Sublime and the theme of incest in the gothic novel The Monk by M. G. Lewis

Abstract

Due to a somewhat universal treatment of such controversial topics as incest or even incestuous rape, the reaction or the emotions of any person upon encountering such themes in the fiction should be uniformly tinged with detestation or horror. This paper’s purpose was to establish the possible link between the delightful horror or the feeling of sublime with the theme of incest in the Gothic novel The Monk by M. G. Lewis. Subsequently, the research question of this paper was formulated as follows: is there a link between the theme of incest in the Gothic novel The Monk and the evocation of sublime in the reader?