Literary Hero Archetypes in Brown's Prose

Archetypes are found both covertly and overtly in most of the characters one come across in Brown’s novels. They either strongly adhere to or staunchly deviate from certain archetypes, the identification of which helps one to gain a better psychological insight and efficient character analysis. It enables the reader to further delineate the character by falling back on the characteristics of the archetype that the latter can be identified with, thereby the reader learns about the various aspects of the character much more than what has been penned down regarding him or her. This enables the reader to unearth the thoughts or causes behind the character’s action.

In the novel, Robert Langdon is the character who epitomises the ‘hero’ archetype. The archetypal hero is someone who appears in religions and mythologies all over the world and generally manifests goodness and has to struggle a lot in order to restore the justice in society. In this novel, Robert Langdon is someone who is well educated, intelligent and famous. It is by using his intelligence that he deciphers almost all the codes which leads him to the final truth. Another instance where he conforms to the true nature of hero is when he engaged in a fight with Andre Vernet and defeats him. Langdon at some instances does not seem to have the qualities of a hero. Normally the idea we have about a hero is that he is someone who is capable of doing everything using his own powers. But Langdon is a simple man with no superhuman powers at all. He has some personality traits which makes him capable enough to solve the mysteries involving symbolism and the old conspiracies which are long forgotten in the modern society. He is in charge of decrypting the codes where his intellect is required, but is often trailed to life threatening situations. Even though he is intellectual and powerful he was able to free himself from the dangers only with the help of Sophie Neveu. For instance, when he by mistake is wrongly accused of being the murderer of Sauniere, it was Sophie who informed him about the danger through a trick. Another instance is where Sophie hides the GPS inside the soap in order to save Langdon from being traced. The situation where Langdon had no idea about the initials “P.S” in the message left by Sauniere, it is Sophie who decodes it correctly as ‘Princess Sophie’ and this helps him to travel through the right track in finding the ultimate truth. From these instances we can understand that Langdon to some extend doesn’t match the definition of a hero archetype. He defies the traditional hero archetype.

Robert Langdon epitomises the ‘sage’ archetype also. The sage is known as the expert, teacher, philosopher or scholar and he understands the world in the analytical ways as he process reality with logic. In the novel, Langdon is someone who is a great scholar and is a successful professor of symbology at the Harvard University. He has wide knowledge about the world when compared to others. In the crime scene, when Bezu Fache interprets the pentacle on Sauniere’s body as a symbol of devil worship, it is Langdon who correctly interprets it as the symbol for Pagan worship. His academic skills affect his outlook of the world and he views the world around him in terms of symbols. But this skill doesn’t immediately help him in decoding the messages in the very efficient way and thus he also defies the ‘sage’ archetype. Because he doesn’t interpret the initials ‘P.S’ as Princess Sophie. Also he survives the threatening path into which he was dragged into.

Sophie Neveu is the character who represents the ‘Platonic Ideal Archetype’. This archetype symbolises a woman who is a source of inspiration to the hero and is independent and responsible and also very much determined. Compared to Langdon, Sophie at some instances precedes him in decoding the codes correctly. It is Sophie who realizes that the Cryptex is decipherable if viewed in a mirror. She also finds out that the first lines in Sauniere’s message were a Fibonacci sequence and it is the code for opening the bank vault. Without her help Langdon would never have got the right clue in the very beginning. She is a character who has male and female qualities in her. Thus she conforms to the Platonic Ideal Archetype.

Sophie Neveu represents the ‘sage woman’ archetype. This archetype represents a woman’s worldly knowledge, strategy and objectivity. The main challenge faced by this character is lack of emotions. Sophie conforms to the sage woman archetype because she is deeply inspired by her grandfather Sauniere, but still even while standing near his corpse she was devoid of making any lamentation and instead she accompanied Langdon in decoding the codes left by Sauniere in order to reach the ultimate truth.

Leigh Teabing represents ‘the devil figure’ archetype in the novel. This archetype represents someone who always stands against the hero and the wise old man. He manifests chaos, mystery, evil, corruption, selfishness, crime, secrecy and pride. The alter ego of Leigh Teabing is ‘the teacher’, and he successfully hides his real identity. Using his cell phone, he is able to contact his allies without having to reveal himself. But with his real identity he pretends to be a good person in front of Langdon and Sophie and he himself informs them about the secrets which the Priory of Sion protected. He cleverly tells them that Sauniere and the rest of the members were murdered because they possessed the greatest secrets in history. He turns out to be someone who can go to any extends for satisfying his own obsession about the Holy Grail. In the novel, the author gives a reader the idea that due to his enormous wealth and privileges, Leigh Teabing is unable to confront the fact that he will never achieve that thing which he really wants: knowledge where the Grail is hidden. It is only when Langdon and Sophie discover that Teabing is ‘the teacher’ , the reader understands about the truth that he was the one who conspired every single thing from the beginning. He is clever enough to mislead others from many years of planning and with a complex knowledge of his subjects.

Leigh Teabing represents ‘The Great Teacher’ archetype also. This character archetype is a wise old man who represents knowledge, wisdom, insight etc and he protects and helps the main character when he/she is in trouble. Leigh Teabing is also a man of wisdom. When Langdon and Sophie approach him for help in order to open the Cryptex he willingly tells them everything about the legend of the Grail that the Bible was originally compiled by Emperor Constantine and that it didn’t come straight from the God. He tells them the truth that the divinity of Jesus Christ was decided by a vote at Nicaea and his wife was Mary Magdalene who belonged to a royal family and they had a daughter also. He shows them the hidden symbols in The Last Supper and that in the painting the person sitting left to Jesus is Mary Magdalene herself and also informs them the truth that the Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene’s body and the documents which prove that they both share a blood line.

Silas also conforms to ‘The Devil Figure’ archetype. This archetype represents an evil incarnate. In the novel, Silas is someone who had a very bitter past but still he continued to do all the cruel things in his life. He is an albino who had faced lot of rejection and horror in his childhood. Blindly following the instructions of his masters he murders Jacques Sauniere and Sister Sandrine Bieil. He devotes himself to Opus Dei and the strange ritual of Corporal Mortification and considers it as something which will help him to free himself from all the sins he committed.

Jacques Sauniere exemplifies the archetype ‘The Wise Old Man’. This archetypal character is a savior who introduces the hero to a larger world than he has previously known. He is someone who is good willed and possesses wisdom and spirituality. Langdon is very much inspired by the works and intellect of Sauniere. The reason why Sauniere left all the clues is because he was sure that the right person will decode it correctly and the secret will not be exploited. Langdon and Sauniere had a meeting also before he was murdered for which Langdon didn’t show up. Reason may be that Sauniere intended to pass on the secret to Langdon because he is a very successful Symbologist and there were no chances that he will use it for his own benefits and he wrote the codes and messages very carefully that he wanted only Sophie and Langdon to be aware of the secrets. Thus in a way he paves way for the successful intellectual journey of the hero.