Exploration Of Knowledge, Mystery, And Religion In The Name Of The Rose By Umberto Eco
Themes in The Name of the Rose
Discuss about the Name of The Rose Analysis for Umberto Eco.
The Name of the Rose is one of the works by Umberto Eco which explores the theme of knowledge and the exploration of the different themes of religion. The exploration of the various themes of knowledge and wisdom through the exploration of the extreme religious connotations is helped by a number of aspects relating to the symbols and the exploitations of the themes in the book. The book deeply explores the semiotics and the theme of knowledge in the book. One of the other themes that have been explored in the book is of the usage of secrecy and the other stringent themes for the keeping of the secrets of the place. The story is told by Adso of Melk who is an assistant of William Of Baskerville who is often seen as one of the knowledgeable person in the book who has a knowledge of all the different aspects in the exploration of the themes of mystery in the book. The theme of mystery and secrecy is one of the main symbols explored in the book as the book seeks to show the scenarios that led to a number of death in the abbey and the conglomeration of the monks from a number of backgrounds made the place more suspicious.
The themes in the book that have been explored in the book are mainly of mystery, secrecy and knowledge and the theme of religion and politics. The themes explored in the book often speak of number of situational and the psycho-social aspects which tend to have great influence on the overall development of the plot in the novel. One of the major points explored in the book is of the symbols that present themselves in the different parts of the book. The symbols in the book are greatly influenced by Umberto Eco’s own experiences as a semiotics scholar. The book to whose contents are said to undermine the strength of religion is hidden in the part of the library which is marked Finis Africae.
The development of the theme goes through a number of different changes in the theme of the book as it explores the aspects relating to the religious orthodoxy of a sect emphasizing on destroying the evidence of knowledge to keep the religious supremacy intact in the society.
The themes that are explored in the book shed light on a number of different situation that are altered to create a situation of mystery in the environment in the book. One of the most important themes explored in the book is of the signs and its meanings. The signs that exist in the literary works of the pasts and ho them may be interpreted is one of the major themes explored in The Name of the Rose. The monks in the monastery delve deep into the ancient texts of bible and the various other important literary works in search of the hidden meaning in the book. The major themes that are explored in the book has a major role to play in the exploration of the themes relating to the analysis of the aspects relating to the situational scenarios in the book. One of the important aspects explored in the book is of the different secrets that are hidden within the actions of the people and the texts that are explored through the length of the novel. In the process of exploring the different deaths in the book, Willaim is helped by the overall exploration of the symbolism hidden in the labyrinth of the Library and the different reasons that the people put forward in the maintenance of the secrecy of the Library. The use of the library in the book as the mysterious place hidden in the depth of the abbey and the houses a number of unexplored secrets and limited access to the texts which can help them in correlating the religion to the personal freedom by gaining an in-depth knowledge of religion.
Symbols in The Name of the Rose
The library in itself is one of the major themes of secrecy in the book as it hides a number of different secret books in its collection as it is cited to be one of the largest libraries that is present in the whole world. The secrecy of the library lies in the fact that the access of the library and the knowledge of the areas where the books are kept in the library is limited to the librarian. The librarian is the whole and sole assessor of the requests that are forwarded to him and only he decides which requests are to be entertained. One of the major implications of this scenario of the library is the fact that the different parts of the labyrinth of the library is so designed that they form a maze incomprehensible to the normal person visiting the library because of which William and Adso are lost a number of times in the library because of its structure. One of the major aspects that have to be explored in the library is that it has texts for almost every subject known to mankind which the different visiting monks access to make copies to take it to the different parts of the world. The very structure of organization maintained for the access of books in the library shows that the monastery is willing to go to great extent to hide the information it has from the different monks and giving them information which they think will nurture them religiously. One of the major factors affecting the development of the notion of secrecy is that the monastery wants to keep a tab on its monks by limiting their access to the enlightening information that the various texts of the different languages might hold and is seen that they go to the extent of killing the people who are not willing to comply to the norms or are more inquisitive of the secrets hidden in the monastery. The theme of secrecy is so strong that the library which was a well-guarded fortress would only be burnt so that the hidden secrets do not see the light of the day.
The exploration of religion and its influence on the different aspects relating to the development of the themes of religion helps shows the power of the church in the different scenarios relating to the exploration of the church and its role in the politics and the political realm. One of the major aspects relating to the political and the power dynamics of the church religion and its exercising of the power in social and the political domain. One of the major aspects to be explored in the power dynamics of the church and the overall discourse of wealth and poverty in the book shows the different conflicting views of the religion about a topic in the religion itself. One of the major factors helping in the development of the discourse in this discussion is the fact that the knowledge of the scenarios relating to the poverty in the church. The questions that are asked by William in the book about the increasing political affluence of church on it having gathered a lot of wealth and influencing the decision of the king is questions and shown how the increase in the monks accepting poverty will against the church’s influence. The theme of laughter discussed a number of timed between the perpetrator Jorge of Bruges and William of Baskerville shows how important was the theme of laughter in the mystery that shrouded the monastery. The book itself that was hidden in Finis Africae was a copy of the book 2 of Poetics of Aristotle which was a discourse on comedy. The laughter according to Jorge must not be made important as it weakens the logic and the strength of religious discourse and it may make the local population make fun of the religion and god itself which would be considered blasphemous.
The Library in The Name of the Rose
The strengthening of its power by the church is one of the important themes in the novel as the discourse shows that the religion has no place for dissent in its works and the people raising their voice are put down with the blame of heresy. One of the important aspect pointed out in the book is the draconian law that the religion follows and tries to put down the opposition with strict use of power leading to a scenario where the questioning of the church which is the representative of the religion is put down with ultimate strength. The very fact that a number of monks are killed for the maintenance of secrecy of a text shows the inquisition of the harshness among the different parts of the church.
There are a number of symbolism in the text to show the implications of the aspects that may affect the overall opinion of the religion and the church. The Finis Africae, the name of the place where the ancient text was hidden in the book was helped by the fact that the room was next to the room where the African authors’ texts were kept. The most important aspect relating to the secrets which are hidden in the secret room of the Finis Africa is the secrecy which the abbey so strongly chooses to protect. The finis africae as William puts it in the abbey is the place where the knowledge is used to conceal rather the. The major factors leading to the increment of secrecy in the text is the threat which is seen in the book Poetics for the church. The very oppressive nature of religion and the thoughts of Jorge relating to it shows the reader the extents to which the religion may go. It is also shown in the thoughts of Jorge who says that the desire of knowledge is a sin in itself. The theft of William’s glasses is another aspect of the symbolism where the reader gets to know the religion uses all the tricks to prevent the knowledge relating to the different aspects of the situations leading to the hiding of secrets in the situation that one might question the religion. The glass is also an example of expert craftsmanship and the type of the scientific development that the society has made. The fragments leftover from the destroyed library to which Adso returns and starts to collect the pages that are scattered in the once visited monastery. The pages with incomprehensible text which Adso collects now has a more symbolic understanding in the text relating to the preservation of the knowledge for the overall development of the knowledge in the time of extreme distress for the progression of knowledge.
Conclusion
Therefore, in the story it is seen that the story explores the dimensions of a suspense thriller novel with the intricacies and the detailing of the knowledge of religion in the times of religious extremism. It shows through its symbols and the exploration of themes that the different aspects that are used is using the knowledge gained to stop the access of that knowledge for their own selfish motives. The extremism and the tyranny of the religion is personified through Jorge who is symbolically blind in this novel. One of the major factors that are explored in the novel is the different ways in which the library is protected which shows how if the people are given access to knowledge the religion will soon lose its importance.
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