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71 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Is Rated "R"..., July 5, 2000
This review is from: The Monk (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
Matthew Lewis' "The Monk" is not a book you should read to little kids at bed-time. In the tradition of works like Walpole's "Castle of Otranto" and Radcliffe's "Mysteries of Udolpho," "The Monk" uses the established standards of the gothic romance, and takes them all to outrageous extremes. The novel explores themes of sexuality, violence, and sexual violence at great length. While some may find these play themselves out in a rather tame fashion by to-day's standards, consider that this novel was written and published in 1796 by a member of the British Parliament. The title monastic is Ambrosio, who was abandoned by his parents as an infant. Raised in a monastery, Ambrosio is a religious fast-tracker taught to disdain sin and hold himself up as a model of purity, untempted by secular pleasure. In Madrid, as the novel begins, he is the young abbot, leader of a monastery. A mesmerizing public speaker, Ambrosio becomes proud and vain, as his popular weekly sermons quickly raise him to the status of an idol. Mischief and misfortunes ensue as Ambrosio's real virtues are put to the test. What gradually appears to be nothing more than cheap melodramatic pornography is actually a sophisticated critique of the socio-political atmosphere of the late 18th century. "The Monk" operates as a critique not only of Roman Catholicism, but of religious fervor in general. The novel also has much to say about the nature of fame and hero-worship, making it relevant even to-day. "The Monk" also explores themes of government in general - showing the pros and cons of theocracy, oligarchy, pure democracy, and even questions matters of self-governance. Without getting over-serious, I should also note that Lewis manages to sneak instances of humour into his gothic romance. "The Monk" is at times, a great deal of fun to read. It has all the requisite elements of a rainy-night novel - obscure legends, magic spells, terrible demons, chase scenes, and intersecting love stories. "The Monk" is a fantastic and engaging novel, and one which you will not soon forget after reading.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What does a monastery hide in its cellars?, October 18, 2004
This review is from: The Monk (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
A classic in the gothic genre, in fact even a founding novel of the genre. It is at first sight a strong criticism of religious orders that lead to extreme violence and narrow-mindedness instead of charity, purity, humility, etc. But it is also another denunciation, that of the practice of some noble families of getting rid of some of their daughters by sending them to nunneries. Yet it is a novel that has many other interests. For one it is anti-Faust : the monk is the one who knows, who preaches THE truth, but he is also the one who is easily tempted and dragged into the worst crimes. Then, when the devil comes into the picture, it is not to save that monk from death, but to destroy him utterly : the objective of the devil has been, all along, to tempt him and to lead him to the worst destruction possible when he thinks he is saved from death by this very devil. The devil more or less takes possession of him, puts him under pressure in order to punish him in his mortal body a hundred times more severely than the Inquisition, to punish him not for his crime but for having been a monk who preached purity. Two objectives for the devil : to get rid of this cumbersome monk for the task of the devil in the world, and to prove to the world that monks and other moral fundamentalists are fakes and monsters. In this element this novel is modern because it announces the death of God among the people, the regression of religion. And yet it does not go as far as Goethe will go with Faust. Another interest is in the negation of sexuality by these religious fundamentalits : negatiion for themselves, but also negation for the whole society. Sex is dirty, sex is ungodly, sex is to be absolutely rejected, even if it does not take much for the monk to fall into it, though the nun, next door, seems to be a lot more unpliant on the subject. Women are more fundamentalistic than men on the subject, in the Catholic church. And yet it is through a woman that the devil will tempt the monk, how else could he do it anyway, though he will not even try to tempt the nun. Contradictory messages then. A last remark about how popular opinion is variable and can shift within seconds from adulation to the most extreme and destructive violence and hatred. This aspect goes along with the method the Inquisition uses to lead someone who is redhandedly taken while committing a crime to his or her execution by forcing that person to confess the crimes the court wants him or her to confess : and they will use all methods, even the most cruel ones, to reach their aim. They are not really concerned by the crime itself ot the truth but only by proving to the people with spectacular autodafes how good and useful they are at protecting people against evil. The Inquisition is an ego trip for powerthirsty religious dignitaries. All that and many other aspects make this novel fascinating and in a way modern.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unholy Lust, July 29, 2008
This review is from: The Monk (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
As stated in the other reviews, The Monk certainly is for mature readers only. I'm not an expert in the gothic genre, but I have read a gothic book or two in my day so here is my humble opinion. Although the descriptions in this book are centered around less than wholesome events, the book easily catches your attention and imagination. The langauge, in my opinion, is well written but less complex and easier to understand than some of the other books of its time.
Another thing I enjoyed about the monk was that it did not overdo the descriptions as I thought Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho The Mysteries of Udolpho (Penguin Classics) did.
Some of the best qualities in the book were: the snipits of interesting poetry, The story of The Bleeding Nun (which in itself is an interesting story), and the concentration on several characters as opposed to just one.
Although the Monk is certainly not everyone's proverbial cup of tea, I think that if one enjoys the gothic novel with extreme elements of debauchery and is looking for a book without an overly complex venacular The Monk is a great read.
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