The Name of the Rose Page #7

Guilty is Remigio de Varagine... who,

in addition to unrepentant of his former

heresies, was caught attempting to escape

after murdering Severinus.

REMIGIO:
That's a lie! I never killed the herbalist

or anyone else in this abbey!

BERNARDO:
I, therefore, request you to confirm my

sentence, My lord abbot.

ABBOT:
My heart is filled with sorrow... but I

can find no reason to contest the just

sentence of the Holy Inquisition.

BERNARDO:
And you, William of Baskerville?

WILLIAM:
Yes. He is guilty. Guilty of having,

in his youth misinterpreted the message

of the Ggspels. And he is guilty of

having confused the love of poverty with

the blind destruction of wealth and property.

But, my lord abbot, he is innocent of

the crimes that have bathed your abbey in

blood. For brother Remigio cannot read

Greek. And this entire mystery hinges on

the theft and possession of a book written

in Greek and hidden in some secret part

of the library.

BERNARDO:
Since the verdict of the Inquisition has

been disputed by Brother William, we are

obliged to extract the prisoner's confession

to murder.

Take him to the forge and show him the

instruments.

REMIGIO:
I'll confess anything you want, but don't

torture me. I can't live through it, not

like Salvatore.

BERNARDO:
Very well. Why did you kill them?

REMIGIO:
Why? I don't know why.

BERNARDO:
Because you were inspired by the devil?

REMIGIO:
Yes. That's it.

I was inspired by the devil.

I am inspired by the devil!

Adrammelech, Lucifer, I summon you, lords

of hell! Alastor! Azazel!

BERNARDO:
The shepherd has done his duty, and the

infected sheep must now be consigned to

the purifying flame.

WILLIAM:
You may burn Brother Remigio... but you

willl not put a stop to the crimes being

committed in this abbey! Other monks will

meet their deaths here... and they also

will have black fingers and black tongues!

MICHELE:
Your Eminence, I beg of you.

We Franciscans are as appalled as you by

Brother William's outburst.

ENVOY:
Again, we have seen that your theories

protect heretics and lead to murder.

The debate is concluded.

MICHELE:
No.

BERNARDO:
It seems Brother William of Baskerville

has relapsed into the errors of which

he was formerly purged. Having sought

yet again to shield a heretic from just

punishment by the Inquisition, he will

accompany me to Avignon for confirmation

of my sentence by His Holiness Pope John.

WILLIAM:
I'm right.

ADSO (V.O.):
If only I could find the book and prove

that Bernardo Gui was wrong!

But the Antichrist was victorious once

more... and nothing seemed to be able to

hinder him further.

JORGE:
When the pyres are lighted tonight...

let the flames purify each of us in his

own heart.

Let us return to what was and ever should

be the office of this abbey. The

preservation of knowledge. "Preservation,"

I say, not "search for." Because there is

no progress in the history of knowledge...

merely a continuous and sublime

recapitulation.

Let us now praise the Almighty that the

bloody-eyed and cloven-hoofed Antichrist

has been purged from our sacred precincts

and our monastery has returned to peace.

(librarian falls)

MONK:
The fifth trumpet!

MALACHIA:
It had the power of a thousand scorpions!

He told me.

MONK 1:
Who told you?

MONK 2:
His tongue is black.

MONK 3:
His fingers as black as pitch just as

Brother William foretold!

WILLIAM:
Adso!

ADSO:
It's brother Malachia, Father.

JORGE:
Malachia?

ADSO:
Yes, Father, yes.

JORGE:
Dear God! Not Malachia!

Will it never end? Malachia.

MONK:
Lord Bernardo, William of Baskerville

was right. He said...

BERNARDO:
Yes! He knew!

Just as I, too, would have known, had I

been the murderer! Find William of

Baskerville!

INT. LIBRARY

ADSO:
But we still don't know how to open the

mirror!

WILLIAM:
Perhaps by pressing the first and seventh

letters of the word "four."

ADSO:
But "four" only has four letters!

WILLIAM:
In Latin, Adso. "Quatuor," remember?

The inscription above the mirror?

ADSO:
But we have to press above an idol.

WILLIAM:
Not "idolum," as in the Latin, but

"eidolon," as in the Greek.

Meaning "image" or "reflection." Our own

reflection!

ADSO:
This way, master!

WILLIAM:
No, this way, Adso.

EXT.

(bell ringing)

(Salvatore, Remigio and the girl are led to

the stake)

INT. LIBRARY

ADSO:
Here, Q. Q and R.

WILLIAM:
Pray God we're not mistaken.

(the door opens)

WILLIAM:
Come.

(finds someone there)

Good evening, Venerable Jorge.

JORGE:
I've been expecting you these several

days past, William.

WILLIAM:
You must have flown to this chamber to

have reached it ahead of us.

JORGE:
You have discovered many things since

your arrival at this abbey... but the

short route through the labyrinth is not

among them.

So now, what is it that you want?

WILLIAM:
I want to see the book in Greek you said

was never written. A book entirely devoted

to comedy, which you hate as much as you

hate laughter.

I want to see what is probably the sole

surviving copy of the second book of the

Poetics of Aristotle.

JORGE:
William, what a magnificent librarian you

would have been!

JORGE:
Here is your well-earned reward.

WILLIAM:
Read it. Leaf through its secrets.

JORGE:
You have won.

EXT. THE STAKES - NIGHT

Close, now!

(manks in a torchlight procession)

INT. LIBRARY

WILLIAM:
"We shall now discuss the way comedy

stimulates all the like and ridiculous

by using vulgar persons and taking

pleasure from their defects."

JORGE:
Carry on, William. Read it, read it!

ADSO:
Master, please, we must hurry.

JORGE:
If the light is too dim for you, give it

to the boy. I'm sure he can read it.

WILLIAM:
I would not want my faithful pupil in

turn your poisoned pages, not without

the protection of a glove, such as I

am wearing.

(Jorge overturns the desk)

WILLIAM:
The door, quick! Before he shuts us in!

Push!

Stay, stay!

(cont'd) Venerable brother, there are many books

that speak of comedy. Why does this one

fill you with such fear?

JORGE:
Because it is by Aristotle.

WILLIAM:
Adso, this way.

EXT. THE STAKES

BERNARDO:
Do you, Salvatore, renounce the devil

and embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord

and Savior?

SALVATORE:
(singing)

BERNARDO:
Do you, Remigio de Varagine, renounce

the devil and embrace Jesus...

REMIGIO:
What for?

It's better die fast than to spend the

rest of life in prison! The devil I

renounce is you, Bernardo Gui!

BERNARDO:
(to the girl)

Do you renounce the devil and embrace

Jesus Christ as your lord and Savior?

INT. LIBRARY

WILLIAM:
But what is so alarming about laughter?

JORGE:
Laughter kills fear. And without fear,

there can be no faith. Because without

fear of the devil, there is no more need

of God.

WILLIAM:
But you will not eliminate laughter by

eliminating that book.

JORGE:
No, to be sure. Laughter will remain

the common man's recreation... but what

would happen if, because of this book

learned men were to pronounce it

permissible to laugh at everything?

Can we laugh at God? The world would

relapse into chaos.

Therefore, I seal that which was not to

be said and the tomb I become.

(throws his candle onto the books)

WILLIAM:
That's him! He was there, behind

the arch!

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