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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Da Vinci Code, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Conspiracies and Secrets
Art and Symbolism
Faith vs. Knowledge
Sacred Femininity and Revisionist History
Power and Manipulation
Summary
Analysis
One mile from Langdon, the albino man, Silas, returns to his temporary lodging house. He wears a spiked cilice belt around one thigh, reflecting that “Pain is good,” especially when it serves God. Once inside his room, he calls someone he refers to as “the Teacher,” informing the man that the three sénéchaux he killed, along with the Grand Master, confirmed the location of the keystone they’ve been searching for. The keystone is rumored to be a stone engraved with a map showing where the “brotherhood” kept their greatest secret. According to the dead men, the keystone is in a Parisian church: the Eglise de Saint-Sulpice. The Teacher is pleased with Silas and instructs him to retrieve the stone immediately.
Silas’s spiked belt and his devotion to God suggests he is some kind of Christian extremist who practices self-flagellation. The Teacher seems to be Silas’s supervisor. His involvement clarifies that the night’s murders are part of a conspiracy plot. The titles of “sénéchaux” and “Grand Master” as well as the word “brotherhood” suggest Silas’s group is working against another group to which Saunière belonged. Silas and the Teacher are searching for the brotherhood’s secret, whose location is discoverable through use of the keystone.
Themes
Silas hangs up. The Teacher has given him one hour to prepare by enacting penance on himself for today’s sins. While Silas is certain God will forgive his violence since he enacted it upon God’s enemies, he knows he must offer some sacrifice for his transgressions. Naked, he tightens the spiked cilice belt on his thigh, which serves as a constant reminder of Christ’s suffering. Silas thinks of Father Josemaria Escrivá, who founded the organization he belongs to, which practices “corporal mortification.” Silas whips himself with a knotted rope until he bleeds, praying for absolution.
Themes
