Gothic Themes In Matthew Lewis's The Monk

From deals with the devil, corrupt churches, and the decaying body of a lifeless baby, Matthew Lewis’s The Monk is the paradigm of the gothic novel. The main setting of the novel is the church, a place of barbaric and inhumane practices. Deep in the dungeons are prison cells for deviating nuns who are starved and tormented by the head nuns. The Monk, title role of the novel, belongs to the main character who is perhaps the most malevolent and cruel. The novel is the ideal example of a gothic novel because it encompasses all the themes that typify the gothic novel. The main tenets of gothic literature include, horror, violence, threatening of a women’s virtue and women being in constant danger. This can be seen in the case of Antonia who …show more content…
When originally introduced to the reader, she is disguised as a man, this fraud is minor in comparison to what she undertakes later in the novel. Yet she is not innocent or virtuous as the other women presented in the novel. Even in the case of Marguerite, who betrays her evil husband and is atoned for her sins when she aids in the escape of Raymond. Matilda is sinful to the highest extreme and devious as well. She planted a painting of herself representing Madonna in Ambrosio’s chamber, and his obsession with her was initiated with that depiction. Matilda is the ultimate foil for Antonia, who is innocent, moral, and most importantly, chaste. The representation of women in the gothic novel are damsels in distress, women who are pure and in constant danger of men. Matilda defies the pattern of convention where women are concerned in Gothic Literature. There is bewilderment concerning what exactly Matilda is, either a spirit or a supernatural being who is sent to inspect the “pious” monk. Her character develops from the girl who is incognito to be in the presence of a spiritual person, to the destructive demon who poisons the man she once was captivated