Slightly departing from the central themes of the course, I was very interested in the concept of mental illness on Gethen. Obviously, insanity acts as a catalyst in the novel, simply by leading the king to order Estraven's exile. However, madness is less abhorred than respected in this culture, something that the narrator seems to find distasteful: he asks, confused "if these two psychopaths could not be cured" (Le Guin 63). There is a definite admiration found in the Karhider's voice when he responds, "Would you cure a singer of his voice?" (Le Guin 63). Although the Foretellers might perhaps be outliers (Oracles at Delphi, if you will), the king's madness leads me to think that insanity is a quality respected in Gethen. Everyone seems to understand that the king is absolutely insane. The narrator confesses it openly, tossing it in almost as a joke: "If this is the Royal Music, no wonder the kings of Karhide are all mad" (Le Guin 3).
However, the insane king does not prove to be the most malicious one. The sheer stability and cautiousness of the other government's bureaucracy is much more dangerous than Argaven's pure madness: "It was odd that in the less primitive society, the more sinister note was struck" (Le Guin 144). Le Guin obviously chose to make Argaven insane for a reason; through this madness, she avoided portraying him as a completely idealized monarch. However, it also serves to make the Karhide society less intimidating and sinister and more oddly comical, a nation with a fool for a king.