Analyse the significance of rationality and/or superstition in The Monk

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1 Analyse the significance of rationality and/or superstition in The Monk In The Monk (1796), superstition is frequently criticised as a stain upon [one s] character, suggesting that harbouring superstitious thoughts is irrational in Matthew Lewis Gothic text. 1 Despite this, opinions that superstition is wholly puerile and groundless (The Monk, p. 279) appear ignorant to the Gothic conventions of Lewis world wherein unbridled supernatural is rife within the chapters. As such, characters who adopt a superstitious viewpoint (believing in supernatural entities like ghosts) are certainly more convincing than those who adopt a rationalistic (disregarding events that do not have empirical proof) perspective. By allowing superstition to take precedence over rationality in The Monk, I will argue that Lewis is indulging in the enjoyment superstition allows for the reader by subverting the early Enlightenment ideas of rationality, allowing them to appear flawed and ignorant when faced with the Gothic mode. Lewis foregrounds his preoccupation with superstition early in the narrative by employing the use of a gypsy to curse Elvira and Antonia, stating that destruction o er [them] hovers (The Monk, p. 31) thus predicting their demise at the hands of Ambrosio. As expected, the impression [of the gypsy] soon wore off (The Monk, p. 31) the minds of the characters suggesting that their rationality has caused them to ignore the particularly ominous warning. This is supported later in the novel when Elvira chides Antonia for showing childish prejudice (The Monk, p. 229) when she refuses to leave her bedroom because of an ungrounded suspicion that something bad will happen to her. This feeling is proved accurate as Elvira, acting upon a frightening dream (The Monk, p. 233), goes to check on her daughter and identifies Ambrosio attempting to rape her. Though this causes Elvira s death as she attempts to save Antonia, it is 1 Matthew Lewis, The Monk (London: Oxford UP, 2016), pg All subsequent references to The Monk are from this edition, and are given in parenthesis after quotations in the text.

2 clear that Elvira acting on her dream allowed for an increased likelihood of capturing Ambrosio and saving her family from sexual assault. Put simply, acting upon what she termed childish superstition is rewarded within the narrative space whereas Antonia s disregard for the gypsy s prediction did nothing to remove her naiveté when communicating to Ambrosio, arguably leading to her destruction. This suggests that rationality, and thus the mode of thought that dismisses superstition, is at best useless to the dangers of The Monk or at worst ignorant as it leads to the characters complacency in the face of danger. This is foregrounded in the epigraph of the text as Lewis uses a quotation from Horace which refers to dreams, miracles, magical terrors, Witches [and] ghosts in the night. 2 By using a highly superstitious quotation, Lewis seems to be suggesting that the unbridled supernatural will be rife throughout the novel whilst adding credence to superstitious thoughts and characters throughout the text. As such, the reader will likely be persuaded to disregard their rational prejudices towards the supernatural whilst reading the novel and thus revere the superstitious conventions of dreams and gypsies early in the narrative, further aided by the pleasure gained by indulging in superstitious warnings and premonitions. Indeed, Lewis frequently undermines the characters rationalist viewpoints using evidence found outside of the narrative space. For instance, Ambrosio s parish believe him to be a character [who] is perfectly without reproach (The Monk, p.17) due to his wilful seclusion in the Convent and his rousing speeches on religion; both of which are certainly strong evidence for Ambrosio s purity. Despite this, the reader is invited to identify Ambrosio s unconscious failings due to an epigraph from Measure to Measure wherein Angelo is suggested to be prideful and 2 Horace, Epistles, trans. by A.S. Kline (2005), [accessed 18/5/16], BK. 2 Ep2:

3 flawed despite his reputation for extreme stoicism. 3 By drawing parallels outside of the narrative of The Monk, Lewis is allowing the reader to gain insight into his eponymous protagonist that is not available to the characters of the text. Though the readers can rationally deduce that Ambrosio will suffer failings of virtue due to the evidence placed outside of the narrative by Lewis, characters within The Monk can only grasp this conclusion early in the text with superstitious aid. This is particularly clear when Lorenzo dreams of a powerful Unknown (The Monk, p. 23) character attempting to capture Antonia who has a swarthy complexion, gigantic height and fierce and terrifying eyes (The Monk, p. 23) who unnoticed by Lorenzo seems physically similar to Ambrosio with his [b]rown skin, lofty stature and large black eyes (The Monk, p. 15). Though it is clear that the Unknown is intended to be similar to Ambrosio, the origin of this dream is unclear as Lorenzo only has positive sentiments towards the Monk, suggesting that his precognition of Ambrosio s faults comes not from rationality but rather supernatural means. This is even supported within the narrative space as Lorenzo s reason for remaining in the Church is to marvel upon Gothic obscurity (The Monk, 21), a term coined by Edmund Burke who stated that it is one thing to make an idea clear, and another to make it affecting to the imagination. 4 By referring to Burke s literary theory within the narrative space of The Monk, Lewis is both suggesting that his text is governed by Gothic theory and concepts rather than rational logic, due to Burke s influence in his writing. Hence, it seems appropriate that Lewis is utilising superstition to forebode the end of the novel rather than using Lorenzo s rationality to come to the same conclusion. 3 William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, ed. by Grace Ioppolo (London: Prentice Hall, 1996), I. iii, Edmund Burke, Enquiry into the sublime and beautiful ed. by J. T. Boulton (Routledge: London, 1958), pg. 60.

4 Though superstition is foregrounded at the beginning of The Monk, it is most prominent during Raymond s subplot with the Bleeding Nun. During this narrative, Raymond embodies a rationalist viewpoint by calling the nun some invention (The Monk, p. 108) and even capitalising on the influence of superstition and weakness of human reason (The Monk, p. 119) by utilising the folklore to help Agnes escape from Castle Lindenberg. By directly critiquing superstition as the weakness of human reason, Raymond is drawing a strong dichotomy between rationality and superstition, suggesting that rationality is superior to and the polar opposite of superstition, creating a sense of conflict between the two modes of thinking. Indeed, it initially appears that Raymond has successfully used his rationality to dupe the castle guards as he escapes with a character who he assumes to be Agnes, utilising the Bleeding Nun folklore to scare the castle guards to prevent their opposition to her escape. As such, it appears that the rational mind has conquered the superstitious one in this subplot. Lewis does subvert this conclusion however as there is actually an animated corpse (The Monk, p. 124) in the carriage with Raymond rather than Agnes; a truly supernatural entity that cannot exist within the rational framework propagated by Raymond. Rather than authors adhering to logical rules in their works, Sigmund Freud proposed that the main enjoyment of literature is the joy of escaping the impoverishment of life. 5 In much the same way, Lewis is juxtaposing a rational, realistic way of thinking with the unbridled supernatural in The Monk to highlight the terror and enjoyment to be gained from the Gothic mode. Rather than empirical rationality destroying the mystery of the Bleeding Nun in Castle Lindenberg, rational thinking is shown to be wholly ignorant of the power of the supernatural, especially due to Raymond s failed manipulation of the potent folklore. Much like Antonia s disregard of the gypsy s warning, Raymond s obsession with 5 Sigmund Freud, Character and Culture trans. by Phillip Rieff (New York: Macmillan PC, 1963), pg

5 rationality has forced him to discount the dangers of the supernatural and thus his rational success is revealed to be a superstitious failure. Though Raymond begins his subplot championing rational thought over superstition, he certainly ends the subplot understanding the potency of the supernatural. This superstitious understanding is further embedded in Raymond s mind due to the spectacular amount of supernatural events that plague his subplot, primarily from intertextual references to further Gothic tales and folklore. When Theodore seeks the help of an exorcist to free Raymond of his hauntings, he comes into contact with a character who has a great deal of mysticism around him due to his mad nature and the fact that he is supposed to be a foreigner, but from what country one cannot tell (The Monk, p. 129). The focus on the traveller s race is particularly revealing as it suggests he is part of the racial Other in the Gothic as he encapsulates what H.L. Malchow defines as the evil of the outsider [ ] because he is alien to both communities of existence. 6 In The Monk, part of the traveller s intrigue is precisely his alien nature in the town as two servants discuss the traveller s unique position at length in front of Theodore. Rather than detecting an accent or even asking the man of his beginnings, the patrons soon depart from rationality to discuss his origins as the Germanic Dr. Faustus or the equally fictitious Travelling Mounteback. Indeed, Lewis does imbue his character with an intertextual origin story as he reveals himself to be a character from The Wandering Jew tale, blurring the distinction between fiction and reality within the narrative space of The Monk. Equally, this also blurs the lines between clear rational understanding based on the external world and the largely superstitious world of the Gothic. As Raymond s subplot is largely distinct from Ambrosio s and Antonia s, Lewis seems to be using this narrative to further reinforce how 6 H. L. Malchow, Gothic Images of Race in Nineteenth Century Britain (California: Stanford UP, 1996), pg. 174.

6 Gothic conventions can affect the narrative space of his text. By using intertextuality in such an explicit manner, Lewis is normalising Gothic conventions as a whole hence Ambrosio s punishment with the devil will not seem absurd. As such, it appears that Lewis is attempting to make the audience disregard all true rational thought in this subplot and merely enjoy the supernatural elements that will occur later in the plot. Lewis use of the supernatural does seem to become more potent as the narrative goes on, with characters only being able to predict future events using superstitious means in the beginning to the implementation of ghosts and demons at the end. Despite this, the supernatural is not always horrifying in the latter half of The Monk. Humour ranges from playful lexical choices when Cunegonda refers to Agnes as Ghost-ship, mocking the superstitious reverence used by other characters, to Elvira s damnation to hell by breaking the petty laws of Good Friday. This event is particularly excessive as Elvira a pious and law abiding character has clouds of fire erupt from her mouth whilst her room was filled with the smell of brimstone as she exclaims: Oh! That chicken wing! My poor soul suffers for it! (The Monk, p. 250). Though other supernatural occurrences in the novel are used to incite terror in the characters such as Raymond s encounter with the corpse, Ambrosio s awareness of Matilda s demonic powers and Lorenzo s highly Gothic dream, this event seems too hyperbolic to be used for anything other than parodying the same Gothic conventions that Lewis has used throughout his text. Though parody of other texts often mocks the source text s genre constrains, Richard Poirier argued that self-parody empower[s] an idea with a style rather than diminishing it. 7 Indeed, empowerment of the Gothic does seem to be the only valid explanation of this event as the gross hyperbole appears incongruously comic in relation to other supernatural events that allow for the rape of a 7 Richard Poirier, The Politics of Self-Parody, Partisan Review, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1968), p (p.345)

7 young girl and the eternal damnation of Ambrosio. By including this, Lewis seems to be celebrating the excess that the Gothic mode can allow in narratives and, as such, he is paradoxically emphasising the restrictions of a purely rational narrative. By damning a character whose petty faults range from childish vanity (The Monk, p. 29) to restricting Lorenzo s visits to Antonia due to jealousy to die in a particularly cruel way that equals Ambrosio s destruction, Lewis is allowing readers that dislike the character of Elvira to enjoy catharsis for her faults and seek humour in the excesses of her punishments. By being damned in such a way, Elvira proves that this novel is not concerned with a strict adherence to rationality but rather the enjoyment and terror that can be gained from the Gothic form. By creating a strong dichotomy between rationality and superstition throughout the novel, Lewis encourages the reader to identify a conflict between the two modes of thought. This conflict pervades the text as a rational perspective is frequently invoked by the characters then conquered by the Gothic conventions that are rife within The Monk. As such, the novel perfectly encapsulates the enjoyment to be gained from superstition and an awareness of the supernatural even if it conflicts within the focus on rationality that was a contemporary issue for Lewis England. Word count: 2,187 Bibliography Burke, Edmund, Enquiry into the sublime and beautiful ed. by J.T. Boulton (Routledge: London, 1958). Freud, Sigmund, Character and Culture trans. by Phillip Rieff (New York: MacMillan PC, 1963), pg Horace, Epistles, trans. by A.S. Kline (2005), [accessed 18/5/16] Lewis, Matthew, The Monk (London: Oxford UP, 2016).

8 Malchow, H.L., Gothic Images of Race in Nineteenth Century Britain (California: Stanford UP, 1996) Poirer, Richard, The Politics of Self-Parody, Partisan Review, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1968), p Shakespeare, William, Measure for Measure, ed. by Grace Ioppolo, (London: Prentice Hall, 1996). I hereby certify that this submission is wholly my own work, and that all quotations from primary or secondary sources have been acknowledged. I have read the section on Plagiarism in the School Style Guide / my Stage & Degree Manual and understand that plagiarism and other unacknowledged debts will be penalised and may lead to failure in the whole examination or degree.

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Student Number: 150163480 1 The problem with Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is that he is always out of his depth. Discuss. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2008) is a text rife with Arthurian