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Book 1, Part 16
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
The epigraph from Princess Irulan’s text “Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib” claims that there is no escaping the violence of one’s ancestors.
Muad’Dib acknowledges that violence is intrinsic to human nature—it erupts throughout history because of the cyclical nature of revenge.
Themes
That night, Lady Jessica wakes in the early morning to a disturbance in the palace. Duncan Idaho is intoxicated and causing a scene in the Great Hall. Jessica tries to sober him up by slapping him and then giving him coffee. Idaho’s response reveals that he believes Jessica is a Harkonnen agent, the traitor that House Atreides is on alert for. Jessica is shocked and knows this suspicion must be shared by Thufir Hawat. She calls the Mentat to meet her.
House Atreides is starting to fall apart—beyond Duke Leto’s increasingly unusual behavior, loyal men like Idaho and Hawat are now mistrusting Jessica despite her fierce lifetime of loyalty to her beloved Duke.
Themes
Jessica and Hawat talk in her rooms, where Jessica tries to persuade him that she is not a traitor. At the same time, she tests Hawat for any signs of betrayal to House Atreides, finding none. The two exchange a long dialogue, reasoning why Jessica can or cannot be trusted. At the conversation’s end, it is a stalemate, with Hawat remaining unconvinced of Jessica’s loyalty to Duke Leto.
The Harkonnen plan to sow seeds of suspicion in House Atreides has succeeded so well that the Mentat and Bene Gesserit sister cannot come to a shared truth, despite their shared elite skills in logic and understanding.
Themes
Jessica changes tack and asks Hawat why he has never trusted her to use her full Bene Gesserit abilities in Duke Leto’s service. The Mentat angrily replies that he does not have faith in Bene Gesserit motives and insults the order’s purported powers of control and persuasion. Jessica resorts to using the Bene Gesserit Voice on Hawat, pitching her tone to force him to obey her commands to sit back in his chair listen to her argument. He feels the full extent of her total control over him. Jessica tries to explain that she cannot be a traitor to House Atreides, otherwise she would have used this power to destroy the Duke a long time ago.
The narrator shows that Hawat is fallible yet again, because he will not let the logical evidence that Jessica presents sway him from his incorrect belief that she is the traitor.
Themes
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Despite her intentions to regain his trust, Jessica’s depth of powers cause Hawat to be even more suspicious of her motives—she could be a powerful tool for the Harkonnens. When Jessica lets him leave her rooms, he considers killing her, but decides to leave quietly. He suspects Jessica as a traitor while also admiring her person and actions immensely.
In this case, Jessica’s Bene Gesserit talents harm rather than aid her cause. Hawat will not let his admiration for her personal conduct affect his loyal protection of Duke Leto.
Themes
