The Monk

A Gothic novel written by Matthew Gregory Lewis and published in 1796. Its convoluted and scandalous plot
has made it one of the most important Gothic novels of its time, often imitated and adapted for the stage and
the screen.

CHARACTERS

 Agnes is Don Lorenzo's younger sister and Don Raymond's lover. Her mother fell ill while pregnant with
Agnes and promised to send Agnes to the convent if she delivered her safely. She is a virtuous young lady
who intends to marry Don Raymond but her parents want her to become a nun, so she decides to run
away with him. Their plans are foiled and, thinking Don Raymond has abandoned her forever, she enters
the convent.
 Ambrosio is an extremely devout monk about 30 years old. He was found left at the Abbey doorstep when
he was too young to tell his tale. The monks consider him a present from the Virgin Mary and they
educate him at the monastery.
 Antonia is a timid and innocent girl of 15. She was brought up in an old castle in Murcia with only her
mother Elvira and is therefore very sheltered. She is the object of Don Lorenzo's attentions.
 Elvira is the mother of Antonia and Ambrosio. She married a young nobleman in secret. His family does
not approve of her and because of this she and her husband escape to the Indies, leaving her 2-year-old
son behind. After 13 years, when Antonia is very young, her husband dies and she returns to Murcia
where she lives on an allowance given to her by her father in law.
 Leonella is Elvira's sister and Antonia's spinster aunt. (She believes Don Christoval's polite attentions are more
significant than they actually are and is hurt when he fails to call at her house.) She eventually marries a younger man
and lives in Cordova.
 Don Lorenzo de Medina is Agnes's older brother and friend of Don Raymond and Don Christoval.
Immediately intrigued by Antonia after meeting her at Ambrosio's sermon, Don Lorenzo resolves to marry
her.
 Matilda is a sorceress. She enters Ambrosio’s monastery disguised as a novice named Rosario and later
reveals that he is actually Matilda, a beautiful young lady who loves Ambrosio. Matilda 'loved' Ambrosio
even before she joined the monastery and therefore requested a painting of herself as Madonna to be
given to Ambrosio, which hangs in his room. She seduces Ambrosio, leads him to ravish Antonia, and
finally induces him to sell his soul. Matilda is condemned by the Inquisition but freed by Satan.
 Mariana, Alix, Violante are nuns who vote to punish Agnes and are aware that she is being kept in the
sepulcher. They fall victim to the outraged crowd at the processional.
 Marguerite is an unwilling hostess and wife of Baptiste. Her first husband dies after receiving wounds
from an English traveller. She has two sons, Theodore and a younger unnamed boy. She saves Don
Raymond's life by revealing Baptiste's true intentions. She stabs and kills Baptiste as Don Raymond tries
to strangle him, allowing them both to escape.
 The Prioress punishes Agnes severely to uphold the honour of the convent of St. Clare by keeping Agnes
prisoner in the dungeons beneath the convent. The prioress circulates the story of Agnes's death to
everyone, including Agnes's own relations. She is beaten to a bloody pulp by the crowd that gathers to
honour St. Clare when they realise she is responsible for Agnes's supposed death. (She is also the inspiration
for the Abbess of San Stephano in Radcliffe's The Italian)
 Don Raymond is the son of the Marquis and is also known as Alphonso d'Alvarada. (He takes the name
Alphonso to be known for his merits rather than his rank.) He is the target of the robber Baptiste but with help from
Marguerite, he is able to save himself and the Baroness Lindenberg.
 Donna Rodolpha, Baroness of Lindenburg meets Don Raymond while travelling to Strausbourg. She is
in love with Don Raymond and becomes jealous when she finds out Don Raymond is in love with her
niece, Agnes. She asks him to leave the Castle of Lindenberg.
 Don Christoval, the Condé d'Ossorio, is Lorenzo's friend. He attracts Leonella's desires but does not
return them.
 Mother St. Ursula assists in Agnes's rescue. She is a witness to the Prioress's crimes and without her,
Don Lorenzo would not be able to accuse the Prioress.
 Theodore is Marguerite's son who becomes Don Raymond's page. Theodore plays a key role in moving
the plot forward by helping with Don Raymond's plans to escape with Agnes.
 Virginia de Villa Franca, introduced late in the story, is a beautiful, virtuous young relation of the
Prioress who represents St. Clare in the Procession. Virginia nurses the ill Agnes back to health and thus
wins Lorenzo's affections. (Like Isabella in The Castle of Otranto, she is introduced as an acceptable marriage partner for
Lorenzo but plays an unessential part in the plot.)

PLOT SUMMARY
- Newly arrived in Madrid, Leonella and her niece Antonia visit a church to hear the sermon of a celebrated
monk, Ambrosio, and while waiting, tell their story to two young men, Don Lorenzo and Don Christoval.
Antonia's Grandfather is the Marquis de las Cisternas, who was unhappy with his son's marriage, causing
her parents to flee. Leonella has come to Madrid to convince the Marquis' son, Raymond de las Cisternas, to
resume their allowance, which has been cut off. As the story is told, Lorenzo falls in love with Antonia. Father
Ambrosio, who was left at the abbey as a child, delivers the sermon, and Antonia is fascinated with him.
Lorenzo vows to win the hand of Antonia, but must first visit his sister Agnes, who is a nun at the nearby
abbey. Having fallen asleep in the church, he awakens to find someone delivering a letter for his sister from
Raymond de las Cisternas. On the way home, a gypsy warns Antonia that she is about to die, killed by
someone who appears to be honourable.
- Ambrosio is visited by nuns, including Agnes, for confession. She drops a letter which reveals her plans to
run away with Raymond de las Cisternas. When Agnes confesses that she is pregnant with Raymond's child,
Ambrosio turns her over to the prioress of her abbey for punishment. As she is led away, she curses
Ambrosio. Returning to the abbey, Ambrosio's constant companion, a novice named Rosario admits that he is
a woman named Matilda, who disguised herself so that she could be near Ambrosio. They both know he
must throw her out of the monastery, she decides to leave but on the condition Ambrosio gives her a rose
(Garden of Eden – Genesis). As he picks the rose, he is bitten by a serpent and it is predicted that he will die
within three days. Rosario acts as his nurse, and the next day it is discovered that Ambrosio is cured which is
proclaimed a miracle. When the other monks leave, Matilda reveals that she sucked the poison from
Ambrosio's wound and is now dying herself. At the point of death, she begs him to make love to her, and he
succumbs to the temptation at last, having discovered that she is the model who sat for his beloved portrait
of the virgin Mary.
- Lorenzo confronts Raymond about his relationship with his sister Agnes. Raymond tells a story of the
time he went travelling in Germany concealed under the name Alphonse d'Alvarada. “One night he finds some
lodging at a cottage owned by Baptiste and his wife. Another party, a Baroness and her retinue also stop for
the night. Alphonse, with the help of Marguerite, discovers that he has fallen into a group of murderers, who
waylay travellers to kill and rob them, and manages to escape with the Baroness and Marguerite, who kills
Baptiste. They make it to Strasbourg, where Marguerite shares her story of illicit love with a bandit, by whom
she has two children, and being forced into marriage with Baptiste. She returns to the home of her father,
and Raymond continues his travels, taking along Marguerite's son, Theodore, as a servant.
At the home of the baroness Raymond falls in love with her niece Agnes, and goes to the baroness to ask for
her blessing. But the Baroness is in love with Raymond and plans to send her niece to the convent, so
Raymond and Agnes make plans to elope. Agnes plans to dress as the Bleeding Nun, a ghost who haunts the
castle, when she escapes with Raymond. The two drive away in the night, but the carriage crashes, and when
Raymond awakens, he finds the nun Agnes is gone. After several months healing, he learns that it was not
Agnes but the bleeding nun herself who was with him. Raymond learns that the bleeding nun is an ancestor,
and he is responsible for burying her bones and so release her from her hauntings.
He finds Agnes in the convent and takes the disguise of the convent gardener. There he overcomes Agnes,
earning her rejection. However, when she discovers that she is pregnant, she begs him to come to rescue
her.” When Raymond finishes his story, Lorenzo agrees to help him.
- Lorenzo then goes to visit Elvira, who is Raymond's sister-in-law and the mother of Antonia, to ask for
permission to court Antonia. However, Elvira is very fearful that her daughter might be rejected by Lorenzo's
family, just as she was rejected by the Cisternas. Lorenzo promises that he will get his family's blessing and
marry Antonia. In the meantime, Lorenzo tries to visit his sister Agnes in the convent, but is told that she is
too ill to see him. He has sent to Rome to receive a papal bull releasing Agnes from her vows so that she may
honourably marry Raymond without fear of retribution. When the Prioress of the abbey is presented with the
papal bull, she tells Lorenzo that his sister died several days before. Lorenzo does not believe it. In the
meantime, he has secured his family's blessing for marriage with Antonia.
- Ambrosio and Matilda spend the night making love, Ambrosio no longer feeling the guilt of sin. The next
night in the cemetery, she performs some ritual of which Ambrosio can only see flashes of light and quaking
of the ground; when she returns, she is free of the poison, and free to be Ambrosio's secret lover. But as the
week progresses, Ambrosio grows tired of her. One day Ambrosio is approached by Antonia, who asks him to
provide a confessor for Elvira, her dying mother, and is immediately attracted to her. He agrees to come to
visit them often, for the simple purpose of being with Antonia and hopefully seducing her. Elvira confesses
that she sees something familiar in Ambrosio, but she cannot pinpoint what it is. Ambrosio continues his
visits to Antonia. He misinterpreting Antonia’s feelings, he embraces her, she resists him, but the priest
continues to ravish her until her mother enters. Elvira, who had already suspected his designs on her
daughter, tells him that his services are no longer needed.
Matilda tells him she can help him to gain Antonia's charms, in the same way in which she was healed of the
poison: witchcraft. Ambrosio is horrified and rejects her suggestion. However, when she shows him a magic
mirror that reveals to him Antonia bathing, he agrees. Matilda and Ambrosio return to the cemetery, where
Matilda calls up Lucifer and receives his help, and they receive a magic myrtle bough, which will allow
Ambrosio to open any door, as well as satisfy his lust on Antonia without.
- Raymond mourns the death of his lover, Agnes, so Theodore disguises himself as a beggar and goes to the
convent to find out what happened to her. He is taken into the convent, where he vainly hopes to see Agnes.
However, as he leaves, Mother St. Ursula, hands him a basket with gifts. Theodore and Raymond, find a note
hidden in the linen cover, stating that they should have the cardinal arrest both Mother St. Ursula and the
prioress, so that Agnes’s murder can be requited.
- Ambrosio carries out his plot to rape Antonia. He enters her chamber and finds her asleep. He is on the
point of raping her when Elvira enters the room and confronts him, promising that she will make his true
nature public. In desperation, Ambrosio murders Elvira without carrying out his true purpose of ravishing
Antonia. He returns to the abbey, unsatisfied in his lust and horrified that he has now become a murderer.
Antonia is grief-stricken at the death of her mother and one night she sees what her mother’s ghost, which
warns her that it will return in three nights and Antonia will die. Terrified, Antonia faints and is found by her
landlady, Jacintha, who goes to Ambrosio, requesting him to exorcise her home. Under Matilda’s advice,
Ambrosio slips a potion into Antonia’s medicine, this potion will induce a condition appearing to be death for
Antonia. While he is attending Antonia, he sees the ghost of Elvira.
- Lorenzo arrives back in Madrid with a representative of the Inquisition. During the procession honouring
St. Clare, the prioress is arrested. Mother St. Ursula publicly relates the account of Agnes’s trial by the
sisters. At Mother St. Ursula’s revelation that the prioress is a murderer, the crowd turns to rioting. Despite
the Inquisitor’s pleas, she is attacked and killed by the crowd. In the confusion, Lorenzo finds a group of
nuns and a young woman named Virginia hiding in the cemetery vault near the statue of St. Clare. Groans
coming from the statue arouse Lorenzo’s suspicions. He manages to move the statue to find a passage leading
down into a dungeon, where he finds Agnes, alive and holding the body of her baby. Lorenzo removes Agnes
from the dungeon and with Virginia’s help, takes the group of nuns to safety.
- When Antonia awakens from her drugged sleep in the crypt Ambrosio rapes her. Afterwards, he is as
disgusted with Antonia as he was with Matilda, who comes to warn him about the riot. Ambrosio kills
Antonia in her attempt to escape. Virginia visits Lorenzo as he is recovering from his grief, and the two
become closer. Agnes and Raymond are married, and the couple leaves Madrid for Raymond’s castle,
accompanied by Lorenzo and Virginia, who are also eventually married.
- Ambrosio and Matilda are brought before the Inquisition, and at first both proclaim their innocence, but
then Matilda confesses her guilt and is condemned to be burned at the auto-da-fé. Ambrosio insists upon his
innocence and is tortured. When returned to his cell he is visited by a vision of Matilda, who tries to convince
him to completely yield his soul to Satan as she has. Ambrosio again proclaims his innocence, but when
faced with the instruments of torture once again, he admits to his sins of rape, murder, and sorcery and he
too is condemned to burn. In despair, Ambrosio requests Lucifer to save his life, who tells him it will be at the
cost of his soul. Ambrosio signs the contract, He is rescued from the cell by Lucifer and brought to a
wilderness. Lucifer informs him that Elvira was his mother, making Antonia his sister, adding to his crimes
the sin of incest. Lucifer reveals that it has long been his plan to gain Ambrosio's soul, and Matilda was his
servant. Lucifer then carries Ambrosio up and drops him on the rocks below. Ambrosio suffers for six days,
dying alone and damned for eternity.
THEMES
The MORALITY is one of the major themes in gothic novels. The morality tale is designed to inculcate the
reader with the author's ethical precepts by outlining the experiences of the protagonist and showing how his
or her virtuous decisions lead to favourable denouements, and, in contrast, their iniquitous actions
contribute to their downfalls. Frequently, impious demons attempt to lead the hero into dissipation and vice,
while sacrosanct angels try to secure the main character's passage into heaven via the resistance of
temptation. Lewis uses many of these conventions, but also incorporates new elements of his own. Ultimately,
Lewis' thematic usage of the morality tale is conventional in that it shows the downfall of the depraved, yet
also innovative because it has an overall lack of divine intercession and incorporates the unfortunate sacrifice
of innocent characters in the course of its narrative. In doing so, The Monk displays similarities to gothic
novels both antecedent and subsequent to its publication.
In its essence, The Monk's plot is not completely unpredictable or revolutionary. Ambrosio displays traces of
hubris and lust very early in the novel: - he [Ambrosio] dismissed them [the monks] with an air of conscious superiority
- he fixed his eyes on the Virgin… Gracious God, should I then resist the temptation?

Both passages explicitly show the conflicting forces within Ambrosio: his nature instructs him to exult
himself above others and lust for the Virgin Mary, while his religious inclinations, or at least his awareness of
his position within the church, command him to humility and chastity. Ambrosio begins to deviate from his
holy conduct when he encounters Matilda, a character revealed at the end of the novel to be an emissary of
Satan. Once Ambrosio is tempted into sin he enters into a tailspin of increasing desire, which leads him to
transgression and culminates in the loss of his eternal salvation and his grisly murder at the hands of the
devil. (Lewis' work is often discussed in conjunction with that of Ann Radcliffe's “The Romance of the Forest”: Similar to Ambrosio, the
Marquis was tempted and succumbed to sin, which sets him on a wicked path leading to his public shame and suicide. )

However, The Monk does have some very marked discrepancies from the normal morality tale setup used in
gothic novels. In most morality tales, both vice and virtue are represented equally, but in Lewis' work, the
powers of evil are disproportionately represented. Technically speaking, Ambrosio is surrounded by virtue in
the sense that he is always conscious that what he is doing is wrong and, until the end of the novel, never
believes that he cannot repent. There are no corresponding angels who appear before Ambrosio to counter the
influence of the devil and try to dissuade him from his path of destruction. The only apparition that is
potentially heaven-sent is that of Elvira’s ghost. She comes back from the grave to caution her daughter,
Antonia that “yet three days, and we shall meet again!”[36] While the apparition may seem to be trying to
warn Antonia of her impending death, the ghost’s appearance causes Jacintha to fetch Ambrosio to dispel the
spirit, allowing him to drug Antonia and take her under his power. As a result of the ghost’s intrusion,
Antonia is put directly into harm’s way, an action much more apropos for a demonic presence rather than a
heavenly one.

The Monk is one of many Gothic novels that criticises the Catholic Church and Catholic tradition. Ambrosio
and the Prioress represent all that is seen as wrong with the Catholic Church and its superstition. (The vow of
celibacy)
Lewis also deviates from what is typically expected from morality tales when he includes the sacrifice of
innocent people in the latter chapters of the novel. As a result of Ambrosio's personal vices, both Elvira and
Antonia are slain, to prevent them from revealing Ambrosio’s crimes.
The Wandering Jew
- The Wandering Jew is a man doomed to walk the earth until the second coming of Jesus. There are several
interpretations of why he is punished this way.
 One legend says that Jesus wished to take a drink from a horse trough and the Jew refused.
 Another legend says that when Christ sat to rest on a man's doorstep, a man from Jerusalem drove
him away, yelling, "'Walk faster!' And Christ replied, 'I go, but you will walk until I come again!"
Both these legends show that the Jew's rude behaviour to Christ is the reason for his punishment of endless
wandering.
The Wandering Jew appears in the subplot of Raymond and Agnes' story in The Monk and foreshadows
Ambrosio's encounters with supernatural devilish spirits. The Great Mogul must constantly move from place
to place, has no friends, and can never die. God has set his seal upon him, and all his creatures respect this
fatal mark”. He refers to the burning cross on his forehead, a mark of God that gives the Great Mogul his
power to destroy evil spirits, such as the Bleeding Nun (he helps Raymond get rid of the Bleeding Nun).

The Bleeding Nun

Raymond mistakes her for his lover, Agnes, because she is veiled and he cannot see her face.
While she was alive, she was a prostitute and a murderer before she was murdered by her lover. Her story is
the first we receive of how giving in to sexual desires leads to death and eternal unrest.
The Bleeding Nun also introduces the world of the supernatural into The Monk.
Both the Bleeding Nun and Ambrosio begin pious but then fall prey to their sexual desires. Ambrosio has
already given into his desire for Matilda and the story of the Bleeding Nun told in the subplot foreshadows his
further downfall with Antonia and his eternal punishment in the hands of the devil.

MATILDA-femme fatale, ANTONIA-angelo del focolare, AGNES-fallen woman poi “redenta”

 When Matilda is disguised as the male Rosario, she seems an educated and kind young man whom
Ambrosio loves with all his heart. When Ambrosio discovers that she is a woman, he first is afraid of
her and the temptation that she represents. Matilda on the other hand is not innocent at all and she
knows how to manipulate Ambrosio. At first, she swears that all she wants from him is his friendship,
but she quickly changes her mind and turns into a true femme fatale: "Either I must die at present, or
expire by the lingering torments of unsatisfied desire" (89) she cries on her death bed after she has
saved Ambrosio by sucking the venom from a snake bite. Ambrosio who is in the full vigour of
manhood quickly gives in to the temptation and from this moment on, she will start to gain more
power over him. After "the burst of transport was past", Ambrosio is angry with Matilda and he
blames her for seducing him. His reaction is like that of a "fallen woman who regrets her seduction" .
Matilda undergoes a second transformation and turns into a seductive woman and finally becomes a
dominant, possessive, manly lover. With his desires fulfilled, Ambrosio grows tired of Matilda and he
even starts to resent her. When the innocent Antonia comes to visit him to ask for his help, he
immediately falls in love with her. Matilda notices Ambrosio's changed behavior but she reacts in an
unfeminine way: she refuses to continue to sleep with him but she decides to help him to get to
Antonia. Matilda is the one who is in control and Ambrosio can only follow her orders: while she is
performing the ritual to summon the demon, all he can do is watch her.

 Antonia is a true female. She is described as beautiful, innocent and naive. Lorenzo wants to marry
her but has to wait for his father's permission. Antonia does not know what love is and she certainly
does not realize what Ambrosio wants from her. She becomes afraid of him when they are alone
together in the tomb and he rapes her. Antonia's innocence encourages Ambrosio's desire up until the
point that he has what he wants. When he finally kills Antonia (the only truly innocent and female
character), he metaphorically kills the last bit of innocence that was left in him.

 When Marguerite later tells her story of how she fell in love with a bandit and eloped with him, she
turns out to be a 'fallen woman'. The baroness of Lindenberg (Agnes's aunt) turns out to be a
vindictive woman as she cannot accept that Raymond is in love with Agnes, her niece. The stories of
both Marguerite and the Baroness Lindenberg show similarities with that of the Bleeding Nun.
 The Bleeding Nun is a ghost haunting the castle of Lindenberg. Raymond accidently elopes with her
instead of Agnes. When Raymond embraces the Bleeding Nun, thinking he is holding Agnes, he
 speaks the words: "Agnes! Agnes! Thou art mine! Agnes Agnes! I am thine!". These words could be
seen as a ritualistic wedding vow and Raymond, who was planning to elope with his beloved Agnes, is
reduced to a terrified "metaphoric bride", promised to a possessive "animated corse".
 When Raymond returns to Madrid, he finds Agnes pregnant, she is furious with him and blames him
for having harmed her female honour. FALLEN WOMAN

 Before Raymond can get Agnes out of the convent, she is imprisoned by the prioress.