The Name of the Rose: Difference between revisions

{{quote| ''Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.''<ref>Lat.: "Yesterday's rose endures in its name, we hold empty names".</ref> }}

 

 

It is set in what has been called the [[Medieval Morons|disastrous]] [[The Late Middle Ages|fourteenth century]], during the period of the Medieval Inquisition. The story, described by some as [[Sherlock Holmes]] [[Recycled in Space|IN THE 14th CENTURY]], follows Brother William of Baskerville and his young friar apprentice, Adso of [[Useful Notes/Austria|Melk]], who go to an abbey where a murder was committed in order to [[Detective Story|investigate it]].

* [[Asshole Victim]]: In the movie, {{spoiler|Bernardo Gui's cart gets pushed off a cliff by angry peasants, causing him to fall on a spiked thing which kills him. Your heart bleeds for him.}}

* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: William, and how.

* [[Big Labyrinthine Building]]

* [[The Black Death]]: At the end of the novel, Adso reveals {{spoiler|that William eventually died during the Black Death.}}

* [[Cool Old Guy]]: William, played by [[Sean Connery]].

* [[Corrupt Church]]

* [[Definitely Final Dungeon]]: The library tower.

* [[Description Porn]]: And how: the book devotes page upon page to descriptions of the church's altar, the entrance to the crypt, Adso's vivid {{spoiler|psychedelic-herb-induced}} visions, and the monastery's relics.

** …Which in this case also qualifies as {{spoiler|[[Cyanide Pill|suicide]]}}.

* [[Eureka Moment]]: William has one considering the secret of the library. Adso remembers how Salvatore said "tertius equi", which is [[Canis Latinicus]] for "The third of horse" (when he meant "the third horse"). William concludes: "the first and the seventh of the four" really means {{spoiler|"the first and the seventh of the ''word'' four", and "four" is "quatuor" in Latin, so you have to push the letters Q and R!}}

* [[Finger-Licking Poison]]

* [[Flanderization]]: The transmogrification of the [[Purity Sue|saintly]] Ubertino da Casale (a minor character) from well-educated, decent, pious (if slightly fanatical) old man to a [[Mad Oracle|creepy]], [[Cryptic Conversation|obtuse]] [[Butt Monkey]] who hits on Adso and is ridiculed by William. Note that the poor guy actually existed.

* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Bernard(o) Gui(donis), Ubertino da Casale, Michael of Cesena.

* [[Primal Stance|The Hunchback]]: Salvatore. Played by [[Ron Perlman]] with extreme creepiness in the film.

* [[In Which a Trope Is Described]]: In spades. One chapter heading is even self-referential.

* [[The Spanish Inquisition|The Inquisition]]

*** Someone lucky enough to have read Borges's short story ''Death and the Compass'' will see the connection to this story clearly

* [[Shown Their Work]]: Not surprising, as Eco is a scholar of the Middle Ages.

* [[Theme Serial Killer]]: The killings follow symbolism from the Book of Revelations. {{spoiler|As it turns out, this is mostly by accident.}}

* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]: The lost dialogue of Aristotle is assumed to be this. {{spoiler|[[Finger-Licking Poison|it's actually poisoned]]}}.