A widely used cliché “all that a glitter is not gold” can best explain the story The Monk, written by Matthew Lewis. The story is riddled with important issues that touch on the morals of the society particularly seen through the main characters. It is the fall of Ambrosio the celebrated monk from grace to grass that is its major highlight. At the very beginning of the book, the reader meet a respectable monk and “the adoration paid to him both by young and old, man and woman, is unexampled. The grandees load him with a lot of presents; their wives refuse to have any other confessor” (Lewis 7). But in the end, he turns out to be the greatest transgressor, a man of the cloth who turns out to be a murderer and sex predator. The author dwells on the notion that looks can be deceiving and yes indeed Lewis wanted to pass moral lessons to his readers at the time.
Society often holds codes of morals that it expects its people to abide by failure to which punishment can be administered. When it comes to men of the cloth, they are expected to live a consecrated life that is worth emulating because they are religious and should help model society in a religious way. But when in the cover of darkness they commit the same grave mistakes that common sinners commit it becomes a different story altogether. Ambrosio is led down the path of distraction by his carnal desires, and his inner character is brought out as evil. In fact, it is the opposite of what society could have expected of him and other noble characters. Matilda is also another good example of questionable character because the reader meets her as the male novice Rosario but one who possesses attributes of female beauty such as “profusion of golden hair” (Lewis 62). In the end turns out to be a woman who in the end awakens Ambrosio’s male desires when she tells him to read the book of magic formulas (Lewis 134); eventually, Ambrosio yields to sin.
Men and women are projected differently in this novel; women are the epitomes of weakness, emotional instability but desirable. Through Antonia, it becomes clear that women are desirable, and their beauty can bring out the points of weakness in many men just like was in the case of Ambrosio. Matilda too, bears the exact resemblance of the admired Madona that destroys Ambrosio as she bears the “wild imperious majesty” (Lewis 340). Men, on the other hand, are depicted as courageous ad intelligent as seen through Raymond. They can also be conniving like Baptiste. Nevertheless, women are subjects that can be explored and exploited, and it becomes clear that even when they are presented as weak, men are the weaker ones. It is fascinating at how Lewis gives femininity power over masculinity because in the end, it is Matilda who has her hands around Ambrosio, and that Lewis categorically states that Ambrosio’s heart is “more timid than a woman’s” (Lewis 299). Carnal desires are the point of their destruction, as masculine sex drive is seen to lead to destruction. When sexual desires override human reasoning, the result is destruction.
The first impressions people perceive about others are not always a true picture of their true nature and character. That happens in present day society just as much as it happened in the novel. The first impressions of many characters such as Matilda, Baptiste, Ambrosio, Marguerite, Lorenzo and even prioress begin to bring out their true natures; whether good or bad as the story progresses. The bottom line is that at the very end of the story the reader gets to know the true identities and personalities of the characters. Some turn from good to bad like Ambrosio but others exonerate themselves from poor judgment just like Lorenzo. Indeed, looks can be deceiving because the real personality of a person comes out through their behavior and character.
Work Cited
Lewis, Matthew Gregory. The Monk. New York: Dover Publications, 2003. Print
