The Monk

The Monk is a Gothic novel by Matthew Lewis that first appeared in 1796. It was written before he turned 20, in the space of 10 weeks.

Related Topics:
Gothic novel - Matthew Lewis - 1796

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The story concerns Ambrosio, a pious well respected monk in Spain, and his violent downfall. He is undone by carnal lust of his pupil Matilda, and once satisfied is overcome with desire for the innocent Antonia whom he later rapes and kills. In the middle of telling this story, however, Lewis is frequently lured into further digressions, which serve to heighten the Gothic atmosphere of the tale while doing little to move along the main plot. A lengthy story about a "Bleeding Nun" is told, and many incidental verses are introduced. A second romance, between Lorenzo and Antonia also gives way to a tale of a Lorenzo's sister being buried alive by hypocrite nuns (as a result of a third romantic plot). Eventually, however, the story catches back up with Ambrosio, and in several pages of impassioned prose, Ambrosio is delivered into the hands of the Inquisition; he escapes by selling his soul to the devil for his deliverance from the death sentence which awaited him. The story ends with Ambrosio falling from the clutches of the devil's talons as he prayed for God's mercy, and with his damnation.

Related Topics:
Monk - Spain - Inquisition

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The Monk is remembered for being one of the more lurid and "transgressive" of the Gothic novels. Featuring demonic pacts, rape, incest, and such props as the Wandering Jew, ruined castles, and the Spanish Inquisition, The Monk serves more or less as a compendium of Gothic taste. Ambrosio, the hypocrite done in by lust, and his sexual misconduct inside the walls of convents and monasteries, is a vividly portrayed villain, as well as an embodiment of much of the traditional English mistrust of Roman Catholicism, with its intrusive confessional, its political and religious authoritarianism, and its cloistered lifestyles. The American fictitious anti-Catholic libel, The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, borrowed much from the plot of this novel.

Related Topics:
Transgressive - Demon - Rape - Incest - Wandering Jew - Castle - Convent - Monasteries - Villain - English - Roman Catholicism - Confessional - American - Libel - Maria Monk

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