Date of Award
1999
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Buckton, Oliver
Abstract
Matthew Lewis's The Monk portrays the catastrophic effects that sexual repression has on Ambrosio, a monk who is raised in a monastery. Lewis also demonstrates the freedom found in sexual fulfillment in the form of Matilda, the woman who seduces Ambrosio and leads him toward his final destruction. A Nietzschean critique of Christianity provides a connection between eighteenth century dissatisfaction with Roman Catholic doctrines and Nietzsche's aversion to the self-abnegation required to save the soul from eternal perdition. Ambrosio is the Nietzschean paradigm of the hypocritical ascetic, who hides his vice beneath the monkish robes of piety. Matilda, on the other hand, is the Ubermensch that Nietzsche discusses in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, because she sheds religious constraints and becomes a sexual being capable of experiencing sexual pleasure without guilt.
Extent
67 p.
Recommended Citation
Turner, Richard Scott, "villainous spider and the Uebermensch: Nietzschean paradigms in Matthew Lewis's "The Monk"" (1999). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1990 - 1999. 1557.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_4/1557
Identifier
FADT15661
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1999.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters