Both Uses of
monk
in
The Scarlet Letter
- Luther, according to the scandal of his monkish enemies, was a brat of that hellish breed; nor was Pearl the only child to whom this inauspicious origin was assigned among the New England Puritans.†
p. 92.8 *monkish = having the characteristics of a monk (often inclined toward self-denial)
- Here the pale clergyman piled up his library, rich with parchment-bound folios of the Fathers, and the lore of Rabbis, and monkish erudition, of which the Protestant divines, even while they vilified and decried that class of writers, were yet constrained often to avail themselves.†
p. 116.8
Definition:
a male member of a religious order typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience