Response to William Brewer's "Transgendering in Matthew Lewis's The Monk"

After having read Brewer's rather insightful critical analysis about transgendering, gender role-reversal and confusion of specific gender roles I felt substantially better in knowing I wasn't the only one to hold specific opinions on Ambrosio or any of the characters. As an example, I had taken note of the passage in the book where Ambrosio was wishing for the return of Matilda's male alter-ego Rosario. In almost any other context this would have been perceived as a possible hinting toward homosexuality (or at least sexual confusion) on the part of Ambrosio. but I was much more impressed with Brewer's interpretation in which he argued

"Part of [Ambrosio's] insecurity can, in fact, be explained by his inability to fit his own definition of manliness. [...] Ambrosio's preference for a feminine male over a masculine woman can, of course, be seen as an indication of latent homosexuality, but it is also consistent with his obsessive need to be the dominant figure in his relationships, to command tather than be commanded" (198).

It makes a substantial argument, at least in my mind, to view Ambrosio as a man drunk on his own power rather than a latent homosexual, which is a theory never pursued to the same extent as his need for power in the rest of the novel. While his overbearing need to be powerful is shown in how he detains Antonia and resorts to physical violence to make her submit to his will in the catacombs (He also vies for a position of power with the aid of the fig branch given to him by Lucifer, which renders its victim unable to resist any sort of command from the branch's posessor).
In fact, it may be worth pursuing the idea of Ambrosio's need for power in other aspects of the novel and its potential allegories to the Church at the time of the novel's publication; it would be quite rewarding indeed to see if Ambrosio's lust for dominance is some sort of subliminal satire on the conduct of the Catholic Church during the time of the novel's writing (several references are made to the Inquisition and Lewis, a Protestant, may have enjoyed jabbing a few well-aimed barbs into the taboo of Catholocism, as he did in Chapter VII of the novel.).