Fatal Revenge by Charles Maturin

First published in 1807 by Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, under the pseudonym Dennis Jasper Murphy.


Charles Maturin was an Anglo-Irish clergyman, but this didn't prevent him from taking Gothic writing seriously. His books reveal a dark, sometimes tortured imagination. Perhaps his best known novel is Melmoth the Wanderer (1820), but here we will examine Fatal Revenge. The book was written when Maturin was a relatively young man, in his mid twenties, and doesn't have the same maturity as Melmoth, but the story is more straight forward. 

The action takes place, mainly, around Naples in the latter part of the seventeenth century and tells the story of the Montorios, a family with more than their fair share of dark secrets. The main characters are the brothers, Ippolito and Annibal di Montorio. Ippolito, the elder brother, lives in his own residence in Naples. His younger brother lives with his father and younger siblings in the castle of Muralto. The brothers are different in nature. Ippolito is a sociable young man and a deep thinker, keen to discover 'knowledge of the things concealed to man'. Annibal, on the other hand,  keeps within the confines of the castle, and is more headstrong, preferring action to thoughts. Both brothers, however, are haunted by an apparently supernatural figure, who adjures them to take revenge on their father.

Annibal explores dark, forbidden parts of the castle to unearth hidden truths about the death of their mother, but Ippolito becomes withdrawn from society and his friends fear for his sanity. He eventually leaves Naples.

The story has an eerie castle with rat-ridden, underground passageways, sinister monks, nuns, the Inquisition, prison cells, murder and shameful secrets, as would be expected in a traditional Gothic novel. Both brothers are involved in doomed romantic relationships. In Annibal's case the young lady he falls in love with, partly because she reminds him of his mother, turns out to be his half-sister. With Ippolito, the lady who is in love with him dresses as a man to be near him and win his friendship. Alas, things do not end as she hoped.

What sets Fatal Revenge apart from other Gothic writing of the time is that the supernatural element is explained in a rational manner. There are no actual ghosts, merely trickery, illusions, mirrors and doubles. The 'spectral' figure makes use of the brothers' fears, working on their imaginations to instill terror. As a Protestant clergyman, Maturin also takes the opportunity to put down the Catholic church, particularly with regard to the Inquisition. The Inquisitor questioned Ippolito 'with the malignity and art of a demon.'

The ending seems a little hurried, given the protracted nature of the plot and there appears to be some gratuitous violence, especially towards the female characters, which is frequently typical of the genre.


            Gothic rating:

            isolated setting                       🕱

            brooding atmosphere             🕱

            mental illness                         🕱

            religious references                🕱

            supernatural elements            🕱

            murder                                   ðŸ•±

            family secret                          🕱

            genius/madness

            doomed love                         ðŸ•±


Fatal Revenge receives a rating of :     ðŸ•±ðŸ•±ðŸ•±ðŸ•±ðŸ•±ðŸ•±ðŸ•±ðŸ•±



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