# Doña Isidora — Melmoth the Wanderer character guide > Doña Isidora in Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Isidora, Madonna Isidora **First appearance:** 0004-iii ## Who they are A beautiful, devout Spanish noblewoman whose forbidden love for a mysterious stranger draws her into a darkness her faith may not survive. ## Relationships ### [John Melmoth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/john_melmoth) _romantic_ Doña Isidora is seduced and psychologically tormented by John Melmoth, who offers her a cursed love and a pact with dark forces. ### [Father Jose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/father_jose) _psychological_ Father Jose acts as Doña Isidora's confessor and spiritual guide, but his attempts to save her soul are overwhelmed by her obsession with Melmoth. ### [Don Fernan di Aliaga](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/don_fernan_di_aliaga) _family_ Don Fernan di Aliaga is Doña Isidora's father, a strict and authoritarian figure who tries to control her fate and marriage. ### [Don Gregorio Montilla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/don_gregorio_montilla) _social_ Don Gregorio Montilla is a family acquaintance and potential suitor for Doña Isidora, representing a conventional but unwanted match. ### [Sir Edmund](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/sir_edmund) _social_ Sir Edmund is a nobleman and acquaintance of Doña Isidora, representing a possible escape from her family's control but ultimately irrelevant to her fate. ### [Immalee](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/immalee) _psychological_ Doña Isidora and Immalee are both victims of John Melmoth, their parallel suffering creating a dark mirror between them, though they never directly interact. ### [John Melmoth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/john_melmoth) _romantic_ Doña Isidora is seduced and psychologically tormented by John Melmoth, who offers her a cursed love and a pact with dark forces. ### [John Melmoth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/john_melmoth) _romantic_ Doña Isidora is seduced and psychologically tormented by John Melmoth, who offers her a cursed love and a pact with dark forces. ### [Father Jose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/father_jose) _psychological_ Father Jose acts as Doña Isidora's confessor and spiritual guide, but his attempts to save her soul are overwhelmed by her obsession with Melmoth. ### [Father Jose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/father_jose) _psychological_ Father Jose acts as Doña Isidora's confessor and spiritual guide, but his attempts to save her soul are overwhelmed by her obsession with Melmoth. ### [Immalee](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/immalee) _psychological_ Doña Isidora and Immalee are both victims of John Melmoth, their parallel suffering creating a dark mirror between them, though they never directly interact. ### [Sir Edmund](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/sir_edmund) _social_ Sir Edmund is a nobleman and acquaintance of Doña Isidora, representing a possible escape from her family's control but ultimately irrelevant to her fate. ## In the story ### [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xx) Isidora prays to the Virgin, expressing her inner conflict and longing for her past. She later shrieks in alarm, hinting at a secret. ### [Chapter XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxi) Confesses her love for Melmoth but struggles with the demand to renounce her religion, clinging to the crucifix in prayer. ### [Chapter XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxii) Declares her eternal love for Melmoth and her refusal to marry Montilla; agrees to elope with Melmoth the following night. ### [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxiii) Described as having strange fantasies, including questioning damnation and the nature of worship, which her mother interprets as insanity. ### [Chapter XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxiv) Terrified and disillusioned on her bridal night, she questions Melmoth and resists his urgings, but ultimately faints from fear and exhaustion. ### [XXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxxiv) Pregnant and desperate, she begs Melmoth for her child's baptism and expresses fear of dying in childbirth. ### [XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxxv) Secretly married to Melmoth and pregnant, she endures the preparations for her forced nuptials to Montilla and ultimately witnesses her brother's death. ### [XXXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxxvi) Imprisoned by the Inquisition, she confesses her marriage to Melmoth and clings to her infant daughter. ### [XXXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxxvii) The prisoner, dying of a broken heart after her child's death and Melmoth's temptation. ### [XXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/chapters/xxxviii) Isidora is invoked by the Wanderer as the last and most terrible form he must encounter before his doom. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters/dona_isidora - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/melmoth_the_wanderer_se/characters