After reading the first 192 pages of The Monk, I think that the story is much more romantic then it is gothic. Every main character has romantic issues that motivate them and progress the plot. Rosario/Matilda and Ambrosio, Lorenzo and Antonia, Leonella and Don Christoval, Rodolpha and Raymond, Raymond and Agnes, Beatrice and Otto, Marguerite and her Bandit Husbands, as well as the previous generation of Spanish gentry. Unrequited love and plans to abscond to distant lands seem to be commonplace in the novel, and I was reminded of modern day’s soap operas.
When Raymond and Rodolpha are reading together Raymond attempts to confess his love for Agnes. After Raymond says he loves someone Rodolpha replies, “Suppose I were to spare you that confession? Suppose I were to acknowledge that the object of your desires is not unknown to me? Suppose I were to say, that she returns your affection, and laments not less sincerely than yourself the unhappy vows which separate her from you?”(119) Of course she is referring to herself and not Agnes. Romantic misunderstanding ensues with disastrous results.
Only upon closer reading did I discover the gothic aspect to the text. The rotting castles, which served as prisons to damsels in distress, eerie woods occupied by bandits, dark churches ringing with accusations of sin and debauchery. The locations were not always overbearing and haunting, but the climaxes seemed to gravitate towards these settings.
Throughout The Monk the loves that presented themselves were more often then not opposed and seemingly impossible. The love of the characters simply could not be the least bit reasonable or tempered. Matilda loves Ambrosio, who is already a monk of great reputation and has made vows to never be with a woman. Lorenzo is stonewalled by Elvira and asked to never see Antonia again until Raymond accepts Antonia as a part of his family. Lindenburg loves Raymond despite her current marriage to the baron. Marguerite leaves her family to live with her lover, who is a marauding bandit. In fact the characters’ passions seem to go out of their way to convolute the lives around them.
I also noticed a theme of sexless ness that affects several of the characters. When Matilda first tells Ambrosio of her love for him, she promises not to act on her impulses and remain his friend and confidant. She tells Ambrosio that her love has only the noblest intensions and that she will make no move to try to seduce him. Lorenzo makes similar promises to Elvira about his love for Antonia and commits himself to her, professing that he will honor her and that it is not youthful lust that guides his actions. Even the imagined love between Leonella and Don Christoval takes great lengths to remain virtuous in nature.
I enjoyed how the novel took time to establish the supernatural element. The first instance of witchery is the prophecy of the gipsy, which states, “That destruction o’er you hovers; Lustful man and crafty devil will combine to work your evil; And from earth by sorrows driven, soon your soul must speed to heaven”(37). Antonia does not take these words very seriously and soon forgets her imminent prophesized death. Much later the superstitions of the Medina household appear to be baseless and outdated. Later the story of the Bloody Nun is joked about and used as a part of Agnes’ escape plan. But all too quickly the reader is confronted with the reality of the Bloody Nun and the wandering Jew. While the logical Raymond remains incredulous of the events transpiring around him, they still affect him and confirm themselves to be true. What I found interesting is that both the supernatural and the Christian religion are depicted as true in this novel, and that one was usually the other.
What struck me most profoundly was all the kidnappings that took place in the book. Cunegonda is kidnapped for days so that she does not reveal Agnes’ plan for escape and soon after Theodore is kidnapped in turn so that he couldn’t reveal the lies to Agnes about Raymond for what they were. Also a gardener was kidnapped so that Lorenzo and Raymond could get his keys to the nunnery. All these kidnappings seem to be taken in good humor because nothing seems to come of them. Maybe kidnapping didn’t have the nasty stigma it has today back then.
Finally; why, why, why is the word bosom used so often? Is it just me?