The Monk

Who would have thought that a book entitled The Monk could turn out to be one of the most deliciously dark and gothic stories ever! I’m not a woman of faith and after having to shlog through Margery Kempe for Medieval Literature last year I was dubious about having to read another book about religion. Hope glimmered when the title of the book seemed to clash with fact that it must be read for Gothic Literature, before erupting into a fire and flaming on! THIS BOOK IS AWESOME! Written by Matthew Lewis (in 1796 so not Neville from Harry Potter), it’s got absolutely everything you could want it a gothic novel: corruption of power, the supernatural, rape, murder, and madness. IT’S ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! 

The abbot Ambrosio holds a reputation of the highest regard in Madrid. He is celebrated and hailed as an idol: the epitome of piety with virtues above those of mortal man. But even the most pure of faith are susceptible to corruption as Ambrosio discovers when a fellow brother’s true identity is revealed, which sparks a chain of events that quickly plunge him into a downward spiral of struggle. Soon Ambrosio is conflicted between maintaining his monastic vows and satisfying his newly inflamed human desires and his struggle leads him to breaking his vows, sexual obsession, rape, and finally murder in order to conceal his guilt. 

The blurb says it all really doesn’t it? Shifting in registers from the third person omniscient to the first person as various characters spin their own narratives, what’s particularly wonderful about this book is the way that it just flows along. Quite literally there is hardly ever a dull moment and the parts where the story gets really tender and juicy you fly through as though riding a lightning bolt! It fires up the adrenaline, causing your eyes to absolutely whizz across the pages and your fingers to flip them over in a matter of seconds! 

The pace that Lewis travels at is really wonderful, more so when we consider that the plot itself is really full and convoluted. Running parallel to the story of Ambrosio are the romantic tale of Lorenzo and Antonia, the adventures of Raymond, and the tragic tale of Agnes in a neighbouring convent to Ambrosio’s monastery. Each story is given the same story time and attention so that all of them are just as full and rich as each other, making none of them secondary or without importance of any kind! 

Whilst some of the characters are a bit obvious and stereotypical like Raymond and Lorenzo as the handsome, chivalrous lovers, Antonia and Agnes as the pure and shining virgins, and even secondary characters like Leonella and Jacintha as the bustling and bumbling women of humour, they nonetheless work so well together to earth out this narrative world and they bring wonderful balance of all the desired elements of fiction that you could want. We’ve got adventures, action, rescues of damsels in distress, forbidden romance, Romeo-and-Juliet type dramas and tragedies, and then the evilness of the two central villains: Ambrosio and the prioress in the neighbouring convent. 

The entire book is just this rich broth of bold flavours and really striking and vivid imagery. Lewis doesn’t so much go into the details of scenery or even the characteristics of some of the central characters, he leaves those to the reader’s imagination, but when he’s describing scenes of horror, suspense, terror, and violence, then it is on to the enth degree! Seriously the imagery is incredible and done with this wonderful sophistication that modern literature seems to have lost. This is going to make me sound horrible, but this is one of the most beautifully depicted rape sequences that I’ve ever read! 

Filled with action, drama, comedy, tragedy, the supernatural, murder, rape, madness, corruption, and everything in between, The Monk is a truly incredible story that is just captivating and compelling from the very first page! If you’re a fan of gothic literature, then I would definitely recommend this as one of the seminal novels that you ought to read! IT’S ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!