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The King of Bohemia
The Beguine nun is a young nun in Flanders who is Trim’s first love. The special rules of the Beguine order, who travel as nurses, allow members to love and marry. After Trim is wounded in the knee in the battle of Landen, the Beguine stays behind with him in a farmhouse to supervise his recovery. The care she gives him and, in particular, the rubbing she applies to his knee, slowly transforms into both love and, it is implied, sexual relations.
The Young Woman (The Beguine Nun) Quotes in Tristram Shandy
The Tristram Shandy quotes below are all either spoken by The Young Woman (The Beguine Nun) or refer to The Young Woman (The Beguine Nun) . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 8: Chapters 22-28 Quotes
I perceived, then, I was beginning to be in love—
As she continued rub-rub-rubbing—I felt it spread from under her hand, an’ please your honour, to every part of my frame—
The more she rubb’d, and the longer strokes she took—the more fire kindled in my veins—till at length, by two or three strokes longer than the rest—my passion rose to the highest pitch—I seiz’d her hand—
—And then, thou clapped’st it to thy lips, Trim, said my uncle Toby—and madest a speech.
Whether the corporal’s amour terminated precisely in the way my uncle Toby described it, is not material; it is enough that it contain’d in it the essence of all the love-romances which ever have been wrote since the beginning of the world.
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The Young Woman (The Beguine Nun) Character Timeline in Tristram Shandy
The timeline below shows where the character The Young Woman (The Beguine Nun) appears in Tristram Shandy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 8: Chapters 15-21
...in his knee as he was taken off the field to a peasant house nearby. A young woman gives him a cordial and some sugar and persuades the soldiers in the cart to...
(full context)
...for their lodging and promises to take care of Trim. He soon realizes she is a Beguine nun (Beguines travel to care for the sick and are allowed to marry, unlike other nuns)....
(full context)
Book 8: Chapters 22-28
...fate, Trim warns. Then he continues his story. On Sunday, while the peasants are out, the Beguine nun comes in to see Trim, whose wound is much better. She asks to see it...
(full context)
Book 8: Chapters 29-35
...knows so much about women. Trim replies that he learned from falling in love with a Catholic clergywoman ; Toby explains that she was a Beguine nun. Dr. Slop is enraged but is...
(full context)
