babies. Ray also deals with this information in an incredibly matter-of-fact way, “Oh, yes; and there were many murdered while you were a novice, whom you heard nothing about,” much to Monk’s horror. (Monk 127) Not much is known of Ray’s character prior to her entering the convent. Her nationality is not mentioned; though it is listed that Ray could speak both English and French fluently, as Monk could as well.
Ray slyly moves through the narrative, helping Monk’s narrator character in some situations, hindering her in others. Ray accepts blame for instances that she incited that could cause Monk trouble or penances, but in other places, Ray accepts blame only so that the other party would be punished. Because of this carefully calculated switch in behaviors, Ray is classified as out of her head. While her behavior in inciting fits of laughter or attempting to convince Monk to commit a mild wrong doing could be considered by some as childish or not quite sane, it was these circumstances coupled with copious expressions of remorse, guilt and subservience to the Superior that allowed Ray to get away with her schemes. The duality of her nature, first seeming quite flighty, then rather serious, encouraged those around her to assume that only a crazy person could act in such contradictory ways. Since it was assumed Ray was crazy, many things she did were often over looked.
Since it was assumed that Monk was an unfortunate, pitiable girl that had been lead astray by the evils of the Catholic faith, many issues of her past were overlooked, like the illegitimate child that she gave birth to or the fact that she was traveling with a man to whom she was not married or related to. Monk’s story of torture and gratuitous violence and sex was so incredibly shocking, and so close to what the general Protestant public wanted to believe of the Catholic clergy and convents, that Monk was not questioned about her story when first brought into association with elites. Her story was taken as gospel for the fact that it was so shocking that no one could have possibly made it up, and certainly, no one so abused by the Catholics would be doubted in anyway.
In this manner, Jane Ray and Maria Monk are one and the same. Both women used their intelligence and mutable morals to sway popular opinion to the way that they chose. Monk was able to hoodwink the general public in the exact same way that Ray was: by portraying an entirely different face and style of actions to those around them. Jane Ray let those whom she trusted in on her ruse, where as Monk let anyone who was able to draw the conclusions between her own true character and her depiction of Jane Ray in on her own games.
Works Cited
Monk, Maria. "The Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery." Veil of Fear: Nineteenth-Century Convent Tales. Ed. Nancy Lusignan Shultz. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1999. 15-137.
Shultz, Nancy Lusignan., ed. Veil of Fear: Nineteenth-Century Convent Tales. West Lafayette: Perdue University Press, 1999.
All contents copyright Elizabeth Tibbert 2005.