Editing Paul Atreides (section)

==Analysis==
According to novelist [[Brian Herbert]], Frank Herbert's son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological House [[Atreus]]. Noting that the characters in ''Dune'' fit mythological archetypes, Brian Herbert wrote that "Paul is the hero prince on a quest who weds the daughter of a 'king'".<ref name="Dune Afterword">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |chapter=Afterword by Brian Herbert |year=1965 |edition=Kindle |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |pages=875–877}}</ref> A primary theme of ''Dune'' and its sequels is Frank Herbert's warning about society's tendencies to "give over every decision-making capacity" to a charismatic leader.<ref name="Touponce 12">{{cite book|last=Touponce |first=William F. |year=1988 |title=Frank Herbert |chapter=''Dune'': Herbert's Polyphonic Novel |location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=Twayne Publishers imprint, G. K. Hall & Co|page=12 |isbn=0-8057-7514-5 }}</ref> He said in 1979, "The bottom line of the ''Dune'' trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes."<ref name="Clareson">{{cite book |last=Clareson |first=Thomas |title=Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction: the Formative Period |location=Columbia |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=1992 |pages=169–172 |isbn=0-87249-870-0}}</ref> He wrote in 1985, "''Dune'' was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question."<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=[[Eye (short story collection)|Eye]] |chapter=Introduction |year=1985 |publisher=Berkley Books |isbn=0-425-08398-5}}</ref> In a 1970 interview, Herbert noted that the character of Paul was constructed to express "the conflict between absolutes and the necessity of the moment".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sinanvural.com/seksek/inien/tvd/tvd2.htm|title=Interview with Frank Herbert|last=McNelly|first=Willis|year=1970|access-date=June 17, 2009|archive-date=February 13, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020213105526/http://www.sinanvural.com/seksek/inien/tvd/tvd2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Brian Herbert wrote:
{{blockquote|Paul Atreides (who is the messianic "Muad'Dib" to the Fremen) resembles Lawrence of Arabia ([[T. E. Lawrence]]), a British citizen who led Arab forces in a [[Arab Revolt|successful desert revolt]] against the Turks during [[World War I]]. Lawrence employed guerrilla tactics to destroy enemy forces and communication lines, and came close to becoming a messiah figure for the Arabs. This historical event led Frank Herbert to consider the possibility of an outsider leading native forces against the morally corrupt occupiers of a desert world, in the process becoming a godlike figure to them.<ref name="Dune Afterword" />}}

The similarity to T.E. Lawrence was reinforced within the novel ''Dune Messiah'', in which a chapter heading-quotation is taken from a post-conquest work of Paul's, with the title ''The Seven Pillars of the Universe''. This appears to have been inspired by Lawrence's account of his war-time activities in the desert, titled ''[[Seven Pillars of Wisdom]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to many [[monomyth|stories describing the birth of a hero]]. He has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him, and after a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tilley |first=E. Allen |title=The Modes of Fiction: A Plot Morphology |journal=[[College English]] |date=February 1978 |volume=39 |issue=6 |pages=692–706|doi=10.2307/375873 |jstor=375873 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hume |first=Kathryn |title=Romance: A Perdurable Pattern |journal=College English |date=October 1974 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=129–146|doi=10.2307/374771 |jstor=374771 }}</ref> As such, ''Dune'' is representative of a general trend beginning in 1960s American science fiction in that it features a character who attains godlike status through scientific means.<ref>{{cite book |last=Attebery |first=Brian |title=Decoding Gender in Science Fiction |location=New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2002 |page=66 |isbn=0-415-93949-6}}</ref> Paul's riding and controlling a giant sandworm cements him as a Fremen leader,<ref name="Touponce 18">{{cite book|last=Touponce |first=William F. |year=1988 |title=Frank Herbert |chapter=''Dune'': Herbert's Polyphonic Novel |location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=Twayne Publishers imprint, G. K. Hall & Co|pages=18|isbn=0-8057-7514-5 }}</ref> and he eventually gains a level of omniscience which leads to his accession to the Imperial throne and causes the Fremen to worship him like a god.

Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of ''Dune'' from earlier heroes such as [[Superman]], [[A. E. van Vogt]]'s [[Gilbert Gosseyn]], and [[Henry Kuttner]]'s telepaths. Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress". And unlike other superheroes of the 1960s—who are the exception among ordinary people in their respective worlds—Herbert's characters grow their powers through "the application of mystical philosophies and techniques". For Herbert, the ordinary person can develop incredible fighting skills (Fremen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit and Mentats).<ref name="prieto">{{cite journal |last=Prieto-Pablos |first=Juan A. |title=The Ambivalent Hero of Contemporary Fantasy and Science Fiction |journal=[[Extrapolation (journal)|Extrapolation]] |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=64–80 |publisher=The University of Texas at Brownsville |date=Spring 1991|doi=10.3828/extr.1991.32.1.64 }}</ref>

[[Denis Villeneuve]], director and co-writer of the 2021 film adaptation ''[[Dune (2021 film)|Dune]]'', compared Paul to the character [[Michael Corleone]] in ''[[The Godfather]]'', explaining that "He's training to be the Duke. But as much as he's been prepared and trained for that role, is it really what he dreams to be? That's the contradiction of that character. It's like Michael Corleone in ''The Godfather''–it's someone that has a very tragic fate and he will become something that he was not wishing to become."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/dune-denis-villeneuve-compares-paul-atreides-to-michael-corleone-exclusive-image/|title=''Dune'': Denis Villeneuve Compares Paul Atreides to ''The Godfather''{{'s}} Michael Corleone|date=May 15, 2020|website=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|first=Ben|last=Travis|access-date=May 16, 2020|archive-date=May 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516044449/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/dune-denis-villeneuve-compares-paul-atreides-to-michael-corleone-exclusive-image/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Egyptian-Canadian commentator Khalid M. Baheyeldin has enumerated the obviously [[Islam]]ic concepts and references appearing in ''Dune'', to the level of finding multiple similarities between the career of Herbert's Paul Atreides and that of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]]. Beyond the obvious general resemblance—both Muhammad and Atreides found a powerful new religion, energizing hitherto disregarded desert-dwellers to topple an old empire and build a new one—Baheyeldin noted various specific similarities between Muhammad's career and that of Atreides.<ref name="Bahayeldin">{{cite web |url=http://baheyeldin.com/literature/arabic-and-islamic-themes-in-frank-herberts-dune.html |title=Arabic and Islamic themes in Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' |last=Bahayeldin |first=Khalid |date=January 22, 2004 |access-date=July 21, 2009 |publisher=Baheyeldin.com |archive-date=May 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512020025/http://baheyeldin.com/literature/arabic-and-islamic-themes-in-frank-herberts-dune.html |url-status=live }}</ref>