Gothic Elements In Matthew Lewis's The Monk

From deals with the devil, corrupt churches, and the decaying body of a lifeless baby, Matthew Lewis’s The Monk is the paradigm of the gothic novel. The main setting of the novel is the church, a place of barbaric and inhumane practices. Deep in the dungeons are prison cells for deviating nuns who are starved and tormented by the head nuns. The Monk, title role of the novel, belongs to the main character who is perhaps the most malevolent and cruel. The novel is the ideal example of a gothic novel because it encompasses all the themes that typify the gothic novel. The main tenets of gothic literature include, terror, violence, threatening of a women’s virtue and women being in constant danger. This can be seen in the case of Antonia
He has gained the trust and approval of everyone around him and he takes advantage of that. This contrast in power well-known and highly prevalent in Gothic Literature. “The Gothic world is fascinated by violent differences in power, and its stories are full of constraint, entrapment and forced action” (Bowen). Antonia and Agnes are the characters in the novel that suffer the most, the difficulties that they encounter are due to their position in society, as women and as under the control of those who have more power than them. Agnes in particular is held prisoner and tortured by those who yield power over her. While Agnes is trapped in a one room prison with the decaying body of her baby, the nuns hold complete control over her. Agnes is depleted of all control in her life, she is brought down to skin and bones and she has lost years of her life as well as the child she gave birth to in her prison cell. The differences in power is extremely stressed with the nuns and Agnes as well as with Ambrosio and Antonia. Gothic Literature highlights the contrast of power and it is always