Frank HerbertÆs Dune reveals the journey of Paul Atreides, a ôKwisatz Haderachö 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 ôtransform the Desert planet into one more fit for life,ö (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.
PaulÆs 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 ôshortening of the wayö, represents the label applied by the Bene Gesserit women to the ôunknown for which they sought a genetic solution: a male Bene Gesserit whose organic mental powers would bridge space and time,ö (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 Imperium.
We see early on that the Bene Gesserit women take over the teaching of Paul Atreides. For example, in the beginning of the novel, we see the Bene Gesserit are in charge of PaulÆs teaching. Yet, the old woman is suspect about Paul. There is something not quite right about him from her perspective. PaulÆs mother explains, ôThe Atreides are known to start late getting their growthö (Herbert 2003, 3). This line early in the novel is significant
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