What Kinds of Gothic Femininities Are Portrayed in the Monk and How Are They Symbolized

Portrayal of Gothic Femininities in "The Monk"

Written by Matthew Gregory Lewis in 1796, "The Monk" is a classic novel that is from Gothic literature. Female figures are used as symbols in many parts of the story, and the idea "gothic femininity" can be seen several times throughout the story. The setting fits with the Gothic theme as the story's beginning takes place in a mysterious church in Madrid, and the two main characters are both women. Leonella and her niece Antonia have come to the church to hear a great priest named Ambrosio speak, and what follows becomes both a romance and a tragedy. While waiting for Ambrosio to speak the two women tell their stories to a pair of men, Don Lorenzo and Don Christoval, and this conversation starts a chain of reactions that changes many lives. Lorenzo falls in love with Antonia, but she desires the priest Ambrosia, and this conflict leads to many other tragedies for many more characters, including Lorenzo's sister Agnes and Ambrosio's nurse and companion Rosario, who is actually a woman named Matilda. With several interesting women characters representing things like spirituality and death, the "gothic femininity" is one of the main themes of "The Monk."

An example of "gothic femininity" is found in chapter 1 of "The Monk," when Don Lorenzo tries to convince Leonella to let him lift the veil covering her niece's face. Lewis writes that "her niece was silent, but made no further opposition to Don Lorenzo's efforts, who, armed with the Aunt's sanction hastened to remove the Gauze. What a Seraph's head presented itself to his admiration! Yet it was rather bewitching than beautiful." A seraph is similar to an angel as a supernatural being with six wings, so this is symbolism to represent Antonia as perhaps being supernatural in a way. One of the main parts of Gothic literature is the way that the supernatural seems to play a role in every part of the plot, from the mood to the weather to people's behavior, so this description of Antonia as a "seraph" who is "rather bewitching than beautiful" is definitely a link to gothic femininity. More evidence of a gothic theme in "The Monk" comes from how Lewis describes the character's emotions, because one of the main aspects of gothic literature is the feeling of sadness and grief. When we read about Don Lorenzo suffering, and how "the void left in his bosom by Antonia's absence, and his Sister's sacrifice which Don Christoval had just recalled to his imagination, created that melancholy of mind which accorded but too well with the religious gloom surrounding him," this description is gothic.