The Name of the Rose

“Terce, in which Adso, in the scriptorium, reflects on the history of his order and on the destiny of books”

After a deep sleep, Adso is rested but confused. In the scriptorium, with Malachi’s permission, Adso leafs through a catalogue, but his mind drifts as he observes the monks instead. They work serenely, causing him to reflect on the love monks have for books, and for knowledge. Glancing at “the mysterious titles” in the catalogue, Adso is “not surprised that the mystery of the crimes should involve the library” (214). He worries that his Order has become too hungry to exchange knowledge for wealth, power, and influence, with Abo as the prime example: “Just as knights displayed armor and standards, our abbots displayed illuminated manuscripts” (215). “Afraid of [his] own thoughts,” Adso retreats to the kitchen, where the cooks he has befriended give him the “best morsels” (217).

“Sext, in which Adso receives the confidences of Salvatore, which cannot be summarized in a few words, but which cause him long and concerned meditation”

Eating in the kitchen, Adso sees Salvatore eating a pie. The latter tells him about his difficult childhood, leaving his village and roaming about the world. In his mishmash of languages, he relates adventures and crimes that Adso, in his later years, will always remember. Adso contemplates “the simple,” a term William and other learned men use to refer to the populace, but also to the unlearned. Salvatore was “simple, but he was not a fool” (220). As Salvatore regales Adso with stories, Adso struggles to understand human beings and their misdeeds. After thirty years of wandering, Salvatore arrived at Casale, where he was taken in by the Minorites, met Remigio, and was taken on as his personal assistant. Following up on Abo’s insinuations, Adso asks Salvatore directly about whether he has met Fra Dolcino, the infamous monk who established a heretic cult around himself. This question irritates Salvatore and he departs. Adso wonders who this mysterious monk was who inspires terror in everyone. He resolves to question Ubertino.

“Nones, in which William speaks to Adso of the great river of heresy, of the function of the simple within the church, of his doubts concerning the possibility of knowing universal laws; and almost parenthetically he tells how he deciphered the necromantic signs left by Venantius”

Adso finds William and Nicholas at work on new glasses, and admits his confusion over the various heresies about which he has heard during the past few days. He asks William to enlighten him, and a long discussion follows in which his master attempts various analogies to demonstrate “how every movement inherits the offspring of others” (234), and how and why various heresies are both alluring to outcasts and threatening to those in power, either ecclesiastical or civic. Struggling to understand, Adso cries, “But who was right…who was wrong” (240), to which William answers: “they were all right in their way, and all were mistaken” (241). This answer torments Adso, who cries “why won’t you tell me where the truth is?” (241). William refers to Roger Bacon, the medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who urged the study of nature, and who has greatly influenced William’s world view. Bacon, and William, too, are not attempting to find universal truths, which a wise man knows is nearly impossible. Their discussion is interrupted by a summons from the abbot, and suddenly William recalls that he has big news: he has deciphered the mysterious signs made by Venantius, into a cryptic phrase: “The hand of the idol works on the first and the seventh of the four.” Adso proclaims this message to be “an indecipherable riddle” (245-46), but William is determined to unravel the mystery.

“Vespers, in which the abbot speaks again with the visitors, and William has some astounding ideas for deciphering the riddle of the labyrinth and succeeds in the most rational way. Then William and Adso eat cheese in batter”

Abo informs them that the person entrusted with the command of the visiting French soldiers and the papal delegation is Bernard Gui, a former inquisitor, which greatly dismays William. Abo worries that the mysterious deaths will have to be revealed to Gui, and that the inquisitor will conduct his own investigation, which means Abo must relinquish some power in his own abbey. William reminds the impatient Abo that these mysteries cannot be solved in two days, and again requests access to the library, which angers his superior. Abo departs, and Nicholas arrives with bad news: the new lenses have broken, and glazing work is over for the day. Without glasses, William has lost another day of investigating. He suddenly recalls that, with a “machine that tells us where north is” (i.e., a compass), they would be able to penetrate the labyrinth (252). They consider asking Severinus if they can use his magnet, but then William decides instead to map the Aedificium from the outside, using the principles of mathematics as his guide. They walk the entire perimeter and Adso takes notes, drawing a picture of what the library would look like from above. They discover that the library has fifty-six rooms, four of them heptagonal and fifty-two more or less square, with “the maximum of confusion achieved with the maximum of order…a sublime calculation” (256). Armed with the map, they will return to the labyrinth to mark the dead ends. Then they will investigate how the books are organized. William suspects a secret code governs that system too, with hints contained in the carved scrolls above each doorway. After William retires to his cell, Adso goes in search of Ubertino.

“After Compline, in which Ubertino tells Adso the story of Fra Dolcino, after which Adso recalls other stories or reads them on his own in the library, and then he has an encounter with a maiden, beautiful and terrible as an army arrayed for battle”

Adso tells Ubertino that he wants to learn of the Dolcinian heresy so that he can be wise. Ubertino begins his story by hearkening back thirty years to a Gherardo Segarelli, whose teachings about a life of penitence and poverty became perverted by lust for women and power. The notorious Fra Dolcino, Ubertino explains, resumed these teachings, but “in more heretical form” (266), declaring himself the only apostle of God, and preaching that anyone can engage in sexual congress, without marriage vows. Adso wonders if Salvatore and Remigio had been followers, or perhaps just sympathizers, of Fra Dolcino, but Ubertino silences him. A discussion follows about love, the feminine form, carnal desire, and woman as an instrument of the Devil. Adso becomes physically aroused at these descriptions, so Ubertino sends him away. But the discussion has kindled “a strange fire” in Adso, and he feels strongly “inclined to disobedience” (274). He decides to visit the library alone and becomes entranced by the illuminations in various books, many of womanly form; overcome, he runs to the kitchen for water. Once there, he interrupts some sort of encounter, with one person escaping and the other, a lovely maiden, remaining. At first, she is afraid, but Adso mollifies her. She makes sexual advances, and Adso succumbs. After their tryst, he falls asleep, and when he awakens, the girl is gone. On the floor is the bundle she had thrown aside when she seduced him. Adso opens it and finds an enormous, eviscerated heart. Overcome with horror, Adso faints.

“Night, in which Adso, distraught, confesses to William and meditates on the function of woman in the plan of creation, but then discovers the corpse of a man”

As Adso comes to, he finds himself on the floor with William bathing his face. Adso tells him about the heart, but William reassures him that it likely belongs to an animal and had come from the kitchen. Overcome with remorse, Adso asks William to administer the sacrament of confession, and admits his sexual encounter with the young peasant girl from the village. His master admonishes Adso but also absolves him, telling of the temptations of womankind and also their great virtues. They then speculate on the events of the night, and William guesses the mysterious man who escaped the kitchen unseen was either Remigio or Salvatore. Adso is still agitated, despite his master’s kindness, so William tells him to go pray. They encounter Alinardo praying for the missing Berengar, and his apocalyptic ruminations give them an idea: the murderer seems to be arranging the bodies in symbolic ways, according to the dire predictions contained in the book of the Apocalypse. If they are reading the symbols correctly, a third victim would be found in or near water. They rush to the balenary where they find Berengar, dead in a bathtub.