Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dune Messiah, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power
Religion
Guilt and Longing
Fate and Choice
Summary
Analysis
The epigraph to Chapter 1 is a dedication to Paul Muad’Dib, born Paul Atreides—an Imperial emperor—and his sister Alia. The dedication explains that although Paul Muad’Dib and Alia could see the future, they were still human. Therefore, their story is the story of mankind—of all of “us” as their heirs.
Although Dune Messiah is a work of science fiction, it is addressed to “us”—readers who will be able to relate to its main characters. Paul and Alia are not the kind of all-powerful characters who experience no hardship or limitation; rather, they will experience human problems despite their power.
Themes
Muad’Dib’s reign has fascinated historians from all walks of life. Muad’Dib contains the ideal “ingredients of history:” he was trained by his mother, Lady Jessica of the Bene Gesserit—a powerful sisterhood—to have super-human physical control; he was a mentat, having intellect beyond that of the ancient computers, and he was a kwisatz haderach—a man bred by the Bene Gesserit to control human destiny. Muad’Dib angered the Bene Gesserit when he defeated an emperor—Shaddam—but put his sister Alia on the throne instead of the Bene Gesserit. He married Shaddam’s daughter, Princess Irulan, but only to make peace.
Paul Atreides was born with the conditions to control the world. His physical strength, intellect, and command of destiny exceed those of a normal person. Paul instigated his enemies not through any weakness or lack of claim to destiny, but rather through a breach of loyalty. This suggests that it’s a human weakness—the preference for family over political allegiance—that complicates Paul’s command of absolute power.
Themes
Muad’Dib then brought the whole universe under unified religious control. He captured the planet Arrakis, or Dune, and with it “the ultimate coin” melange—a life-giving poison. The Imperial citizens are now vitally addicted to melange, which gives the power of prophecy, human control, and space travel. In capturing melange, Muad’Dib gained total power, but also failure; some historians say that evil conspirators and plots defeated Muad’Dib, but none of these facts explain history; only the “lethal nature of prophecy” reveals the failure of its total power.
Paul unifies the world, but not by gaining his followers’ willful support. Instead, he gets his citizens addicted to mélange, which he uses as a weapon for religious and political control. Paul will eventually be defeated, but it will be because of the very power that he has gained. Paul’s “lethal nature of prophecy,” while helping Paul overtake the world, will also bring about its downfall, suggesting that too much power is itself a threat to power.
Themes
