The Monkey (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Isak Dinesen
- First Published: 1934
- Type of Plot: Gothic
- Time of Work: The nineteenth century
- Setting: Northern Europe
- Principal Characters: Cathinka, The monkey, Borls, Athena Hopballehus, Count Hopballehus
- Genres: Short fiction, Gothic fiction
- Subjects: Freedom, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Marriage, Ethics, Captivity, Convents or nunneries
- Locales: Europe
The Story
Cathinka, the virgin prioress who governs Cloister Seven, a nonreligious convent in northern Europe, and her little gray monkey play a sinister role to bring about the marriage of Boris, her favorite nephew and godson, and Athena Hopballehus, the freedom-loving daughter of a neighboring nobleman, Count Hopballehus. From the story's title, the reader expects the monkey to be the central character, but the creature is absent during most of the story. The reader therefore has the ominous feeling that the monkey is up to some potent machinations behind the scenes, or is...
[The entire page is 1740 words long]
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