Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dune, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Violence
Free Will and Fate
Environment and Human Culture
Human Cognitive Advances
Summary
Analysis
An epigraph by Princess Irulan from the “Manual of Muad’Dib” notes that anyone studying Muad’Dib must always consider the planet Arrakis as his home, even though he spent his first 15 years growing up on the planet Caladan.
The mysterious epigraph offers no explanation as to who Princess Irulan or Muad’Dib are. This is typical of the narrator’s world-building, where details are introduced without explanation until much later in the novel. It can be presumed both characters are powerful, as Princess Irulan is clearly royalty and Muad’Dib is the subject of her book.
Themes
The novel begins with the noble House Atreides preparing to leave their ancestral home planet Caladan for planet Arrakis. Duke Leto, head of House Atreides, has a concubine named Lady Jessica and a 15-year-old son named Paul. One night, an elderly woman (later revealed as the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam) visits Castle Caladan and together with Lady Jessica looks in on Paul sleeping. Although she doesn’t speak to the sleeping boy, the crone remarks on Paul’s sly pretense of sleep and acknowledges to Jessica that he may be the “Kwisatz Haderach” who will be tested by her “gom jabbar.” She tells Paul to sleep well and leaves him wondering at her strange presence and unfamiliar terms. He is also left feeling frustrated by the way the old woman treated his mother, Jessica, like a “common serving wench” rather than “a Bene Gesserit lady” and a “duke’s concubine.”
Paul’s confusion at the unknown visitor and her unfamiliar terminology parallels a reader’s experience, as the narrator introduces many new details without explanation. The old woman clearly has a close relationship with Lady Jessica, with the two focused on their shared knowledge of a “Kwisatz Haderach” prophecy. The narrator reveals the protagonist, Paul, as an intelligent young man who cleverly pretends to be asleep to gain information during an unexpected and worrying situation; however, the old woman is astute in recognizing that Paul is actually awake. Paul is also somewhat arrogant in his expectation that the elderly woman will treat his family in a manner that befits nobility—Dune is clearly a world of class-based distinctions.
Themes
Paul also reflects on the current state of change his family is experiencing. Thufir Hawat, Duke Leto’s Master of Assassins and Mentat (a human with extraordinary computing capabilities), has discussed the upcoming planetary move with Paul. The Atreides’ longtime enemy, House Harkonnen, governed the desert planet Arrakis for some 80 years on a CHOAM contract to mine for the resource melange, more commonly called spice. The Harkonnens are now withdrawing from Arrakis, as the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV has awarded Duke Leto governance of the desert planet; Hawat and the Duke are wary that this is a political trap due to the Duke’s popularity within the Landsraad. Hawat states that “A popular man arouses the jealousy of the powerful.”
Once again, the narrator introduces many mysterious terms without explanation. The narrator sets up the fierce rivalry between House Atreides and House Harkonnen that drives the novel’s plot, yet will later ironically reveal that Paul is of Harkonnen as well as Atreides heritage. Hawat’s statement about popularity attracting jealously begins the theme that politics is always linked closely with violence, as his words foreshadow the early death that Duke Leto will meet for political reasons.
Themes
Paul falls asleep reflecting on Arrakis. He dreams of a dimly lit Arrakeen cavern. It is “solemn” and like a cathedral, and he hears the faint sound of dripping water. Within his dream, he is aware he will remember it upon waking, as he “always remembers the dreams that were predictions.”
Paul’s conviction that his remembered dreams always come true suggest that he has a gift of foresight. This talent will develop significantly as the novel progresses, becoming a great source of power.
Themes
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Upon waking before dawn, Paul considers what he has learned about the desert planet from his teacher Dr. Wellington Yueh. The planet is run on a “faufreluches” system—a feudal class structure. However the indigenous people, known as Fremen, live without command on the desert edges and are not recorded in any Imperial census. Paul makes note of his own anxiety and uses one of Lady Jessica’s teachings—a Bene Gesserit mind-body technique—to calm himself.
Paul’s is a thoughtful young man who reflects deeply on possible future events. He also shows great self-awareness in tracking his emotions and managing them using Bene Gesserit cognitive skills.
Themes
Lady Jessica enters Paul’s bedroom, and he notices that she is similarly tense. She informs Paul that the old woman, who is Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, has summoned Paul to meet her. Paul says that he has dreamed of the Reverend Mother before. Jessica instructs Paul to tell the old woman about his dreams and to hurry to greet her.
In recognizing his mother’s anxiety, Paul reads other people’s emotions almost as well as his own. His revelation that he has dreamed of the Reverend Mother Mohiam again suggests that he has dreams that accurately predict future events.
Themes
Paul and Jessica meet the Reverend Mother Mohiam in Jessica’s morning room. Paul is angered by the Reverend Mother’s seemingly disrespectful dismissal of Duke Leto’s concubine. The Reverend Mother proceeds to test Paul’s humanity with the gom jabbar, a poisoned needle held on her finger at his neck. She forces his hand into a nerve-induction box that can cause extreme pain; Paul will face death at the gom jabbar if he cannot use cognitive control to overcome his animal instincts to escape the pain by withdrawing his hand from the box.
The narrator reveals the truth of the gom jabbar test. The mysterious Bene Gesserit order uses the poisoned weapon to determine whether a person is animal or human based on their reactions to pain and fear. By Bene Gesserit definition, humanity is the capability of total self-control. In threatening to kill the innocent Paul, the mysterious Bene Gesserit order demonstrates their ruthless commitment to testing an individual’s humanity for some unknown purpose.
Themes
Paul is outraged that the Reverend Mother Mohiam considers he may not be human, and threatens to call servants to kill her when she threatens his life with the dangerous test. However, after learning that Jessica supports the crone’s decision to subject him to the gom jabbar, he bends to her will.
Paul believes that his noble status protects him against threats against his life, a belief that he will come to realize is firmly untrue. His mother allows the life-threatening test to go ahead, suggesting she is complicit in the Reverend Mother’s mysterious mission.
Themes
Reverend Mother Mohiam makes note of the caution, courage, and mind control that Paul uses to succeed in the gom jabbar’s test. She also acknowledges to herself that she put him through greater pain than she has ever administered before when using the gom jabbar and nerve-induction box to test an individual’s humanity. When Paul is allowed to remove his hand from the box, he expects it to be withered to ash due to the extreme and burning pain he has felt—but to his surprise, his hand is unharmed. Paul and the Reverend Mother speak about the test, and the latter is shocked to realize that Paul can sense when a person is telling the truth.
Paul displays extraordinary skills in mental courage and fortitude when experiencing intense pain. Coupled with the narrator’s earlier revelation that Paul has a gift of foresight—which the Reverend Mother is shocked by, suggesting it is a rare gift—the young man is clearly a character of great power.
Themes
Jessica returns to the room, greatly relieved that Paul has passed the test. He learns that she passed the same test during her Bene Gesserit training. The Reverend Mother Mohiam explains the history of the matriarchal Bene Gesserit program, including its genetic breeding program that is designed to produce the prophesized Kwisatz Haderach. This individual will be a male who is able to access higher levels of mental awareness than anyone else in the galaxy; he will be the first male to successfully take the Truthsayer drug that allows access to Bene Gesserit ancestral memories. Many women have successfully taken the drug, becoming Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers, but only a male will be able to able to access both the masculine and feminine pasts the Truthsayer drug can give access to. So far, all males who have taken the drug have died.
The entire Bene Gesserit order is founded on trying to manipulate genetic lines to produce an individual who is their prophesized male messiah. Paul appears to be a possible candidate, but great risk is attached to the prophecy, and so far all potential male candidates who have tried to reach the Kwisatz Haderach level of consciousness have died. This emphasizes how high the stakes are and just how special the prophesized messiah will be, as he will do what no other man has done before him.
Themes
