To sleep, perchance to dream… - Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Did you know that scientists still do not know why we dream? They have numerous theories, but no definitive answer. They have, however, proven that dreaming is essential to our health.
Man is not the only animal that dreams, either. I have watched my dogs chase rabbits and have nightmares while they are sleeping. I know some are nightmares because the dogs involved have been moaning and crying in their sleep. To settle them down, I either pet them very lightly or tell them softly that they’re home and safe or both. The dogs that have nightmares are usually the ones that came to us after they had been left by other families at the local humane shelter.
Some dreams tend to be universal, at least in Western culture. I have never had the one where I have to give a presentation naked, although I have had one or two where I suddenly realize I am naked somewhere where I shouldn’t be, but I regularly have the dream where it is the end of the semester and I suddenly realize there is a class I haven’t attended, the exam is coming up in two days and I am trying to figure out what to do and how badly will it affect my GPA. It’s always a relief when I wake up and realize it is a dream.
There is a scene in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë where the titular character states she dreamt about a little child for a week. She then remembers a servant telling her once that when you dream about a small child, it is a symbol of trouble coming to your relations. This statement is followed by news that Jane’s estranged aunt is dying and needs to see her. In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Frodo has dreams that relate to future events in the books that fold nicely into the plot. However, I have read other books, where an author describes a dream a character has, and when I search for a relationship to the rest of the plot, I can’t find it.
Rodgers & Hammerstein had a dream sequence in the first act of Oklahoma, revolutionary at the time because it was used to advance the plot and inform a key character something she didn’t know about herself. Shakespeare used dreams as well; one example is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where the relationship between dreams and reality was a central theme.
Do you use dreams in your writing and if so, how? What use of dreams have you noticed in works besides your own that you think were well done?
