The History of the Nun

"The History of the Nun" is a story about a girl named Isabella whose mother dies when she was just entering adolescence. At the young age of 13, Isabella had to decide if she was going to be become a nun, giving all of her inheritance to her aunt, or marry a young noble man, which would help her to gain her inheritance. She made the initial decision to become a nun, but later fell in love with a man named Henault. The love she had for him had overtaken her. She broke the vow she made to God (from becoming a nun) and runs away with Henault. News of this causes Henault's father to disown him. Henault and Isabella run off together, unknowingly to face tough times. Henault's father agrees to help them out if Henault will go to war. After some time with no sign of Henault, Isabella presumes he died an honorable death in war. After years of mourning Isabella decided to marry a man named Villenoy. Not too long after Isabella's marriage to Villenoy, a man shows up at her gate with her wedding ring; it was Henault. To salvage her own reputation, Isabella kills Henault, and her new husband helps her to hide the body. In the process of helping dispose of Henault's body, Villenoy falls over a bridge and dies too. The bodies are discovered and Isabella is sentenced to death.

The aspect of Isabella losing both of her husbands, one right after killing the first, is an idea of karma. Isabella had broken her vow to God, and because she had done so, she was being punished. Many women in this time period were highly concerned with their social standing and what other's opinions were of her. Isabella's concern with her reputation had caused her to lose both of her husbands, along with the karma that came from breaking her vow with God. Like other stories by Aphra Behn, there is an aspect of gruesomeness; normally closely associated with death. Although Isabella is found guilty of these murders, "her beauty in the eyes of the public was not at all diminished." She presented a speech before her death, and people even cheered for her.