The Name of the Rose Themes

Umberto Eco was a professor of semiotics—the study of how people understand and make meaning out of signs and symbols. So it’s no surprise that The Name of the Rose is so concerned with the process of interpretation and the relationship between signs and their meanings. William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk spend much of the novel trying to solve a series of mysterious murders at an abbey, so they’re constantly searching for and…

William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk’s investigation into the mysterious deaths at the abbey increasingly revolves around the abbey’s library, where many of the dead monks worked as scholars, scribes and illuminators. Although monks may work in the scriptorium, few are authorized to enter the library, a vast labyrinth accessible only through hidden doors. As William and Adso find their way through the labyrinth, they also come closer to unraveling the mystery—not only…

Over the course of seven days at the abbey, Jorge of Burgos and William of Baskerville share several debates on the subject of laughter. The significance of these conversations only becomes clear at the end of the novel, when Jorge is revealed as the perpetrator of the murders. All of his actions were intended, in one way or another, to preserve the secrecy of a forbidden book hidden in the abbey’s library: the sole surviving…

Throughout the novel, William of Baskerville critiques the medieval church for the extreme harshness of its judgments—against religious dissenters, against those standing accused of “heresy,” and even against the behavior of the clergy. The medieval Catholic Church set up the Inquisition, a church judicial body tasked with arresting and executing those who refused to conform to the prevailing theological orthodoxy. Jews, sectarian splinter groups like Fra Dolcino’s Pseudo Apostles, and even people accused of…