Introduction to the
Author :
In 1996, his interest in code-breaking and covert government
agencies led him to write his first novel, Digital Fortress, which quickly
became a Number-1 national bestselling eBook. In its first week on sale, The Da
Vinci Code debuted at #1 on The New York Times Bestseller list, simultaneously
topping bestseller lists at The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and San
Francisco Chronicle. Later, the book hit #1 on every major bestseller list in
the country. The book was adapted for film by Columbia Pictures. His book
ANGELS AND DEMONS, for which this analysis is written, was also adapted into a
film.
His novels have been translated and published in more than 50
languages around the world. He married Blythe Newlon in 1997. They reside in
his home town in New Hampshire. Brown is an English teacher at his alma mater,
The Phillips Exeter Academy. In 2004 he
and his siblings donated $2.2 million to the school in memory of their father
to set up the Richard G. Brown Technology Endowment to help "provide
computers and high-tech equipment for students in need.
General introduction to
book:
Title ANGELS AND DEMONS
Author Dan Brown
Edition Reprint
Publisher Corgi Books, 2001
ISBN 0 552 15073 8
Length 619 Pages
Subjects Fiction
Introduction to Novel and Report :
The novel is a breathless, real-time
adventure. It is exciting, fast-paced, with an unusually high IQ.
The novel covers a fiction-based
adventure, occurring in Rome, including all factual places and architecture.
The setting in the novel is all antique
Christianity-based art-work including churches, sculptures and paintings all
over Rome(Vatican City). The time frame is based on the long-lasting confusion
between Science and the religion, increasing in this modern age, where Science
is progressing rapidly, influencing our lives.
My report on this novel discusses the
aspects stressed by author.
One of the major issues discussed in the
story is the ever-lasting conflict between religion and science. The story is
sketched between the Roman Papal-dominance and an ancient brotherhood of
Science The Illuminati (the enlightened ones).
Another aspect is the question for the
preference of Science or religion on basis of which gives the best suitable
answers to the questions the man has, since the very beginning of time. There
is again an argument whether Science or religion solves or aggravates the
situation.
In the report, character development,
continuity and coherence of the events taking place in novel, imagery and
details of the ancient Roman art and structure and central dogma of the novel
are discussed.
Plot of the novel :
The plot follows
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, as he tries to stop the Illuminati,
a legendary secret society, from destroying Vatican
City with the newly
discovered power of antimatter.
Leonardo Vetra, a world
renowned scientist at CERN is found brutally murdered. His chest
is branded with an ambigram of the word "Illuminati”.
Director of CERN, Maximilian Kohler contacts a Harvard professor Robert
Langdon, an expert on the Illuminati, who determines that the ambigram is
authentic.
Kohler calls Vetra's
adopted daughter Vittoria
Langdon and Vittoria
make their way to Vatican City, where the Pope has
recently died. It is discovered that the four Preferiti,
cardinals who are the most likely papal successor, are missing. Langdon and
Vittoria search for the Preferiti in hopes that they will also find the
antimatter canister. Their search is assisted by Camerlengo Carlo
Ventresca (the late pope's closest aide) and the Vatican's Swiss
Guard.
Langdon attempts to retrace the steps of the
"Path of Illumination", a process once used by the Illuminati as a
means of inducting new members; aspirants to the order were required to follow
a series of subtle clues left in various landmarks in and around Rome. The clues indicate the secret meeting place of the
Illuminati. Langdon sets off on the Path of Illumination in hopes of delivering the Preferiti and recovering the antimatter canister.
The Path leads Langdon to four locations in Rome, each
associated with one of the primordial elements: 'Earth', 'Air', 'Fire', and
'Water'. Langdon finds one of the Preferiti murdered in a way thematically
related to each location's related element. The first cardinal was branded with
an Earth ambigram and had soil forced down his throat; the second was branded
with an air ambigram and had his lungs punctured; the third was branded with a
fire ambigram and was burned alive; and the fourth was branded with a water
ambigram and was left to drown at the bottom of a fountain.
After finding the
bodies of the first two Preferiti, Langdon hurries to the Santa Maria della Vittoria Basilica
and finds the Preferiti's abductor in the act of setting the third cardinal on
fire. The kidnapper is an unnamed assassin who is working under the orders of
the Illuminati master "Janus", whose true identity is unknown.
Commander Olivetti is killed and the assassin kidnaps
Vittoria. Langdon escapes and accosts the assassin at the final element's
landmark (Water), but is unable to save the cardinal.
Langdon must complete
the Path of Illumination in order to find the assassin and rescue Vittoria Vittoria
With time running out,
the Swiss Guard evacuates the Basilica. The camerlengo rushes back in, claiming
that he has received a vision revealing the location of the antimatter
canister. With Langdon in pursuit, the camerlengo ventures into the catacombs
and finds the canister sitting atop the tomb of Saint
Peter. Langdon and the camerlengo retrieve the antimatter and get
in a helicopter with only minutes to spare. The camerlengo manages to parachute
safely onto the roof of St. Peter's just as the canister explodes harmlessly in
the sky. The crowd in St. Peter's Square look in awe as
the camerlengo stands triumphantly before them. Because of this
"miracle", the papal conclave debate whether to elect the camerlengo
as the new Pope. Langdon managed to survive the explosion by using a window
cover from the chopper as a parachute, and landed in the Tiber
River.
After viewing Kohler's
tape Langdon, Vittoria
Chapter-wise dicussion
of the novel :
Novel contains 619
pages and 137 chapters. To covers all the events and details in chapters, I
have divided the whole book into 8 parts, each part comprising 17 chapters.
Prologue :
The prologue of the
book depicts a scene, on which the entire plot of the story is developed. It
shows the murder of a physist Leonardo Vetra, by a ruthless assassian, who is
trying to investigate some sort of Password from him. When he refuses to tell the
passcode, the assassian brutally kils him. While dying, the only contentment
Leonardo has is the murderer will never know the password to his lab. This idea
of Leonardo Vetra is proved totally wrong as we proceed in the story.
Chapter 1-17:
The story begins with a
dream that is gradually converted into a nightmare. The dreamer is Robert
Langdon, the protagonist of the story, who lives in Boston. He is professor at
Harvard, fond of swimming in spare time and so nick-named as “The Dolphin”. He
is also an author of a book “The Art Of Illuminati”.
In the novel, Langdon
wakes up from his dream due to his continuously ringing phone in early morning.
He picks up and refuses to talk to the caller, who insists on seeing him
immediately. Shortly after the phone call, Langdon receives a fax; a picture of
a dead body branded with the ambigram of “Illuminati” (name of an ancient
brotherhood of Science). The sender of the fax is the same who had called
before. The caller again calls him and asks Langdon to help him. This time,
stunned by the resurgance of the secret brotherhood, Langdon agrees.
The caller, who claims
to run a research facility, tells him that his lab is just at one-hour flight
from Boston, at Geneva. At first, Langdon gets Geneva, New York. The caller sends
a Super Mach-15, X-33 jet to pick him up. The jet is of weird shape and the
pilot braggs its extra-ordinary features to Langdon. While chit-chatting,
Langdon is surprised to know that his destination is Geneva, Switzerland, not
New York and he will be right there in one hour, crossing six time zones.
When he reaches there,
Langdon get to know that his destination is CERN (Conseil Europeen pour la
Recherche Nucleaire)- the world’s largest Nuclear research facility and the one
who called this morning is director of the CERN- Maximilian Kohler.
Kohler welcomes him
there and takes him to the assassinated scientist Leonardo Vetra’s room, where
his corpse is kept. The news of his murder is still kept strictly confidential.
Langdon examines the
corpse, which is brutally-treated with face twisted completely to the ground,
chest branded with the ambigram and one eye missing from its socket
Langdon and Kohler then
visit Vetra’s study and here Langdon finds Vetra to be a physist as well as a
Catholic priest. Kohler tells him that Vetra always tried to prove that Science
doesn’t confronts, rather reinforces the religion. He demands Langdon to tell
him about the Illuminati and Langdon describes the long-fogotten, part of
history books-tale of the Illuminati.
Meanwhile, an assassian
is pictured talking to an un-seen boss, taking orders and reaching for a tunnel
to proceed with his work. Another scene occuring simultaneously is of a guard
on duty in a far off country, who suddenly notices a security camera missing
from its original location in the complex, located elsewhere and focusing on a
canister with some luminous droplet hanging in its centre and a digital clock
counting down, at its bottom.
Kohler, on the other
hand, calls Vittoria Vetra(adopted daughter of Leonardo Vetra) to come back
immediately, who is on her research-field. He gives her the news of her
father’s death. Vittoria gets back and Kohler demands her to take them to her
lab, where some secret experiment had been conducting, which Kohler is
considering as a reason of Vetra’s murder.
Vittoria reluctantly
takes them both to the lab, breaking the vow she and her father had taken that
they won’t tell anyone about the project untill it is completed. The entrance
to Vetra’s lab comprises a Retina-Scan as a password. There, Kohler and Langdon
notice the drops of recently-dried blood on the floor, which Vittoria doesn’t
notice. Here, Kohler and Langdon get to know the horrible reason for which the
dead Vetra’s eye was removed by the assassian.
Chapter 18-34:
In the lab, Kohler is
surprised to see the experiment. The anti-matter, having opposite charge to
matter and with 100 percent efficient energy (nuclear power is 1.5 percent
efficient) is produced and stored by Vetra.
The anti-matter is the
ultimate power-source (considered as God-particle by some people) with no
pollution or radiation.
Vetra and Vittoria have
produced an invisible, very small (in nano-grams) amount of anti-matter,
annihilation of produces a big-bang like explosion, which Vittoria demonstrates
in front of Langdon and Kohler in an annihilation chamber. Anti-matter is
stored in special vaccum canisters designed by Vittoria, that hold anti-matter
in the centre of the canister(as it eplodes as early as it comes in contact
with anything) with the help of a continuous magnetic field, generated by
un-intreppted electricity source, with battries of 24 hours backup if detached
from the chargers.
There is also revealed
a fact that Vittoria and Vetra had generated another sample of quite larger
amount (a droplet of visible size). Kohler insists on checking out that sample
too, about which Vittoria is dead sure to be safe and intact.
The larger sample is
kept in another underground Haz-Mat chamber, where it simply comes out that the
canister with larger amount of anti-matter is no more in the lab.
Meanwhile, Kohler gets
an urgent call from somewhere and asks caller to meet him at Leonardo Da Vinci
International Airport, Vatican city. Kohler’s physical condition and fits of
cough doesn’t allow him to go there and he sends Langdon and Vittoria to
Vatican for urgent.
The call is about the
strange canister, showed by a wireless camera removed from within the Vatican
and is still in there at some unknown location. At this moment, Vatican, the
cradle of modern civilization, contains a time bomb (in terms of anti-matter)
at its core.
While landing down at
Vatican, Langdon and Vittoria notice a crowd of TV-channel reporter vans,
considering if the news of anti-matter is leaked. In fact, media is crowded
there to cover te Conclave event (to select a new pope, as the former died just
15 days ago). For Conclave, every cardinal on earth is crowded at Vatican City
and all of them are literally sitting on a ticking time-bomb.
Meanwhile, the calm
environment inside the Sistine Chapel is imaged, where the Conclave is supposed
to occur. Cardinal Mortati, being the senior-most cardinal, overseer of the
whole event wonders if the four Prefritti cardinals are absent from the chapel
and sends a caution to the Swiss-Guards for their absence.
Chapter 35-51:
Langdon and Vittoria,
as arrived at Vatican come across absurd investigations of Swiss-Guards and are
later locked in an office by a Swiss-guard Commander Olivetti, as he doesn’t
believe their statement of being called by Vatican itself. During all this,
they notice some unusual bustle in offices of Swiss-guards, as if they are
searching for some missing thing. Later, Olivetti receives direct orders from
Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca (pope’s right hand in his laife, also called Chamberlain)
to bring both Langdon and Vittoria to his office immediately.
In Camerlengo’s office,
while Vittoria convinces Olivetti about the possible-hazards of anti-matter
explosion, they receive a call from the assassian, who announces himself as a
messenger of Illuminati-brotherhood and about the four missing cardinals
kidnapped by him. This news surprises Camerlengo, who is still unaware of their
absence and reveals on Langdon and Vittoria that it was the cardinals the
Swiss-guards were searching for. The assassian alerts them that they will find
their cardinals dead on four altars of Science-a secret path laid by Illuminati
that lead the scientists to their secret meeting point under Papal-dominance.
Vittoria stresses to
find out the canister and Olivetti assures the Camerlengo that he’ll sort it
out before time out.
The office of BBC in
London receives a call from some unknown person, demanding the phone-number of
reporter present at Vatican to cover the event of Conclave. Reluctant at first,
but later with the idea of “wasting a few seconds is better than missing a
headline”, the operator gives him the number.
The secret path is laid
across the Vatican, comprising the secret markers, known for the concerned
people only and totally simple for others. Langdon, knowing that Gallelio’s
book(named Diagramma) contains some clue to the secret path/markers is present
in Rome’s most secret vault “Archivo Vaticano”, is granted access to the secret
vault.
In the vault, Langdon
and Vittoria find Diagramma after some difficulty. They then try to find out
the clue mentioned in the book somewhere that may guide them to the secret
altars of Science.
Gunther Glick, a new
correspondent at BBC, with Chinita Marci-the camera assistant is present at
Vatican City to report may be just a 10-seconds clip of Conclave. Meanwhile, he
attends a call from someone, who is claiming that he’s about to change his
life. Listening to the caller’s information, he asks Marci to type some keyword
to search something he has just got the idea for. Marci is stunned at the word
Glick has said.
Chapter 52-68 :
In the book Diagramma,
Langdon and Vittoria eventually find something specially written on folio 5 by
Jhon Milton(showing he was also an Illuminatus) in form of a poem, which read
as
“From Santi’s earthly
tomb with demons hole,
Cross Rome the mystic
elements unfold.
The path of light is
laid,the sacred test,
Let angels guide you on
your lofty quest.”
These verse makes them
realize that path of Illumination begins at Santi’s earthly tomb. It also made
the 4 elements (earth,air,water,fire) of Science clear.
Langdon and Vittoria
concludes Raphael’s tomb in Pantheon as Santi’s earthly tomb and give Olivetti
a caution to be there, in order to have a chance to get the assassian or to
save the cardinals.
In the pantheon, both
of them move in separate directions to search for anything unusual, with
Olivetti and its force vigilant outside the tomb. As the assassian warned the
first cardinal’s murder would be on 8 p.m., they are on time at the spot.
On the other side, the
doors to the Sistine Chapel are sealed despite of the 4 preffreti missing and
the ceremony of the Conclve is commenced.
There are still 8
minutes to 8 p.m., when dreadfully Vittoria finds out that they have
concentrated on a wrong place. Santi’s earthly tomb stands in fact for the
Capala Chigi (Chigi Chapel), which means “the Church of Earth”. When they reach
there, they find Cardinal Ebner assassinated, branded on chest with the
ambigram “Earth” and died due to his throat and mouth stuffed with soil.
Inside the Sistine
Chapel, Cardinal Mortati is supervising the process of election. The event of
first balloting is completed. Mortati opens the ballot boxes, examines the
ballot-papers ,beading them in a string he put them in a tray, sprays some
chemicals and empties the tray in the chimneys. The chemicals he’d added create
black smoke. Cardinal Mortati has sent his first communication of Conclave to
the outside world. This smoke simply indicates Balloting-1 ended with no pope.
Chapter 69-85 :
Totally engrossed by
the scene he had recently observed, Langdon harly focuses on the chapel to sort
out a clue that lead to the next altar of Science, related to air. There he
finds that interior adornments of the Chigi Chapel are by Gianlorenzo Giovanni
Bernini (an artist famous for religious sculptures).
Following the
information obtained from the unknown caller, Glick and Marci reach Piazza del
Popolo (Chigi Chapel), where a crowd of Swiss-guard is present removing the
corpse of Cardinal branded with the ambigram. They shoot the event and
transmitt it to the editor.
Langdon finds a
sculpture of an angel pointing to a particular direction. He examines all
churches in that directions, any of them containing something related to the
element “air”. One of the Swiss-guard directs him to the correct marker of West
Ponente, depicting “the breath of God” or “air”, present in St. Peter Square.
They set of for St. Peter Square, this time followed by Glick and Marci in a
BBC van.
As Langdon,
Vittoria, Olivetti with Swiss-guards and
Glick along with Marci reached there, it was about 9 p.m. Everything usual,
Langdon notices a man and a woman with camera chasing them. In the next moment,
a little girl began screaming, on seeing someone shabby decrepit man slumped down
near the base of the obelisk. Langdon approaches him and observes his rags
stained with fresh, flowing blood. The man comes out to the Cardinal Lamasse
with his lungs punctured and branded with the ambigram “air”.
During this incident
Glick and Marci are noticed by Olivetti, shooting the whole scene. Olivetti
chases Marci and demands the film-reel of the event, which she refuses to give.
In the crowd, Glick successfully yanks the video from her coat and Marci hands
Olivetti over some other reel and flees away.
Glick sends the video
to the BBC headquarters and the editor in-chief, who asks his media
coordinators to sell out this video of live homicide for a million U.S dollars
per footage to some other channel (CNN or MSNBC).
To trace the third
altar of Science from the direction of God’s direction, Langdon is again headed
towards the Secret Archives. Meanwhile, Pope’s offices watches the footage of
murdered Cardinals on MSNBC, which they have got by the courtesy of BBC.
Olivetti is still hopeful to find out the canister as well as assassian while
Camerlengo doesn’t believes so. In the same time, the reporter on the MSNBC
breaks the news about Illuminati taking responsibility of assassination of the
Cardinals. She breaks another shocking news that the late Pope was murdered,
not naturally died, poisoned by Illuminati. Eveyone in Pope’s office watches
the news that follows a live-call to Glick who confirms the news, as he has
been in contact with the killer.
Camerlengo stunns
hearing the Pope’s was murdered. As per Papal rules, no autopsy could be
performed and consequently the Pope’s death was considered due to a stroke.
On Camerlengo
describing that Pope used “Heparin” injections for “thrombophlebitis” disease,
Vittoria reveals a biological fact that over dosage of Heparin causes death,
with the symptoms of some stroke, the most obvious being the tongue of the
victim turned black. Hearing this, Camerlengo decides to take a look at the
Pope’s dead body.
On the other hand at
CERN, Sylvie (Kohler’s PA) watches the news “Terror at Vatican” and at the same
time is wondering about the absence of Kohler. While Kohler is busy checking
out Vetra’s room and personal diaries.
In Vatican, Cardinal
Mortati puts another tray of ballot papers into the chimney, burning it and the
black smoke indicates Balloting 2 with no Pope elected still.
Langdon proceeding
step-wise finds out Maria della Vittoria as a third altar of Science,
containing the sculpture “Ecstasy of St. Teresa” as a sign of third element of
Science “fire”.
He traces out the
out-of-the-way spot by recalling that sculpture shortly after its unveiling was
moved somewhere in the Vatican by artist’s own suggestion, as Bernini probably
intentionaly created a work so sexualy-explicit that it forced Vatican to move
it that way, on a place Bernini really intended it to be, without making
himself suspicious. This strengthens the idea of Langdon aboutBernini being an
Illuminatus,too.
After sorting this out,
as Langdon intends to get out of the secret Archives but suddenly power fails
and he stucks in there and after struggling a lot gets out of there.
On the other hand,
Camerlengo alongwith Vittoria and Swiss-guards remove the tomb’s lid and to
their shock, Pope’s mouth is already opened and black as death.
Chapter 86-101 :
Langdon after escaping
hardly from the vault, reaches Pope’s office, where an argument is going on
whether to evacuate the Cardinals or to concentrate on searching the canister.
Langdon guides them to the third altar of Science “Maria della Vittoria” church.
Olivetti stesses on being careful about privacy. At 09:41 p.m., they reach the
altar and search the premises to find some clue about assassian. Shortly, they
observe high flames rising from within the church. When they approach inside,
the most gruesome scene awits them. Cardinal Guidera is burned alive, branded
with the ambigram “fire”. In the same church, the assassian kills Olivetti,
imprisons Langdon in a horrible sarcophagus (flesh-eater) and kidnaps Vittoria.
Captured in the sarcophagus chamber and imaging his death drawing near him,
Langdon is worried for Vittoria. In this short time, since they have met each
other, both of them are at home and amiable with each other, feeling that they
know each other for centuries.
After seeing Pope’s
dead body, Camerlengo decides to tell the world the truth, the fact Vatican has
to faced; a fact that they are hostage. This is for the very first time in the
history of Vatican, as before this anything like this was kept confidential
from people of the Vatican. Camerlengo is going to break the law to explain the
truth to people and to address the world and Illuminati on the behalf of
Vatican City.
Camerlengo’s address is
one of the best debates in the novel. He beautifuly explains what is actually
happening or going to happen that night. He compares Science and religion in a
very good manner, with logics and suitable arguments. He announces for the
Illuminati as “you have won the war” and “Science is the new God”. He also
mentions that the whole is and will always pay enough cost for the development
of Science. He states that even though Science has won the war this moment, it
still failed to develop faith within the people. Cardinal Mortati and the whole
college of Cardinals are greatly impressed by personalization of Camerlengo
Carlo Ventresca; even thogh he has overruled the old tradition of Rome by
addressing the whole world on-air from BBC. Cardinal Mortati gets the reason
for violation of Conclave as its was the only dramatic and desperate plea for
help. After the address, Camerlengo kneels at the altar saying “pray with me”
and the whole college of Cardinals do the same.
The hassassian reaches
at the Church of Illumintion; the Illuminati liar (for which the whole path of
illumination is laid) with the kidnapped Vittoria.
After the prayers at
the altar, Camerlengo tells Glick (who has covered throughout the address) that
he will hand him over the photos and videos of branded and murdered Cardinals
and also of the anti-matter canister counting down somewhere at the Vatican.
Glick is very excited and eager to get them as early as possible, as it will
prove a break-through for his career.
The fire-fighters’s
team at Maria della Vittoria church, that has arrived breifly to fight the fire
and to find the corpse of branded Cardinal, eventually rescues Langdon and give
him some medical treatment.
Far there at CERN,
Sylvie receives orders from Kohler to get his jet ready in 5 minutes and he has
to fly somewhere urgently.
After getting a
first-aid treatment, Langdon wonders for the fourth altar of Science as well as
for Vittoria. Pondering on the maps and clues over and over again, Langdon is
hit by the idea of that iambic pentameter’s last line “cross Rome the mystic
elements unfold” , getting the fact that all the four altars are spread over
the Rome in form of a cross; and according to this Piazza Navona is the fourth
altar of Science.
In another scene, Glick
is so enthusiastic for his break-through and considers Marci’s careful attitude
as a professional jealousy. He analyzes the American president George Bush an
Illuminati and CERN as a house of Illuminati. He also critiques the
Illuminati-logo, numbers of duality and pentagram and the world-famous
Illuminati diamond.
Chapter 102-119 :
Langdon reaches Piazza Navona before its 11
p.m. At 10:46 p.m., he sees a black van emerging from the dark ally besides.
The van stops in the compound of Bernini’s fountain (fourth marker is shown by
the Fountain of the four rivers) and assassian drags out Cardinal Baggia
branded with the ambigram “water” and loaded with heavy chains. The assassian
pushes the Cardinal into the foggy fountain pond. At the same instant, Langdon
and the assassian come across. Afterwards they fight underwater for life.
Though Langdon is a very good swimmer and one of the best water-polo player at
Harvard, at moments he seems to be over-powered by expertise of the
professional killer. Assassian plays the final trick and Langdon deciets him by
acting as if he’s dead and his body in the condition of “rigor mortis”. Assassian
considering him dead flees away. Langdon, after the killer has gone, tries to
save the brutally wounded, completely- drowned, half-dead Cardinal, but he does
not succeeds in his attempt.
Later Langdon looks for
any clue in Bernini’s fountain that may guide him to the Illuminati liar, where
he thinks Vittoria is kept in hostage. Finding a dove on the top of the
fountain, he recalls a quote of St. Gregory of Nyssa “as the soul becomes
enlightened, it takes the beautiful shape of the dove”. Dove’s direction points
to Castel St. Angelo, that certainly is the Church of Illuminaion; where all
the Scientists used to conferrence, centuries ago, right under the nose of the
Vatican.
For the safety of the
dense crowd gathered in St. Peter’s bascilica, Camerlengo and Captain Rocher
decide to evacuate the bascilica as well as Sistine Chapel right at 11:15 p.m.
Langdon reaches the
Castel St. Angelo and passing through the topsy turvy tunnels and passages,
approaches the killer at moment when he’s about to kill Vittoria. After having
an argument accompanied by a hide-and-seek fight, finally Langdon and Vittoria
kills the assassian by pushing him from the top of the building.
The time is beyond
11:15, but Rocher doesn’t allows to open the doors of Sistine Chapel. Lt.
Chartrand is getting worried and suspicious about Rocher, as he is behaving in
a very weird way.
At 11:23 p.m., Langdon
and Vittoria observes a helicopter and considering the threat of Illuminati
master-mind Janus (that he’ll shortly arrive himself at Vatican to branded the
still left, most important Papal official i.e Camerlengo). Watching the
new-comer from the landed helicopter, they are astonished to see that the
person is Maximilian Kohler. Thinking Kohler as Janus and to alarm Camerlengo
about the danger and not to meet Kohler, they at once set off for the St. Peter
bascilica through Il Passeto, a secret tunnel-way (also Pope’s secret way to
escape in time of danger) that ends in Pope’s private library.
There at Pope’s office,
the attitude of Kohler and Rocher is very strange and disturbing for Chartrand.
He wonders why Rocher has got Camerlengo’s permission for a private and urgent
meeting with Kohler. Waiting for Camerlengo, Kohler somehow recalls his
childhood and that his parents’ blind convictioin in religion and confrontation
of Science left him handicapped for the whole life (as they never allowed him a
medical treatment saying it is better for him if Gos wants him to br this way).
Recalling this, Kohler thinks “Tonight I may die at the hands of the religion
but its not for the first time”. Finally, he reaches Camerlengo and Camerlengo
knelling in front of fire, praying asks him, “Mr.Kohler ! Have you come to make
me a martyr?”
While running through
the Il Passetto, Langdon and Vittoria dicuss the reasons of Kohler’s arrival if
he’s the real Janus. They wonder if he has really come to brand Camerlengo, it
is obvious that he would never escape alive. They consider it as a suicide.
As Kohler gets in
Camerlengo’s room, he bolts the door from inside and still Rocher remains
indifferent. Chartrand is getting more and more suspicious. Before he could say
something, they hear some noise from down the hall. He rans down to sort out
from where the banging is coming and finds it from Sala Clementia, wondering
only one room was present there. He hurries to the room, that is in fact Pope’s
private library and appraoches the locked door from where the noise is coming.
Finally, it comes out that it is Langdon and Vittoria on the other side, who
try to alarm Chartrand about the danger the Camerlengo may face if he meets
Kohler. Chartrand interprets the message and is about to leave while he notices
the keys to the long-locked door are there. Wondering for they must have been
in some secret vault, he opens the door. All three of them rushes upward to
alert Camerlengo. They try to open the bolted door but it was too late. From
inside Pope’s office came a bloodcurling sream of Camerlengo. They blow open
the door and the inside scene is staggering.
As expected, Camerlengo
is branded (but with someunknown shape) by Kohler. Getting the situation,
Chartrand opens fire at Kohler. Camerlengo twisting badly on the floor due to
wound points out Rocher as “Illuminatus” and Rocher is also killed by
Chartrand. Kohler, at his last breathes in his wheelchair,thinking “Somethings
are worth dying for”, hands Langdon a
tiny camcoder and advices him to give it to media. Langdon having no plan to do
this, keeps the camcoder in the innermost pocket of its jacket, considering it
must contain some final address to the worl declaring the triumph of Science and defeat of
religion.
They make their way
outside to get Camerlengo to some hospital when Camerlengo suddenly escapes to
the top of St. Peter bascilica’s pillar, where all the cameras are focussed.
Watching the brand on the large LCDs also placed there by different channels,
Langdon gets the ambigram as the “Illuminati Diamond”.
All the crowd there
watches Camerlengo’s strange expressions and suddenly he blurts out as
“Ti sento, Dio. Grazie,
Dio
(I hear you, God. Thank
you, God.)”
Then again shouting
“Upon this rock, I will build my church”, Camerlengo dashes downstairs. All of
them thinks if the physical trauma has caused madness or some real kind of
revelation to God (and has actually got a message from God).
At 11:42 p.m., the
frenzied convoy plung back into the bascilica to retrieve Camerlengo. He claims
to have got that anti-matter is placed right on the St. Peter’s tomb (that is
five-storey down in basement) and rushes into the Necropolis. Glick and Marci
are still chasing them, first halted by Chartrand and later requested to
accompany them for they have a large camera flash-light. Langdon and Vittoria,
chasing Camerlengo, continuously argue not to go down there. Camerlengo states
that he’s not ordering anyone to stay with him. Those who are willing to go,
can leave. He will not mind. At the same time, he requests all of them to have
some faith in him as he won’t allow any more death tonight.
Chapter 119-137 :
With
time running out, the Swiss Guard evacuates the Basilica. The Camerlengo rushes
back in, claiming that he has received a vision revealing the location of the
antimatter canister. With Langdon in pursuit, the Camerlengo ventures into the
catacombs and finds the canister sitting atop the tomb of Saint Peter. Langdon
and the Camerlengo retrieve the antimatter and get in a helicopter with only
minutes to spare. The Camerlengo manages to parachute safely onto the roof of
St. Peter's just as the canister explodes harmlessly in the sky. The crowd in
St. Peter's Square look in awe as the Camerlengo stands triumphantly before
them. Because of this "miracle", the papal conclave debate whether to
elect the Camerlengo as the new Pope. Langdon managed to survive the explosion
by using a window cover from the chopper as a parachute, and landed in the
Tiber River.
After
viewing Kohler's tape Langdon, Vittoria, and the cardinals confront the Camerlengo;
Shortly before the beginning of the novel, the Pope met with Leonardo Vetra who
believed that anti-matter was capable of establishing a link between Man and
God. Vetra's beliefs caused great discomfort to the Camerlengo. While
discussing Vetra, the pope reveals that his support is due to science having
given him a son. Without waiting to hear the explanation (that the child was
the result of artificial insemination), and horrified that the Pope appeared to
have broken his vow of chastity, the Camerlengo plots to "rectify" the
situation. He poisoned the pope and, under the guise of an Illuminati master
(Janus), he recruited the assassin, to kill Vetra, steal the antimatter, and
kidnap and murder the Preferiti. The Camerlengo planted the antimatter in St.
Peter's in order to be seen as the savior of Christendom. The Illuminati
"involvement" was merely a plot engineered by the Camerlengo to cover
his own plans. It is revealed that Camerlengo Ventresca himself was the birth
son of the late pope, conceived through artificial insemination. Overcome with
guilt Ventresca soaks himself in oil and immolates himself before a crowd of
onlookers in St. Peter's Square. Cardinal Saverio Mortati is elected as new
pope by the unanimous decision of the collegeof Cardinals.
At the end of the
setting, Langdon again sees the dream with which the story was begun. At that
moment, Langdon realized that the woman in his dream was Vittoria. He and
Vittoria both stays in “Hotel Bernini”.
Captain Rocher brings a
letter and the Illuminati Diamond as a gift from Mortati, for Langdon.
Commentary :
This section of the
report will deal with comments of my own, about different levels and aspects in
the novel.
It will discuss points
as;
Major settings in the story
Imagery in the novel
Coherence of the events
Development of characters
Different worth-discussing events with examples
Author’s unbiased flow in the novel
Tone/ mood of the story and writing style
Writer’s theme/ central dogma
Some differences between the novel and the movie based on it
Climax and resolution
Major
Settings In The Novel:
There
are two major settings in the novel.
Ø The first is the
Vatican and its surrounding sites of Catholic worship in Rome
Ø The second is
CERN, a scientific counterpoint to the Vatican.
Vatican City :
More
than half of the story revolves within the Vatican. It also discusses a number
of Catholic churches, tombs, paintings, structures and sculptures. Most
important being;
·
Sistine
Chapel
·
Castel
St. Angelo; The Church of Illumination; The Illuminati liar
·
Piazza
Navona
·
Piazza
Maria della Popolo
·
Rapheal’
tomb
·
Chigi
Chapel
·
St.
Peter’ tomb and St. Peter bascilica
·
Tiber
river
·
Il
Passetto
CERN :
Located
in Geneva, Switzerland, CERN is ultramodern and filled with world-class minds
and gleaming technological artifacts that extend its reach around the world
(such as the Internet, which it had a hand in creating, and the X-33 jet that
carries Langdon there at several times the speed of sound).
Imagery in the novel :
Imagery in the novel is
used very successfully. The protagonist, Robert Langdon, Leonardo Vetra,
Vittoria Vetra, Camerlengo Carlo Vetrensca, Captain Chartrand and Maximilian
Kohler are described with all their backgrounds and history.
The imagery of churches
is also well-depicted. The structure of ambigrams is so well described that the
reader can easily imagine how it must look like. The scenes in the novel, of
the murdered and branded Cardinals are
gruesome, but very well imaged. The process of the Conclave and Papal laws are
elaborated. The higher-level conspiracies are discussed so that a lay man can
understand it well.
Coherence of the events
:
There seems to be a
perfect coherity in all the events, that takes place in the story. All the
scenes occur in a complete flow and continuity. The arrangements in the story
are in a coherence.
Development of the characters
in the story :
- Robert Langdon: A professor
of symbology at Harvard University and the main protagonist of the novel.
He is flown to CERN to help investigate the murder of Leonardo Vetra. He
is described as wearing a pair of chino pants, turtleneck, and tweed
jacket. His name is a tribute to John Langdon.
- Leonardo Vetra: A scientist
working at CERN and a priest. He is researching on antimatter when he is
murdered by the Assassin. He is also the adoptive father of Vittoria.
- Vittoria Vetra: The adopted
daughter of Vetra. She, like her father, works with CERN. Her research
focuses on biology and physics. The reader learns early in the novel that
Vittoria worked with her father in their research of antimatter.
- Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca:
The Camerlengo (Papal Chamberlain) during the conclave. He murdered the
pope, who is later revealed to have been his biological father. His
codename for dealing with the assassin, "Janus", was taken from
the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and ends, and for whom the month of
January was named.
- Cardinal Saverio Mortati: The
most senior cardinal in the conclave, and the current Dean of the College
of Cardinals. He was the Devil's Advocate for the late pope.
- Commander Olivetti: The
commandant of the Swiss Guard. He is initially skeptical on the claims of
Langdon and Vittoria until he talks with the Hassassin. He, along with
other Swiss Guards, search desperately for the missing antimatter hidden
somewhere at the Vatican. He is killed by the Hassassin at the church of
Santa Maria della Vittoria.
- Captain Rocher: The second
in command after Commander Olivetti. He is contacted by Max Kohler telling
his knowledge on the real cause of the events. He is killed by Lt.
Chartrand, who was under the impression that Rocher was an Illuminatus.
- Hassassin: The killer hired
by Janus, the Camerlengo in disguise, to fulfill his plans. He is of
Middle Eastern origin and displays his sadistic lust for women throughout
the novel. He murders Leonardo Vetra, the Preferiti, and Commander
Olivetti. He dies after being pushed from a balcony by Langdon at the
Castel Sant' Angelo and breaking his back on a pile of cannonballs below.
- Maxillian Kohler:The
director of CERN. He is feared at CERN despite his paralysis. His
wheelchair contains electronic gadgets such as a computer, telephone,
pager, video camera, and a gun. He contacts Langdon to help him find the
killer of his friend, Leonardo Vetra. He blames the Church for his
paralysis, due to his highly religious parents denying him medical care as
a child, becoming a scientist as a way to rebel.
- Gunther Glick and Chinita
Macri: A reporter and his photojournalist for the BBC. They are contacted
by the Hassassin regarding the events happening in the Vatican. Glick has
a notorious reputation as a sensationalist and conspiracy theorist
journalist. Macri, meanwhile, is a veteran camera crew and a foil to
Glick. They have the first-hand account on the events in the novel, from
the beginning of the conclave to the election of Mortati as pope.
- Lieutenant Chartrand: A
young Swiss Guard. He, together with Commander Olivetti and Capt. Rocher,
search desperately for the antimatter hidden somewhere in the Vatican. He
shoots and kills Captain Rocher after he is mistaken as an Illuminatus.
Near the end of the novel, he is sent by the new pope to give the
Illumanti Daimond as an indefinite loan to Langdon.
- Cardinal Ebner: One of the
four Preferiti and a cardinal from Frankfurt, Germany. He is killed by
asphyxiation, by means of putting dirt and soil into his mouth.
- Cardinal Lamassé: One of the
four Preferiti and a cardinal from Paris, France. He is killed by
punctures to his lungs, from which he bled to death.
- Cardinal Guidera: One of the
four Preferiti and a cardinal from Barcelona, Spain. He is incinerated
alive.
- Cardinal Baggia: One of the
four Preferiti and a cardinal from Milan, Italy and the favorite to
succeed as the new pope. He was drowned to death.
Different
worth-discussing scenes, with examples :
All
the scenes in the story are all well-described. Some of them are as follows ;
1.
Langdon
narrates the history of Illuminati- Langdon being a historian explains the
Illuminati concept before Kohler. He narrates the history how the church
confronted Galilio and other scientists and imprisoned them so as to remain the
sole authority. Some scientists were burned alive so that no one could dare
compete the Church again. After this incident, scientists feld away ti Italy
and other countries of Europe Then and founded a group named Illuminati (the
enlightened ones) to gather somewhere to discuss and relate their research and
findings with each other, under the very eyes of Vatican. The also designed a
path of Illumination for the new scientists who wanted to join them. To point
out the path, they designed some secret markers regarding the four basic
elements of Science (air,water,fire,earth) and hid them in the public places of
Rome. Those who had the urge to find the truth could find those markers easily,
that lead them to the place of their gathering; The church of Illumination(Illuminati
liar). They invaded in Free-Masonic groups and controlled the finance,politics
and other major fields of life with being noticed. But gradually, they were
totally out of scene since past 400 years, when suddenly Leonardo Vetra was
found branded with an ambigram, which they had specially designed for their
group 4 centuries ago.
2.
Structure
of the air-craft that Kohler sends to pick up Langdon- Kohler sends a special
air-craft for Langdon. It was a vaguely reminiscent of a space shuttle, with
its wings and windows totally non-existant. The pilot describes it as “HSCT
(high speed civil transport) that runs on slush hydrogen. Its shell is a
titanium matrix with silicon carbide fibers and has a 20:1 thurst/weight
ratio.” He also exclaimed it to be “Boeing X-33.”
3.
Langdon’s
dream with a young woman, twice in the story- The
story starts with the dream in which Langdon (the protagonist) is trying to
climb the Great Pyramid of Giza, while his young wife is already at the top,
bucking him up to hurry saying “I knew I should have married a younger man”.
But this dream ends as a nightmare as Langdon sees a weird old man with rotting
teeth and curling his lips to a lonely grimace. But, in the dream for second
time, there are only Langdon and Vittoria.
4.
Inside
betrayal of Camerlengo- In chapter 26, the assassian is shown waiting in a
tunnel rusty but still strong (actually Il passetto) as his (so-called
Illuminati) boss Janus has directed him to do. He knows Camerlengo is going to
open the door for him to kidnap the Cardinals and escape with them to the
Illuminati liar, where this secret tunnel ends.
5.
Vittoria’s
attitude is very amiable, fluent and confident. She has a good decision-power.
She is bold and is never reluctant in her doings. For example, outside the Chigi
Chapel, when Olivetti direct her and Langdon to be vigilant about the killer
and hands them a pistol, Vittoria unreluctantly takes the gun while Langdon
thinks for a moment.
Another example is when inside
the Secret Archives, both Langdon and Vittoria search and find out Galilio’s
old scripture “Diagramma”, Langdon is conscious not to take the folio 5 with
them outside the Archives. While Vittoria is of the view that the emergency
situation allows them to do so and so she takes the folio with her and walks
outside without listening to the next words of Langdon.
6.
An
important fact that Langdon reveals to his students and to most of the readers
even is that Jesus was not born on December twenty-fifth. According to Bible,
Jesus was born in March. December 25th is an ancient pagan holidau
of “sol invictus” (unconquered sun), coinciding with the winter solstice.
7.
While
examining the interior of the Chigi Chapel (Santi’s earthly tomb), Langdon
finds out an important fact (may be surprising for some readers) that
Gianlorenzo Givovanni Bernini who is actually an Illuminatus. Most of the
historians thought him to be apple of the eye of Vatican as well as Catholic
churches.
8.
In
the whole run, the settings of Camerlengo are though loathsome but admirable.
The relativity of markers and altars of Science is well-done with the way in
which Cardinals are killed. For example, Cardinal murdered at 1st
altar, Chigi Chapel (which literally means Church of the earth) is branded with ambigram earth and is killed
by stuffing dirt and soil into his throat. Similarly, as second altar is
related to air and is recognized by “West Ponente’s breath” (termed as breath
of God), the Cardinal murdered there is branded with “air” and is killed by
punctures in each of his lungs, showing relation to air and so on.
9.
One
of the most important thing in the story is Camerlengo’s address to the college
of Cardinals and to the whole world with the coverage of BBC. Second being the
Kohler’s thought before being killed “Cripples are powerless or the world so
believes” and “somethings are worth dying for”.
Author’s
un-biased flow in the story :
The coherence
never breaks in the novel. Author has remained unbiased throughout the story.
He has neutrally compared Science and Religion and has left the decision to the
reader for the right choice. He has just made a debate for positive and
negative aspects and has pictured effects and side-effects of both for the
readers.
Tone /mood of the story and writing style :
The author at
first seems to be more stuffed with scientific terms as he introduces CERN and
explores so many modern devices in there i.e Particle accelerator, HSCT (high
speed civil transport), Haz-Mat, the world wide web, Kohler’s electric wheel-chair,
anti-matter and specially designed canisters for its storage, annihilation
chambers etc.
The writing
style of the story is very moving and captivating. At time, while reading, the
reader miss a heartbeat. Collectively, it was not a literary novel in terms of
writing but the author knew how to end a chapter, keep a book moving and
develop some good character.
Writer’s theme /
central dogma :
The main purpose
of the author to write such a story seems as if he is trying to coincide the
ends of Science and Religion, which most of the times is thought to be a
distance apart. The author has set a fitction as well as thriller in a historic
plot. All the settings in the novel are stunningly superb. It keeps a reader
going and also u-to-date with history as well Science. The main objective that
author wants to achieve is he is trying to tell a new way how to balance
between both the important things for life. He also gives a notion to the
readers that Science never confronts the religion rather it reinforces its
ideas. He is of the view that Science itself is not bad at all, but who is uses
it makes the difference. So is the case with religion. It seems that the story
satisfies the dogma and objective that wants to get, so far.
Some differences between the novel and the movie based on it:
1.
In
the novel, the anti-matter concept was kept between Vittoria and her father,
but this is not mentioned in the movie.
2.
Leonardo
Vetra wasn’t found dead in the movie.
3.
Robert
Langdon finds everything easily and so quickly in the movie, while in the novel
he faces the difficulty of dim-lighting, choking (no air inside the Archives in
order to keep ancient scriptures safe from environmental hazards) and complex
catalouging.
4.
The
annoying tour-guide that Langdon and Vittoria find in the Pantheon is
completely absent in the movie.
5.
The
BBC reporter and camera-woman, Gunther Glick and Chinita Marci that follow them
all throughout the expedition are absent in the movie.
Climax
and resolution:
Using
the fore-shadowing technique at many places, it may occur to the reader as
climax at every such point, but the original climax comes when it is revealed
that as the Illuminati plot was engineered by Camerlengo Carlo Vetrensca and no
Janus or Illuminati really exist in the whole scene. The fact unveiled at the
end that Carlo is the son of late Pope (which he conceived by artificial
insemination) can be said another climax.
The
point when Carlo pretends to get a revelation or a secret message from God
regarding the exact location of anti-matter may also seems to be a climax.
But
the actual climax is the one mentioned earlier and the author has superbly
resolved it, leaving no confusion in the reader’s mind.
Besides
the climax, the story contains a number of scenes where a reader cannot leave
the story (that is actually the definition of climax)
Conclusion:
Angels & Demons is a 2000 bestselling mystery-thriller novel
written by American author Dan Brown and
published by Corgi
Books.
The novel
introduces the character Robert Langdon. It also shares many stylistic literary
elements with
its sequel, such as conspiracies of secret
societies, a single-day time frame, and the Catholic Church. Ancient history, architecture,
and symbolism are also heavily referenced throughout the book.
My
initial reaction to this book, having read the cover blurbs was definitely not
a positive one. I envisioned an international spy thriller with religious and
historical overtones. While a perfectly acceptable premise for a novel, but
subject matter that has little interest for me. But I was wrong. While the
capsule description on the cover is accurate, Angels and Demons has
a much more wide ranging appeal.
The
story itself is very plot-driven and the suspense never seems to end. It is a
page turner, thriller-packed from the very beginning. It contains a little bit
of everything including a little romance, drama, science fiction and lots of
action. But what had my eyes glued to the pages was the amount of mysteries and
questions that came with every moment. The reader doesn’t need to worry about
getting lost, this book didn't have so many characters that one couldn't keep
up easily.
It
is exceedingly well written. The author makes no mistakes in plotting, and
draws the reader’s interest into unfamiliar territory with his accurate prose.
Scientific matters are explained in terms laymen can easily understand. The
history and customs of the Catholic church are discussed in detail as they
relate to the plot. A physical description of the buildings and terrain of
Vatican City, worthy of any travelogue, both as it appears today and did
historically is presented adding a realistic touch to the novel.
In
short, Angels and Demons is a good escapist fiction. Black-hearted villains, a
damsel in distress, a reluctant hero, a mystery, a smattering of red-herrings.
