What Makes a Monster and What Makes a Mom?
May 15, 2023 | Dara Marie | @thornfield_laneWARNING: Spoilers ahead for Dune and His Dark Materials.
Imagine we’re playing a special edition of the children’s board game “Guess Who?” for complex female characters in literature. Here are your clues:
She is a beautiful, intelligent, skilled woman who has used these features to become influential in her unique but highly patriarchal fantasy world. Her power stems from her position in a ruling, religious regime that has molded her as much as it has harmed her. She quietly rebels against these societies and gives birth out of wedlock to a child who is the subject of a prophecy and destined to change the world’s power dynamics. The regime, feeling threatened, lashes out and leaves her to defend her child. Against her best efforts, her relationship with her mystical child is strained because of her attempts to influence the prophecy’s trajectory. Lastly, she was recently portrayed on screen by an award-winning European actress in a highly anticipated, ambitious adaptation after previous retellings left fans unsatisfied.
By now, your selection is narrowed to two characters but one key distinction is still needed:
Is she a villain? Or a hero?
The villain is Mrs. Marisa Coulter from Phillip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials which includes the books The Golden Compass or Northern Lights (depending on the publication), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Most recently, she was portrayed by Ruth Wilson in HBO’s television series His Dark Materials (2019–2022).
Mrs. Coulter lives in a world much like ours, only where everyone has a daemon, an animal companion who is a physical manifestation of their souls. Hers is a nameless golden snub-nosed monkey who reflects her allure and lavishness. Cue Lana Del Rey playing in the background because she is frequently described as “young” and “beautiful” as well as ornately dressed–all of which she used to her advantage. Combining her physicality with her exceptional mind, she’s risen the ranks of the world’s controlling religious power: The Magisterium. She is the head experimenter on the heretical substance known as Dust which the Magestrium believes is the essence of sin. The mysterious substance requires children test subjects who Mrs. Coulter obtains by twisting her charm into an entrapping maternal softness.
Very little slips past her let alone manages to steal any advantage. In the later books when she begins traveling among worlds (oh, did I not mention there’s world-jumping in this series?), she quickly learns how to master the needed skills to stay alive. She can shoot, survive in the wild (while caring for her unconscious preteen I may add), and fight if need be. She is so confident in herself, in fact, she warns potential provokers that,
“We shall have a confrontation, which I will win,” (Pullman, 88).
Mrs. Coulter is the mother of the series’ cheeky protagonist Lyra who she shares with her lover, the explorer Lord Asriel Belaqua. The girl is born from their affair which becomes publicized shortly after the birth when Asriel kills Mrs. Coutler’s husband, Edward. In a world of patriarchal religious views, her adultery is villainized. Even twelve years after Lyra’s birth, she is openly judged and forced to admit her sin to gain respect.
Lyra is the prophesied second Eve: at a pivotal moment, she will be tempted and responsible for making a decision that could make or break the rest of humanity in more than one world. Once this becomes known, the Magestrium are on the hunt to bring her down.
On the other hand, the hero of our literary “Guess Who” is Lady Jessica Atredies from Frank Herbert’s Dune. Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson most recently portrayed her in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) and is set to reprise the role in its sequel premiering later this year.
Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, an elite matriarchal religion that trains its women to be lethal physical, mental, and political weapons. She has complete autonomy over her body’s functions and actions and can master any emotion so she is never internally unprepared or overpowered. She reads body language as easily as one reads a book, detecting deceit with a single glance along with intimate details she can use to control others using the Voice (which is sort of like Jedi mind-control using the force in Star Wars except this actually takes intelligence and was created first). She also knows many languages and is trained in the Weirding way–a rare, elite martial art.
Her intelligence is equal only to her frequently referenced beauty. She is the desire of many political men, though she only has eyes for her Duke Leto Atriedies, the leader of one of the universe’s Great Houses. She was sold to him as a concubine while a young woman to serve as an advisor for the Bene Gesserit agenda. Among many things, the Bene Gesserits work to control the universe from the shadows through political intrigue and an intricate breeding program.
Jessica is mother to the novel’s protagonist, Paul. His birth, though celebrated by her lover who desired a son and heir, is scandalous to the Bene Gesserit order. She went against their laws that sisters can only bear daughters for the regime (the Gesserit sisters being so advanced they can determine their child’s sex in utero).
Paul fulfills the legend of the Kwazitz Haderach or Lisban al-Gaiab, the male child of a Bene Gesserit who can see the past, present, and future, and can breach space and time to bring about great change and paradise to the universe. Though desired by the Bene Gesserit, Paul does not fulfill their hopes and breeds their resentment when he refuses to be controlled. The high reverend mother Helen Gaium Mohiam of the Bene Gesserit is part of the large plot against house Atreides that causes mother and son to go on the run.
Despite being written by different authors thirty years apart and inhabiting entirely different universes, Mrs. Coulter and Lady Jessica are literary foils. (For a quick high school English recap, a literary foil is two characters that are opposite in order to showcase something deeper when placed together). The question now remains, what makes one a psychotic narcissist and the other a respected political agent?
Three key things differentiate these characters.
First is narrative bias.
This is firstly shown in how other characters react to and discuss our leading matriarch.
Early on in Dune, we meet the Reverend Mother Helen Gaius Mohiam who is one of the highest-ranking Bene Gesserits who works directly under the emperor and is Jessica’s mentor. Before House Atreides relocates to the planet Arakkis which they know is a political death trap, she tells Jessica,
“I wish I could stand in your place and take your sufferings… You’re as dear to me as any of my own daughters, but I cannot let that interfere with duty.” (Herbert, 30).
Although she scolds Jessica for having a son numerous times in the same scene, such endearment despite reprimand shows how deep Jessica’s merits run.
During the leadup to the assault against House Atreides, her lover Duke Leto becomes aware their enemies are trying to weaken them by turning everyone against her. He plays into this to try and grasp an upper hand, although, he would “sooner distrust” himself (Herbert, 132). He tells this to Paul so,
“This way, if anything should happen to me, you can tell her the truth–that I never doubted her, not for the smallest instant. I should want her to know this.” (Herbert, 132).
His trust in and devotion to her speaks greater than the Reverend Mother because of his intimate relationship with her. While everything else is falling apart around him, he has nothing but the deepest love, respect, and trust for her.
Paul’s relationship with his mother is far from black and white. She is his teacher, advisor, and protector, but the struggles he faces due to his immense power as the Kwazitz Haderach is because of her taking fate into her own hands–a quite valid resentment that brings complications. One moment he’s wanting her assurance, the next he hates her. But in the novel’s final pages, he entrusts her with the responsibility of negotiating on his behalf and chooses the initial course of politics after he becomes emperor of the universe. Difficulties aside, at the end of the day, he showers her with the utmost respect and trusts her with his life.
All these characters endear us to Jessica. She is certainly mysterious with many hidden motives, but her intentions are framed in respect and devotion we can understand and turn to when we don’t always understand her.
His Dark Materials, however, warns against trusting Mrs. Coulter in her first narrative appearance. We catch her in action alluring and kidnapping a child before sending a whole group of similar children to her laboratory for experiments. Her clear manipulation of the innocent leaves a distasteful impression in the audience’s mouths confirmed several chapters later. When Lyra leaves her home in Jordan College to become Mrs. Coulter’s assistant, the college’s Master entrusts her with secrets and firmly admonishes, “it would be better if Mrs. Coulter didn’t know…,” (Pullman, 74).
When Lyra later recounts this meeting with the Master, she recalls,
“It was like he wanted to protect me from Mrs. Coulter,” (Pullman, 125).
In addition to the readers’ own perception of her actions in her first scene, an authoritative character wanting to take protective measures against Mrs. Coulter is a clear signal this woman is dangerous and not an ally.
Narrative bias for or against these complex matriarchs is also seen in how other characters react to the child these women weren’t supposed to have; doing so can signal readers as to what sort of support system they may have had in their children’s upbrings to lead to noble or selfish actions.
In spite of her reprimands over Paul, the Reverend Mother confesses to Jessica that,
“I’d have done the same in your shoes and devil take the Rules,” (Herbert, 33).
We have no indication Mrs. Coulter ever received such benevolence. As already mentioned, she is still scorned by society twelve years after Lyra’s birth. She wields power and can bend men to her will but at the end of the day, they do not respect, support, or forgive her for a mistake she made while young. She doesn’t even have support from her child’s father. She and Asriel part ways after the scandal settles down and are on rocky terms when they do cross paths again. Such treatments lend themselves to Mrs. Coulter becoming resentful, manipulative, and scheming, doing anything she has to get ahead, even if that means abandoning her child for the first eleven years of the girl’s life.
While Paul’s birth was against her Order’s wishes, he became an heir to a powerful political House. Paul is admired and adored by not only his father, but his many teachers, guardians, and assistants. Jessica, as his mother, is likewise praised. The very thing that ostracized Mrs. Coulter from all of society only dampened part of Jessica’s existence. She had more than enough support while raising her son. And with a lover who accepted her advice, what need would she have for manipulative tactics?
These biases are not only enforced by characters on the page but how the authors frame those pages to begin with.
Dune is third-person omniscient with the character’s direct thoughts heard. Readers get into Jessica’s mind early on, seeing her thoughts and feelings as well as her actions. This gives us a little more glimmer into the mystery. We feel more connected to the character as if we know them.
For the first two novels, readers only see Mrs. Coulter when she crosses paths with other main characters. It is not until the third and final book that Mrs. Coulter is given her own exclusive chapters. But even then, we’ve been told to mistrust her for so long, we’re not entirely sure how much we can trust her narration.
The authors’ chosen styles cue us to how we are supposed to react to these characters.
The second thing that differentiates these characters is their actions.
Mrs. Coulter manipulates, attacks, and experiments on children which traumatizes them at the least and kills them at the worst. She tortures one witch and kills another, and kills an old ally when she no longer needs him. The HBO show expands this list with at least one other murder and several attacks against other characters.
Another outlook we have unique to this series is through her viscous monkey who is a manifestation of her soul. Rabbit-holing down His Dark Materials fan posts on Tumblr, I have frequently seen people refer to the nameless daemon as ‘The Golden Bastard’, ‘Little Gremlin’, and ‘Golden Demon’. In the books, we are led to believe she and her daemon may be able to separate (an unthinkable, inhuman act only performed by witches). The show expands on this, showing she can not only do it but that she does it even though it physically hurts. This doesn’t stop her from also beating him when she’s angry which in turn hurts herself. She physically and psychologically abuses herself as much as others.
As much as I love the character, even I can’t explain all that away. She does horrific things and definitely needs to have seen a therapist yesterday.
In the final book, she comes face to face with the Archangel, Metatron, and asks what he sees when she looks at him.
His reply?
“Corruption and envy and lust for power. Cruelty and coldness. A vicious probing curiosity. Pure, poisonous, toxic malice. You have never from your earliest years shown a shred of compassion or sympathy or kindness without calculating how it would return to your advantage. You have tortured and killed without regret or hesitation; you have betrayed and intrigued and gloried in your treachery. You are a cess-pit of moral filth.” (Pullman, 399)
That is quite the judgment. Readers learn this is not entirely true when she later tells Asriel,
“I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he’d see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I’d ever done…I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn’t.” (Pullman, 406).
Every good lie has an element of truth. If she was “lying with every nerve and fiber” of her being, then a fair amount of this is in fact true.
Jessica, however, is clean. There are allusions to her skills in The Weirding Way but there’s no mention of her ever using them to kill. When she uses it to overpower Stilgard, the strongest among the Fremen, she only uses what is necessary to earn his attention and resolves the conflict before she has to draw blood. While I had complaints about how short the scene was in the film, Rebecca Ferguson’s performance was stellar at this moment. Her tightened jaw and lowered brows make such a chilling expression of confidence, determination, and complete focus that signaled she is capable of much more.
When she uses The Voice to make two enemy soldiers kill each other, it is so she and Paul can escape being executed. Reasonable.
Mrs. Coulter killing a man because he was getting a bit too flirty for her taste and was holding her back? Not so reasonable. (In the show, she sits and gets drunk next to the corpse for hours after. That’s a bit more reasonable, or at least relatable).
Jessica is also a high-up political figure. We see her caring for her House and the people under their rule. Notably, she offers to give water used to hydrate trees to the people of Arakis who have little water.
We do see Mrs. Coulter showing tenderness to Lyra, particularly in the last book, but once again, the narration has embedded such mistrust into our minds we can’t help but question these moments.
Finally, there is the character’s motive.
Jessica acts for her son. She bore him out of love for her Duke and shows a deep commitment to him throughout the novel. She trained him in the Bene Gesserit way so he could be the strongest, smartest he could be and considers what was best for her son’s safety. When they escape to the Fremen, they do not know whether they will be accepted and if Paul will fulfill his role as their savior. During the uncertainty, the opportunity presents itself for her to become the Fremen’s high Reverend Mother, a position of reverence and power. To do it, though, she must undergo a test that could potentially kill her and she happens to be in the early stages of pregnancy. She chooses to accept the risk because should she succeed, she would ensure Paul’s safety among the people. Thankfully, she is successful, secures Paul’s position, and lives to give birth to her daughter, Alia.
This is not to say she is wholly unselfish. The Reverend High Mother does chide her for pridefully attempting to birth the Kwasitch Hazeratch which Jessica does not dispute. But this is only looking at the first novel in the Dune series. In the sequels, Dune: Messiah and Children of Dune, Jessica’s strained relationship with her daughter, Alia, points to her having emotionally failed the girl. But even then, it’s Alia that the narration turns against and creates a villain by driving her mad while Jessica remains a political powerhouse capable of keeping herself from harm. Talk about narrative bias… Anyway–that’s a subject for another time…
On the other side, Marisa acts for herself for most of the story. She disregards others to advance herself and doesn’t even take responsibility for her child until well into the second novel. By the time she does, all her previous actions have built such a case against her, she has to do an almost 180 arc in order to regain a spark of the audience’s admiration–something that was never in question with Jessica.
What can be taken from this is that there is nothing simple about these characters. They capture attention because of their layers we continuously get to explore. At their cores, these characters are one and the same, but they differ at a few key places that make them function differently in their respective stories’ narratives. Whether as a hero or a villain, they both have an immense impact on the plot and protagonist.
I’m sad Mrs. Coulter’s story concluded last year with the series’ finale of His Dark Materials (2019–2022) and look forward to Jessica’s return to the big screen in Dune: Part Two (2023).
References:
Herbert, F. (2005). Dune. National Geographic Books.
Pullman, P. (2019). His Dark Materials: the Amber Spyglass (Gift Edition).
Pullman, P., & Castrillon, M. (2019). His Dark Materials: Northern Lights (Gift Edition).
Are you a fan of Dune or His Dark Materials? Who do you think would win in a fight: Mrs. Coulter or Lady Jessica? I'd love to hear from you! You can connect with me through thornfield.lane@gmail.com or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter: @thornfield_lane.
