villainous spider and the Uebermensch: Nietzschean paradigms in Matthew Lewis's "The Monk"

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.