A review by sampayn3
The Monk by Matthew Lewis

3.0

Matthew Lewis's gothic novel is an bold, unsettling satire of the church in the late eighteenth-century. The main focus is the transition of the monk, Ambrosio, from piety to perversion, corruption and sin. With demons, witchcrafts, ghosts, the church grounds, and macabre, Lewis's plot is driven by supernaturalism, horror and violence. At its core, the novel is a simple morality tale: it demonstrates that virtuous decisions lead to favourable conclusions, whereas grossly unfair decisions, or those that defy order, result in chaos, disorder and downfall. The Monk is by far the most terrifying and erotic gothic work I have encountered. I admire the terror of the ending, which did not undo the darkness of plot with hope or happiness, or the convention of marriage. Instead, the last two pages where the most graphic and gruesome of the entire book.