MATTHEW LEWIS

Matthew Gregory Lewis (9 July 1775 – 14 or 16 May 1818) was an English novelist and dramatist, whose
writings are often classified as "Gothic horror". He was frequently referred to as "Monk" Lewis, because of
the success of his 1796 Gothic novel The Monk. He also worked as a diplomat, politician and an estate
owner in Jamaica. He attended Westminster School before proceeding to Christ Church, Oxford, where he
received his bachelor's degree in 1769 and his master's in 1772. During his time at Westminster, Lewis's
parents separated, and he idolised his mother without disregarding his father. Mrs Lewis moved to France
in this period; while there, she was in continuous correspondence with Matthew. The correspondence
between Matthew and his mother consisted of discussion regarding the poor state of his mother's welfare
and estate. That same year, Lewis was appointed Chief Clerk in the War Office. The following year, he
married Frances Maria Sewell, a young woman who was very popular at court. In December 1775, in
addition to his War Office post, Lewis became the Deputy Secretary at War. With one exception, he was the
first to hold both positions and receive both salaries contemporaneously. Lewis owned considerable
property in Jamaica, within four miles of Savanna-la-Mer, or Savanna-la-Mar, which was hit by a
devastating earthquake and hurricane in 1779. His son would later inherit this property. Some years later
Frances left her husband, taking the music master as her lover. When Lewis heard they had have a child, he
immediately asked for a divorce bill, but it was rejected when brought to vote, so they remained married
until his death.

Intended for a diplomatic career like his father, Matthew Gregory Lewis spent most of his school vacations
abroad, studying modern languages and starting to translate existing works and to write his own plays.
Though his first works never had much success, he pursued these literary ambitions, mainly to earn money
for his mother, he gained through his father's influence a position as an attaché to the British embassy in
The Hague. There produced in ten weeks his romance Ambrosio or The Monk, which was published
anonymously in the summer of the following year and immediately gained him celebrity. However, some
passages were such that about a year after its appearance an injunction to restrain its sale was obtained. In
the second edition, Lewis cited himself as the author and as a Member of Parliament (for Hindon in
Wiltshire), and removed what he assumed were the objectionable passages, but the work retained much of
its horrific character. He often returned to Jamaica and during one of his trips he died of yellow fever while
on board and he was buried at sea.

THE MONK
The monk which is an historical novel written by Matthew Lewis in 1796, is noted as one of the most
complicated among the classic gothic novels that were published in those times; between 1764 and 1820).
From the begging, the novel portrays reveals sexuality and the meaning of “catholic” lust and incest. The
novel later overted the complicated and homoerotic nuances of sexuality which have shocked and intrigued
those readers who believe in the more chaste and faithful oeuvres of Radcliffe Ann. The thesis of the novel
which can be regarded as “the black legend of monastic Catholism” was agreed to and upheld by those
individuals who were hostile to the Catholic Church in France and England (Steven Blakemore, 1998).

Despite controversy and bad reviews by literary elites, The Monk was a massive popular success. However,
the novel largely ceased to be read by the mid-nineteenth century, before being rediscovered by scholars in
the 1970s and 80s eager to analyze its complex gender dynamics and contributions to gothic literature. The
novel was shaped by the rampant anti-Catholicism of late eighteenth century England, which was fueled by
an intense preoccupation with creating a robust Protestant national identity. This led to depictions of
Catholicism as a perversion of religion, and of the Catholic emphasis on celibacy as a smokescreen for the
worst sexual abuses. The Monk is particularly rife with such negative depictions of Catholicism: Ambrosio
the renowned monk falls victim to sexual temptation with the first woman he meets, which spurs him on to
even more wicked acts; the pure-hearted Agnes is ruthlessly punished by the cruel Prioress; the demon
Matilda easily finds a place for herself within the monastery. In Lewis’ novel, the Catholic emphasis on
celibacy creates the very monster it supposedly despises, and Catholic religious belief is equated with base
superstition. The Monk was written at a time when the French Revolution was inverting the “natural” order
of things, and Lewis encapsulates some of the chaos of the times by his contradictory characters and
critique of social institutions. Masculine women, feminine men, pitiable aristocrats, evil monks, and lovable
scoundrels populate his work. Some scholars argue that this historical context has driven Lewis to create a
world where morality is not objective by psychologized, and God is entirely absent from religion.

SUMMARY

The novel opens on a diverse cast of characters in eighteenth-century Madrid. Ambrosio is a famous monk;
Lorenzo is a wealthy young nobleman; and Antonia is a beautiful young woman. Lorenzo and Antonia meet
while listening to Ambrosio, and fall in love instantly. Antonia's mother Elvira has come to the city seeking
the assistance of Raymond, the Marquis de las Cisternas - one of Lorenzo's best friends. Ambrosio is the
most virtuous and strict monk in the whole city; when he discovers that a young nun named Agnes has
gotten pregnant despite her vows, he turns her over to the cruel Prioress with no regrets. His lack of
sympathy comes to haunt him, however, when a young monk named Rosario is revealed to be the beautiful
Matilda, a woman who has come to the monastery out of love for Ambrosio. The monk struggles with his
desires, but eventually succumbs to temptation and breaks his vows of chastity by having sex with Matilda.
Lorenzo is stunned to discover that Raymond is the lover of Agnes, Lorenzo's sister and a nun. Raymond
explains that he and Agnes fell in love over the course of Raymond's dramatic journey through Europe, an
odyssey that involved sly bandits, vengeful aunts, and frightening ghosts. Agnes's parents vowed her to a
convent, but she and Raymond met nightly to declare their love for each other. Raymond impregnated
Agnes during one of these nightly visits, and now he vows that he will rescue her and make her his wife.
Lorenzo decides to assist his friend and his sister, and the two men attempt to rescue Agnes from the
convent. However, the Prioress tells the men that Agnes has died from a mysterious illness. Lorenzo visits
Elvira, Antonia's mother, to ask for her daughter's hand in marriage. However, Elvira is a common woman
who married a Marquis, and she knows that there are numerous problems inherent in lowborn women
marrying noblemen. Still, Lorenzo vows to help Elvira and Antonia. Meanwhile, Ambrosio sees Antonia in
church and immediately begins to desire her. He makes frequent visits to her family's house under the
pretense of offering counseling to the gravely ill Elvira, but in truth he wants to get closer to Antonia. One
day, Ambrosio molests Antonia, but the watchful Elvira drives him away before he can cause any major
harm to the girl. Ambrosio despairs of being able to possess Antonia. Matilda, however, offers her
assistance, summoning a demon that gives Ambrosio a magical myrtle branch. The myrtle unlocks the
doors to Antonia's house and puts her in a deep sleep. Just as Ambrosio is about to violate her, Elvira
appears. In the confrontation that ensues, Ambrosio kills Elvira and flees. Raymond has fallen into a deep
depression following news of Agnes' death. However, his faithful servant Theodore disguises himself as a
beggar, and receives a message from one of the nuns of St. Clare's convent. The message states that the
men need to arrest the Prioress if they want to get revenge on Agnes' murderers. Upon seeing the note,
Lorenzo springs into action to avenge his sister. Antonia is wild with grief for her mother. One lonely night,
she claims to see her mother's ghost and faints in terror. The landlady, Jacintha, runs to the monastery and
calls upon the most revered monk in Madrid - Ambrosio. Upon Matilda's advice, Ambrosio brings with him
a drug that will induce a sleep as heavy as death, and gives it to Antonia. When the doctor declares Antonia
dead, Ambrosio takes her body to the crypt of the monastery, knowing that she will awake in a few hours
and she will be all his. At the procession of St. Clare, Lorenzo and his men arrest the Prioress. The Mother
St. Ursula, who left the note for Theodore, publicly explains how the Prioress tormented Agnes and
poisoned her to death. The crowd is so infuriated that they kill the Prioress and sack the convent of St.
Clare's. Lorenzo is protecting a group of nuns in the crypt when he finds a secret staircase. At the bottom is
Agnes, confined for months with only a little bread and water. Lorenzo brings his sister to safety.
Meanwhile, Ambrosio rapes Antonia in the dark crypt. Weeping, Antonia attempts to escape, but Ambrosio
follows her and stabs her to death to keep her from escaping. Antonia dies in Lorenzo's arms. Raymond and
Agnes are reunited, and marry. Lorenzo mourns Antonia, but eventually marries the beautiful Virginia de
Villa-Franca. Ambrosio and Matilda are handed over to the Inquisition, and accused of rape, murder, and
sorcery. Ambrosio is tortured in an attempt to make him confess. At Matilda's urging, Ambrosio eventually
signs his soul over to the devil in order to avoid execution. However, the devil reveals a number of shocking
facts: Elvira was Ambrosio's mother and Antonia was his sister, and Matilda was just a demon who took on
human form. Chiding Ambrosio for asking only for release from prison rather than long life or wealth, the
devil leaves Ambrosio to eagles that rip him apart and drop him on sharp rocks. The monk dies in agony,
and his body washes into a river.

THEMES

Anti-Catholicism: An assumption of the inherent inferiority or danger of most Catholic doctrines,

institutions, and practices runs throughout the text. Celibacy in particular is singled out as not only
impossible and unnatural, but as a gateway to even greater sins. Once Ambrosio has broken his vows of
celibacy, he has no problem justifying rape, murder, and sorcery. The Prioress uses Agnes' sexual
transgressions as an excuse to torture her psychologically and physically, locking her in a crypt with
decaying bodies. In less dramatic fashion the Catholic clergy and laypeople are depicted as willing to believe
anything; the nuns of St. Clare's willing accept the fantastical stories that the Prioress tells to keep them in
line. This theme of anti-Catholicism stems from the historical context in which the novel was written; in
Protestant England of the late eighteenth century, Catholicism was marginalized to support the burgeoning
Church of England.

Pride: Though sexual desire prompts Ambrosio down the path of evil, it is pride that makes his crimes truly
evil. Pride persuades Ambrosio to conceal his transgressions, even resorting to murder. The monks
encouraged Ambrosio's pride in his abilities, and Ambrosio delights in his status as the most revered monk
in Madrid. He enjoys receiving praise and respect, and he is determined to keep it even if it means lying and
killing.

Men and Women: The novel contains numerous meditations on the nature of men and women. Women
are often associated with weakness, emotion, and desirability; Antonia, for example, is desirable because of
her innocence and beauty. Men, on the other hand, have a wider range of identity and action; they may be
courageous and intelligent like Raymond, or deceptive and conniving like Baptiste. Yet even as the novel
introduces such rigid gender differences, it also subverts them; Ambrosio exhibits a powerful masculine sex
drive, but he is also described as being as timid as a woman.

The Supernatural: There are a number of supernatural incidents in The Monk. One of the earliest examples
includes the gypsy women's prophecy that Antonia's beauty will draw the interest of a frightening predator;
later, this prophecy is fulfilled when Ambrosio kidnaps and rapes her. The long interlude describing
Raymond's adventure with the Bleeding Nun, a frightening ghost, is another major example of the
significance of the supernatural in the text. The story of the Bleeding Nun (a noblewoman forced into a
convent who breaks her vows of chastity) foreshadows the struggles of Agnes, another wayward nun. The
supernatural events in the novel are never explained or rationalized; however, supernatural events do
emphasize certain traits of the characters, such as Raymond's desirability and Ambrosio's wickedness.

Sexual Desire: The fulfillment of sexual desire is one of the driving forces of the book's plot. Ambrosio is the
clearest example of this - he is driven to commit heinous crimes in order to fulfill his desire for Antonia.
However, nearly every character in the novel copes with the consequences of sexual desire, whether its
object reciprocates it or not. Lorenzo struggles to find a way to marry Antonia. Agnes is punished by the
Prioress for submitting to the sexual advances of Raymond, and Raymond becomes ill out of mourning for
Agnes. The Prioress assumes that punishing the sexual indiscretions of Agnes will gain renown for her
convent, though she is proven wrong. Leonella and Rodolpha introduce numerous complications into the
lives of the men they become interested in. Lewis portrays sexual desire as natural and unavoidable, but a
major source of conflict.

SYMBOLS/MOTIFS/ALLEGORY

Churches (Motif): Much of the novel takes place in and around churches. The prevalence of these
structures speaks to the theme of religious hypocrisy in the novel, but also draw on the conflict between
appearance and substance. Churches are magnificent buildings, but this beautiful outside might conceal
terrible hypocrisy and cruelty.

The Serpent and the Garden (Allegory): After Ambrosio tells Matilda that he must move her to another
convent, she asks him for a token of his affection to carry with her. He reaches down to pluck a rose, but a
serpent bites him and he nearly dies from poison (an opportunity that Matilda uses to seduce him).

The motif of a beautiful, tempting woman and a snake in a garden is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden
story in Genesis, in which Eve is tempted by a serpent to eat the forbidden fruit. Eve then offers this fruit to
Adam, and God punishes the two by expelling them from the garden and sentencing all their descendants
to hard labor. In the novel, the scene with Matilda and the serpent is another example in which a woman
tempts a man to go against God's laws, with utterly disastrous consequences for everyone involved.

Ghosts (Motif): Ghosts make frequent appearances in The Monk. The Bleeding Nun is first introduced as a
mere story by Agnes, but later this ghost takes on terrifying reality and haunts Raymond. Elvira appears to
Antonia on a dark and lonely night, warning her daughter that she will join her in three days. The ghosts in
the novel share the similarity of being murdered unjustly, and seeking to address that wrong. They also add
to the atmosphere of foreboding that characterizes gothic fiction.

Crypts (Symbol): Matilda summons demons in the crypts, and both Agnes and Antonia are imprisoned in
this same place. Entry into the crypts represents contact with the underworld. Filled with moldering dead
bodies and located deep underground, the crypts bring one into contact with the dead and with demons;
they also force each person to face what he or she dreads most. In the case of Ambrosio, this is the pact he
makes with demons; for Antonia, it is Ambrosio's horrendous betrayal; for Agnes, it is the death of her child
and her total isolation from society. However, it is also possible for people to emerge from this hellish
experience - Agnes is eventually freed and goes on to enjoy a happy life.

Myrtle (Symbol): In order to assist Ambrosio in his mission of possessing Antonia, Matilda summons a
demon that gives the monk a sprig of myrtle (pg. 293). This magical myrtle opens the locked doors to
Antonia's home, and when placed under her pillow, puts the young woman into a deep slumber. In both
the ancient Mediterranean and in eighteenth-century England, myrtle was a symbol of love and marriage.
In the novel, this meaning is twisted and distorted - myrtle becomes the symbol of the wicked monk's
desire to sexually possess an innocent young woman.

Sexual and religious inversions in “The Monk”

The idea of anti-Catholicism in the monk is basically portrayed through Ambrosio; who was a chief catholic
villain. Ambrosio was discovered as an infant at the door of abbey, raised by the church, but latter became
flair. Having been brought up by the church, Ambrosio rose to the position of abbot and was celebrated in
the whole of Madrid while being respected for his virtue particularly his strict respect for chastity. Since the
beginning, Ambrosio is put in a ‘feminine’ position, as a young virgin who is sheltered and protected so that
she can maintain her virtue and innocence. More so Ambrosio is not familiar to the world and its
temptations. In “the monk”, the emphasis on monastic male chastity by the catholic, which is normally a
condemned issue in the literature of Protestants, has its base in female virtue and virginity, which has been
an issue in most of the novels and conduct books of the nineteenth century. In t this context, Ambrosio is
particularly related to Antonio who is also a sheltered and protected young virgin and equally unknown to
the world and its temptations just like Ambrosio (p.12). In this story, Antonio and Ambrosio are a sister and
a brother but both of them are not aware of the blood relationship since they had been separated during
their early ages. On the other hand both Antonio and Ambrosio seem to have a sublimated, mutual
incestuous attraction. An admirer of Antonia, who was known as Lorenzo, identified Ambrosio to Antonia
and her aunt Leonella while thematically presenting Ambrosio as a virgin by referring to his story; where he
was found and how he was brought up. Ambrosio was found/ discovered at the capuchins door and was
therefore largely believed to a “present” from Virgin Mary (p.17). Ambrosio who was thirty years at that
time, had lived in seclusion from the outside world and therefore knew nothing about sex, actually “he was
a strict observer of chastity and knew nothing of what consisted the difference between a man and a
woman” (p.17). His character was undisputable, and had not been stained. The author of “the monk” uses
suggestively gendered language, to make the male monk appear like a holy virtuous female and then
connects him with Antonia, a female who is also ignorant of sex. Leonella’s ridiculous reply that Antonia,
just like Ambrosio does not know the difference between a man and woman and that she views everybody
as being of the same sex with herself, happen to connect “the same” brother and sister together (pp17-18).
The authors point in using metaphors and suggestively gendered language is to show that the vows of
chastity in catholic feminize monks who then are made susceptible to hypocrisy and temptation by their
sexual ignorance. This is emphasized when Rosaria, a fiend camouflaged as a young male novitiate,
discloses that he is actually a woman. Rosaria, whose real name was Matilda had reformulated Leonella’s
unworkable imperative. Just like Antonia, Ambrosio was supposed to forget that Matilda was a woman
because she had disguised her sex so that she could be friends with Leonella and shield him from sexual
knowledge (p.63). The fact that Matilda is actually an evil spirit (demon), who pretends to be a woman
while she is a man, exploits the sexual controversy as well as brings confusion of gender roles in the novel.
Sexual knowledge in the novel is viewed as the forbidden apple which makes which tempts allusively the
feminized monk to fall. Matilda is at the same time archetypal fatale woman who later corrupts the virtues
of Ambrosio. However hi devilish seduction is enhanced by Ambrosio’s ignorance on sexual matters which
then makes him very susceptible to Matilda’s seduction. Ambrosio evaluates his repressed attraction to
Matilda by repeating her seductive arguments after showing her nakedness to him; “may I not safely credit
her assertions? Will it not be easy for me to forget her sex and consider her as my friend and as my
disciple?, She strove to keep me in ignorant of her sex.. She has not made attempts to rouse my slumbering
passions, nor has she ever conversed with me till this night on the subject of love” (PP.66-67). According to
Lewis (), prelapsarian ignorance and innocence of knowledge about sex is an illusion, hence Ambrosio is
easily lured into sexual relationship with the deceiving Matilda: the sexual repression lastly ends up in the
very knowledge which the monk was denying. Ambrosio is also further feminized by vocabulary that is
specifically gendered which contextually differentiated by the female from the male sex, but them its
averted and reapplied by Lewis to the central catholic villain of the novel. In the eighteenth century such
words like virtue, innocence, shame and honor, had a gendered significance. For example a, word like
virtue came from a Latin word vir which means man, while virtus implied masculine strength, excellence
and courage. Generally the word meant male virtue. Although it had other meanings, when applied to the
sexes the word signified sexual division of labor. In “the monk’, just like a gendered virgin of the eighteenth
century, Ambrosio is respected for his virtue, particularly his chastity which on the other side makes him
susceptible to temptations of sex. In the early part of the book, Lorenzo indicates that although the
character of Ambrosio is undisputable since he had grown up in the monastery for his whole life, he is
therefore not ready to face the world together with its temptations. Lorenzo noted that being a monk the
ecclesiastical duties of Ambrosio will make him enter into the outside world where his virtue and
righteousness will be put to test.