Story summary
Trama e riassunto di La monaca
- 8 min di lettura
- 10 parts
- Audio a breve
A young woman stands at the altar and says no to her vows, while her parents watch.
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La monaca in breve
Riassunto: 8 min di lettura
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 5 h 5 min4 h 5 min fast, 6 h 5 min slow
- Durata
- 73.000 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Medio longer sentences, everyday words
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1796by Denis Diderot
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
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La monaca in short
The Nun follows Suzanne Simonin from a cold Paris home into three convents and one long fight for freedom. She is sent away because of a secret about her birth and refuses vows aloud at the altar. She takes them at Longchamp in a daze, suffers under a cruel superior, and sues to have them cancelled.
What La monaca is about
Picture a young woman at the altar of a convent church. A priest asks whether she gives herself freely to God. She answers no, and then no again, with her parents among those watching.
That scene opens the way into The Nun, the novel by Denis Diderot, who died in 1784. Suzanne Simonin writes her life for the Marquis de Croismare, whose help she hopes to win. She tells of a cold family, three convents, a lawsuit, and the women who rule each house. You follow a clever, stubborn girl through cruelty and kindness, and you see how a closed house can bend a person. Her troubles begin in a Paris home where she is the unloved daughter.
A chi è rivolto. For readers who love a bold first-person voice, a young woman fighting for her own life, and French writing that argues about freedom, faith and conscience through vivid scenes.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
An unloved daughter is sent to a convent
Suzanne Simonin is the youngest of three daughters of a Paris lawyer. She is the prettiest and the cleverest, and her parents seem to punish her for it. When strangers praise her, the house turns cold after they leave.
A young man courting her eldest sister begins to favor Suzanne instead. She warns her mother, and a few days later she is taken to the convent of Sainte-Marie. Her sisters marry soon after.
At sixteen and a half she expects a dowry too. Instead Father Séraphin tells her that the family money has gone to her sisters and that she must take the habit. The superior then offers a gentle trap. The veil binds her for only two more years, she says, and much can change. Worn out, Suzanne lets herself be led. Then a nun in chains runs screaming through the house, and Suzanne vows never to take vows.
Pressure often wears soft clothes, and a kind voice can steer a girl toward a door she never chose.
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Suzanne refuses her vows before everyone
Her mother writes that the family is ruined, yet it expects her to profess.
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A mother's secret closes every door
After the scandal, Suzanne is taken home.
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Madame de Moni gives Suzanne a brief refuge
At Longchamp the new superior is Madame de Moni, and Suzanne cannot praise her enough.
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A new superior turns cruelty into a game
Sister Sainte-Christine takes over, and she is everything Madame de Moni was not.
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Suzanne fights back through a lawsuit
Out of the dungeon, Suzanne decides to ask the law to cancel her vows.
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The case is lost and a friend is gone
Monsieur Manouri publishes two briefs, but Suzanne has tied his hands.
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Arpajon brings a new kind of danger
The house at Arpajon seems a relief.
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The book asks what freedom and consent are worth
The central theme is consent.
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A confession written to win a protector
Suzanne's memoir addresses the Marquis de Croismare.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Suzanne Simonin The unloved youngest daughter of a Paris lawyer, who is forced toward vows and wants only her freedom and an honest life.
- Madame de Moni The wise, loving superior of Longchamp, who comforts Suzanne and prays through the night before her profession.
- Sister Sainte-Christine The narrow, superstitious superior who succeeds her and sets the whole house against Suzanne.
- Sister Ursule A frail, devoted young nun who helps Suzanne send her case to a lawyer and tends her through illness.
- Monsieur Manouri The Paris lawyer who takes up Suzanne's case and works to find her a new place.
- Monsieur Hébert The blunt, just grand vicar who investigates the charges against Suzanne and sees the truth.
- The Arpajon superior A restless, warm and unpredictable woman who makes Suzanne her favorite and wants more than affection.
- Sister Thérèse A jealous young nun at Arpajon who fears losing the superior's favor to Suzanne.
How it ends (spoiler)
The memoir breaks off, and the rest is notes. The superior at Arpajon goes mad and dies, and Thérèse soon follows. Under a harsh new superior, Suzanne escapes over the wall with a monk's help, but he assaults her in the coach. She hides in Paris as a laundress and writes to the marquis again. A closing note shows that Diderot and friends invented Suzanne to trick the marquis, and then let her die in the letters.
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Domande su La monaca
What is The Nun by Diderot about?
It tells the story of Suzanne Simonin, a young woman forced by her family to become a nun. She resists, moves through three convents, and fights to have her vows cancelled, writing her memoir to win a protector.
Who is the Marquis de Croismare in The Nun?
He is the nobleman to whom Suzanne addresses her memoir. She hopes his kindness will protect her after her escape, and she writes her life story so that he will understand her case and help her.
Is The Nun based on a true story?
It is a novel written in the eighteenth century by Denis Diderot, shaped as a memoir. It draws on real debates about forced vows and convent life, and it is presented through one narrator's voice.
Is The Nun easy to read?
Its first-person voice is direct and warm, and the story moves through clear scenes with quick dialogue. Each convent has its own personalities, so the plot is easy to follow from one stage to the next.
What is the main message of The Nun?
The novel argues that a vow only counts if it is made freely. It shows how family greed and institutional power can turn religious life into a prison, and it values honesty, courage and friendship.
Cita questa edizione
Diderot, Denis. The Nun. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-nun.
Diderot, D. (2026). The nun. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-nun (Original work published 1796)
Diderot, Denis. The Nun. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-nun.
@book{diderot2026nun,
author = {Diderot, Denis},
title = {The Nun},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-nun},
note = {First published 1796}
}
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