Journey of Paul Atreides

Frank Herbert's Dune reveals the journey of Paul Atreides, a "Kwisatz Haderach" who ultimately fails in his Messiah journey to be fulfilled by his son, Leto. Paul is the son of Duke Leto Atreides and his mother, Jessica, a Bene Gesserit woman. Through treachery, the House of Atreides falls and his father dies. Paul will take his vengeance by leading the Fremen, rough living desert dwellers, to revolt while fulfilling their prophecy of being the one who will "transform the Desert planet into one more fit for life," (Tower 2003, 2). While Paul is shaped in his religious orientation by the forces of the Bene Gesserit society in which he exists, his eventual rise as Messiah is more the product of his free will than anything to do with his religious shaping by these women.

Paul's education and training is carried out by the Bene Gesserit women. These women manipulate the genetic pool to help maintain superiority and pave the way for the arrival of the Messianic Kwisatz Haderach. The Kwisatz Haderach, or "shortening of the way", represents the label applied by the Bene Gesserit women to the "unknown for which they sought a genetic solution: a male Bene Gesserit whose organic mental powers would bridge space and time," (Dune 2003, 2). A male Bene Gesserit will be able to have power of the spice mTlange in ways not possible for the women. Whoever controls the Spice on Dune also controls Space travel, the important Houses, and eventually the Imper

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Category: Literature - J