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style of medieval architecture, particularly from the cathedrals of northern Europe.
Interestingly enough, the genre of the Gothic in literature shares some similarities with its
counterpart, for Gothic architecture provided the setting and atmosphere of numerous
Gothic novels (Baker 175). These novels feature accounts of horrifying experiences in
castles and monasteries, where elements of the supernatural intermingled with vicious
deeds of lust, incest, and murder, not only captivating the reader’s curiosity but also
providing a source of excitement and enthrallment as well (Richter 114). As the
Companion to the Norton Anthology points out, “by extension, [the Gothic] came to
designate the macabre, mysterious, fantastic, supernatural, and, again, the terrifying,
especially the pleasurably terrifying, in literature more generally.” Even though it
remains difficult to refer to the “Gothic” as a specific genre, it is nevertheless used to
describe and identify works that typically employ the specific settings and literary tropes
mentioned above.
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The reception of the Gothic is characterized by a polarization between popular
acclaim and critical disdain, at a time when readership seemed divided between
consumers of High Art and popular literature, and when assessors of canonical texts were
especially critical of popular culture and its audience. Reflecting Guillory’s notion of
genre hierarchies outlined earlier, Joyer Marjorie Tompkins points out that “the novel has
been approached rather as a popular amusement than a literary form” (v). In a context
shaped by various cultural exchanges of economic interest, where the competition for
readers occupied center stage, The Monk was received by a particularly hostile crowd of
critics and reviewers who considered that the novel exemplified all the despicable
characteristics of popular literature.