Politics and Religion in the Herbert’s Dune Novels Essay -- Dune

Politics and Religion in the Herberts sand dune Novels There are a variety of governmental and religious concepts throughout the Dune novels that varies so much through the novels which makes it a complex and cogitative science fiction series. The Dune novels are popular with many fans and partly this is due because of its political and religious structures. This essay will be focussing primarily on the initiatory four Dune novels written by Frank Herbert. In the first novel, the Qizarate is composed of missionaries and is a religious body that carries Muaddibs religion across the universe (Herbert Dune Messiah 8). Muaddib is a character in three of the Dune novels and before was named Paul Atreides who was heir to the Atreides throne of great power. After living on a planet called Arrakis also known as Dune, the Fremen renamed him Muaddib after they accepted him into their society. The Fremen are autochthonic people that had lived on Arrakis for a long time but were never political or religious leaders of the planet as they were mostly obscure from off world influence. The Qizarate maintains restraint of the planets it occupies with Muaddibs religion. The population of the universe see Muaddib as their god whether they like it or not and they can not deny his power religiously. Korba, the person in charge of the Qizarate in Dune Messiah, works with Muaddib about Muaddibs religion and is a panegyrist who delivers eulogies and praise for his god (Herbert Dune Messiah 8, 57). Korba seems to be fanatically involved with this religion. Korba goes far enough to attempt to create a martyr of Muaddib, all for the sake of his religion (Herbert Dune Messiah 9). The Bene Gesserit wanted to control the religion of the univers... ...l structure struggles with internal and external forces. The Dune series is popular because it requires the reader to think, and there is more to that than just a story. Works Cited Herbert, Frank. Children of Dune. New York headliner Books, 1987. Herbert, Frank. Dune Messiah. New York Berkley, 1969. Herbert, Frank. God Emperor of Dune. New York Putnam, 1981. McLean, Susan. A Question of Balance Death and Immortality in Frank Herberts Dune Series. Death and the snake in the grass Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy. (1985) 145-152. OReilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc. 1981. Palumbo, Donald. The monomyth as fractal pattern in Frank Herberts Dune novels. Science Fiction Studies 25.3 (Nov. 1998) 433-58. Touponce, William F. Frank Herbert. Boston Twayne Publishers, 1988.