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Matthew Lewis's The Monk (1796) is a foundational work of Gothic fiction. Ghosts, suspense, persecution, larger-than-life characters, and unexpected plot twists - all the great elements of the Gothic are here, in the story of a celebrated Spanish monk who falls into temptation, crime, and damnation as a result of his pride. Unlike his celebrated predecessor Ann Radcliffe, who stopped short of embracing the supernatural, Lewis delights in it; and his gruesome tale of mob violence in Madrid reflects contemporary concerns about the French Revolution. In this video, originally made for my undergraduate course ELN 3235: The English Novel in Context, I explain the origins of Gothic fiction in England and introduce The Monk as the literary masterpiece it is.