Bonus Assignment #2- Da Vinci Code, Representing a Key Scene

Bonus Assignment- Representing a Key Scene

Hanna Schmidt

I chose to represent the scene in which Sophie first hears the entire story of the Holy Grail because this scene is a huge part of the novel. It brings a lot of different threads in the novel together, and the information that is discussed answers a lot of questions and helps the characters on their quest. As well, this scene brings people together; Teabing, Robert, and Sophie all team up and start working together. In this scene Leigh Teabing describes the history of the Holy Grail, and why some people might be searching for it as well. To represent this, I took a series of photos that showed key aspects of the scene. The plain glass represents the ‘chalice’, the chalice is what knights said they were searching for, but were really speaking in code for going on a grail quest. The picture of the bottom of a glass and an upside down triangle represents the importance of women in the Holy Grail history, the triangle (also called the chalice) is the symbol for femininity, masculinity is represented by the opposite (called the blade). In the novel, when the blade and chalice are fused as one it shows the image of the Star of David.  Femininity plays a huge part in the novel, and in the story women play a huge part in protecting the Grail, they are seen as ‘containers’ or ‘vessels’ of blood lines. Brown says that Mary Magdalene is the real Holy Grail, because she was the one who preserved the bloodline of Christ, and carried it on. The rose also is a symbol that represents femininity, in churches roses are shown everywhere, and throughout the story flowers are used to represent women, and the feminine side of the Grail Story. Roses and chalices are also supposed to be the perfect representation of a women’s womb, which is why they are used to represent the feminine. The picture of the locked box represents the secrets that are told in the novel, the secrets of the Holy Grail, the secrets of Sophie’s past, the secrets that could alter people’s view of the world forever. Lastly there is a picture of the painting ‘The Last Supper, in this scene this painting is mentioned numerous times, and it holds many symbols. For example, this painting doesn’t show only men, on the right side of Christ is Mary Magdalene, as well each and every person has a wine glass, there is no one ‘Holy Grail’ or chalice in the picture, lastly there is a ‘V’ shape made between Christ and Mary Magdalene, perfectly representing the symbol of femininity; the chalice.