1

This essay aims to analyse and engage in discourse the presentation of ambiguous
sexuality in the novels The Monk and The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by
Matthew Lewis and Oscar Wilde respectively. Particularly, there will be a strong
focus on the homoerotic undercurrents that are infused in the texts while discussing
the effects they achieve as well as their implications while under a heterosexual
context.
Sexuality in Matthew Lewis The Monk is, at first glance, unsurprisingly heterosexual.
In the narrative, the reader is presented with a number of heterosexual romances and
they are depicted in sensational detail, however, ambiguity in the sexuality of some of
the characters manages to exist at a more covert level. Early in the narrative, a
homoerotic romance plot can be depicted with two monastic males, Ambrosio and
Rosario, and it is initiated with the three soft knocks on the formers cell that
introduces the gentle and interesting latter character:
Rosario was a young Novice. ... A sort of mystery enveloped this Youth
which rendered him at once an object of interest and curiosity. ... His head was
continually muffled up in his Cowl; Yet such as his features as accident
discovered, appeared the most beautiful and noble. ... The Youth looked up [to
Ambrosio] with a respect approaching idolatry. Ambrosio on his side did not
feel less attracted towards the Youth. ... no voice sounded so sweet to him as
did Rosario's. ... Ambrosio was every day more charmed with the vivacity of
his Genius ... and the rectitude of his heart. ... He could not help sometimes
indulging a desire secretly to see the face of his Pupil; But this rule of selfdenial extended even to curiosity, and prevented him from communicating his
wishes to the Youth.1
From the passage above, it can be said that there is an implied homoerotic relationship
established between Ambrosio and Rosario and it is specifically pedagogic and
pederastic in nature. Foucault defined such a relationship in The Use of Pleasure as
being founded on the erotics of restraint, or self-denial 2. Desire is suppressed or is
1 Lewis,M.(2010)TheMonk.London:BibliolisBooks,p.29.
2 Foucault,M.(1992)TheHistoryofSexuality:TheUseofPleasure.2ndedn.TranslatedbyR.
Hurley.UnitedKingdom:PenguinBooks,p.232.

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subjected to a considerable degree of control by the possessor; however, this specific
form is nonetheless present. This suppression of pederastic desire is manifested
physically in The Monk via the cowl, which is essentially a veil for the more
masculine variety. Sedgwick states in The Coherence of Gothic Conventions that "the
veil that conceals and inhibits sexuality comes by the same gesture to represent it,
both as a metonym of the thing covered and as a metaphor for the system of
prohibitions by which sexual desire is enhanced and specified."3
What Sedgwick, along with Foucault, suggests is that the suppression of sexuality is
not the elimination of it, but rather an instrument for its production or an amplification
of a specific form of sexuality. The sexual object Ambrosio has in Rosario is coupled
with the respect he possesses towards the face concealed beneath the cowl, and it is
denoted by the suppression of the pederastic eroticism established early in the novel.
Foucoult remarks on the transformation of ephemeral love into a mutual, egalitarian,
and lasting relationship4, which in other words is the sublimation of an interest that is
erotic in nature into friendship. This homoerotic archetype is depicted in Rosarios
pronouncement: "Nothing now has charms for me but your friendship, but your
affections"5, though the charms for friendship Rosario speaks of is tainted by the
residue of the erotic interest that has been sublimated into friendship.
Despite the homoerotic undertones that thrust these characters into sexual ambiguity,
a chance for a homosexual relationship to materialise is destroyed when Rosario
reveals his true gender as a woman. Naming himself Mathilda, he initiates a
licentious relationship with Ambrosio, instigated by the sight of Mathildas breast, or
glowing orb, though it is ultimately stifled by its own gratification. At that point,
Mathilda proceeds to reveal herself to have been the Devil the entire time. The
significance here is that Rosarios gender revelation, which adds to the ambiguity of
his sexuality, is no doubt an evasive strategy employed by the Devil. There is no
unveiling, but rather a re-veiling as the Devil dons a female costume to continue
playing some sort of transvestist game. In effect, this switch of gender enables
Rosario and Ambrosio to elude the fugitive status of homoerotic desire,
3 Sedgwick,E.K.(1986)TheCoherenceofGothicConventions.NewYork:Methuen,p.143.
4 Foucault,p.233.
5Lewis,p.31.

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notwithstanding the gender-switch retrospectively functioning as a way to overtly
sexualise the relationship between the two characters. Moreover, this instance of
transvestism in the novel provides evidence for the presence of homosexual panic
within the text the unconscious conflicts regarding gender identity and a fear of
being homosexual6. In consequence, the explicit heterosexual relations between
Ambrosio and Rosario become a parodied version of itself, or perhaps some kind of
hyper-heterosexuality.
The homoeroticism featured in the text is evaded promptly after its introduction and
then buried with heterosexual libidinal excess, and it is worth noting that this burial
occurs at the instant Rosario reveals his true gender. Along with the revelation and
the submerging of the narrative in heterosexual licentiousness, orgiastic
overindulgence and libidinous minuteness7, homoerotic relations are subjected to a
live burial. For the time being, the ambiguity regarding sexuality in the novel is
temporarily forgotten, however, the homoerotic desire buried under the excess of
heterosexual libido effectively creates a pair of separate sexual economies. One is of
orgiastic overindulgence; the other is suppressed, or functions under the operations of
the closet. Naturally, these sexual economies conflict with each other and this conflict
only lends itself to the matter of ambiguous sexuality that permeates the novel.
The burial of homoerotic relations between the two characters is what follows after
their world of pederastic utopia, although this does not happen until Rosario reveals
his true gender, which subscribes to the conventional trope of female deception and
women being the Devils instruments. Though of course Mathilda unveils herself
again and is in actuality a masculine devil. Debatably, this second instance of
transvestism is a reappearance of the homoerotic plot the reader was introduced to
early on in the novel, and it extends it beyond the ending. Conversely, the
representation of homoeroticism through the diabolical and pathological nature of the
Devil is once again a return to the closet and the theme of homosexual panic.

6 Mosby(2008)homosexualpanic,MosbysMedicalDictionary.8thedn.MarylandHeights:
Mosby.Availableat:http://medicaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homosexual+panic(Accessed:8
April2015).
7 Coleridge,S.(1797)TheMonk:aRomance,Review,CriticalReview.Availableat:
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/coleridge.reviews(Accessed:8April2015).

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The ambiguous sexuality in Oscar Wildes Dorian Gray bears similarities to The
Monk. The text has a heterosexual romance plot that is at the narratives forefront;
however, the heterosexual relationship the titular character has with Sybil exists
purely on an aesthetic level. The novel is otherwise imbued with a sense of
homoeroticism in its feeling and style, which can be seen from the first few lines of
the text. From the beginning scenes, a sexual orientation is established through the
combination of the following components: depictions of lavish sensuality, an
obsession with masculine beauty, idiosyncrasies among characters that are typically
effeminate and negative attitudes towards women, marriage and even sexual
commitment.

These four components do not necessarily denote a homosexual

orientation by themselves; yet Wildes particular presentation of these components in

the novel seems to strongly suggest so. Sensuality of a lavish nature is not solely
homoerotic, although its strong association with the obsession on male beauty injects
that obsession with an underlying sense of eroticism. An aversion towards
heterosexual commitment is also not solely homoerotic, but its conjunction with
homoerotic sensuality and effeminate idiosyncrasies is rewarded with an adoption of a
homoerotic character when a female desire for fidelity is met with antagonism.
Wilde intentionally induces a homoerotic atmosphere from the beginning of the novel,
orientating the reader towards perhaps his own homoerotic sensibility:
The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer
wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door
the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering
thorn. From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was
lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry
Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured
blossoms of the laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to
bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the
fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains
that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of
momentary Japanese effect . . .8
8 Wilde,O.(2003)ThePictureofDorianGray.UnitedKingdom:CollectorsLibrary,p.8.

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Walter Pater, who was an aestheticist and also homosexual himself, stated that "this, at
least of flame-like our life has, that it is but the concurrence, renewed from moment to
moment, of forces parting sooner or later on their ways," illustrating the fundamental
component of experience, the impression, as a tremulous wisp9. In transplanting
Paters expressions into Basils studio (flame-like, tremulous), Wilde grants
Paters aestheticist abstractions occupancy in the novel as well as a sexual orientation.
The introduction of the titular character is via his portrait, and is described to be a
young man of extraordinary personal beauty 10. This preoccupation with male beauty
is expanded dramatically by Lord Henry this young Adonis, who looks as if he was
made out of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus 11. Upon
meeting Dorian in person, he adds Yes, he was certainly handsome, with his finelycurved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair 12. Basil echoes Lord
Henrys sentiments about Dorians youthful beauty and classifies it as central to his
own personal philosophy: You have the most marvellous youth, and youth is the only
thing worth having13. After being told this, Dorian exclaims his jealousy over his
portrait whose beauty will never die, nor will it ever age, unlike his mortal self who is
subject to such afflictions. Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could
change, and I could be always what I am now! Why did you paint it? It will mock me
some daymock me horribly!' The hot tears welled into his eyes; he tore his hand
away, and, flinging himself on the divan, he buried his face in the cushions 14. In
Victorian fiction, a scene such as that would be considered hardly surprising if Dorian
was a woman, but he isnt. He is a man, and his act of flinging himself onto the divan
and sobbing over the reality that he will lose his youthful beauty crosses gender
boundaries. Dorian exhibits an ardent obsession over his looks and expresses some
kind of hysteric reaction that, at the time, would have been considered more befitting
of a woman. This crossing of gender boundaries also harks back to the theme of
ambiguous sexuality in the novel.

9 Pater,W.(2013)TheRenaissance:StudiesinArtandPoetry.UnitedStates:DoverPublications,p.
153.

10
11
12
13
14

Wilde,p.9.
Wilde,p.11.
Wilde,p.27.
Wilde,p.40.
Ibid.

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Albeit there are strong homoerotic undertones in the text, there are likewise
homophobic undertones that inscribe the novel with a more pronounced sexual
ambiguity. If one were to look at Sybil and the roles she plays when she acts, it
becomes noticeable that, on the night she is unable to act and fascinate Dorian, she is
playing Juliet, a heterosexual character from Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet.
However, on the night Dorian proposes to Sybil, she is playing Rosalind, a crossdressing character in Shakespeares As You Like It. He raves: When she came on in
her boy's clothes she was perfectly wonderful15. The homoerotic implication is
obvious, however Dorian continues in the passage in a way that suggests a sense of
homophobia driving him towards Sybil. He visualises her in a number of roles in
which she is killed or pushed to end her own life by a paramour:
One evening she is Rosalind, and the next evening she is Imogen. I have seen
her die in the gloom of an Italian tomb, sucking the poison from her lovers
lips. I have watched her wandering through the Forest of Arden, disguised as a
pretty boy in hose and doublet and dainty cap. She has been mad, and has
come into the presence of a guilty king, and given him rue to wear, and bitter
herbs to taste of. She has been innocent, and the black hands of jealousy have
crushed her reed-like throat. I have seen her in every age and in every
costume.16
The mention of a poisonous lovers touch is suggestive of Dorians feelings of guilt
regarding playing the part of heterosexual lover for Sybil. Yet despite the passage
exemplifying heterosexuality it also implies Dorian having fears of being seduced
himself by Wotton. He is afraid that a male lover will poison him as well.
To conclude, Matthew Lewis The Monk and Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian
Gray focuses on representations and surfaces where the conflicts of sexuality that
pervade both texts projects a sense of sexual ambiguity to the reader. Homoerotic
undertones linger in a heterosexual discourse that emphasises male bonds and
explores homosexual panic in its examination of male desire, whether it be
homosexual or not.
15 Wilde,p.98.
16 Wilde,p.69.

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Bibliography
Primary Sources
Lewis, M. (2010) The Monk. London: Bibliolis Books.
Secondary Sources
Coleridge, S. (1797) The Monk: a Romance, Review, Critical Review. Available
at: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/coleridge.reviews (Accessed: 8
April 2015).
Foucault, M. (1992) The History of Sexuality: The Use of Pleasure. 2nd edn.
Translated by R. Hurley. United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
Mosby (2008) homosexual panic, Mosbys Medical Dictionary. 8th edn. Maryland
Heights:

Mosby.

Available

at:

http://medical-

dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homosexual+panic (Accessed: 8 April 2015).

Pater, W. (2013) The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry. United States: Dover
Publications.
Sedgwick, E. K. (1986) The Coherence of Gothic Conventions. New York: Methuen.
Wilde, O. (2003) The Picture of Dorian Gray. United Kingdom: Collectors Library.