Born in Exter, New Hampshire circa 1964, author Dan Brown has become one of the most popular of current American novelists, virtually entirely on the basis of his 2003 bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. Brown had actually introduced that novel’s protagonist, Havard symbology professor Robert Langdon, in an earlier book, Angels and Demons (2000). But …
As someone who had spent his life exploring the hidden interconnectivity of disparate symbols and ideologies, Langdon viewed the world as a web of profoundly intertwined histories and events. The connections may be invisible, he often preached to his symbology classes at Harvard, but they are always there, buried just beneath the surface (Ch. 3, …
The dominant theme of The Da Vinci Code, clearly, is the urgent necessity of reclaiming a holistic spirituality for humankind. Langdon’s reflections in Chapter 28 perhaps state this theme most clearly: “Mother Earth had become a man’s world, and the gods of destruction and war were taking their toll. The male ego had spent two …
Metaphor Analysis Whatever its flaws or merits as literature, The Da Vinci Code cannot be accused of suffering from a lack of symbols and metaphors! Indeed, how could any novel starring a professor of religious symbology be other than packed full of multiple, multivalent symbols, revealing level upon level of meaning over time? As Langdon …
Summary: Back in Paris, Langdon returns to the Louvre, with its infamous glass pyramid entrance. Line by line, Langdon reflects on Saunière’s final message: “The Holy Grail ‘neath ancient Roslin waits”—a reference to the earth’s original prime meridian, which ran though Paris. “The blade and chalice guarding o’er Her gates”—the miniature pyramid inside the larger …
Robert Langdon: “Harrison Ford in Harris tweed” (p. 10), Langdon is a scholar in the obscure and complicated field of religious and mythic symbology, but he also possesses physical attractiveness and personal charm. He is an intellectual action hero, capable of brilliant flashes of insight, with a wealth of detailed information at his command—yet he …
Summary: Marie tells Sophie that both of her parents were of Merovingian background—descendants of Mary Magdalene and Jesus. She and her brother, therefore, are direct carriers of the secret royal bloodline, and were fiercely protected by the Priory of Sion—even to the point of being separated from each other and raised apart following the car …
Chapter 104 Summary: At Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, the so-called “Cathedral of Codes,” Langdon and Sophie seek the ultimate answer, the final goal of their quest: the location of the Sangreal documents and Mary Magdalene’s remains. Saunière’s final message, inside the second cryptex, promised: “The Holy Grail ‘neath ancient Roslin waits.” As they enter the …
Summary: Bezu Fache visits Bishop Aringarosa in St. Mary’s Hospital. Aringarosa offers the Vatican’s money to Fache to distribute to the families of Silas’ murder victims. Fache returns the bishops’ ring that Aringarosa gave to his pilot as a bribe to change course. Analysis: This chapter serves the important function of helping readers re-evaluate Bezu …
Summary: In Kensington Gardens, the still-bleeding Silas breathes a final prayer for Aringarosa, then dies. Analysis: This brief chapter uses rain as a nearly baptismal image—“Raising his bloody hands to pray, he watched the raindrops caress his fingers, turning them white again” (p. 459)—to suggest that Silas is being cleansed of his sins, “forgiven,” to …
