Skip to main content

dune - Was Frank Herbert's use of Bene Gesserit in his plot ironic?



In Frank Herbert's Dune series what was the point of the Bene Gesserit in light of their motivations for existence and how their ultimate plans played out in the books? Does Herbert use their goals to ultimately make a point that they were fundamentally misguided, driven as they were by prescience? Or maybe does it go even further to the point that the Bene Gesserit should never have existed to begin with?


Take for example the Kwisatz Haderach. It seems that even the Kwisatz Haderach was never the ultimate goal of the sisterhood but was (for them) a necessary goal to reach some unspecified (does Herbert say?) further goal (perhaps an intractable quest for more knowledge might be one suggestion). But rather than propel them the creation of a KH rather turned back upon them, into an attack on prescience. It seems then that the Bene Gesserit were ironically mistaken in their quest for prescience, because the very point emerging from the God-Emperor of Dune appears to be the need to escape prescience, and thus Leto II intentionally marginalized the BG as part of his quest to save humanity which indicates that theirs was a foolhardy quest.


Had the sisterhood known in advance somehow that the whole goal of seeking a Kwisatz Haderach was going to end up only teaching them a lesson that a Kwisatz Haderach should not exist at all (nor any Reverend Mother, BG, or any other prescient individual - as I understand it) then it would have negated their reason for existence. Of course where the mind-bender comes in is that unless they had had a KH they may have never have come to that realization - thus hindsight is 20/20 (resulting in irony).


Further, beyond being just misguided, if in the outcome of the Butlerain Jihad the Bene Gesserit had never come into being how would the situation of humanity be much different than how it turns out in the Dune series? Does Herbert say anywhere clearly what the ultimate purpose of the Bene Gesserit was and whether it was attainable? It seems that only an escape from prescience was necessary in Herbert's novels to avert the threat to humanity, not the pursuit of it. Thus could Herbert be suggesting that the Bene Gesserit were not even necessary at all? If that humanity would have survived just fine without the Bene Gesserit is one of the implications of Herbert's novels then there is major irony here, since the outcome of the whole BG project seem to lead to an indication that the prescience underlying the BG order must cease.


So is Herbert's lesson concerning the Bene Gesserit an ironic device?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more