A comparison & contrast of the inquisitions and censorship of ideas in the novels the Name of the Rose & Leo the African

Running Head : A Comparison

A comparison contrast of the inquisitions and censorship of ideas in the novels the Name of the Rose Leo the African

p A comparison contrast of the inquisitions and censorship of ideas in the novels the Name of the Rose Leo the African

Introduction

The novel `The Name of the Rose ' set in a monastic library , relates to the medieval times . Those who form part of the august library are posse of books , patrons , censorship , and the library itself . They are also the `characters ' of the book

. The main story relates to the year 1327 , when Brother William Baskerville arrives to investigate heresy among the monks in an Italian Abbey a series of bizarre murders overshadows the mission (Library Journal )The book contains details of the sincere efforts to investigate the genuine causes of tension between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire . Brother William goes to the root causes of the murder , as murder within the holy precincts of the Abbey is a grave and noticeable event . He sees it as the challenge to truth and goes for the analytical approach from scholarly historical , theological and philosophical perspectives . The 50-year-old monk has reached the Benedictine monastery to carry out the specified responsibility . He is baffled with more murders , seven of them precisely , killed in a brutal but symbolic style , during the period of investigation , and they happen in bizarre pattern . Baskerville meets Jorge Burgos , who is committed to destroy heresy . He is the blind monk Baskerville works like the professional detective . But the tools of his investigation are compatible with the medieval times . They are coded manuscripts , secret symbols and the eerie labyrinth of the abbey , where normally stoic silence prevails . It is better to have the world united than the world divided but it is better to have the world divided than the world destroyed ' said Mr . Winston Churchill at the time of II World War . Though this statement was made in the context of war , this it is applicable as well to the conditions obtaining in the medieval times in Europe , between the church and the secular forces . The theological wars and its after effects on the psyche of the society were no less dangerous than the actual war . Why the wars between the secular and divine forces were the recurring feature of the medieval era and under what compelling circumstances Pope had to act as a practicing politician and allow Inquisitors and church officials to stamp out the messiahs and prophets who disagreed with the doctrines of church ? The negative and unreasonable ideas dominated the thinking process and the theological speculation was part of that violent era . The Christian religion , as it was practiced then , was more about cross on the neck than Christ in the heart . Umberto Eco and Amin Maalouf provide the graphic pictures of grim situations prevailing as part of the religious beliefs . Religious followers generally fight over the outer covering than the inner essence . Read this interesting observation "But...