Analysis of Robert Browning's Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

In his poem, "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," Robert Browning uses a nameless Spanish monk to weave a web of deceit and hypocrisy. Throughout the poem, this monk expresses opinions of both himself and a fellow monk, Brother Lawrence. Yet these opinions are not what the monk really thinks of either himself or Brother Lawrence, as can be deciphered by a closer examination of the text.

The monk, who is the speaker of the poem, attempts to convince the reader that he is a just, moral man. One of the ways he attempts to do this is by telling the reader about the special little things that he does to display his faith. Lines thirty-three through forty-one set forth just such an example:

"When he finishes reflection,
Knife and fork he never lays
Cross-wise, to my recollection
As I do, in Jesus praise.
I and Trinity illustrate,
Drinking watered orange-pulp-
In three sips the Arian frustrate;
While he drains his at one gulp!"

In the first sentence of this section, the speaker tells the reader how good he is by telling how he places his fork and knife crosswise when he finishes eating to show that he remembers the death of Christ on the cross. The second sentence makes reference to the Arian doctrine which denied the Trinity. The speaker displays his belief in the Trinity and his stand against this Arian doctrine by drinking this orange juice in three sips instead of one gulp. Although these acts may appear minor, the speaker uses them to show that hi is better, in this case, than Brother Lawrence.

While these are the characteristics the speaker would have the reader believe he personifies in his life, these are not the characteristics he actually portrays to the reader. It is readily understandably that the speaker is not all he claims to be. The second sentence of the poem reveals the true character of the speaker: "If hate killed me, Brother Lawrence, / God's blood, Would not mine kill you!" Most people would not consider hate a characteristic of a good person, so the speaker "cuts his own throat," so to speak. Not only does he hate Brother Lawrence, but he carries it to the extreme by desiring to cause Brother Lawrence to stumble, and even bring about the damnation of his soul. Line fifty-three clearly exposes this desire:

"If I trip him just a-dying,
Sure of heaven as sure can be,
Spin him round and send him flying
Off to hell, a Manichee?"

Without a doubt, the speaker is not the good man he claims to be.

The speaker also attempts to impugn the character of Brother Lawrence by asserting that hi is a profane, sinful man. One of the methods employed by the speaker to accomplish that goal is to spread stories as to the motivation for the actions of Brother Lawrence. A paramount example of this is in the fourth stanza:

"Saint, forsooth! While brown Dolores
Squats outside the Convent bank
With Sanchicha, telling stories,
Steeping tresses in the tank,
Blue-black, lustrous, thick like horsehairs,
- Can't I see his dead eye glow,
Bright as 'twere a Barbary corsair's?
(That is, if he'd let it show!)"

This stanza makes reference to two of the nuns in the convent near the monastery. The women are apparently washing their hair and carrying on a conversation. The speaker accuses Brother Lawrence of lusting after these women, which is bad enough without taking into consideration that these men are monks, sworn to chastity. The speaker talks of the "light in the eyes" of Brother Lawrence. Yet the speaker goes on to say, "That is, if he'd let it show!" This suggests that there really is no evidence to support this accusation.

In all actuality, the text points to the fact that the speaker, deep down, knows that Brother Lawrence is not a hypocrite. The seventh stanza lends itself to establishing this point:

"There's a great text in Galatians,
Once you trip on it, entails
Twenty-nine distinct damnations,
One sure, if another fails.
If I trip him just a-dying,
Sure of heaven as sure can be,
Spin him round and send him flying
Off to hell, a Manichee?"

It is obvious that the speaker is attempting to cause Brother Lawrence to stumble when he speaks of tripping him as he is dying, in order to see that he goes to hell. The speaker goes to the Bible to find his sources for ways to trip Brother Lawrence, convinced that he will eventually find something to cause Brother Lawrence to falter. There are a couple of questions that arise from this stanza concerning the speaker's contention that Brother Lawrence is a hypocrite. First of all, if Brother Lawrence is a sinful hypocrite, why would the speaker need to cause him to stumble? He would already be going to hell without any help from the speaker. Secondly, the lines, "If I trip him just a-dying, / Sure of heaven as sure can be," seem to imply that the speaker believes that Brother Lawrence is headed for heaven unless something is done to cause him to stumble. These two arguments make a strong case for the idea that the speaker does not really believe that Brother Lawrence is a hypocrite, but rather the speaker is attempting to ruin the reputation of Brother Lawrence.

Indeed, Robert Browning weaves a tangled web of opinion and characterizations. The speaker obviously considers himself to be a good man, and yet he does not portray the characteristics that would cause the reader to have the same judgment. In the same manner, the speaker would have the reader believe that Brother Lawrence is an immoral hypocrite. Yet the evidence brings about the conclusion the Brother Lawrence is really a good man. It would seem that the speaker is jealous of the way Brother Lawrence lives, and therefore attempts to tear Brother Lawrence down in an attempt to raise himself up.