The analysis of a literary work The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The analysis of a literary work

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dan Brown’s Short Biography

 

 

Dan Brown, best-selling author of 'The Da Vinci Code' was born on June 22, 1964.

 

Brown grew up as the eldest of three children in Exeter, New Hampshire and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, a decidedly up-market school where his father was employed as a math teacher, in 1982. His mother, Constance, was a professional musician principally involved in performing sacred music. Although Dan Brown actually attended local public schools until the ninth grade he nonetheless lived with his family on the Exeter campus and participated in a college related life that was also informed by christian values - singing in the church choir and attending church camp.

 

Brown then attended Amherst College, graduating with a degree in English and Spanish in 1986 and spent several subsequent years attempting to establish himself as a singer-songwriter and pianist with only marginal success.

 

These endeavors did, however, lead him to live in Los Angeles where he taught Spanish at Beverly Hills Preparatory School to supplement his income and where he also met Blythe Newlon. This lady, - twelve years his senior, was then employed as Artistic Director of the National Academy of Songwriters. As their relationship developed Blythe used her influence in attempts to further Dan Brown's musical career.

 

It happened, however, that despite Dan Brown's accepted musical talents, (four CDs of his music were produced and his backers spoke of him as 'the next Barry Manilow'), his somewhat preppy and slightly reserved manner contributed to an overall inability to gain sufficient appreciation as a performance artist to justify continued efforts to establish himself professionally. In 1993 he decided to return to New Hampshire and secured a teaching job, in English, at Phillips Exeter Academy, Blythe Newlon accompanied him.

 

Dan Brown puts his writing career down to reading a copy of Sidney Sheldon's "Doomsday Conspiracy" which he had found on the beach whilst on holiday in Tahiti in 1994, saying, "I finished the book and thought, 'Hey, I could do that'."

 

In 1995 Dan Brown and Blythe, (now describing herself as an art historian), wrote, under the pseudonym Danielle Brown '187 Men to Avoid: A Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman'. The following year Dan Brown became a full-time writer, Dan Brown and Blythe Newlon were married in 1997, and he published his first thriller, Digital Fortress, in 1998. He went on to write 'Angels and Demons' and 'Deception Point'. In the early pages of 'Deception Point' there appeared an Acknowledgement where Brown thanked "Blythe Brown for her tireless research and creative input." 'The Da Vinci Code' which seems also to have benefitted from such "research and input" was published in March 2003 and sold 6,000 copies on the first day - going to the top of the New York Times' Best Seller list in the first week of publication.

 

Dan Brown and his siblings donated $2.2 million to the Phillips Exeter Academy in 2004 establishing the "Richard G. Brown Technology Endowment", to help "provide computers and high-tech equipment for students in need" to honor their father, who had taught there for 35 years.

 

Richard G. Brown in his day had also been a 'best seller' having written the celebrated mathematics textbook “Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus with Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis”. His abilities as a teacher of math had even led to his being awarded the "Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching" by President George H. W. Bush.

 

The sales figures for The Da Vinci Code kept on growing - to the extent that it became established as the fastest-selling adult novel ever with some 40 million copies sold that had reputedly earned Dan Brown around £140 million by early 2006. A deal has also been struck with Columbia Pictures for a multi-million pound film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, starring Tom Hanks as Langdon and directed by Ron Howard.

 

Plot of The Da Vinci Code

 

Robert Langdon (first introduced in Angels and Demons) is a Harvard Professor of art history and religious symbology. He has spent a lifetime exploring religions and theology and explaining the use of their symbols in art and history. He is a veritable gold mine of information about the Catholic Church, pagan religions, and religious mysteries. As The Da Vinci Code begins, he is in Paris to give a speech and to meet with Jacques Saunière, the curator of the Louvre, although he's unaware of why Saunière wants to meet with him. Unfortunately, Saunière is murdered in the Grand Hall of the Louvre and the French police get Langdon out of bed, ostensibly to help them understand the information and symbols Saunière left at the murder scene. Actually, Langdon is their prime suspect and they want to see if he inadvertently gives incriminating information before they arrest him. Trapped within his own gallery, Saunière had enough time to leave clues to his killer and to the information for which he was murdered. Langdon, however, cannot understand the clues left behind and the captain of the French police, Bezu Fache, is certain that they point to Langdon as the killer.

 

They are interrupted at the murder scene by Sophie Neveu, a police cryptologist who claims to have broken the code of the seemingly random numbers left next to the corpse. Unknown to Bezu Fache, Sophie is also Saunière's granddaughter and she is certain the clues he left behind were meant for her and that Langdon is not only innocent, but the key to helping her understand it all. She manages to help Langdon fake an escape from the Louvre, which sends Bezu Fache away long enough so Langdon and she can study the clues left behind by Saunière. The dead body is naked and lying spread-eagle with a circle around it. They realize that Saunière was duplicating Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting, "The Vitruvian Man." They quickly decipher the information that leads them to different paintings by Da Vinci, and Sophie finds the item left behind for her by her grandfather. She then understands why he didn't want it to fall into the hands of the police. She and Langdon hit the road, one step ahead of the police and the people behind Saunière's murder who want what they've discovered.

 

All that occurs in the first few short chapters and it sets a pace, which never wanes for the rest of the book. Sophie and Langdon manage to barely escape from many dicey situations, but never in an unbelievable way. They continue to solve each ensuing puzzle and riddle they encounter, leading them deeper into more mysteries they must comprehend. Jacques Saunière was much more than just the curator of the Louvre; he raised Sophie after her parents died in an accident and he constantly entertained her with puzzles, riddles, and secret information. Sophie and Langdon soon realize that he was also a member of a secret society called the Priory of Sion, which over the centuries had included men such as Da Vinci, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Isaac Newton. Langdon is more familiar with the Priory, and he tells Sophie the story of their long history and that they purportedly keep hidden documents concerning the truth about the early Catholic church that the church never wants revealed, and that they also allegedly know the hiding spot of the Holy Grail.

 

Without giving more of the plot away, suffice it to say that everyone in this book is in the hunt for the secrets hidden by the Priory of Sion including the Grail. Some want to protect it, some want to expose it, and some want to destroy it. With the information provided to them by Jacques Saunière, Sophie and Langdon are ahead of everyone else, but police, assassins, and churchmen aren't far behind. The race is on, the tension is high, and the puzzles to be solved seem incomprehensible.

 

Along the way, Langdon educates Sophie as well as the reader in large amounts of information concerning religions, symbols, history, and the story of the Holy Grail. Dan Brown is crafty enough to have Langdon present this in a way that comes across like a professor (which Langdon is) passing it on to his class without a lot of moralistic overtones. His explanations for clues and tricks hidden within Da Vinci's paintings make you want to go look at them all and see if it's true. His comments about the early church, the origins of the gospels, and the assimilation of pagan rituals and symbols into the church's practices and holy days makes sense when he tells them and they come across as easily understood historical facts, whether true or not. The pages turn quickly as the information is presented, the latest puzzle is solved, and the skin of their teeth does the next escape.

 

The characters in The Da Vinci Code don't play second fiddle to the storyline. Robert Langdon is one of those highly intelligent people who don’t use it to lord over those with inferior educations. He's even-tempered with a touch of sardonic wit and quick to admit when he doesn't know something. Bezu Fache is the hard-driving police captain, smart, thinking one step ahead, and always aware of the political implications of what he's doing. Silas, believing everything he's doing is for God, is an albino Opus Dei monk who murders by instruction from The Teacher, an unknown man who directs the search for the Priory's secrets. Leigh Teabing is an affluent and eccentric Englishman obsessed with the quest for the Grail and disparaging of most things French. Dan Brown uses each of these characters to poke fun at their own culture and bring realism to the international scenarios necessary when dealing with secret societies, religious conspiracies, and the quest for what might be the ultimate mysteries of Christianity. The character that ties everything together and brings the proper sense of humanity and morality to the story, though, is Sophie Neveu. Dealing with the death of her beloved grandfather, coming to understand more of her past, and being the possessor of information that could change history and religion, she strikes the right tone of strength and vulnerability to make everything else in this novel believable.

 

Main Characters

 

Robert Langdon  - The male protagonist of the novel. Langdon, a professor of symbology at Harvard, is honest and trustworthy. He is also an extremely successful academic and the author of several books. Although he studies religion, Langdon does not profess any particular religion and prefers to remain an outside observer in matters of faith. He, like Sophie, has a great affection for puzzles of all kinds.

Read an in-depth analysis of Robert Langdon.

 

Sophie Neveu  - A cryptologist with the French Judicial Police, and the female protagonist of the novel. Sophie, who is about thirty years old, is attractive, single, compassionate, and very intelligent. Her grandfather raised her after her parents, brother, and grandmother died in a car accident, and her grandfather instilled in her a love of puzzles and codes. In her twenties, Sophie trained in Britain in cryptology. In the novel, she is one of the major players who attempt to crack her grandfather’s code. She is also a descendent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

 

Manuel Aringarosa  - Bishop of Opus Dei. Aringarosa is conservative in his religious

views and longs for the Church to return to strict ways. He has affection for material things that represent the power of his order. He is kind to Silas.

 

Sister Sandrine Bieil  - Nun and keeper of the Church of Saint-Sulpice. She favors loosening of church strictures and modernizing of the church, and she objects to Opus Dei’s attitude toward women. She is murdered by Silas while acting as a sentry for the Priory of Sion.

 

Marie Chauvel  - Sophie’s grandmother and Saunière’s wife. A kind and smart woman, Mary Chauvel is part of the Priory’s plan to keep the secret. She is a descendent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

 

Jerome Collet - An agent with the French Judicial Police. In some ways the classic bumbling police officer, Collet commits numerous errors during the pursuit of Sophie and Langdon. His missteps contrast with Fache’s efficiency. He believes in Sophie’s innocence, however, and proves himself to Fache in the end.

 

Bezu Fache  - The captain of the French Judicial Police. Nicknamed “the Bull,” Fache is strong, strong-willed, and religious. He has great faith in the use of technology in his work, which sometimes leads him down the wrong road. Fache’s policing methods are a bit unorthodox, but he is good at heart. The name Fache is very similar to fâché, which is French for “angry.”

 

Jacques Saunière  - The curator at the Louvre, and Sophie’s grandfather. His murder sets off the chain of events that takes place in the novel. Saunière’s scholarly passions include Leonardo Da Vinci, goddess iconography, and puzzles. He is also secretly the head of the Priory of Sion, the secret brotherhood charged with protecting the Grail, and a descendent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

 

Silas  - A monk of Opus Dei, and the murderer of Jacques Saunière. Silas, an albino, is motivated by the rejection and horror he has faced since he was young. When he falls into the orbit of Bishop Aringarosa, he finds religion and devotes himself to the strict Catholic ways of Opus Dei. He is obsessed with self-punishment and celibacy, and his goal in life is to aid the Bishop and Opus Dei.

 

Leigh Teabing - An historian and the antagonist of the novel. Sir Leigh Teabing is a knight, a Royal Historian, and an extremely wealthy man. He is crippled from polio and is not married. The Holy Grail has been his one passion for years, and the search for the Truth, which he believes to be present in the Grail, obsesses him. Eventually, his need to know turns him into a murderer. He creates an alter ego, the Teacher, who carries out his evil plot.

 

André Vernet - The president of the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich. Vernet was a friend to Jacques Saunière, and sworn protector of his secret. The immaculately groomed Vernet lives among the rich but wishes only to be immersed in culture.

 

Review

 

The Da Vinci Code is undoubtedly one of the greatest masterpieces of past decade. The book grabs your attention from the very beginning. Unexpected twists and turns of a plot don’t let you get bored. Once you started reading this book, you can’t get put it away until you find out the main secret of Jesus Christ’s heritage.

 

This thriller focuses on Robert Langdon, a Harvard University professor of symbology, who is in Paris on a speaking engagement. He is awakened in the middle of the night by the French police and implicated in the murder of the Louvre Museum curator. With some help from a French police cryptographer, Sophie Neveau, who feels that he is being wrongly accused, he manages to escape and together they embark on a quest to find the real killer. That quest leads to clues, puzzles and riddles that link back to an ancient society tasked with protecting the truth about Jesus Christ and unlocks the greatest secret in Western civilization.

 

The thriller consists of 102 short chapters and an epilogue, and in my opinion it is one of greatest advantages of Dan Brown’s style of writing.  It may sound weird but short chapters make it feel more fast-paced as the chapters quickly jump to different areas of the story. I also like the fact that the frequent chapter breaks make it easy to find a stopping point without having to quit in the middle of a chapter.

 

The writing language is vivid. Before I started reading the novel, I thought it would be difficult for me to deal with all that religious terminology and historic stuff. However, I was wrong. Dan Brown is a brilliant writer and he has a fluent pen.

 

I strongly recommend this book to those who are keen on history, love riddles and mystery, since the author pays huge attention on making very tangled story basing on historical facts. What’s also great about The Da Vinci Code is that D. Brown gives a chance to the readers to solve everything out by themselves. He doesn’t lay cards on the table until the climax and this makes the novel more dramatic. I think I could feel the tension while reading.

 

At last, The Da Vinci Code gives you plenty to think. It may influence your religious views, political views, your opinion about art and history in general. I would also recommend you not to take it too serious, don’t forget that the book is fiction. Enjoy reading.

 

Dictionary

 

Word	Definition	Translation
Prelature	The office, rank, or sphere of authority of a prelate	Статус, звание
Smirk	Smile in an irritatingly smug, conceited, or silly way	Ухмыляться
Seep	Flow or leak slowly through porous material or small holes	Просочиться
Stagger	Astonish or deeply shock	Ошеломлять
Brethren	Archaic plural form of brother	Братия
Cavity	A hole or space inside something	Полость
Reluctant	Slow and unwilling	Неохотный
Wince	To suddenly change the expression on your face as a reaction to something painful or upsetting	Морщиться
Jacquard	Material	Жаккард
Stubble	Short stiff hairs that grow on a man's face if he does not shave	стерня, щетина
Shroud	To keep information secret so that people do not know what really happened	Скрывать, окутывать
Dimple	A small hollow place on your skin, especially one on your cheek or chin when you smile	Ямочки на лице
Accentuate	To make something more noticeable	Акцентировать
Dubious	Not sure whether something is good or true; doubtful	Сомнительный
Conclave	A private and secret meeting	Конклав; тайное совещание
Unwilling	Not wanting to do something and refusing to do it	Нежелание, отказ
Sanctuary	A peaceful place that is safe and provides protection, especially for people who are in danger	Святилище, убежище
Nurture	To help a plan, idea, feeling etc. to develop	Взрастить, вырастить
Fellow scribe		Член писец
Coercion	The use of threats or orders to make someone do something they do not want to do	Принуждение
Parchments	A material used in the past for writing on, made from the skin of a sheep or a goat	Пергамент
Scramble	To struggle or compete with other people to get or reach something	Схватка, борьба
Summon	To order someone to come to a place	Вызывать
Goad	To make someone do something by annoying or encouraging them until they do it	Побуждать, подстрекать
Uneasiness	A feeling of not being relaxed and comfortable with someone	Беспокойство, тревога
Initial	Happening at the beginning	Начальный
Revulsion	A strong feeling of shock and very strong dislike	Отвращение
Hardwood	Strong heavy wood from trees such as oak, used for making furniture	Твердая древесина
Debt	A sum of money that a person or organization owes	Долг
Innocuous	Not offensive, dangerous, or harmful	Безобидный, безопасный
Illuminated	Lit up by lights	Освещенный, украшенный огнями
Gravel	Small stones, used to make a surface for paths, roads etc.	Гравий
Desolate	A place that is desolate is empty and looks sad because there are no people there	Заброшенный, безлюдный, покинутый
Quadrangle	A square open area with buildings all around it, especially at a school or college	Четырехугольник
Walkie-talkie	One of a pair of radios that you can carry with you, and use to speak to the person who has the other radio	Переносная рация
Dazzling	A light that is dazzling is very bright and makes you unable to see properly for a short time	Ослепительный
Rev	A complete turn of a wheel or engine part, used as a unit for measuring the speed of an engine	Оборот, вращать
Stride up	To walk quickly with long steps	Шагая вверх
Sepulchral	Dark, empty, and slightly frightening	Могильный, погребальный
Embedded in	To put something firmly and deeply into something else, or to be put into something in this way	Встроенные в
Descended	To move from a higher level to a lower one To be related to a person or group who lived a long time ago	Спускаться, происходить, нисходить, переходить
Fiery	Becoming angry or excited very quickly	Огненный, злой
Clarity	He ability to think, understand, or remember something clearly	Ясность, четкость
Scorch	A mark made on something where its surface has been burnt	Ожог, пятно от ожога
Trepidation	A feeling of anxiety or fear about something that is going to happen	Трепет
Peak	The time when something or someone is best, greatest, highest, most successful	Пик
Prow	The front part of a ship or boat	Нос корабля, челн, мыс
Wardens	A person who is responsible for a particular place and whose job is to make sure its rules are obeyed	Стражи, охранники
Inverted	To put something in the opposite position to the one it was in before, especially by turning it upside down	Перевернуый
Ankhs resembling	To look like or be similar to a cross	Похожий, напоминающий крест
Savor	To fully enjoy the taste or smell of something	Смаковать
Purifying	Making someone pure by removing evil from their soul	Очищающий
Breadth	The distance from one side of something to the other	Ширина
Reverberating	If a loud sound reverberates, it is heard many times as it is sent back from different surfaces	Раскатистый, гремящий
Wisps	A wisp of hair, grass is a thin piece of it that is separate from the rest	Клочок, пучок
Marble	A type of hard rock that becomes smooth when it is polished, and is used for making buildings, statues etc.	Мрамор
Sunken	Having fallen to the bottom of the sea, a lake, or a river	Затонувший
Decipher	To find the meaning of something that is difficult to read or understand	Расшифровывать
Shudder	To shake for a short time because you are afraid or cold, or because you think something is very unpleasant	Содрогаться, ежиться
Hammock	A large piece of cloth that is hung between two trees or posts so that you can sleep in it	Гамак
Shattered	Very shocked and upset	Разбитый
Cargo	The goods that are being carried in a ship or plane	Груз
Bay	A part of the sea that is partly enclosed by a curve in the land	Залив
Cylindrical	In the shape of a cylinder	Цилиндрический
Eccentric	Behaving in a way that is unusual and different from most people	Эксцентричный
Reminiscent	Reminding you of something	Напоминающий
Barren	Land or soil that is barren has no plants growing on it	Неплодородный
Gild	To cover something with a thin layer of gold or with something that looks like gold	Золотить
Stark	Very plain in appearance, with little or no color or decoration	Абсолютный, совершенный
Demeanor	The way someone behaves, dresses, speaks etc. that shows what their character is like	Поведение
Inextricably	If two or more things are inextricably linked etc., they are very closely related and affect each other	Неразрывно
Monk	A member of an all-male religious group that lives apart from other people in a monastery	Монах
Cloak	To deliberately hide facts, feelings etc. so that people do not see or understand them - used especially in news reports	Скрывать
Kneel	To be in or move into a position where your body is resting on your knees	Становиться на колени
Intent	To be determined to do something or achieve something	Намереваться
Pentacles	A magic symbol	Магическая фигура
Ratio	A relationship between two amounts, represented by a pair of numbers showing how much bigger one amount is than the other	Соотношение, коэффициент
Mollusk	A type of sea or land animal that has a soft body covered by a hard shell	Моллюск
Shell	The hard outer part that covers and protects an egg, nut, or seed	Оболочка, корпус, раковина
Buoyancy	The ability of an object to float	Плавучесть
Revere	To respect and admire someone or something very much	Почитать, чтить
Pagan	Pagan religious beliefs and customs do not belong to any of the main religions of the world, and may come from a time before these religions	Языческий, неверующий
Dubious	Probably not honest, true, right etc.	Сомнительны, подозрительный
To have something on your fingertips	To have knowledge or information ready and available to use very easily	Иметь информацию готовую к использованию
Bellybutton	The small round mark in the middle of your stomach	Пупок
Gibberish	Something you write or say that has no meaning, or is very difficult to understand	Неграмотная речь, тарабарщина
Urged	To strongly suggest that someone does something	Побуждать, настаивать на
Freckles	Freckles are small brown spots on someone's skin, especially on their face, which the sun can cause to increase in number and become darker	Веснушки
Apprehension	Anxiety about the future, especially about dealing with something unpleasant or difficult	Задержание, опасение, арест
Transmission	The process of sending out electronic signals, messages etc., using radio, television, or other similar equipment	Передача
Decipher	To find the meaning of something that is difficult to read or understand	Расшифровывать
Linseed	The seed of the flax plant	Льняное семя
Cassock	A long, usually black, piece of clothing worn by priests	Ряса, сутана, поп
Genuflect	To bend one or both knees when in church or a holy place as a sign of respect	Преклонять колено
Dejected	Unhappy, disappointed, or sad	Удрученный
Paw	If an animal paws a surface, it touches or rubs one place several times with its paw	Прикасаться лапой
To tiptoe	To walk quietly and carefully on your toes, so that nobody hears you	Идти на цыпочках
Creaky	Something such as a door, floor, or bed that is creaky creaks when you open it, walk on it, sit on it etc., especially because it is old and not in good condition	Скрипучий
Jagged	Having a rough or pointed edge or surface	Зубчатый, неровный, шершавый
Embossed	Having a surface that is decorated with a raised pattern	Тиснение
Riddle	A question that is deliberately very confusing and has a humorous or clever answer	Загадка
Utterly	Completely - used especially to emphasize that something was very bad, or that a feeling was very strong	Крайне
Talk in rapid bursts	Be very excited, to talk fast	Говорить со всплесками, эмоционально
Fraternal	Showing a special friendliness to other people because you share interests or ideas with them	По-братски
Murmur	To say something in a soft quiet voice that is difficult to hear clearly	Шептать, роптать, жужжать, шелестеть
Shaft	A passage which goes down through a building or down into the ground, so that someone or something can get in or out A long handle on a tool, spear A narrow beam of light	Вал, шахта, ось, ствол, стержень, луч, стрела
Sinews	A part of your body that connects a muscle to a bone	Сухожилие
Dumbstruck	So shocked or surprised that you cannot speak	Онемевший
Compound	A combination of two or more parts, substances, or qualities	Соединение
Digit	One of the written signs that represent the numbers 0 to 9	Цифра
Emanating	To produce a smell, light etc., or to show a particular quality	Излучающий, испускающий
Congruent	Fitting together well	Подходящие
Tingle	If a part of your body tingles, you feel a slight stinging feeling, especially on your skin	Покалывание, пощипывание
Astonishment	Complete surprise	Удивление
Elusive	An elusive person or animal is difficult to find or not often seen	Неуловимый, ускользающий
Quarry	A place where large amounts of stone or sand are dug out of the ground	Карьер
Plush	A silk or cotton material with a thick soft surface	Плюш
Beneath	In or to a lower position than something, or directly under something	Под, ниже
Adam's apple	The lump at the front of your neck that moves when you talk or swallow	Кадык
Premises	The buildings and land that a shop, restaurant, company etc. uses	Помещение, здание, недвижимость
Suffused	If warmth, color, liquid etc. suffuses something or someone, it covers or spreads through them	Проникнута, покрыта румянцем