William of Baskerville

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William of Baskerville is a fictional Franciscan friar from the novel Il Nome Della Rosa (The Name of the Rose) by Umberto Eco. Brother William was an inquisitor, who presided some trials in England and Italy, where he distinguished himself by his perspicacity along with great humility. In numerous cases he decided the accused was innocent. Later he left the job as an inquisitor. In the 1986 movie The Name of the Rose, Sean Connery played the role of Brother William of Baskerville.

[edit] Name and Allusion

The fictional monk, William of Baskerville, alludes both to the fictional sleuth Sherlock Holmes and to William of Ockham. The name itself is derived from William of Ockham and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Hound of the Baskervilles. William of Ockham, who lived during the time of the novel, first put forward the principle known as "Ockham's Razor": often summarised as the dictum that one should always accept as most likely the simplest explanation that accounts for all the facts (a method used by William of Baskerville in the novel), similar to Sherlock Holmes' familiar assertion that when one has eliminated the impossible, whatever remains – however improbable – must be the truth.

[edit] Characteristics

In the book, The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco's description of brother William of Baskerville is very similar to Sherlock Holmes. "His height surpassed that of a normal man and he was so thin that he seemed still taller. His eyes were sharp and penetrating; his thin and slightly beaky nose gave his countenance the expression of man on the lookout, save in certain moments of sluggishness of which I shall speak. His chin also denoted a firm will, though the long face covered with freckles ... could occasionally express hesitation and puzzlement." (The Name of the Rose, By Umberto Eco, Translated from Italian by William Weaver).

Compare it with Arthur Conan Doyle's description of Sherlock Holmes. “In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination.”

Eco also portrays the behavioral characteristics of William of Baskerville similar to Sherlock Holmes. “His energy seemed inexhaustible when a burst of activity overwhelmed him. But from time to time...he moved backwards in moments of inertia, and I watched him lie for hours on my pallet in my cell, uttering barely a few monosyllables, without contracting a single muscle of his face. On those occasions a vacant, absent expression appeared in his eyes, and I would have suspected he was in the power of some vegetal substance capable of producing visions if the obvious temperance of his life had not led me to reject the thought.”

Dr. Watson illustrates Sherlock Holmes’ behavior as, “Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting room, hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion."

Sherlock Holmes' use of cocaine is also similar to brother William’s use of the mysterious herb. The book explains that brother William used to collect some herbs that has a narcotic effect. “…he sometimes stopped at the edge of a meadow, at the entrance to a forest, to gather some herb…and he would then chew it with an absorbed look. He kept some of it with him, and ate it in the moments of great tension.”

[edit] Trivia

• Sean Connery's career was at such a low point when he read for the role that Columbia Pictures refused to finance the film when director Jean-Jacques Annaud cast him as William of Baskerville.
• William of Baskerville is amazed himself when he discovers a book in a version commented by a certain "Umberto of Bologna" - a reference to Umberto Eco, who teaches semiotics at the University of Bologna.