“The Delphic oracle, which for modern poets – Yeats, for example – can conjure up mystic romantic visions, was for Sophocles and his audience, a fact of life, an institution as present and solid, as uncompromising… as the Vatican is for us. States and individuals alike consulted it as a matter of course about important decisions; Sparta asked Apollo if it should declare war on Athens in 431 B.C. (it was told to go ahead and was promised victory), and at the end of the war young Xenophon asked whether he should join the expedition of Cyrus and go up-country into Asia Minor as a mercenary soldier fighting against the Great King. The oracle maintained contacts with peoples and rulers all over the Greek and barbarian worlds; it promoted revolutions, upheld dynasties, guided the foundation of colonies – its wealth and political influence were immense.”1
In Frank Herbert’s Dune, as well as in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films, the Bene Gesserit order, does the same thing as the Oracle of Delphi did in our own ancient times, it “promoted revolutions, upheld dynasties, guided the foundation of colonies”. They practiced many other forms of political power, but behind the scenes, while the Delphi did this publicly, with religious authorization. The parallels don’t stop here, since the Bene Gesserit use religion as well, to subject the peoples throughout the galaxy to their own ends, by planting diverse patterns of religious superstition, depending on the habitat of a particular planet, so when a member of the order ends up there, she can use that foundation of religious propaganda for the purposes of the order. The harsher the living conditions on a particular planet are, the more extreme forms of religious superstition are planted, thus on Arrakis, the “Messiah pattern” is used. This is what happens in Dune: Part Two when Paul Atreides is recognized to be Lisan-Al Gaib (Voice from the Outer World) by the religious fundamentalists from the South of Arrakis. However, the prophecies planted on Arrakis do not find a fertile soil among the Fremen in the more habitable regions of Arrakis in the North (at least at first), and Paul’s lover Chani is the most vocal of them. They question the religious beliefs, Chani finds them to be dangerous and a form of power, its aim is to subjugate the Fremen.
This is what happened in Greece in the fifth century, during the great intellectual awakening, lead by the sophists who questioned every belief the Greeks had, and were more concerned with the practical aspects of rule, like rhetoric. Protagoras famously said: “the individual man is the measure of all things, of the existence of what exists and the nonexistence of what does not”, thus both the divine prophecies and the gods themselves are put in question, and are subject to the individual assessment whether they exist or do not, and whether the belief brings any practical advantage in life. This is Chani’s position, she might say “the Fremen is the measure of all things”, not a prophecy implanted on Arrakis, for the purposes of religious manipulation and attainment of political power. However, as Paul’s power as military leader grows, after many successes in fighting Harkonnens, and he becomes what Bene Gesserit call Kwisatz Haderach, by drinking the Water of Life, he reaches ultimate power. Paul Atreides becomes a ruthless religious leader armed with political power over the Fremen, mighty and relentless warriors.
In ancient Greece, the religious foundation was already planted in its soil, it sprang from it, and the Oracle of Delphi used this kind of authority to guide the Greek people in ways it saw necessary, perhaps to uphold the balance if one political force became too powerful, or simply for their own ends, to maintain wealth and political power. Bene Gesserit’s goal is to carefully guide the hereditary lines and study the genetic patterns in the Great Houses and nobility, so that one day, they can accomplish their goal of producing Kwisatz Haderach. They guide the politics of the Imperium from the shadows. In Dune: Part Two it is revealed that Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam counselled the Emperor to exterminate the House Atreides, and that it wouldn’t have happened if she did not. She says: “For 90 generations, we have supervised the House Atreides. They were promising, but they were becoming dangerously defiant. Their bloodline had to be terminated.” This plan backfired, as Paul and his mother managed to survive, and the careful planning and scheming of the Bene Gesserit proved to yield results contrary to their goals in every way imaginable. This is the power of religious fundamentalism.
- Robert Knox in Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays, Penguin Books, New York, 1982 ↩︎
Vigour of Film Lines 