Published in 1796 when its author Matthew Gregory Lewis was only nineteen, The Monk is among the most extreme examples of the eighteenth-century Gothic novel. The story follows Ambrosio, a celebrated and apparently pious Madrid monk who falls prey to demonic temptation, leading him through a descent into murder, sorcery, and sacrilege. Lewis’s sensational plotting shocked and enthralled contemporary readers, and the novel became a landmark of transgressive literature.
Its lurid extremes and supernatural machinery make it a fascinating document of its era. Download this free EPUB from Better Gutenberg to read the Gothic novel that went further than any of its contemporaries.