Saying it very plainly; this book seems to be a mockery of most of which it employs. Religion seems to be poked at with every event, relationships seem brief and almost non-existent, and personal identity is nowhere to be found.
Religion is what is most deeply intertwined with nearly everything that The Monk comes across. In my opinion the Catholic religion of the time was absurd. Making people purchase pardons from the pope, as Jacintha claims she has done many a time (p. 277), and for the most part striking fear into the followers of God by role players such as the great Ambrosio. Jacintha's character seems to be a mockery of the extremity of possible fear evoked by the church's rules. Her testament to why the spirit of Elvira came about on page 279 is a prime example, "I never saw her do amiss, except on the Friday before her death. To be sure, I was then much scandalized by seeing her eat the wing of a chicken."...continued down the page, "I trembled to hear her utter such blasphemies, and expected every moment to see the ground open and swallow her up, chicken and all." Jacintha is so devote in her religion, she can barely leave the house; for me Lewis is putting these absurdities on a pedestal with such events. Also, I found very interesting that when The All Holy Ambrosio was about to rape the object of his obsession, it was done so in a room where the only light shed upon a statue of Saint as said on pg. 260, "A single lamp, burning before the statue of St Rosolia, shed a faint light through the room, and permitted him to examine all the charms of the lovely object before him." Lewis once again seems to literally shed a light on a mockery of catholicism. The introduction as well as the back of the novel, shows that Lewis was forced to make revisions to his first edition just to avoid charges of blastphemy. Obviously the book was in a time period of strict religious following, which makes it that much more of a mockery and that much more rebelious. That said, this book even by today's standards would most definately not please the church, or the religion which is so deeply rooted within. Lastly I will briefly mention what I thought to be the most humorous example of this mockery; the fabrications of a mere child to the holy nuns of the convent. When falsely dissproving the monks question towards the race of the people in denmark, Theodore responds on page 248, "By no means, reverend lady; they are of a delicate pea-green, with flame-coloured hair and whiskers." This is the most minute of the lies, as he goes on down the page, "it is neccesity to inform you, ladies, that this same Denmark is terribly infested by sorcerers, witches, and evil spirits." He goes on the next page to describe the, "Oak King", "Water King", "Fire King", and " Cloud King." For me all of this shows the gulibility of these innocent nuns. They so easily buy into a fabricated story from a supposed beggar, Theodore, as they have so easily bought into the rituals and religion which is made fun of throughout The Monk.
Relationships throughout are unbelievably impuslive and so quickly obsessive, not to mention often times brief. Lorenzo is infatuated with Antonia's innocent beauty, in fact the minute she has left his presence on pg. 28, he has a dream involving their matrimony; this after a church service in which she is also instantaneously loathing another man, that being Ambrosio. Ambrosio himself a man whose life has been spent in solitude and engulfed with religion and holyness, falls in love, however not so quickly as Lorenzo, and on pg. 61, "He awoke heated and unrefreshed.....Matilda stood before him in his dreams, and his eyes again dwelt upon her naked breast; she repeated her protestation of eternal love, threw her arms round his neck, and loaded him with kisses: he returned them; he clasped her passionately to his bossom." This of course being the most holy man in all of Madrid, having wet dreams over Rosario/Matilda, who he once loved as a son as said on pg. 41!! This all relating also back to the idea of personal identity. It seems Lewis has deemed all of his characters incapable of making a reasonable decision in any light. This of course makes for a twisting and explosive book of religious scrutiny, blundering relationships, and false identities flying all over the place out of left and right field.
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