Silas Reconsidered
The controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Code stems in part from the portrayal of Opus Dei, especially Silas, an albino monk, who kills several people over the course of the book. Silas is a fanatic, to be sure. He beats himself with a knotted rope and wears a spiked belt (called a cilice) on his upper leg, keeping it on much longer than the expected 2 hours a day. But Brown is not unsympathetic to him. Silas was terribly abused as a child and lived a spartan existence until being thrown into a jail on the French-Spanish border, where he suffered additional cruelty.
Silas is totally committed to the Catholic Church, so much so that he is willing to kill to protect it. It is he who guns down the curator of the Louvre, setting the story in motion. Actually he and the head of Opus Dei, Bishop Aringarossa, are being manipulated by the "Teacher," who is the true villain of the story. Silas believes he has to kill in order to recover the Holy Grail and protect the Catholic Church. He is not a serial killer. Not even a particularly willing one. He is driven by fanaticism and desperation to kill. A thousand years ago, he would have been in the vanguard of the First Crusade and probably every other crusade that followed.
Is Silas an admirable character? Not especially. He doesn't consider the long-term consequences of his deeds nor does he consider the motives that might be behind the man who is ordering him to kill others. But he is not totally disreputable either. He is loyal, dedicated, and probably courageous. Someone who will do his duty whatever the consequences may be.
One thing that Brown is unclear about is how Silas got to be such a great shot with a pistol. In addition to shooting Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre, he also kills three other members of the secret group to which Sauniere belongs. Later, toward the end of the story, he shoots two or more English police officers who are pursuing him. He does this while sprawled on the pavement, having collided with another police officer. And it's this police officer's gun that he uses to shoot his pursuers. In another words, he's using an unfamiliar weapon. A hand-held firearm is not an easy thing to master, yet Silas seems to be an expert, even though there is nothing in his background (as described by Brown) to suggest how he acquired this expertise.
In my next blog, I'll consider the Bishop. By the way, the movie version of The Da Vinci Code opened in Columbus today, and it will be at least a week before I have time to view it.
Silas is totally committed to the Catholic Church, so much so that he is willing to kill to protect it. It is he who guns down the curator of the Louvre, setting the story in motion. Actually he and the head of Opus Dei, Bishop Aringarossa, are being manipulated by the "Teacher," who is the true villain of the story. Silas believes he has to kill in order to recover the Holy Grail and protect the Catholic Church. He is not a serial killer. Not even a particularly willing one. He is driven by fanaticism and desperation to kill. A thousand years ago, he would have been in the vanguard of the First Crusade and probably every other crusade that followed.
Is Silas an admirable character? Not especially. He doesn't consider the long-term consequences of his deeds nor does he consider the motives that might be behind the man who is ordering him to kill others. But he is not totally disreputable either. He is loyal, dedicated, and probably courageous. Someone who will do his duty whatever the consequences may be.
One thing that Brown is unclear about is how Silas got to be such a great shot with a pistol. In addition to shooting Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre, he also kills three other members of the secret group to which Sauniere belongs. Later, toward the end of the story, he shoots two or more English police officers who are pursuing him. He does this while sprawled on the pavement, having collided with another police officer. And it's this police officer's gun that he uses to shoot his pursuers. In another words, he's using an unfamiliar weapon. A hand-held firearm is not an easy thing to master, yet Silas seems to be an expert, even though there is nothing in his background (as described by Brown) to suggest how he acquired this expertise.
In my next blog, I'll consider the Bishop. By the way, the movie version of The Da Vinci Code opened in Columbus today, and it will be at least a week before I have time to view it.
posted by clay at 6:51 AM
2 Comments:
Seems there's a disproportionate number of albinos in the movie-villain population. The only one I recall was in "Foul Play", ca. 1978.
Not unlike many with abuse histories, Silas is overfocused on one aspect of reality to the exclusion of others. He overplays a narrow response to the world to the point of near insanity. As to his inexplicably being such a good shot, isn't this just one more of the improbable twists that detract from the storyline at the end of the book? Brown crafts a great take-off, but cannot find the right place for a smooth landing.
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