The Monk - Matthew Gregory Lewis [3]
Lewis remained, however, rather childish in appearance and never married, raising doubts as to his true sexual proclivities. He never wrote anything comparable to The Monk, though one of his juvenile plays was eventually performed by Sheridan at Drury Lane.
After abandoning the House of Commons, he went to visit his property in Jamaica and made arrangements for, he thought, the good treatment of his slaves, providing in his will that his heir should have to spend at least three months there every three years, to ensure that these arrangements continued after his death. He visited Byron and Shelley in Italy, but died of yellow fever in 1818 when returning from another visit to Jamaica. His last letter to his mother recalls that he had done all in his power “to secure the poor creatures [the slaves] against further ill-usage.”
Lady Holland said of him: “He is little in person, rather ugly and shortsighted, upon the whole not engaging.” Byron wrote, “Lewis was a good man—a clever man—, had he been better set.” He concluded, “I would give many a sugar cane/were Monk Lewis alive again.” Byron also thought that Lewis resembled Madame de Staël: “both obstinate, clever, odd, garrulous, and shrill.”
The Monk was obviously influenced by the Gothic novels popular at the time. It was the kind of work that the heroine of Austen’s Northanger Abbey read to excess. It appears to me, however, to be superior to all of these. The character of Ambrosio the abbot, for example, is a remarkable feat, as is that of his fellow villain, the prioress of the Carmelite convent. Ambrosio’s fall from proud and successful churchman, loved and praised for his sermons, is brilliantly conveyed. The characters of the women, Antonia and Agnes as well as Margarita, ring true too. The heroes, Lorenzo and Raymond, also live in these pages, whatever curious things their author makes them do.
Several of the scenes remain in the mind very vividly: the seduction or, rather, the surrender of Matilda/Rosario, as well as the rape of the charming Antonia. The scenes in the sinister cottage near Strasburg are compelling, as are all the horrible occurrences underground in the Carmelite cemetery. The angry mob of ordinary people at the end of the book constitutes an alarming foretaste of what the nineteenth century would bring to established institutions such as convents and monasteries.
The plot and subplot nearly become detached from each other, but in the end they do not. The only complaint that I would make is that Lewis’s picture of Madrid is as eccentric as his rendering of Spanish names. But, of course, Madrid in The Monk is not intended to bear any real resemblance to the Spanish capital: It is an imaginary city of fantasy, just as his Duke of Medinaceli has nothing to do with the nobleman who rejoiced in that great name at the time. I am sure that the novel will continue to have a long life among discerning readers of novels, and not just students of literature.
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HUGH THOMAS (Lord Thomas of Swynnerton) is widely known for his work on the history of Spain, including his epic masterpiece The Spanish Civil War, available as a Modern Library Paperback. He is currently working on a book on the history of the Spanish Empire, to be published by Random House.
Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures, portentaque.
HORAT.
Dreams, magic terrors, spells of mighty power,
Witches, and ghosts who rove at midnight hour.
PREFACE
Imitation