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FrancoAngeli Journals

Articoli

No. 54 (2021)

The Archetype of Christ in the novel series of Frank Herbert Dune

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/jun54-2021oa12552
Submitted
settembre 18, 2021
Published
2022-02-10

Abstract

In the novel God-emperor of Dune by Frank P. Herbert, tyrant Leto II binds his faithful guard Nayla to rebel Siona by a vow of obedience. At the end of the novel, Nayla will inadvertently take part in the killing of her most loved emperor by allowing Siona to act, and thereby fulfilling the will of the god. In this bond between Leto II, Nayla and Siona there is a predestination that recalls the bond between Christ and Judas.

By referring to analytical psychology, the aim of this work is to demonstrate how the Jungian archetype of Jesus Christ lies underneath Leto II’s way of acting. Leto, with his monstrous physicality and with his psychic and divinatory skills, represents all the main Jungian archetypes that take turns in the individuation process: he is Shadow (he is at the same time the deviland the creator god); he is Anima (he has the memories of his twin sister Ghanima, his mother Chani, his grandmother Jessica, and can speak with their voice); he is Syzygia (he marries his sister Ghanima); he is a representation of the Self through the archetype of Christ.

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