Dream And Meaning A Psychological Analysis Of

Dream And Meaning: A Psychological Analysis Of Wid Essay, Research Paper

Dream and Meaning: A Psychological Analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea At the turn of the century, Sigmund Freud educated the population with his important book Interpretation of Dreams. Since then, dreams and the study of dreams, often referred to as psychoanalysis, has been closely linked to understanding not only real-life situations and people, but literary understandings of characters and their fictional situations. In the endeavor to interpret “the dream,” the reader of a text is constructing real representations that can help them make sense of symbolic codes of discourse. I will look at both the novel and film of Wide Sargasso Sea, in which two different approaches are being represented in the form of “the dream.” While these approaches are different in form, the meaning is essentially the same. The best place to begin this analysis is with the novel. In the novel the only person who ever has any dream passages is Antoinette, the main heroine. The dream passages are very important to the novel in that they give us a deeper understanding of Antoinette’s situation and reveal her fears and anxieties. We follow Antoinette’s physical and emotional growth through her dreams. These dreams tell their own story. If they were to be removed from the novel altogether, they would easily represent the symbolic message of the entire novel on their own. In other words, they act as a collective whole – or as a collective psychology of Antoinette’s meaning as a character. The first dream passage appears in the early part of the novel when Antoinette is a young child. She has come to realize that her family’s position in Jamaican society is one that is looked down upon and hated for the fact that her father was a slave owner. Because she and her mother are of Creole descent, and her mother is remarried to an Englishman, many of the Jamaican servants and slaves dislike their presence at Coulibri. Also, she has recently learned that she has a half-brother, Daniel, who is black and who is also a slave. Antoinette’s stepfather, Mr. Mason, does not know about Daniel. In order to keep him from finding out, Antoinette’s mother has arranged for money to be given to Daniel to keep him quiet. These details are important because they reflect Antoinette’s state of mind. In the first dream passage Antoinette recounts in first person:I dreamed that I was walking in the forest. Not alone. Someone who hated me was with me, out of sight. I could hear heavy footsteps coming closer and though I struggled and screamed I could not move. (27) When Antoinette awakens, she finds her mother near her bedside. Shortly after this, there is a monologue of Antoinette’s thoughts concerning her dream. She says, “I lay thinking, ‘I am safe. There is the corner of the bedroom door and friendly furniture. There is the tree of life in the garden and the wall green with moss. The barrier of the cliffs and the high mountains. And the barrier of the sea. I am safe. I am safe from strangers’”(27). What is ironic about this passage is that she is not safe. The innocent child in her looks towards the familiar, safe things that never change like the sea and the mountains. But these things, safe and stable as they seem, do not keep their promise. Shortly after this dream, her house is burned down by the Jamaican slaves, her brother is killed, and her mother eventually goes mad. But, aside from these facts, we need to look at the dream passage and try to make sense of the “someone” who hates her, but is “out of sight.” It appears in this passage that this “someone” is more of a plural representation, which is also a bit ambiguous. Certainly, it must represent, on some level, the Jamaican slaves and her brother Daniel. But, when one goes back and does a re-reading and compares it to the next two dream passages, it is obvious that it also represents Mr. Rochester. It is a foreshadowing of what Antoinette’s relationship will be like with Mr. Rochester, and represents a type of self-fulfilling prophecy. The second dream passage occurs just after Antoinette has learned that Mr. Mason has set her up to marry an Englishman. It is a continuation of the first dream, only in this time there is more detail. Again, Antoinette describes it to us in the first person saying:Again I have left the house at Coulibri. It is still night and I am walking towards the forest. I am wearing a long dress and thin slippers, so I walk with difficulty, following the man who is with me and holding up the skirt of my dress. It is white and beautiful and I don’t wish to get it soiled. I follow him, sick with fear but I make no effort to save myself; if anyone were to try and save me, I would refuse. This must happen. Now we have reached the forest. We are under the tall dark trees and there is no wind. ‘Here.’ He turns and looks at me, his face black with hatred, and when I see this I begin to cry. He smiles slyly. ‘Not here. Not yet,’ he says, and I follow him weeping. Now I do not try to hold up my dress, it trails in the dirt, my beautiful dress. We are no longer in the forest but in an enclosed garden surrounded by a stone wall and the trees are different trees. I do not know them. There are steps leading upwards. It is too dark to see the wall or the steps, but I know they are there and I think, ‘It will be when I go up these steps. At the top.’ I stumble over my dress and cannot get up. I touch a tr