Transgendering in Matthew Lewis's The Monk

• Published in: Gothic studies 2004-11, Vol.6 (2), p.192-207
• Main Author: Brewer, William
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 18th century; Attitudes; Gender identity; Gothic fiction; Homophobia; Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818); Literary criticism; Literary Studies; Misogyny; Narrative theme; Oppression; Rape; Riots; Sex roles; Sexism; Society; Stereotypes; Transgender persons; Women
• ISSN: 1362-7937; 2050-456X
• DOI: 10.7227/GS.6.2.3

According to her possibly mendacious account of her early life, Matilda was brought up by a learned uncle and given (from an eighteenth-century perspective) a 'masculine' education: 'Under his instructions my understanding acquired more strength and justness, than generally falls to the lot of my sex' (60). In other words, gender crossing disturbs Ambrosio when it involves a transfer of power from a member of a dominant group to a member of a subordinate group. [...]he initially fears Matilda because he believes her capable of toppling him from his position as Abbot; her knowledge of 'the secret, on which his character and even his life depend[s]' (257) has given her the upper hand in their relationship. Acting from within the repressive confines of religious institutions, Beatrice and Matilda repudiate the asceticism that these institutions promote and suggest through their actions that they believe that even members of a religious community should have the freedom to abandon themselves to their passionate impulses. [...]whereas Beatrice murders the Baron with a knife, Matilda tries to kill Antonia with her 'poignard' (390) - both characters are capable of extreme acts of violence.38 But despite all of their transgressions, their refusals to behave even remotely like proper ladies, Beatrice and Matilda remain unrepentant and, if we assume that Matilda's triumphant description of her sensual bliss at the end of the novel is accurate, and if Raymond's interment of Beatrice truly succeeds in providing her spirit 'repose' (172), both characters can be said to have escaped from the full weight of their punishments. [...]Matilda, the transgendering advocate of free love, is presented in a far more positive light than is an important religious leader in The Monk, the sadistic and patriarchal Prioress of St Clare. [...]it is significant that the 'essentialist' narrator's attitude toward the supposedly demonic Matilda is, for the most part, sympathetic: he describes how she grows 'more attached' to Ambrosio 'with every succeeding day' (235), how she forfeits 'her claim to virtue ... for his sake alone' (244), and how, even under the threat of torture, she faithfully maintains that 'Ambrosio [is] perfectly innocent' (424) of the crime of sorcery.