Antonia and her mother Elvira arrive at the Church of the Capuchins, where Don Lorenzo meets Antonia and falls in love.

A Roma fortuneteller warns Antonia she will be destroyed by a man who appears virtuous but harbors lust and pride.

Ambrosio discovers Agnes's letter during confession and reports her secret elopement plan to the Prioress of St. Clare.

Ambrosio's devoted disciple Rosario shocks Ambrosio by revealing that he is actually a noblewoman named Matilda in disguise.

Matilda sucks the venom from Ambrosio's snakebite and begs him to make love to her before she dies; Ambrosio yields.

Don Raymond confesses to Don Lorenzo the full history of his romance with Agnes, including that she is now pregnant.

Elvira discovers Ambrosio in Antonia's bedchamber at night; Ambrosio strangles Elvira to protect his reputation and flees.

Ambrosio administers Matilda's poison elixir to the grieving Antonia, and Antonia is interred in the crypt of St. Clare.

Mother St. Ursula passes a secret letter to Theodore directing Don Lorenzo to summon the Inquisition at the Festival of St. Clare.

Mother St. Ursula publicly reveals that the Prioress poisoned Agnes, and the enraged mob tears the Prioress apart.

Don Lorenzo frees a chained and delirious woman from a hidden dungeon deep beneath the Convent of St. Clare.

Antonia wakes in the crypt surrounded by corpses and pleads for Ambrosio's help; Ambrosio overpowers and rapes her.

Ambrosio pursues Antonia through the underground passages and stabs her to death just as Don Lorenzo arrives.

Agnes and Don Raymond marry; Don Lorenzo, after grieving for Antonia, eventually marries the noblewoman Virginia de Villa-Franca.

Satan reveals to Ambrosio that Elvira was his mother and Antonia his sister, then drops him to his death.

The Monk follows the catastrophic moral downfall of Ambrosio, the celebrated head of Madrid's Capuchin monastery, whose public reputation for saintliness masks consuming pride and vanity. When Ambrosio's devoted disciple Rosario is revealed to be the noblewoman Matilda in disguise, Ambrosio is seduced and breaks his vows of chastity. Growing obsessed with the innocent young Antonia, Ambrosio murders her mother Elvira to conceal his crimes, then poisons Antonia to gain access to her in the convent's underground crypts. Meanwhile, the Prioress of St. Clare is publicly exposed for the torture of the nun Agnes, and a mob riot destroys the convent. Ambrosio's crimes culminate in rape and murder, and he is handed over to the Inquisition. The story ends with Satan revealing Ambrosio's most horrifying secret — that Elvira was his mother and Antonia his sister — before dropping him to a damned death.

The rise and fall of the celebrated monk Ambrosio.

Don Lorenzo falls asleep alone in the Capuchin church and dreams of a hideous monster pursuing and destroying Antonia.

Don Lorenzo follows the mysterious stranger who left a letter at the church and discovers it is his close friend Don Raymond.

The German Baroness, jealous of Don Raymond's love for Agnes, banishes Don Raymond from the Castle of Lindenberg.

Agnes and Don Raymond devise a plan for Agnes to disguise herself as the ghost of the Bleeding Nun to escape the castle.

On the night of the escape, Don Raymond drives away with the actual ghost of the Bleeding Nun instead of Agnes in disguise.

The ghost of the Bleeding Nun haunts Don Raymond every night, reciting wedding vows and driving him toward death.

A mysterious sorcerer performs magical rites to free Don Raymond from the Bleeding Nun and reveals her history of debauchery and murder.

Don Raymond disguises himself as a gardener and enters the Convent of St. Clare to secretly visit Agnes.

Elvira refuses Don Lorenzo permission to court Antonia, warning that marriages across social classes bring only curses and ruin.

Don Lorenzo and Don Raymond confront the Prioress with a papal decree; the Prioress claims Agnes died in childbirth.

Matilda descends alone into the underground crypts of St. Clare and performs sorcery to cure herself of the snake's venom.

Matilda summons the demon Lucifer in the underground vaults of St. Clare and obtains a magic myrtle branch for Ambrosio.

The riotous mob sets fire to the Convent of St. Clare during the festival, destroying the entire building.

Agnes recovers at Virginia's home and recounts her full ordeal, revealing that her prematurely born baby lived only a few hours.

The Inquisition condemns Ambrosio and Matilda to burn at the stake after finding them guilty of sorcery.

The secondary narrative of The Monk follows Don Raymond's troubled quest to free his beloved Agnes from the Convent of St. Clare. Don Raymond's attempt to elope with Agnes is derailed when he accidentally escapes with the actual ghost of the Bleeding Nun instead of Agnes, and he is tormented by nightly visitations until a mysterious sorcerer frees him. After finally reaching Agnes in Madrid, Don Raymond learns that the cruel Prioress has declared Agnes dead in order to conceal her imprisonment. The tension builds through Don Lorenzo's failed courtship of Antonia, Matilda's escalating sorcery on Ambrosio's behalf, and the violent destruction of the convent during the festival. The story closes with Agnes recounting her ordeal and the death of her prematurely born baby, followed by the Inquisition's condemnation of Ambrosio and Matilda to burn at the stake.

The haunted romance of Don Raymond and Agnes.

Ambrosio delivers a spellbinding sermon at the Church of the Capuchins, worshipped by all of Madrid as a near-saint.

Agnes curses Ambrosio as he delivers her to the Prioress, warning that his pride in his own virtue will one day destroy him.

Matilda removes her cowl and reveals her face, showing Ambrosio that his cherished icon of the Virgin Mary was actually her own portrait.

Don Raymond traveled across Europe in disguise as a common man named Alphonso d'Alvarada on his father's advice.

Don Raymond fell into a trap set by a dishonest carriage driver and a gang of bandits while traveling through Germany.

Ambrosio grows increasingly disgusted with Matilda after their affair and becomes obsessively fixated on the innocent and pure Antonia.

Matilda produces a magic mirror of polished steel that allows Ambrosio to spy on Antonia as she undresses and bathes.

Theodore disguises himself as a beggar musician and performs inside the Convent of St. Clare to gather information about Agnes.

Elvira's ghost appears to Antonia in her room after the murder, warning that they will be reunited within three days.

Ambrosio visits Antonia on her sickbed, unaware that the grieving girl he plans to possess is his own sister.

Don Lorenzo violates a religious taboo by touching the statue of St. Clare and discovers a hidden mechanism concealing a secret dungeon.

Don Lorenzo and Don Raymond flee the burning convent into the underground crypts to search for survivors amid the chaos.

Matilda appears in Ambrosio's prison cell the night before his execution and urges him to sell his soul to Satan.

Satan appears before Ambrosio in his true monstrous form and offers to free him from prison in exchange for his soul.

Satan reveals to Ambrosio that the guards approaching his cell were coming to free him — he had been one minute from salvation.

This pool traces the pivotal moments of deception, discovery, and moral decision that drive The Monk's plot from its deceptive opening to its devastating conclusion. It begins with Ambrosio at the height of his public reputation, worshipped as a near-saint, and charts the sequence of revelations and temptations that systematically seal his doom. Matilda's manipulation of Ambrosio — from unveiling her true identity to exploiting magic mirrors and demonic bargains — shows how deliberately his downfall was engineered. As Ambrosio pursues the innocent Antonia, supernatural warnings go unheeded by those unable to see through the veils of hypocrisy around them. The Festival of St. Clare serves as the climax, as chaos forces all characters into the underground crypts where fate is decided. The pool ends at the moment of Ambrosio's final, irreversible destruction, when Satan reveals that he had been mere seconds away from salvation before signing his soul away.