San Antonio College English Department | Home Page | Chart

Names

Oral

In the oral culture, names are seen as giving human beings power over what is named (Ong 33).

Example

• From the 2000 film, Gladiator
In the sand of the Coliseum floor
Commodus: Rise. Rise.
[Maximus stands up, clenching an arrow head in his right hand] Commodus: Your fame is well deserved, Spaniard. I don't think there's ever been a gladiator to match you. As for this young man, he insists you are Hector reborn. Or was it Hercules? Why doesn't the hero reveal himself and tell us all your real name? You do have a name.
Maximus: My name is Gladiator. [turns away from Commodus] Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name.
Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus] My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
[Commodus trembles in disbelief]
Quintus: Arms! [Praetorians point their spears at the gladiators while the Colosseum crowd chants for them to live. Commodus shakes his head and motions the crowd for silence. He then raises his fist and reluctantly gives the thumbs-up signal]. ....

[Later at dinner] Juba [to Maximus]: You have a great name. He must kill your name before he kills you.

Trailer on YouTube | Gladiator - IMDB Page

The literate culture sees names as labels (Ong 33).

A Rose By Any Other Name

In the classic play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Juliet speaks the immortal lines - that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.

The issue is that Romeo is a Montague - the hated enemies of Juliet's family, the Capulets. Juliet has just seen Romeo at a party and fallen in love with him. He would be perfect for her - if only he wasn't part of the Montague family.

Her sad pondering says:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. ...

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Juliet is offering herself to Romeo, and saying that if Romeo gives up his own name, he will have her love in return.

-- BellaOnline

Exception: Primally-strong emotions trigger a default back to the oral mode.

English Dept. | SAC | Top