In Christian tradition, Satan is commonly accepted as a hideous and monstrous being in direct contrast to the gracious mercy of God, often a dark figure with little depth. Yet there is another very gothic vision of this figure, as demonstrated by Milton in Paradise Lost, of a long-suffering villain who appears more as a tragic artist than an ultimate deceiver. The Monk, by Matthew Lewis, uses more tragic and mythical elements to create something entirely different, a Dionysian figure. Lewis uses descriptive speech, symbols, and themes all tied to Greek myth to present a chaos-creating character who transgresses not only God, but also the boundaries of society. While transgressions have been the subject of much research in Gothic literature, the Dionysian myth relating to the demon spirit has been neglected. I will reveal how much the scene of Ambrosio's first encounter with Satan draws on myths, symbols, and perceptions of the Greek God, and further why these connections exist and reinforce the Gothic genre. Before unraveling the Ambrosio scene and the fallen angle, it is necessary to give a brief general history of Dionysus, as it relates to this passage. Dionysus is born to a human mother Semele, who burns after seeing Zeus in his true form (Hamilton 65). Zeus saves the child and places him to be raised among the nymphs, associated with the "stars which bring rain when they approach the horizon" (65) and thus Dionysus is "born of fire and nourished by the rain” (65). The imagery of the vine also helps perpetuate the annual death of the God, causing him to be torn apart each winter, as well as influencing the Maenads, a group of frantic women who run around tearing up everything in their path. Although wine can bring joy, these sinister aspects...... middle of paper ...... surprising that homosexuality exists, showing the fears of a non-normative sexuality, which like Dionysus does not is not civilized. The beauty of Gothic literature is that a monster-villain is never just a monster-villain, but something deeper psychologically. In this case, Satan is the strange Greek Dionysus, and in the future this connection between Dionysus and other monsters in Gothic literature should be researched, as the only way to view status and power is to look at who is missing it or who is subverting it. , MH "Gothic novel". A glossary of literary terms. 9th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. 137-8. Print.Aristophanes. The Frogs. Public domain, 2005. Kindle. Hamilton, Edith. “The two great gods of the Earth: Dionysus or Bacchus.” Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1942. 64-76. Print. Lewis, Matthew. The Monk: A Romance. London: Penguin, 1998. Print.