Lieutenant Nun

The final six chapters of Lieutenant Nun are focused on the two large changes to the status quo, these being Erauso confessing her sex and her subsequent return to Europe. Connected to these changes is the celebrity status that she gained among her contemporaries. Altogether, these factors combine to mark out the final chapters of Erauso’s autobiography from the rest of it, which reinforces the weight of her momentous decision to reveal herself.  

The theme of Personal Identity Versus Societal Roles is crucial to this section. Erauso’s confession caused the gulf between her personal identity and societal role to become known, and consequently, her societal role changed. Throughout the rest of the events described in the book, she attempted to define a new social role for herself while maintaining largely consistent values and traits. Initially, her social status became defined by the physical examination in Guamanga: She was defined as a virginal woman and sequestered in a nunnery. This shows a complete reversion to her life before donning male clothes. She was, effectively, in an identical position to her Chapter 1 life. It was only the confirmation that she was never confirmed as a nun that allowed her to leave again. She then explicitly rejected being a nun as the defining element of her social status, claiming that she had “no order, and no religion” (69).

However, her societal role had still irrevocably changed due to the story of her confession being spread. Her trip to Europe can be interpreted as an attempt to define herself, and, through several episodes, her “hybrid” identity and social role could be reconstructed. First, en route to a port, she visited a series of nunneries, suggesting that she was not entirely at odds with this part of her past. Second, on the ship to Europe, she got into another brawl over gambling, something entirely in line with her behavior before her identity was revealed. Third, she fought with Italians in Genoa over another aspect of her identity, her Spanish heritage. These incidents, combined with the Pope’s permission for her to continue wearing masculine clothes, show how she carved out a social role that could aptly be called that of a “Lieutenant Nun” (68).

Her actions were, nevertheless, still largely defined by those of a Spanish soldier, as shown in a revealing episode in the final chapter. In Naples, she was propositioned by women who knew her name. She responded with violent threats and claims to martial prowess. Evidently, her value system and personal identity remained the same. Nevertheless, as someone who was born a woman, she did not fit exactly into the descriptors that would come with this social role, nor was she treated as a nun would be. Rather, her societal role (like her identity) defied binary categorization.

Another important aspect of the final chapters is how the Freedom and Adventure in the Colonial World that Erauso relished was limited by the reveal of her identity. The freedom she had was made possible in the first chapter by her removing her nun’s veil and donning masculine clothes—actions that she reversed in later events. Following her confession, she put on a nun’s veil again in a highly symbolic action that showed her now-limited ability to seek adventure. Moreover, even after she could return to masculine clothing, her fame denied her the ability to be a largely anonymous traveler the way she had earlier. Ultimately, Erauso’s autobiography shows the opportunities open to men in the Spanish colonies yet also demonstrates how these were eventually closed off to her. While it is known historically that Erauso went back to South America to begin working again, in the text, the revelation of her identity marks somewhat of an end point in her ability to wander “with no better idea of where to go, or what to do, than let [her]self be carried off like a feather in the wind” (6).

The Role of Religion in Early Modern Life is also apparent in these chapters. Erauso’s actions show the simultaneous importance of religious authorities and the limitations of their power. The main religious figures she spoke to in the events described these chapters, the bishop of Guamanga and the Pope, both urged her to live a peaceful life and put an end to her lying. She records both pieces of advice and apparently held both men in high regard. However, after the bishop’s urgings, she slashed a man’s face over gambling, and just two months after her visit to Rome, she threatened Neapolitan sex workers. Evidently, the importance of the church was counterbalanced by other important factors affecting decision-making—such as the importance of honor and the masculine code of conduct.