Text by Aleksandra Dudek
Image by Alžbeta Szabová
Dreams have been a mysterious phenomenon throughout history, and even today they remain elusive. Inexplicable and mystical, they have accompanied literature since ancient times. By incorporating the world of dreams into their literary works, authors have opened a gateway to a different dimension of life. Literary works have become multi-layered pieces capable of revealing not only the lives of characters but also the depths of their minds, the secrets of their brains, and the keys to their souls. The motif of dreams has therefore marked its importance in shaping the narrative of literary works and has made it possible to bring to light, in a poetic way, often restricted themes.
The dream motif originated in ancient Mesopotamia when Sumerians practised dream interpretation by analyzing religious works. Later in ancient Egypt dreams functioned as divine communication establishing mediatory bonds between humans and the gods. Dreams allowed communication with the greater world, the world that remained inaccessible to most. The phenomena of dreams brought about the idea that sleep transports humans to the land where imagination is limitless, and where humans let go of the reins of fantasy providing the soul with endless possibilities. It was dreams that were believed to be the source of prophecy, the call to action, the sign of direction. Particularly in Romanticism – a literary and intellectual movement - the interest in the human’s inner state, emotions and spirituality increased. The analysis of dreams proved to be a key element in understanding inner needs. The popular saying that the eyes are the windows of the soul found its application in the realm of dreams. Dreams provided windows to the soul, to the problems that were obscured in the real world. They became the gateway to man’s most secret needs that he himself could not understand.
As dreams have taken on symbolic meaning over time, the scientific world has ignited interest in them. Numerous theories have been developed in the fields of psychology and medicine, among others, to analyze dreams. The symbolism of dreams opened up a creative space for the interpretation of this mystical phenomenon. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, introduced a new understanding of dreams. Through establishing Jungian dream analysis, he proposed the idea that dreams lead the unconscious mind to connect with the conscious mind. Jung advocated for dreams being expressions of man’s unconscious mind. His psychology was based on letting the creativity and authenticity of man’s expression find its way out through the process of dreaming. This process, deeply connected with the dreamer’s psyche, was intended to show the way to look into the unexplored areas of one’s character and life experiences. This, in turn, was to enrich the individual’s personality. In short, according to Jung’s psychology, dreams were an extension of reality in which the individual was unable to see what was hidden in the corners of his mind. They were a signpost for future steps in one’s life.
The dream is specifically the utterance of the unconscious.
- Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of Soul
It turns out, however, that literature is often ahead of reality, and the content it contains conveys timeless values. Despite the usefulness of dream analysis in the world of medicine and psychology, even before Jung’s heyday, writers were weaving dreams into their works, giving them a mystical character. Crime and Punishment, the work of one of the world’s most famous and influential writers, Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, has certainly marked the importance of dreams in the larger picture of understanding life and man’s deepest fears. His literature fell between Realism and Romanticism. Dostoevsky analyzed Romantic assumptions about feelings, spirituality, and inner life through dreams, giving the novel a timeless character by weaving Romanticism into an otherwise Realist text.
The author’s creation of the main character Rodion Raskolnikov and the psychological and literary penetration of the darkest corners of his mind and thoughts that led him to take actions that forever changed his life is performed through the use of dreams. The novel is a story of Rodion Raskolnikov, a former student, who cannot accept the inequalities of the world of which he is a victim. In a situation from which there seems to be no escape, Rodion goes so far as to kill the usurer, Alona. This act has irreversible consequences for Rodion’s psyche, his emotional life and also his romantic life with his beloved Sonya. During his imprisonment in Siberia, the protagonist undergoes an inner transformation.
Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a depiction of the power of dreams. In the novel, it is dreams that navigate and underlie the protagonist’s major decisions. They allow the characters to see the alternative version of reality in which their darkest thoughts are hidden. In essence, dreams allow for the internal battle between the structured mind and the man’s untamed psyche. This way the very irrational world of dreams constitutes the reflection of man’s psyche shaping the protagonist’s silhouette.
Through the use of dreams in his novel, Dostoyevsky gives his protagonist a second life. Before committing the crime, Rodion has a prophetic dream describing a social catastrophe from which only the chosen few will remain unharmed. Convinced of his superiority, Rodion decides to commit the crime for a higher purpose. The subsequent prophetic dream, however, is also the protagonist’s release from the trap of his thoughts, as he realizes the consequences of his behaviour and experiences an inner transformation. In this case, the dream allows him to understand the danger posed by his own beliefs. Rodion constitutes the perfect example of the way dreams allow for the shaping of the narrative and behaviour of the character and propelling forward a warning message.
Dreams offer a way out of conscience. The power of the message of these mystical phenomena can only be understood by those who have experienced them. There is something beautiful in dreams. They are a reflection of a power that has a direct effect on human life. In literature, dreams open up a whole other realm of understanding the lives and struggles of characters. Dreams, therefore, serve as an ‘excuse’ for authors to smuggle in the immaterial elements of the characters’ stories. One may wonder how something so inexplicable and mystical can have the power to make someone commit a crime, wake up in a cold sweat, or completely change their life. I suppose that will remain unknown forever, and it is up to us to accept that the reflection of our soul may, from time to time, be what we do not expect.
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