皮尔斯符号学视阈下的《达芬奇密码》解读

An Interpretation of The Da Vinci Code from the Perspective of Peirce’s Semiotics

Abstract

The Da Vinci Code is a masterpiece of Dan Brown that tells a legend of hunting the Holy Grail. In this book, the author combines religion with semiotics and wraps his thoughts in some religious signs, which attract more and more public attention. Therefore, a semiotic analysis of this novel proves to be significant, since it provides a fresh way to interpret the text.

This paper tries to study the religious signs in the novel with Peirce’s semiotic theory in an attempt to uncover the thoughts of the author. It includes five parts. The first part briefly introduces the author Dan Brown, the writing background and the gist of the novel. The second part provides a brief survey of Peirce’s semiotics, mainly focusing on his theory of semiotic elements and semiotic trichotomy. The third part classifies the most representative religious signs in The Da Vinci Code and then examines them carefully on the basis of Peirce’s semiotics. The fourth part further explores the author’s feminist ideas embodied in those signs. The last part makes a dialectical comment on the author’s feminist thoughts.

The above analyses suggest that Dan Brown, who advocates the worship for goddess and female reproduction, appeals for equality and partnership between women and men. However, his feminist thoughts are not flawless, since his views are still confined to male discourse, and he overemphasizes female fertility which essentially objectifies women.

Key words: The Da Vinci Code; signs; Peirce’s semiotics; feminism