Exposition Of The Da Vinci Code From The Perspective Of Cognitive Semiotics

In2003, the published novel The Da Vinci Code has caused a great sensation in thewhole world. This novel is full of all kinds of signs and symbols. In recent years,Cognitive Semiotics, as an interdisciplinary subject of Cognitive Science and Semiotics,is on the rise. So the research results of Cognitive Semiotics can be used to elaboratethe symbols and the whole discourse in The Da Vinci Code. In this thesis, various signphenomena and the whole discourse will be analyzed within The Da Vinci Code byrelated theories in Cognitive Semiotics. Cognitive Semiotics, as a new interdisciplinaryin its field, the applications of its theory to combine with novels are fewer. Thecognitive embodiment is the basis of novel creation and novel reading. The originalityof this thesis lies in the elaboration of the embodiment relationship between the authorand readers to explain the different cognitive experience affecting novel creation as wellas novel reading. Meanwhile, signs in The Da Vinci Code will be categorized andelaborated by the related theories of Cognitive Semiotics. Icons will be analyzed by thetheory of iconicity, while riddle symbols will be elaborated by gestalt theory andcultural symbols will be classified and explained by conceptual metaphors. Discoursecoherence will be elaborated creatively by the embodiment, iconicity, gestalt andconceptual metaphors. It has reached the conclusion that the discourse is the interactiveembodiment between the author and readers and it is also a mental coherence of readers.Meanwhile, the discourse is similar in the whole as well as an intact gestalt. The symbolchain takes the shape of conceptual metaphors in whole discourse so as to embody thetheme of the novel. The significance of this thesis is to promote the study oncombination of Cognitive Semiotics and novels from the research on signs to the wholediscourse.