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Home , Dan Brown, Robert Langdon, The Da Vinci Code, The Da Vinci Code (play)

The International journal of analytical and experimental modal analysis ISSN NO: 0886-9367

MYSTERY LIES IN ’S

Dr.N.Asharudeen, Assistant Professor, G.Nilanandhini, Research Scholar, Department of English Edayathangudy G.S. Pillay Arts & Science College Nagapattinam

„Mystery‟ means something is hidden and difficult to understand but it can easily drag the

attraction. This sort of fictional writings becomes more popular for the last two decades. The

answer of every mystery lies in its complicated hints. Those complicated hints can definitely be a

signs and symbolsthat cannot be easily broken by all.In the mystery novels, signs and symbols

are used as inexplicableclues to solve the mystery. The main purpose of hidden things is not to

let anybodyknow that but it should be secured by sacredness. It is believed that signs and

symbolsare the tools that can secure the conspiracy and it seems the soul of purity can only

unveil the secret.

Conspiracy theory is the major role takes place inDan Brown‟s novels. It makes the plot

so vibrant with complete excitement about apowerful community, anorganization or people

employing together secretly.Dan Brown‟s The Da Vinci Codeis one of the mystery novels in

contemporary American literature. The plot of the novel revolves around the Christianity religion

engages with suspense and surprise.Zhenwu Zhu and Aiping Zhang point out that, “Brown had

come up with his own series of thriller fiction filled with codes, mysteries and exciting settings”

(1).

These signs and symbols are created by covert societies to uncover their secrets intention.

The ancient secret societies are represented inThe Da Vinci Code. Therefore, this novel

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fallsunder the category of conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theory interprets certain events which

are caused by the plotof the powerful people.

Dan Brown is one of the prominent fiction writers in contemporary American

Literature.He has used the role of great art made by reputed ancient artist, .

Brown has structured the plot with the belief and art works of Leonardo Da Vinci.The Da Vinci

Code is a novel based on the mystery hidden in Da Vinci‟s arts. Langdon isthe central

character of all ofDan Brown‟s fictions and he is a detective and symbologist. He leads the plot

along with main character of the context, SophieNeveu. In The Da Vinci Code, the grandfather of

Sophie Neveu leaves clue using Da Vinci‟s work that helpsher to unveil the

truth of her family history. The clues are in the form of art, documents, symbols and objects

which are connected with Da Vinci‟s artistic paintings. The symbols represent the sacred

feminine as and her appearancein the Da Vinci‟s works in this novel.

The novel begins with the murder of Jacques Sauniere who led a dual life as curator at

the in Paris and a member of the secret society to secure the powerful wide belief of the

world. Before he dies, he has left the clues devised for Sophie to lead it to find the truth of her

family.After reading Harvard Symboligist, Robert Langdon‟s book, Sophie assuresthat Langdon

could solve the puzzlesthat Sauniere made for his granddaughter, Sophie. Sophie works as

Cryptologist to help the Police investigation. But she believes that the puzzles and secrecy can be

unveiled only with the help of Langdon.

Sauniere is killed by Silas a monk of Opus Deitoknowthe location of .Before

dies, Sauniere planned to pass the clues of the location of Holy Grail through his painting by own

blood, a pentacle on his stomach. He has drawn a circle and drags himself into the centre of the

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circle like the position of Da Vinci‟s Vitruvian Man. He has also left a code, numbers and two

lines of text on the floor by the invisible ink, the clues are;

13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5

O, Draconian devil!

Oh, lame saint!

P. S Find Langdon. (97)

Saunierewants to save her granddaughter andthe secret from who is an extreme wing

connected to the with headquarters located in New York City that‟s why he has

left the clues. He wants his granddaughter to unveil the secret of her family without disclosing to

the world. Opus Dei exhibits them as sincere and worksfor God, to the world. The head of Opus

Dei is Bishop Aringarosa. The Opus Dei members seem to havinga goal to make the world better

by working for God. The members can have family even they practice asceticism but they all

should very cautious about their goal.

Langdon investigates the crime of Sauniere‟s death and he realises that Sauniere‟s

effortimitates Da Vinci‟s painting, the Vitruvian Man. The replication of the painting clarifieshis

naked posture. The Vitruvian Man is a famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. It depicts the

idolised nude man in widespread eagle position and Langdon finds somethinginscribedinside

circle and square. It is an inspiration of the proportion of human body conveyed in the book De

Architectura by Roman Architect, Marcus Vitruvius.

According to ancient religion, PHI (1.618) is the proportion which is followed by nature.

Da Vinci has employed the divine proportion in the work, The Vitruvian Man.The artist like Da

Vinci, Albrecht Durer, Michelangelo and many others employed the divine proportion in the

layout of compositions. Many famous artistic creations like contain PHI in

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architectural dimensions. This number is very special in pagan religion. In the painting, the circle

around the man is the feminine symbol of protection. The circle and naked man‟s body signify

the harmony between male and female. Langdon assumes that the Vitruvian Man is the first sign

by Sauniere which meanshim to search intensely in other works of Da Vinci that helps them to

solve the mystery.

Sauniere positioned himself in the shape of five pointed star. He has also drawn a

pentacle on his stomach with own blood,pentacle is the five pointed star. The pentacle is the

pagan religious symbol. It is a pre-christian symbol that relates to the worship nature. Each five

point of the star represents the five elements that are important in the composition of every living

being and essential for sustenance of life. The five elements are fire, water, earth, air and spirit. It

is considered to be magical and divine by many cultures. The pentacle is always associated with

divine powers and is used for symbol of protection from evil forces, demons etc. Later, inverted

pentacle becomes the symbol of evil. So the people like Fache in this fiction often misunderstand

that pentacle is the symbol of devil worship.

Sauniere has written near his dead body, it is anagram.Anagram has rich history of sacred

symbolism. The anagram written by Sauniere is “O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!” which is

the perfect anagram of “Leonardo da Vinci! The Mona Lisa!” (135). After untying the puzzles in

the symbols and signs of Sauniere made, Langdon and Sophie move towards the painting of

TheMona Lisa which holds the next clue.

TheMona Lisa is the most famous art in the world which is the masterpiece of Leonardo

Da Vinci. It is famous for her enigmatic smile. Langdon states that Da Vinci believed in the

sacred feminine and Mona Lisa is the expression of his belief. “Da Vinci made Mona Lisa look

much larger from left side than from the right side” (163). According to historians, ancient

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people have the concept of assigning sides for male and female. The left side signifies female

and right side for male. As Da Vinci was attracted with feminine principles, he drew Mona Lisa

brings more majestic to the art from the left rather than right. The picture of Mona Lisa

represents the fusion of both male and female because it seems that Da Vinci believed both male

and female elements are important in enlightening human souls. In the painting, the curator has

written six words which is „So Dark The Con of Man‟. „So Dark The Con of Man‟ is the perfect

anagram of Madonna of the Rocks. Sophie reaches the clue and finds a key behind the Madonna

of the Rocks.

Madonna of the Rocks shows the Virgin Mary, Christ, Saint John and an Angel in the

dark landscape with the backdrop of mountains, caves and water. The key is made of gold with

head shaped as an equal armed cross, triangular shaft and the indentations. The key is carved

with initials P. S. and embosses a flowery symbol or fluer-de-lis symbol. Sophie remembers this

key that she saw in her childhood. The equal armed crosses are considered to be peaceful

crosses. The cross symbol is equal and balanced in both vertical and horizontal manner.

According to Priory philosophy, the cross with four arms of equal length signifies the natural

union of male and female.

The is the secret fraternity used fleur-de-lis as their logo. The fleur-de-lis

is a stylish lily flower of three petals bound together near their bases. The key symbol signifies

that it would be used to unlock the truth behind mystery.

The initial P. S. refers to the nickname of Sophie named by her grandfather and

elaborated as Princess Sophie. But Langdon suspectsthat P. S. might stands for Priory of Sion.

Jacques Sauniere is agrand master of secret society knows as Priory of Sion. The story claims

that Leonardo Da Vinci was a grand master from 1510-1519. So he could able tohide the

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secretsusing signs and symbols. Da Vinci‟s art explicates such theme. This is the reason for the

Sauniere‟s passion towards Da Vinci‟s work and made them as the clue to discover the truth.

When Langdon explains about Priory of Sion, Sophie informs that she has already known

that her grandfather got involved in the secret society. But she has no knowledge about it. Sophie

convincesherself for that her grandfather belongs to the secret society when she witnessed

Sauniere participating in a ritual in her childhood. In that ritual, her grandfather was making love

with a woman that caused her to break up their relationship. Sophie explains what she witnessed

in intricate details. When Sophie arrives at her grandfather house, she finds a secret basement.

There she sees asecret dooron which both men and women involve in the ritualsex take place in

the basement of the house.It is considered as a spiritual act where male and female can

experience God. The womenthemselves contemplated as sacred because of their ability to

produce life from their womb. Langdon describes how the church perceives man‟s ability to

communicate with God through sexual union as a threat to its power and thus demonized it.

Over a decade, she and Sauniere were estranged after she has witnessed him engaged in

this act she found despicable. He has tried to contact her by mailing letters and cards to explain

about what she had seen but Sophie refused to have any contact with him.

He had a message to convey her thattheyare in grave danger and he had to tell her truth

about her family. Saunierehas pleaded that they must meet at once. Sophie parents, brother and

grandmother were died in car accident when she was a child. Although Sophie was curious about

the message, she thought it was a ploy to get her talk to Sauniere. She did not call him back for

long years. After his death, she believes thatSaunierereally wantedher to convey something.

Among the clues left by Sauniere, 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5 isa series of numbers. Later they

discoverit isFibonacci sequence which is converted into single ten digits in scrambled way. It is

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called the nature‟s secret code or the universal code, it is complicated and unrecognisable. The

correct Fibonacci sequence is 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21. Actually, the correct Fibonacci sequence

number is the account number of the Sauniere at Zurich Bank.

Sophie and Langdon enter the bank to meet the manager where the security guard

understands that they are escapee in Sauniere‟s investigation. He calls the police, but Andre

Vernet, manager of the bank is a friend of Saunière identifies Sophie and helps them get escaped

from the place. Sophie and Langdon believe that the numbers left near Sauniere‟s body is his

account number and they want to open the vault. They find a when they open it. Cryptex

is a device used for delivering message in ancient days, Da Vinci designed it. The cryptex can

only be opened by password. Meanwhile, Collet, a French Judicial Police rushes in, but both

Langdon and Sophie get escaped while he enters. Langdon believes that keystone leads towards

the direction of the location of the Holy Grail.

Langdon and Sophie want to meet Sir Leigh Teabing who is a historian. They need him

to open the Cryptexbox. Teabingexplains them the story of the Grail with the historical facts. He

assures them that Bible was notdirectly approached from God but was collected and made by

Emperor Constantine. He also quotes the facts that ‟ holiness was decided at Nicaea, is the

first ecumenical council of Christian Church.Jesus got married with Mary Magdalene who was

from royal blood and they had children too.Teabingreveals them the secret symbols in The Last

Supper.Teabing shows another passage from Gospel of Mary Magdalene as evidence. The

passage says,

And Peter said, „Did the Saviour rally speak with a

woman without our knowledge? Are we to turn about

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and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?‟

and Levi answered, „Peter, you have always been hot-

tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman

like an adversary. (330)

Teabingexplains them that the Holy Grail is nothing that is actually body of Mary Magdalene

and the documents clearly confirm Mary‟s blood line is connected to Jesus. He believes

thatSauniere and the others related to this conspiracy might have been killed just because of the

Church suspected that the Priory is to unveil this secret.

When Langdon exhibits the cryptex, Silas comes unfortunately and strikes him on the

headandputs Sophie at gunpoint. He asksTeabingto handover the cryptex but Teabingpretends as

he gives and attacks Silas on his thighs suddenly. Finally, they tie him up.

Collet arrives at theTeabing‟s housebut they escapefrom the place, take Silas along with

them with the help of Teabing‟s servant, Remy. They fly towards England by private plane.

Sophie understands that the inscription on the cryptex is intelligible through a mirror view. They

find and understand thepoem inscribed and tries to bring the password. They find another

cryptex when they open it and believe that it has clue of a tomb about the burial of a knight by

Pope.They want to find out the orb, Temple Church in Londonwhere theymay have the knight‟s

tomb.

Remy shows his originality as one of the followers of the Teacher and releasing Silas.

They force to get the keystone from Langdon by threatening Teabing. As per the instructions

given to Remy, hehandover the cryptexto the Teacher in the park and he is killed by the

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Teacher.The Teacher makes a plot to get Silas arrested by police but he escapes and shoots at

Bishop Aringarosa by mistakenand he takes the Bishop to a hospital.

Sophie and Langdon go to Westminster Abbey, where they believe that the knight was

buried by Alexader Pope.The Teacher instigatesbothSophie and Langdon to come atgarden

where he holds Teabing. But the surprise awaiting them is the revelation of Teabing himself is

the Teacher. Teabinggives the cryptex to Langdon and seeks help to open it.After opening the

cryptex, Langdon and Sophie take the papyrus inside the cryptex and cheat him by escaping from

the place. The papyrus inside the cryptex leads them to Scotland, where Sophiecan to find her

blood-relatives, brother and grandmother.She understands that she is an heir of Jesus and Mary

Magdalene.At the end of the story, Dan Brown brings the Grail be hidden and it is witnessed by

Langdon finally into the ground surface of Louvre. The five-pointed shape is a symbol of the

divine feminine and a reference to Eve in the Bible. In ancient times, she was considered for the

sacred feminine. In Christianity, the number five signifies the five wounds of Jesus Christ. Dan

Brown has used the mystic number five to refer the mystery of Mary Magdalene in the novel.The

strong evidences and answers to mysteries are needed when traditional belief is tried to break

up.Brown has used signs and symbols to specify the relationship between Jesus and Mary

Magdalene.Brown untiesall theknotsthat lie in Da Vinci‟s art. The key of every knot is signs and

symbols, because theyonly can retain the secret believed in ancientlegend.The conspiracy of the

core is revolved around one family that is secretly protected.

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Reference

Brown, Dan.The Da Vinci Code. London: Transworld Publishers, 2009. Print.

Cawelti, John G. Adventure, Mystery and Romance: Formula stories as Art and Popular

Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. Print.

Zhu, Zhenwu and Aiping Zhang.The Dan Brown Craze: An Analysis of His Formula

ForThriller Fiction.Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016. Print.

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