Brown believes ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to be simply “an entertaining story that promotes spiritual and discussion debate” and see the book “as a positive catalyst for the introspection and exploration for our faith” Do you agree? Justify your answer.

Topic:  Brown believes ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to be simply “an entertaining story that promotes spiritual and discussion debate” and see the book “as a positive catalyst for the introspection and exploration for our faith” Do you agree? Justify your answer.

Name: Kinjal Patel

Paper Name: The New Literature

Paper No: 13

Roll No: 14

Semester: 4

Year: 2015

Submitted to: S.B.Gardi, Department of English Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji, Bhavnagar University. Gujarat, India

Gmail Address: patelkinjal.u21@gmail.com

                         

                                       



      



 

About Novel:

The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris, when they become involved in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to Mary Magdalene. The title of the novel refers, among other things, to the finding of the first murder victim in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and posed like Leonardo Da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a pentagram drawn on his chest in his own blood. The Da Vinci Code provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has, however, been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church, and consistently criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracies. The novel nonetheless became a worldwide bestseller that sold 80 million copies as of 2009 and has been translated into 44 languages.

About Author:

Daniel "Dan" Brown (born June 22, 1964) is a renowned American author of thriller fiction who is best known for the 2003 bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period, and feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 52 languages, and as of 2012, sold over 200 million copies. Two of them, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, have been adapted into films.

Brown's novels that feature the lead character Robert Langdon also include historical themes and Christianity as motifs, and as a result, have generated controversy. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a 'constant spiritual journey' himself, and says that his book The Da Vinci Code is simply "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith."

Plot Summary:

Louvre curator and Priory of Sion Grand Master Jacques Saunière is fatally shot one night at the museum by an albino Catholic monk named Silas, who is working on behalf of someone he knows only as the Teacher, who wishes to discover the location of the "keystone", an item crucial to the search for the Holy Grail.

After Sauniere’s body is discovered in the pose of the Vitruvian Man, the police summon Harvard Professor Robert Langdon, who is in town on business. Police Captain Bezu Fache tells him that he was summoned to help the police decode the cryptic message Saunière left during the final minutes of his life. The message includes a Fibonacci sequence out of order.

Langdon explains to Fache that Saunière was a leading authority on the subject of goddess artwork and that the pentacle Saunière drew in his own blood represents an allusion to the goddess and not "devil worship", as Fache says.

A police cryptographer, Sophie Neveu, secretly explains to Langdon that she is Sauniere’s estranged granddaughter, and that Fache thinks Langdon is the murderer, because her grandfather's message said "PS Find Robert Langdon", which she says Fache had erased prior to Langdon's arrival. Neveu is troubled by memories of her grandfather's involvement in a secret pagan group.

However, she understands that her grandfather intended Langdon to decipher the code, which she and Langdon find leads them to a safe deposit box at the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich. Neveu and Langdon escape from the police and visit the bank. In the safe deposit box they find the keystone: a cryptex, a cylindrical, hand-held vault with five concentric, rotating dials labeled with letters. When these are lined up correctly, they unlock the device. If the cryptex is forced open, an enclosed vial of vinegar ruptures and dissolves the message inside the cryptex, which was written on papyrus. The box containing the cryptex contains clues to its password.

Langdon and Neveu take the keystone to the house of Langdon's friend, Sir Leigh Teabing, an expert on the Holy Grail. There, Teabing explains that the Grail is not a cup, but a tomb containing the bones of Mary Magdalene. The trio then flees the country on Teabing's private plane, on which they conclude that the proper combination of letters spell out Neveu's given name, "SOFIA." Opening the cryptex, they discover a smaller cryptex inside it, along with another riddle that ultimately leads the group to the tomb of Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey.

During the flight to Britain, Neveu reveals the source of her estrangement from her grandfather, ten years earlier. Arriving home unexpectedly from university, Neveu clandestinely witnesses a spring fertility rite conducted in the secret basement of her grandfather's country estate. From her hiding place, she is shocked to see her grandfather having sex with a woman at the center of a ritual attended by men and women who are wearing masks and chanting praise to the goddess. She flees the house and breaks off all contact with Saunière. Langdon explains that what she witnessed was an ancient ceremony known as Hieros gamos or "sacred marriage".

By the time they arrive at Westminster Abbey, Teabing is revealed to be the Teacher for whom Silas is working. Teabing wishes to use the Holy Grail, which he believes is a series of documents establishing that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and bore children, in order to ruin the Vatican. He compels Langdon at gunpoint to solve the second cryptex's password, which Langdon realizes is "APPLE." Langdon secretly opens the cryptex and removes its contents before destroying it in front of Teabing. Teabing is arrested by Fache, who by now knows that Langdon was innocent. Bishop Aringarosa, realizing that Silas has been used to murder innocent people, rushes to help the police find him. When the police find Silas hiding in an Opus Dei Center, he assumes that they are there to kill him, and he rushes out, accidentally shooting Bishop Aringarosa. Bishop Aringarosa survives but is informed that Silas was found dead later from a bullet wound.

The final message inside the second keystone leads Neveu and Langdon to Rosslyn Chapel, whose docent turns out to be Neveu's long-lost brother, whom Neveu had been told died as a child in the car accident that killed her parents. The guardian of Rosslyn Chapel, Marie Chauvel Saint Clair, is Neveu's long-lost grandmother. It is revealed that Neveu is a descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. The Priory of Sion hid her identity to protect her from possible threats to her life.

The real meaning of the last message is that the Grail is buried beneath the small pyramid directly below the inverted glass pyramid of the Louvre. It also lies beneath the "Rose Line," an allusion to "Roslyn." Langdon figures out this final piece to the puzzle in the last pages of the book, but he does not appear inclined to tell anyone about this.

One of the most recent controversies that have graced television and the covers of newspapers is the topic of Dan Brown’s newest novel. The Da Vinci Code, what makes this book so controversial is that Brown weaves a story about a museum curator with a secret life, a historian and how the church has been on a bloody rampage for several years trying to cover up the “truth” about Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Dan Brown posts this disclaimer before the story starts:

“All descriptions of artwork, architecture documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate”

This statement forces us to see the novel with many contexts.  On one the hand the is a thriller dealing with murder mystery. The novel deals with religious aspects as it claims to reveal the secret of the Church. The novel divides the opinion of people. Some believe the details in the novel to be true as it depicts the institutes like Opus Dei.

There is a realistic picture of the heads of Church and people related to the Church involved in various activities. In the novel information regarding faith, knowledge, history, art, religion of Christianity and Paganism, fiction, facts mystery lead us to inevitable discussion and debate. The simple and entertaining story of the novel works as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration for our faith.

Setting, Language and Meaning:

The story is set in various historic and religious sites, such as the Temple Church on Fleet Street and Webminister Abbey. Because The Da Vinci Code is targeted toward the widest range of readership, the language follows the action, suspense, and thrill of the story in that it is fast paced and fall of dialogue among the characters. Brown uses quite a bit of symbolism in the story, most of it relates to the religious symbolism and artwork that provide the clues to solve the murder of Sauniere and the location of the Holy Grail.

Structure:

The Da Vinci Code is divided into 105 chapters with a prologue and an Epilogue. The structure of the book is such that, just about every time there is a scene change or the point of views changes, a new chapter begins.

Fact in Fiction:

The Da Vinci Code is striking in the way the fictional plot is woven into several other intriguing historical plots. References to actual historical figures such as Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Constantine the Great, and Leonardo Da Vinci have prompted scholars to write article and books responding to claims about them made by the fictional Sauniere, Langdon and Teabing.

Further, references to real organizations such as Opus Dei and the Vatican have inspired many readers to question Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.

Through the novel follows it’s fictional characters during the course of only a few days, the  search for the answers to symbols, clues, and riddles Sauniere leaves behind is related to the search for answers to mysteries in the Bible as well as the history of the quest for the Holy Grail.

Mystery:

The major appeal to Brown’s novel is its construction of profound mysteries, both fictional and historical. It deploys one of the most conventional elements of the classic mystery genre only to dismiss it immediately: the novel begins with a murder but reveal the identity of the murderer in the second chapter. The central mysteries in the novel are the reasons behind Saunier’s murder and the possible organization involve of the meaning of various clues and readers he leaves behind and the truth about Sophie’s family. Equally important is the novel’s introduction to real historical mysteries. What role did Mary Magdalene play in Jesus’s life? What was the real role of Constantine in Shaping Christianity’s future? How credible are the Gnostic Gospels? What is the history of the priory of Sion and who were its members?

Historical context:

Though there is no explicit reference to the year in which it takes place, The Da Vinci Code is set time contemporaneous with its publication in 2003. The narrative refers to several recent events, from the construction of the New York headquarters of Opus Dei in 2000 to the scandalous public internment of Opus Dei member and FBI spy Robert Hanssen in April of 200t1. Brown’s continuous portrayal of Opus Dei appeared as the organization struggled to redeem its reputation after being accused by form member of using cultish techniques.

Brown’s historian Leigh Teabing brings out the second relevant historical event when he discusses the Council of Nicaea, a gathering called by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great to unite the government with the Catholic Church. During this meeting the Bible was officially canonized and Jesus’s divinity was made concrete. Teabing argues that Constantine the Great “collated” the Bible and suppressed the Gnostic gospels and that Jesus’s divinity was debated.

Brown’s theories are most convincing to those who see history as a conspiracy, not as a factual account of the past.

Critical Overview:

The Da Vinci Code debuted at number one on the New York Times best seller list, and generated high praise from many critics for its entertainment value. Reviewing the novel for the New York Times Janet Maslin declares; “In this gleefully erudite suspense novel, Mr. Brown takes the format he has been developing through three earlier novels and fine –tunes it to blockbuster proportion”.

The year after it was published some critics began analyzing the reasons behind it success. Writing for the New Statesman, Jason Cowley notes that the  novel brings out “ many of the most urgent political themes of our time- religious extremism, the idea that history itself is a vast conspiracy, the power of secret network societies over our lives , the global the reach of the internet , the omnipresence satellite surveillance and other new technologies “. More specifically, Cowley argues that “In the aftermath of the events of September 2001 and the invasion of Iraq, in a world where mysterious and opaque global network of religious terrorists called al-Queada threatens the west as well as, it is believed, commutating via encoded messages, “ the novel” carries a powerful political charge.”

Art:

Browns uses description of works of fine art to prove that art can tell stories that history tends to obscure. The these works of art include Da Vinci’s Last Supper, Madonna of the Rocks, and Mona Lisa which hide symbols of goddess worship and story of the Magdalene; the Church of Saint- Sulpice, which still contains an obelisk, a sign of pagan worship: and tarot cards, which hide themes of pagan mythology. These art objects are constantly viewed by people who see them without seeing hidden meanings.

Conclusion:

The novel is obviously fiction as a thriller that follows its protagonists through some extremely narrow escapes and ends. The novel suggests that widely accepted histories are simply works constructed by those in power has motivated historians to critique its liberal interpretations of the past. Its portrayal of religious fanaticism plays into reader’s fear of spiritual politics, especially in the wake of recent terrorist acts committed by religious fundamentalists.

“Everyone loves a conspiracy”, writes Brown very few books 

have enjoyed the commercial success that is enjoyed the com by 

“The Da Vinci Code’. The novel has something for everyone, and too much for many of us. The novel deals with a fast- moving  murder story, puzzles, riddles, and anagrams, art, historical, mysteries and multiple conspiracy theories, on his website Brown notes:

“White it is my belief that the theories discussed by these characters have merit, each individual reader’s viewpoints and come to his or her own interpretations. My hope in writing this novel was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history.”

Thus we can say that Brown believes- “The Da Vinci Code” is simply an entertaining story that promotes spiritual and discussion debate and see the book as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration for our faith.

References:

  www.wikipedia.com

2.   www.bookrags.com

3.   www.sparknotes.com

4.   Study material