Use of Symbols, Science & Art in
Da Vinci Code
The famous best seller book writer Dan Brown has wrote this book in
2003. The book has generated wide conspiracy in the society related to the Christianity
and Jesus’ Marriage. Mary Magdalene and her sarcophagus is the matter of spy
and rose a great curiosity about the truth in it. Dan brown has made many
experiments in the book. A thriller is woven around the sacred blood- Jesus’
heir living on the earth with us and the secrecy kept about it. The book is worth reading. It has the aura of
modernism revealing the hidden truth in the universal subconscious and hovering
so many questions related to it.
‘Symbols are very adept at hiding the truth’
-
Dan Brown.
The symbols are the artifacts which can be read in many ways. A hidden truths and belief are mingled up
with the spin of time. The symbol can be speaks many things in way that largely
depends on reader’s decoding insight about it.
Dan brown presented the work with various symbols which helps to create
mystic element of thriller. The symbols like: red hair, blood , cell phone etc.
Da Vinci Code controversy.The novel tells the story of Harvard professor
and symbologist Robert Langdon who is called to the Louvre Museum in Paris to
examine cryptic symbols found in Leonardo da Vinci's artwork. In decrypting
these symbols, Langdon uncovers a plot by the church to suppress the
information and almost immediately becomes a hunted fugitive. Let’s see to
those symbols which play a vital role in the novel.
Symbols:
The Chalice/Grail:
The hero of the novel explains
that V shape, which corresponds to the Cup part of the Chalice or Grail is an
ancient symbol for the feminine. As you can see when you imagine a line drawing
of a frontal view of a naked woman, and focus on the uniquely female part of human anatomy, this place is where new
life would be carried in a pregnant woman(about where the flame is in the
flaming chalice). In the novel the thesis is that the Holy Grail really refers
to Mary Magdalene, who was actually married to Jesus Christ and who escaped,
pregnant, after the crucifixion of Christ and somehow got to France, where her
child was born and went on to have descendants, the latest of whom turns out to
be a main character in the novel.
Chalice is symbolic of woman was
‘U’. It regards the famous cup from which Christ drank. The Chalice represents
a cup or vessel, and the womb; represents womanhood and fertility- the sacred
feminine. The Holy Grail is conspicuously left out of the painting: Last
Supper. Here is where Brown cleverly weaves medieval legends with high
Renaissance art to suggest that the Holy Grail - which became the subject of
endless search by medieval knights - was not a cup at all but Mary Magdalene
herself, the human receptacle for Jesus' blood line.
The Blade:
Blade is symbolic of male. It regards Symbology of the Grail: original
sign for a male was ‘U. It represents aggression and manhood.
Langdon’s Mickey Mouse Watch:
Throughout the novel Langdon wears his Mickey Mouse watch, which reminds
him of how his interest in symbology began. Langdon also talks to his classes
about how remnants of the Grail story are found in Disney stories. Disney,
symbolized in the Mickey watch, exemplifies the importance of magic and
imagination for people. Disney World, according to Langdon, is built upon
make-believe, infused with bits of hidden truth. These fantastical stories are
not unlike Grail mythology or religion (as it is portrayed in the novel).
Disney, like Grail stories and like religion, is not necessarily true but it
gives people something much more important--mystery and wonderment.
The Pentagram:
The most recognized symbol in all of Satanism and the occult is the
pentagram. Dr. Kathy Burns writes in Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated,
"Satanists and witches love the pentagram, and we are told that the
pentagram is one of the main symbols of witchcraft and occultism." (p. 42)
Occult author Many Hall states in The Secret Teachings of All Ages,
"The pentagram is used extensively in black magic."
Former Satanist, Bill Schnoebelen
says,
"to the magician, the inverted pentagram has one
use only, and that is to call up the power of Satan and bring the Kingdom of
the Devil into manifestation on earth." (J. Edward Decker, Fremasonry:
Satan’s Door to America p. 3).
An occult magazine states,
"The Pentagram is one of the most powerful
symbols for the New Age." (Llwellyn New Times, Sept/ Oct 1988, p 77)
Eric Barger writes in From Rock
to Rock,
"The pentagram is a very important symbol used in
calling demons. . ." (pp. 143-144)
The pentagram is also very important in The Da Vinci Code. The Da Vinci
Code opens with the murder of Jacques Suaniere. While he is dying Suaniere dips
his index finder into his wound and using his own blood as ink, draws on his
stomach a pentagram (p. 35)[see bloody pic on LEFT] Again Brown praises the
satanic pentagram:
This symbol is one of the most powerful images you will see this term.
Formally known as a pentagram—or pentacle, as the ancients called it—this
symbol is considered both divine and magical by many cultures. (Da Vinci Code
p. 98)
It’s a pentacle. One of the oldest symbols on earth. Used for over four
thousand years before Christ. . . The pentacle is a pre Christian symbol that
relates to nature worship. (Da Vinci Code pp. 35, 36)
Saunière’s Knight:
The knight that sits in Saunière’s office is an ironic symbol: knights
are supposed to protect the Grail but this knight, which Teabing has bugged,
betrays the Grail. This “betrayal” illustrates two interrelated points--1. all
knights cannot be trusted, 2. things are not always what they seem. These
points relate directly to Teabing. When Langdon tells Sophie about Teabing, he
remarks there is no one better to help them on the quest for the Grail than a
knight. Teabing is both a “bad” knight and something other than what he seems.
Like the knight in the office, he betrays the Grail and is much more dangerous
than he appears.
Mona Lisa:
Another clue in the novel is seen in one of da Vinci's Mona Lisa which
Langdon states is an expression of the artist's belief in the "sacred
feminine. ”The conclusion drawn is that Mona Lisa is not any particular person,
but a cryptic reference to the Egyptian gods Amon and Isis. "Mona" is
an anagram of Amon and "Lisa" a contraction of l'Isa, meaning Isis.
In the novel, Professor Langdon discovers that da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa
in opposition to the Church's suppression of Mary Magdalene's true identity.
Vitruvian Man:
Leonardo da Vinci's most famous drawings is based upon the work of
ancient Roman architect Vitruvius who was a proponent of using human proportion
in building. In the novel's opening scene, Sauniere's body is found in the
Louvre naked and posed like the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written
beside his body. It is the first clue that Professor Langdon receives that
prods him to delve more deeply into other works of da Vinci that helps solve
the mystery.
The Rose:
The container with the Cryptex is decorated with a rose. The rose is a
female symbol because of the five rose leaves. The romans hang up a rose during
secret meetings, so that everything that was mentioned should remain a secret.
Robert Langdon gets the idea, that the rose on the container can be pushed
aside. And there is a text under the rose.
Red Hair:
Sophie Neveu’s red hair, mentioned at the beginning of the text,
foreshadows her divine blood. When Langdon first sees Sophie, he calls her hair
“burgundy” and thinks that her attractiveness lies in her confidence and
health. He compares her favorably to the blonde girls at Harvard over whom his
students lust. Later, at Teabing’s chateau, Teabing shows Sophie that Mary
Magdalene is depicted with red hair in The Last Supper. Langdon also thinks the
mermaid Ariel’s red hair in the Little Mermaid Is evidence that Disney intended
his movie to be an allegory of the story of Magdalene. By the end of the novel,
when Sophie’s brother gives a of the Rosslyn Chapel and his hair is described
as “strawberry blonde,” we understand that Sophie and brother are of Mary
Magdalene’s bloodline.
Blood:
Blood stands for truth and enlightenment in The Da Vinci Code. Sauniere
draws a pentacle—for him, a symbol of the Church’s intention to cover up the
true world—on his stomach in his own blood. Sophie realizes that her
grandfather has left a message farther on the Mona Lisa because a drop of his
blood remains on the floor. Teabing spies atrickle of blood on Silas’s leg,
which he takes to mean that Silas has a cilice, a barbed punishment belt,
on his thigh, and disables him by hitting him there. Silas himself had thought
of blood as truth in different way—for Silas,
blood means cleansing of impurities. And at the very end of the novel,
the discovery of the blood of Mary Magdalene running through Sophie and her
brother’s veins proves that the story of the Grail is true.
Cell Phones:
In a novel that spends a great deal of time interpreting ancient symbols
like the pentacle, the chalice, and the rose, the cell phone might seem like an incongruous modern interloper. But
the cell phone symbolizes the fact that in the modern world, secrets are both
harder and easier to keep. Teabing conceals his identity as the Teacher by
using cellphones to communicate with his unknowing allies. In one instance, he
even speaks to Silas from the back of the limousine while Silas is in the front, concealing his
identity while only feet away. At the same time, however, the characters are often worried about their
cell phone use being traced. Fache, for example, at one point figures out that Sophie
has tipped Langdon off by looking up her phone number, which is stored in his cell
phone, and finding that it matches the number Sophie gave Langdon as the
American Embassy’s number.
The Venus:
The star of Venus is is the symbol of romance, love and beauty.
According to Greek culture Venus is the goddess of the beauty and love.
"In
its most specific interpretation, the pentacle symbolizes Venus—the goddess of
female sexual love and beauty." (Langdon,
Da Vinci Code)
The
symbol of Venus can be read in two ways. On which is described in the text
itself and another we can read it as the importance of female and sacredness of
creative ability of the woman. At the first reading we can read it as the text described
it: it is the symbol of male and female reunion.
“The goddess had a place in the night time sky and was known by many names—Venus, the Eastern Star, Ishtar, Astarte—all of them powerful female concepts with ties to Nature and Mother Earth.”
– Robert Langdon(Da Vinci Code)
We can read another meaning is that; the female is sacred and the race which is living on the earth is the heirs of the Devine female I.e. Mary Magdalene. Her bloodline is still on the earth and living with us. Sophie Neveu is containing the sacred bloodline. To emphasise and re-establish the importance of female in religion the word Venus is used more than five times.
Science:
Being a son of mathematician Dan Brown has used mathematics in the work. He has use the Fibonacci Series, The number PHI, and pentacle. The cod of cryptex he had used is quite creative use of mathematics. Sophie Neveu is the character who is cryptographer. A cryptographer is the person who can solve the puzzle and cryptography by using his/her arithmetical logic.
1. Phi = 1.618
It is the divine number according to ancient religion. It is the proportion which is followed by Nature. The measurement of our body parts are always in the same proportion of it. The number is very special in the Pagan religion.
"clearly exceeds coincidence, and so the ancients assumed the number PHI must have been preordained by the Creator of the universe. Early scientists heralded one-point-six-one-eight as the Divine Proportion."
2. Fibonacci
Fibonacci is the another number which can be seen commonly in Nature. Whatever increases or grows is grown r increased in thie Fibonacci number’s ratio. It goes like: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34... and so on. The addition of the two numbers generates the number further. The galaxies, the branches on the tree are having the same proportion.
3. Cryptex Code
The cryptex is the creative aspect of the work by Dan Brown. It is the closed small cylindrical container of the paper. There are total three cryptex in the novel. In the cryptex too there is the use of science. In the box they retrieve from the bank is a cryptex - invented by Da Vinci, and made by Saunière. Made of white polished marble, about the size of a tennis ball can. Made of 5 doughnut-shaped disks of marble, stacked and fixed to each other with a brass framework. Each of the 5 disks had been carved with the alphabet. There was a cap at each end of the cylinder so you cannot look inside.Used to safeguard documents written on a papyrus scroll. Need password to open. The papyrus was rolled around a glass vial filled with vinegar. If someone tried to force the cryptex open, the glass vial would break and the papyrus would dissolve. Papyrus dissolved in Vinegar is the science.
The use of science and maths make the work more interesting. He tries to legitimise he myth in the work with the help of science. The worship of Pagan religion is tried to be re-established. The attitude towards Nature and follow its rules and cycle is emphasised. The myth of the Goddesses and her empowerment is legitimised.
Art:
The book has set a mark in the combining the art, science and religion. Generally the trio logy has always have some sort of disputes for one another. Art is more free form then science and religion. Science is more based on evidence and religion is on staunch beliefs and rituals and les on faith. Langdon has used art as evidence of the Pagan religion , it’s worship and the very anti church idea i.e. marriage of Jesus with the princess of France Mary Magdalene. In art we can consider the paintings , Anagrams and the Pantacle.
a) The Paintings:
Here the painting is quite important as the work is based on it. Leonardo Da Vince was the Versatile Genius who has created many paintings like Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Vitruvian Man, The Announcements, The Baptism of the Christ etc.
Dan Brown has used here three pictures: The Last Supper, Mona Lisa and Vitruvian Man.
It is denotes in the work that ‘The Last Supper’ is the painting contains Jesus’ wife i.e. Mary Magdalene. Teabing explains how the Holy Grail and Mary are hidden in the pictures.
Vitruvian man is the picture indirectly suggested by Jack Sauniere when he died. His dead body was lied in that position. Using the science of it Leonardo Da Vinci has used mirrors in the paintings named ‘The Last supper’.
b) The Anagrams:
Aana grams are the last notes of Sauniere. In they are-
“O, Draconion devil!
Oh, lame saint!
P.S. Find Robert Langdon”
The first line with numbers is the Fibonacci series and the next line anagram. Anagram is the arrangement of alphabets which carries meaning if rearrange the alphabets. There are many anagrams used in the book. Let’s view them.
SO DARK THE CON OF MAN, O, Draconion devil!, Oh, lame saint!
To solve the puzzle one must read the anagrams. There is one method for solving the first Puzzle named: The Atbash Cipher.
Text encrypted with Atbash is found in the Kabbala, Dead Sea Scrolls and Old Testament. It was a Jewish cryptogram, a simple substitution code based on the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet. The first letter is substituted by the last letter, the second letter by the next to last letter, and so on. The headstone praised by the Templars = a stone head = Baphomet. The Church accused the Templars of performing rituals in which they prayed to a carved stone head of the pagan fertility god Baphomet. The ceremony honoured the creative magic of sexual union, but the Church claimed it was the Devil’s head. This has 8 letters, but if written in Hebrew (in the book they use Roman equivalents rather than Hebrew letters), it will lose 3 letters because vowel sounds are not written, and it becomes: BPVMTh (Th is one letter). The Roman form of the Hebrew alphabet is:
A, B, G, D, H, V, Z, Ch, T, Y, K, L, M, N, S, O, P, Tz, Q, R, Sh, Th
Now they need to use the Atbash cipher. Sophie does this by the fold-over method
A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K
Th Sh R Q Tz P O S N M L
B=Sh, P=V, V=P, M=Y, Th=A => ShVPYA
In the Hebrew alphabet, depending on the accent, the symbol for the sound Sh can also be pronounced S, and P can be pronounced F. This gives SVFYA. V is often a placeholder for the vowel sound O.
c) The Pentacle:
The pentacle is the star denotes the union of the symbol Chalice and grail. It is the symbol of Power of Creativity. It has the proportion of PHI and also symbolise the ancient belief of scared unity.
It also presents the star of Venus and feminine power. In this book from the beginning it present the sacred bloodline and the group named Priory of Sion who are the group of Knightlers who are always guard and preserve the Holi blood i.e. heirs of Mary and Jesus.
Thus, The use of science, arts and Religion in the work makes the work classic. The touch of post modernism and symbols added flavour in thrill and mystery.
“The goddess had a place in the night time sky and was known by many names—Venus, the Eastern Star, Ishtar, Astarte—all of them powerful female concepts with ties to Nature and Mother Earth.”
– Robert Langdon(Da Vinci Code)
We can read another meaning is that; the female is sacred and the race which is living on the earth is the heirs of the Devine female I.e. Mary Magdalene. Her bloodline is still on the earth and living with us. Sophie Neveu is containing the sacred bloodline. To emphasise and re-establish the importance of female in religion the word Venus is used more than five times.
Being a son of mathematician Dan Brown has used mathematics in the work. He has use the Fibonacci Series, The number PHI, and pentacle. The cod of cryptex he had used is quite creative use of mathematics. Sophie Neveu is the character who is cryptographer. A cryptographer is the person who can solve the puzzle and cryptography by using his/her arithmetical logic.
1. Phi = 1.618
It is the divine number according to ancient religion. It is the proportion which is followed by Nature. The measurement of our body parts are always in the same proportion of it. The number is very special in the Pagan religion.
"clearly exceeds coincidence, and so the ancients assumed the number PHI must have been preordained by the Creator of the universe. Early scientists heralded one-point-six-one-eight as the Divine Proportion."
2. Fibonacci
Fibonacci is the another number which can be seen commonly in Nature. Whatever increases or grows is grown r increased in thie Fibonacci number’s ratio. It goes like: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34... and so on. The addition of the two numbers generates the number further. The galaxies, the branches on the tree are having the same proportion.
3. Cryptex Code
The cryptex is the creative aspect of the work by Dan Brown. It is the closed small cylindrical container of the paper. There are total three cryptex in the novel. In the cryptex too there is the use of science. In the box they retrieve from the bank is a cryptex - invented by Da Vinci, and made by Saunière. Made of white polished marble, about the size of a tennis ball can. Made of 5 doughnut-shaped disks of marble, stacked and fixed to each other with a brass framework. Each of the 5 disks had been carved with the alphabet. There was a cap at each end of the cylinder so you cannot look inside.Used to safeguard documents written on a papyrus scroll. Need password to open. The papyrus was rolled around a glass vial filled with vinegar. If someone tried to force the cryptex open, the glass vial would break and the papyrus would dissolve. Papyrus dissolved in Vinegar is the science.
The use of science and maths make the work more interesting. He tries to legitimise he myth in the work with the help of science. The worship of Pagan religion is tried to be re-established. The attitude towards Nature and follow its rules and cycle is emphasised. The myth of the Goddesses and her empowerment is legitimised.
Art:
The book has set a mark in the combining the art, science and religion. Generally the trio logy has always have some sort of disputes for one another. Art is more free form then science and religion. Science is more based on evidence and religion is on staunch beliefs and rituals and les on faith. Langdon has used art as evidence of the Pagan religion , it’s worship and the very anti church idea i.e. marriage of Jesus with the princess of France Mary Magdalene. In art we can consider the paintings , Anagrams and the Pantacle.
a) The Paintings:
Here the painting is quite important as the work is based on it. Leonardo Da Vince was the Versatile Genius who has created many paintings like Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Vitruvian Man, The Announcements, The Baptism of the Christ etc.
Dan Brown has used here three pictures: The Last Supper, Mona Lisa and Vitruvian Man.
It is denotes in the work that ‘The Last Supper’ is the painting contains Jesus’ wife i.e. Mary Magdalene. Teabing explains how the Holy Grail and Mary are hidden in the pictures.
Vitruvian man is the picture indirectly suggested by Jack Sauniere when he died. His dead body was lied in that position. Using the science of it Leonardo Da Vinci has used mirrors in the paintings named ‘The Last supper’.
b) The Anagrams:
Aana grams are the last notes of Sauniere. In they are-
“O, Draconion devil!
Oh, lame saint!
P.S. Find Robert Langdon”
The first line with numbers is the Fibonacci series and the next line anagram. Anagram is the arrangement of alphabets which carries meaning if rearrange the alphabets. There are many anagrams used in the book. Let’s view them.
SO DARK THE CON OF MAN, O, Draconion devil!, Oh, lame saint!
To solve the puzzle one must read the anagrams. There is one method for solving the first Puzzle named: The Atbash Cipher.
Text encrypted with Atbash is found in the Kabbala, Dead Sea Scrolls and Old Testament. It was a Jewish cryptogram, a simple substitution code based on the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet. The first letter is substituted by the last letter, the second letter by the next to last letter, and so on. The headstone praised by the Templars = a stone head = Baphomet. The Church accused the Templars of performing rituals in which they prayed to a carved stone head of the pagan fertility god Baphomet. The ceremony honoured the creative magic of sexual union, but the Church claimed it was the Devil’s head. This has 8 letters, but if written in Hebrew (in the book they use Roman equivalents rather than Hebrew letters), it will lose 3 letters because vowel sounds are not written, and it becomes: BPVMTh (Th is one letter). The Roman form of the Hebrew alphabet is:
A, B, G, D, H, V, Z, Ch, T, Y, K, L, M, N, S, O, P, Tz, Q, R, Sh, Th
Now they need to use the Atbash cipher. Sophie does this by the fold-over method
A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K
Th Sh R Q Tz P O S N M L
B=Sh, P=V, V=P, M=Y, Th=A => ShVPYA
In the Hebrew alphabet, depending on the accent, the symbol for the sound Sh can also be pronounced S, and P can be pronounced F. This gives SVFYA. V is often a placeholder for the vowel sound O.
c) The Pentacle:
The pentacle is the star denotes the union of the symbol Chalice and grail. It is the symbol of Power of Creativity. It has the proportion of PHI and also symbolise the ancient belief of scared unity.
It also presents the star of Venus and feminine power. In this book from the beginning it present the sacred bloodline and the group named Priory of Sion who are the group of Knightlers who are always guard and preserve the Holi blood i.e. heirs of Mary and Jesus.
Thus, The use of science, arts and Religion in the work makes the work classic. The touch of post modernism and symbols added flavour in thrill and mystery.
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