In 2006, a film adaptation, The Da Vinci Code, was released by Columbia Pictures. It was first previewed on May 17, 2006 at the opening night of the
Cannes film Festival and it was then released in many countries on May 18, 2006. The Roman Catholic Church criticized this film; even some bishops boycott this
film. However, in its opening weekend, the film earned over US224 million. The films soundtrack of The Da Vinci code, composed by Hans Zimmer, was
nominated for the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score http:www.rottentomatoes.commda_vinci_code.
Here, the writer will give a brief summary of the story that is related to the topic. The story begins when Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, as the leader of Opus
Dei, knowing the truth that the Vatican will revokes its sanction to Opus Dei. Desperate with this condition, this bishop puts Silas in contact with the mysterious
guy who calls himself as the Teacher, Teacher—a title common in the prelature.
T
he bishop orders Silas to obey all the Teacher commands fully, because the Teacher is the only who can help them to return Opus Dei’s power. Silas, the
monk of Opus Dei agrees with the bishop to obey the Teacher, because he considers the bishop as his savior, the only person who can determine his path.
Then, by the Teacher, Silas is ordered to find the location of the Priorys clef de voûte
or keystone which soon will lead into the location of Holy Grail. It is said by the Teacher and also believed by Opus Dei that the truth behind Holy Grail
will enlarge the power of Opus Dei. As the fanatic monk, then Silas does everything, including murder innocent people to get the information of the
keystone. However, it is ironic that after killing and torturing many people, Silas 24
knows that he is only used by the Teacher or soon known as Sir Leigh Teabing to both gain the Teacher’s goal to find out the location of Holy Grail and also ruining
Opus Dei’s name. Yet, it is all too late for Silas. He has already done a sin of murder, and even worse he already becomes a criminal. Having a fight with the
police who are trying to catch him, Silas is shot. In the end of his life, Silas then asks for God’s forgiveness. He also asks God to give the bishop second chance.
After he finishes his prayer, he dies tragically.
B. Approach of the study
This study is a reflection of the moral problem that is reflected by the character of Silas. The writer wants to analyze Silas’ action and philosophy from
moral point of view, whether his action, his thought, his goal can be morally justified or not.
Therefore, dealing with this study, the moral-philosophical approach is applied. This approach emphasizes that the function of literature is to teach
morality and to probe philosophical issues. In A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature,
Guerin states: The basic position of moral-philosophical approach is to teach morality
and to probe philosophical issues. The readers would interpret literature within the context of the philosophical thought of a period or group. The
important thing is the moral or philosophical teaching. It insists on finding out and stating what is exposed and thought Guerin, 1999: 25.
In brief, the moral-philosophical approach sees literary works as moral teaching and philosophical thought that the author attempts to convey to readers as shown
in this work. This approach will interpret literature into the context of 25
philosophical thought based on morality concept. The writer chooses this approach because this approach will help the writer in analyzing moral problem
that is depicted by the character of Silas. So this approach will help the writer in answering the problem formulation from the morality point of view.
C. Method of the study
This study used some methods to complete the data and the main step was library research. The primary source of the study was Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci
Code. The secondary sources were the books and the internet online references.
The writer collected the data from secondary sources to support the analysis. Theories of character and characterization that was applied in this study
were taken from Robert Stanton’s An Introduction to Fiction, Holman and Harmon’s A Handbook to Literature, Murphy’s Understanding Unseen, and
Little’s Approach to Literature. The writer also used the some review on religious fanaticisms in order to
support the analysis on Silas’ fanaticism. The reviews were taken from Wjaya’s Iman atau Fanatisme,
Winston Churchill’s quotation, and some internet references. those internet references were Ghassan Rubeiz’s article entitled My
God is Better than your God http:www.csmonitor.com20040420p25s01-
cogn.htm, Gretty M. Mirdal’s seminar paper entitled The Psychology of Terrorism: Fanatical Identities
http:www.psy.ku.dkmirdalterrorisme1.htm, Jacob
Van Flossen’s
article entitled
Selected Studies
in Fanaticism
http:pages.prodigy.netkrtq73aafanatic.htm, and last was Alexander Pruss’ 26
