Sep 22, 2026 · 40 min · 11 segments
Essie Fox in discussion with L. C. Winter, author of the historical gothic novel, Spider Spider. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to…
Essie FoxHost
L. C. WinterGuest
The monk of the title is called Ambrosio, and as the novel develops, he's increasingly consumed by overwhelming lustful urges.
And as a sort of counterpoint to that, there's a nun in a nearby convent called Agnes who is also violating her own vows of restraint and chastity.
But for today, we'll just concentrate on the exploits in the abbey in which Ambrosio was left when he was a little child, growing up to be a dedicated and pious monk who gains great fame and devotion for the beauty of his sermons.
during which one young woman, who is called Antonia, falls madly in love with a fellow congregant by the name of Lorenzo, who just happens to be the brother of Sister Agnes.
That is just the start of a complicated plot because the monk who becomes Ambrosio's closest friend is, unbeknown to him, a woman called Matilda.
She also saves Ambrosio from certain death one day when he's picking a rose and gets bitten by a snake.
She sucks the poison from his blood and then is about to die herself when she begs him to have pity and make love to her.
Luckily, she doesn't die, having saved her own life by the means of witchcraft, after which the two of them become secret lovers until Ambrosio falls for Antonia's charms.
Are you keeping up? And then Matilda helps her lover to seduce the other woman again by the means of witchcraft.
Ambrosio, to give him some credit, is horrified when Matilda calls on the devil to aid her lover and Lucifer, who appears rather handsome and appealing, gives her a bow of myrtle, which Ambrosio can use to open any door and therefore to make love to Antonia without her being aware of any crime.
Ambrosio takes his chance and enters the room where Antonia is sleeping, but before he can do anything, he's interrupted by her mother, Elvira, who he strangles in his panic before running back to the abbey.
And somewhat ironically, Ambrosio is called in to play the part of exorcist, during which he takes a second chance to seduce Antonia, this time administering a potion to render her unconscious.
But she awakes to find that she's being raped and in another state of panic, Ambrosio stabs her and she is dead.
And meanwhile, Ambrosio, who still claims to be innocent of sin, is tortured until he finally confesses and is told that his fate is to be burned.
But before that can occur, he signs a deal with the devil himself and is transported to a wilderness in which Lucifer informs him that in murdering Elvira, he killed his own mother and therefore Antonia was his sister.
Lucifer also tells him that Matilda is really a demon sent to the abbey with the aim of corrupting Ambrosio's soul, at which he flies up into the sky with a monk in his arms before he drops him to his death.
The monk was, perhaps not surprisingly, deemed as shocking in its time, filled with blasphemous imagery, and really being very insulting to those of the Catholic faith, even having a painting of the Virgin Mary in Ambrosio's cell, before which he prays while he's being consumed with lustful thoughts, with the added twist that the face of the Virgin is very much like Matilda's.
The monk of the title is called Ambrosio, and as the novel develops, he's increasingly consumed by overwhelming lustful urges.
And as a sort of counterpoint to that, there's a nun in a nearby convent called Agnes who is also violating her own vows of restraint and chastity.
But for today, we'll just concentrate on the exploits in the abbey in which Ambrosio was left when he was a little child, growing up to be a dedicated and pious monk who gains great fame and devotion for the beauty of his sermons.
during which one young woman, who is called Antonia, falls madly in love with a fellow congregant by the name of Lorenzo, who just happens to be the brother of Sister Agnes.
That is just the start of a complicated plot because the monk who becomes Ambrosio's closest friend is, unbeknown to him, a woman called Matilda.
She also saves Ambrosio from certain death one day when he's picking a rose and gets bitten by a snake.
She sucks the poison from his blood and then is about to die herself when she begs him to have pity and make love to her.
Luckily, she doesn't die, having saved her own life by the means of witchcraft, after which the two of them become secret lovers until Ambrosio falls for Antonia's charms.
Are you keeping up? And then Matilda helps her lover to seduce the other woman again by the means of witchcraft.
Ambrosio, to give him some credit, is horrified when Matilda calls on the devil to aid her lover and Lucifer, who appears rather handsome and appealing, gives her a bow of myrtle, which Ambrosio can use to open any door and therefore to make love to Antonia without her being aware of any crime.
Ambrosio takes his chance and enters the room where Antonia is sleeping, but before he can do anything, he's interrupted by her mother, Elvira, who he strangles in his panic before running back to the abbey.
And somewhat ironically, Ambrosio is called in to play the part of exorcist, during which he takes a second chance to seduce Antonia, this time administering a potion to render her unconscious.
But she awakes to find that she's being raped and in another state of panic, Ambrosio stabs her and she is dead.
And meanwhile, Ambrosio, who still claims to be innocent of sin, is tortured until he finally confesses and is told that his fate is to be burned.
But before that can occur, he signs a deal with the devil himself and is transported to a wilderness in which Lucifer informs him that in murdering Elvira, he killed his own mother and therefore Antonia was his sister.
Lucifer also tells him that Matilda is really a demon sent to the abbey with the aim of corrupting Ambrosio's soul, at which he flies up into the sky with a monk in his arms before he drops him to his death.
The monk was, perhaps not surprisingly, deemed as shocking in its time, filled with blasphemous imagery, and really being very insulting to those of the Catholic faith, even having a painting of the Virgin Mary in Ambrosio's cell, before which he prays while he's being consumed with lustful thoughts, with the added twist that the face of the Virgin is very much like Matilda's.
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