William of Baskerville is, in many ways, a prediction of “modern” man, or an symbol of modernism emerging from the Middle Ages. God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh day. Apocalypticism is the concept of an impending end, as John shows in the book of Revelation. The Name of the Rose is written in an apocalyptic seven-day sequence. “…apocalyptic writers frequently present the history of the past right up to their own present time… this is always followed by a prediction of the End…” (p584) Similarly, as the monks use the finest materials available and work so hard to copy crumbling texts, the quality of the writing materials illustrate pride and vanity rather than devotion to God.Īdso’s apocalyptic vision, manifested in the doorway, and returned again and again throughout the novel, variously interpreted by William, Ubertino, Alinardo, and others. “It is the most immediate of the paths that put us in touch with the AlmightyÖ” (p145).

The Abbot’s display of the wealth of the monastery to William and Adso as they arrive exposes the Abbot’s pride, vanity and greed. Eco gives certain clues, yet they can be understood in various ways and one can never be certain about the relation among them.Įco uses a complex approach of writing in the Benedictine monastery of In the Name of the Rose. Eco makes the reader uncertain, where in a typical mystery the detective and the reader communicate a series of signs to find the identity and motive of the criminal. Many characters resemble well-known real or fictional figures. Besides the detailed description of characters, the author challenges the reader to solve the mystery of the monksí death. Symbolism is one of the more powerful tools Umberto Eco uses to make The Name of the Rose such a great masterpiece.

Author the name of the rose