The Monk: A Romance is a dark and sensational Gothic novel set in 18th-century Spain. It follows Ambrosio, a revered monk in Madrid, whose excessive pride and secret vanity lead to his moral downfall. Tempted by a mysterious young novice—later revealed as the demoness Matilda—he succumbs to lust, betrayal, and murder. As his sins spiral into horror, Ambrosio faces divine punishment, culminating in a chilling descent into damnation. Blending supernatural terror, eroticism, and religious fanaticism, Lewis’s novel shocked readers with its graphic scenes and moral ambiguity, securing its place as a landmark of early Gothic literature and a critique of absolute power and hypocrisy within the Church.
