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From: Lisa Entwistle
T1: lisamari@webtv.net
Date: 3/17/98
Time: 11:44:14 AM
Remote Name: 207.79.35.180
During this chapter on poverty, a unflattering side of the monks is represented. Through the observations by William, Eco seems to be presenting his own judgement about the poverty of the church. He seems to feel that it is no place for the church to keep riches and be influential in matters of politics. William himsefk owns many items, however, that would be considered material goods if the church indeed was to be poor. His glasses and the other instruments that he uses for his deductions are often to be considered magic in the novel, but would most definitely not fit under the category of poverty. He points out numerous passages from the Bible, however, in which the poverty of Christ is reiterated. It seems that Eco is saying that there is no need for absolute poverty in the church, but the riches that it collects and the political influence it holds is nowhere near the ideals that the Bible was written for.