- Memetic Mutation: The novel copies a popular theme of selling your soul to the devil, found earlier in Goethe's Faust and Matthew Lewis' The Monk. The Wandering Jew element was also copied from folklore.
- Values Dissonance: The book is staggeringly anti-Catholic by modern standards, with Catholicism being presented as a sinister, deluded and violent Religion of Evil. This does not sit will with the passing of these views. In addition, the N-word is used twice in the opening chapters. But during Maturin's time there was anti-Catholic sentiment among the Anglicans (Maturin was an Anglican clergyman). note
- Vindicated by History: The novel was reviled in England because critics thought that it was anti-Christian due to the Villain Protagonist. This affected Maturin's chances of promotion. Years after his death, authors admired him and were inspired by him. Oscar Wilde even used the pseudonym of Sebastian Melmoth. The psychological complexity and emotional intensity, unusual for his era, was praised by later novelists. Today, critics consider it the greatest novel of the Gothic school.
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