Finished The Monk

I finally finished reading Matthew Lewis' The Monk.  It was half-good.  The 1796 novel has two converging plot lines, the one detailing the downfall of the monk was excellent, the other, revolving around the melodramatic romantic intrigues of a couple of secondary characters, was extremely tedious.

The monk's downfall must have been shocking to the late 18th century reader with its for-the-time lurid depictions of lust, violence and supernatural horror.  The monk Ambrosio, revered for his piety, gradually descends into depravity. The novel is a powerful exploration of hypocrisy, religious repression, and the dangers of unchecked desire. Introduced as a virtuous and saintly figure, the monk is admired by the public and the monastic community for his apparent devotion to God. However, beneath this veneer of holiness lies a deeply flawed and arrogant man, whose self-righteousness blinds him to his own vulnerability to sin. Lewis uses Ambrosio to critique the idealization of religious figures, illustrating how institutionalized religion can breed both pride and repression.

Additionally, with the terrors of the French Revolution fresh in contemporary readers' minds, The Monk may have been understood as an allegory of the clash between the old order and the apocalypse.  Indeed, no less a luminary than the venerable Marquis de Sade commented:

Let us concur that this kind of fiction, whatever one may think of it, is assuredly not without merit: 'twas the inevitable result of the revolutionary shocks which all of Europe has suffered.  To compose works of interest, one had to call upon the aid of hell itself, and to find in the world of make-believe things wherewith one was fully familiar merely by delving into man's daily life in this age of iron.

The most fascinating character in the novel is Matilda, perhaps the first trans character in English Literature.  He/she initiates the monk's descent into the pit of Hell, and is both a homo/hetero fleshly and spiritual seductress, leading the monk into sexual sin and witchcraft.

Lewis was just 19 years old when he penned his Gothic shocker, and I am impressed with his grasp of human psychology. The monk's fall from grace is completely believable. The war between flesh and spirit is rendered with high skill.

So too was Lewis' understanding of the fleeting nature of human desire.  Here is one my favorite passages:

Even with its tedious second plot line, The Monk is still miles better than the garbage being published today, particularly in America.  A salacious testament of religion, politics, seduction, betrayal, sex, violence, blasphemy, the supernatural, witchcraft, torture and death, a dazzling catalog of sin and depravity.

THE END