ABSTRACT
The interest in the world outside the cloister, the world off-limits to her, was very strong in Sister Jane. Sister Jane's imagination flew wild with stories of Grandier, and very soon he became her obsession. The psychological outline of Sister Jane's life seems rather simple. Elmer accidentally came across "the placard of a woman evangelist, one Sharon Falconer, a prophetess of whom he had heard". The claim that Sharon Falconer was a histrionic is corroborated by various remarks Sinclair Lewis adds about her throughout the novel. The success of Sharon Falconer's ecclesiastical entourage was due to the sensationalism of her approach. An obsessive-compulsive personality structure basically refers to people who are overly proper but cold, selfish, petty, meticulous, perfectionistic, inflexible, calculating, parsimonious, and stubborn. The most general sign of sadism is "a pervasive pattern of cruel, demeaning, and aggressive behavior," which became a trademark of Torquemada's religious involvement.
