Robert Langdon's Hero's Journey : Reading the Novels of Dan Brown with the perspective of the Monomyth

Abstract: This essay investigates the characteristics of Robert Langdon and his female helpers in Dan Brown’s novels Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost symbol and Inferno.  In each of these novels, the quests are always solved by a male-female team. This essay is therefore going to focus on the character of Robert Langdon and his female helpers with the perspective of the Monomyth by Joseph Campbell. The protagonist Robert Langdon is a Harvard University professor specialised in religious iconology and symbology, but in these four novels he is thrown into breath-taking adventures with dangerous situations, however, with the help of several females he always manages to survive. The aim of this essay is to show how Langdon and his female helpers have the characteristics of a contemporary hero and helper, with the perspective of Campbell’s the Monomyth. Keywords: Character Analysis, Robert Langdon, Hero, Female Helper, the Monomyth, Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Inferno.