In Monk we see a tension between the scientific attitudes of the Enlightenment and religious attitudes of the time. Lorenzo investigates a statue of a saint that is haunted by the spirit of a sinner. "As He took his hand from the Saint, She trembled beneath his touch. This created new terrors in the Spectators, who believed the Statue to be animated. Lorenzo’s ideas upon the subject were widely different. He easily comprehended that the noise which He had heard, was occasioned by his having loosened a chain which attached the Image to its Pedestal. He once more attempted to move it, and succeeded without much exertion. He placed it upon the ground, and then perceived the Pedestal to be hollow, and covered at the opening with an heavy iron grate. This excited such general curiosity that the Sisters forgot both their real and imaginary dangers." (vol III, ch10) Lorenzo is the embodiment of scientific research, the nuns are held back by their beliefs. Ultimately science overcomes superstition.