Paul Atreides from starts as a hero and eventually goes in the direction of darker. People often wonder, ‘Why would a person of good will turn evil? ‘. Paul is a very complex character. First, he gains incredible power, becoming the messiah to the Fremen people.
However, all that weight of that power combined with the expectations placed upon him begins to change him. Later, he decides to hurt people, but he had started off wanting to help them. Understanding him is to understand how power and responsibility can take someone down a darker path even when he started off with the best of motives.
Paul Atreides’ Character Arc: From Hero to Anti-Hero
Paul Atreides didn’t just start off been a bad person. if you’ve seen the movie Dune, then you will agree with me that he was was kind and thought. He was a sweet person that cared about people, especially his family and other people too. But a lot changed when they killed his father, drove him out of his home . When he finally became the Fremen Emperor and leader, he changed.
Well i don’t blame with, they say with great power comes great responsibility, He needed to do the needful. There was vision and prophecy about him and what he would accomplish, this vision and prophecy was what pushed him to make some really hard choice.
He was faced with some hard choice of facing his people but through a bloody war. This decision he made caused people their life, but it was necessary. For me, i see it a choice he had to make that had would have a positive impact in the end, they’ll totally be free
Why Did Paul Atreides Turn Evil?
He became evil because of the too heavy burden of power and responsibility that he carried. In Dune, Paul starts out as a hero with good intentions but transforms as he gets more and more in control of the universe.
He becomes the leader of the Fremen and some kind of messiah figure-the pressure placed on him is enormous. With time, the power in his hands starts corrupting him. He made decisions that harm others, although he previously wanted to help them.
The burden of his visions about the future and his fear of what would happen also pushes him towards making darker decisions. Finally, power and pressure drive Paul down the path that makes him a more ruthless person.
The Role of Prophecy and Visions
In the novel Dune, Paul Atreides‘ abilities to envision his future have strong implications for his eventual turn to evil. His visions grant him both the ability to envision the positive and negative potentials of the future. Although this at first serves to aid him through making wise choices, eventually the burden of what potentially can occur begins to destroy him.
Paul envisions that the future can’t be prevented, replete as it is with bloodshed, war, and murder. This settles in his mind as fear of what’s to come. The more peaceful solution eludes him, and instead, Paul makes choices wherein some destruction emanates.
He thinks that he has no choice but to go down the path his visions are showing him, even if this means hurting others. At the very end, Paul’s power of seeing the future pushes him toward darker and more harmful choices.
The Influence of the Fremen Culture
The relationship with the Fremen people is what influences his turn to evil in *, and they are a people native to the deserts and wearing conservative clothing. When Paul becomes their leader, they believe that he is a messiah and put all their trust into him.
This power and loyalty give Paul great control but also change him. The survival and war-based culture of the Fremen prompted Paul into being even more aggressive with his decisions. With time, he became much like them, forcing his will through violence and fear.
The longer Paul led the Fremen, the more his morals altered. He started to do whatever it would take to win, at all others’ detriments. Ultimately, it is the influence of the Fremen culture that helps push him toward the darker, more ruthless path.
The Psychological Impact of Paul’s Visions on His Morality
One important factor that changed Paul Atreides was the constant vision that he had. He had this special ability that made him see the future since he was young, however what the vison that he always saw were not a good one. In this vision, he saw war, he saw death and suffering that was gonna happen in the future. He wasn’t feeling okay with what he saw, the vision created this tension and uncertainty.Â
However way he tried to escape, the vision of what he saw, caught up with him. He got to a point where he had to make some really tough choices and some of which involved going to war. This war was going to lead to thousands of people loosing their lives
As time went on, the humanity in him disappeared, he left all that human touch. For every decision he made, it made his heat stronger and he became even distance to the people he once lovedÂ
The Role of Betrayal and Loss in Paul’s Change
In any case, betrayal and loss are also one of those features that configure the transformation of Paul Atreides. During his lifetime, he suffers from so many personal losses, starting with treason to his father, Duke Leto, by people close to them. This makes him feel all the harshness of power and also the danger of trusting others.
As Paul grows to be more of a leader, he continues to lose important people in his life, and each loss changes him. The incidents make him even more guarded, willing to make cold decisions. Betrayal has taught Paul that to trust someone is to invite risk, and this reliance upon his own intuition and visions becomes more strongly developed.
All the losses of loved ones hardened Paul, making him push himself to be further away from human contact, and more ruthless. He starts becoming more concerned with securing his power and less with emotional attachments that used to hold some sort of importance to him. It is here that many find Paul to be turning to evil.
