kind of comparison. We must suspect that this comparison is subject to
particular conditions, although we cannot say what these conditions are.
Not everything with which an object or an occurrence can be compared
appears in dreams as symbolic of it, and, on the other hand, dreams do
not employ symbolism for anything and everything, but only for
particular elements of latent dream-thoughts; there are thus limitations
in both directions. We must admit also that we cannot at present assign
quite definite limits to our conception of a symbol; for it tends to
merge into substitution, representation, etc., and even approaches
closely to allusion. In one set of symbols the underlying comparison may
be easily apparent, but there are others in which we have to look about
for the common factor, the _tertium comparationis_ contained in the
supposed comparison. Further reflection may then reveal it to us, or on
the other hand it may remain definitely hidden from us. Again, if the
symbol is really a comparison, it is remarkable that this comparison is
not exposed by the process of free association, and also that the
dreamer knows nothing about it, but makes use of it unawares; nay, more,
that he is actually unwilling to recognize it when it is brought to his
notice. So you see that the symbolic relation is a comparison of a quite
peculiar kind, the nature of which is as yet not fully clear to us.
Perhaps some indication will be found later which will throw some light
upon this unknown quantity.
The number of things which are represented symbolically in dreams is not
great. The human body as a whole, parents, children, brothers and
sisters, birth, death, nakedness—and one thing more. The only typical,
that is to say, regularly occurring, representation of the human form as
a whole is that of a _house_, as was recognized by Scherner, who even
wanted to attribute to this symbol an overwhelming significance which is
not really due to it. People have dreams of climbing down the front of a
house, with feelings sometimes of pleasure and sometimes of dread. When
the walls are quite smooth, the house means a man; when there are ledges
and balconies which can be caught hold of, a woman. Parents appear in
dreams as _emperor_ and _empress_, _king_ and _queen_ or other exalted
personages; in this respect the dream attitude is highly dutiful.
Children and brothers and sisters are less tenderly treated, being
symbolized by _little animals_ or _vermin_. Birth is almost invariably
represented by some reference to _water_: either we are falling into
water or clambering out of it, saving someone from it or being saved by
them, i.e. the relation between mother and child is symbolized. For
dying we have setting out upon a _journey_ or _travelling_ by train,
while the state of death is indicated by various obscure and, as it
were, timid allusions; _clothes_ and _uniforms_ stand for nakedness. You
see that here the dividing line between the symbolic and the allusive
kinds of representation tends to disappear.
In comparison with the poverty of this enumeration, it cannot fail to
strike us that objects and matters belonging to another range of ideas
are represented by a remarkably rich symbolism. I am speaking of what
pertains to the sexual life—the genitals, sexual processes and
intercourse. An overwhelming majority of symbols in dreams are sexual
symbols. A curious disproportion arises thus, for the matters dealt with
are few in number, whereas the symbols for them are extraordinarily
numerous, so that each of these few things can be expressed by many
symbols practically equivalent. When they are interpreted, therefore,
the result of this peculiarity gives universal offence, for, in contrast
to the multifarious forms of its representation in dreams, the
interpretation of the symbols is very monotonous. This is displeasing to
everyone who comes to know of it: but how can we help it?
As this is the first time in the course of these lectures that I have
touched upon the sexual life, I owe you some explanation of the manner
in which I propose to treat this subject. Psycho-Analysis sees no
occasion for concealments or indirect allusions, and does not think it
necessary to be ashamed of concerning itself with material so important;
it is of opinion that it is right and proper to call everything by its
true name, hoping in this way the more easily to avoid disturbing
suggestions. The fact that I am speaking to a mixed audience can make no
difference in this. No science can be treated as an oracular mystery, or
in a manner adapted to school-girls; the women present, by appearing in
this lecture-room, have tacitly expressed their desire to be regarded on
the same footing as the men.
The male genital organ is symbolically represented in dreams in many
different ways, with most of which the common idea underlying the
comparison is easily apparent. In the first place, the sacred number
_three_ is symbolic of the whole male genitalia. Its more conspicuous
and, to both sexes, more interesting part, the penis, is symbolized
primarily by objects which resemble it in form, being long and
upstanding, such as _sticks_, _umbrellas_, _poles_, _trees_ and the
like; also by objects which, like the thing symbolized, have the
property of penetrating, and consequently of injuring, the body,—that is
to say, pointed weapons of all sorts: _knives_, _daggers_, _lances_,
_sabres_; fire-arms are similarly used: _guns_, _pistols_ and
_revolvers_, these last being a very appropriate symbol on account of
their shape. In the anxiety-dreams of young girls, pursuit by a man
armed with a knife or rifle plays a great part. This is perhaps the most
frequently occurring dream-symbol: you can now easily translate it for
yourselves. The substitution of the male organ by objects from which
water flows is again easily comprehensible: _taps_, _watering-cans_, or
_springs_; and by other objects which are capable of elongation, such as
_pulley lamps_, _pencils which slide in and out of a sheath_, and so on.
_Pencils_, _penholders_, _nail-files_, _hammers_ and other _implements_
are undoubtedly male sexual symbols, based on an idea of the male organ
which is equally easily perceived.
The peculiar property of this member of being able to raise itself
upright in defiance of the law of gravity, part of the phenomena of
erection, leads to symbolic representation by means of _balloons_,
_aeroplanes_, and, just recently, _Zeppelins_. But dreams have another,
much more impressive, way of symbolizing erection; they make the organ
of sex into the essential part of the whole person, so that the _dreamer
himself flies_. Do not be upset by hearing that dreams of flying, which
we all know and which are often so beautiful, must be interpreted as
dreams of general sexual excitement, dreams of erection. One
psycho-analytic investigator, P. Federn, has established the truth of
this interpretation beyond doubt; but, besides this, Mourly Vold, a man
highly praised for his sober judgement, who carried out the experiments
with artificial postures of the arms and legs, and whose theories were
really widely removed from those of psycho-analysis (indeed he may have
known nothing about it), was led by his own investigations to the same
conclusion. Nor must you think to object to this on the ground that
women can also have dreams of flying; you should rather remind
yourselves that the purpose of dreams is wish-fulfilment, and that the
wish to be a man is frequently met with in women, whether they are
conscious of it or not. Further, no one familiar with anatomy will be
misled by supposing that it is impossible for a woman to realize this
wish by sensations similar to those of a man, for the woman’s sexual
organs include a small one which resembles the penis, and this little
organ, the clitoris, does actually play during childhood and in the
years before sexual intercourse the same part as the large male organ.
Male sexual symbols less easy to understand are certain _reptiles and
fishes_: above all, the famous symbol of the _serpent_. Why _hats and
cloaks_ are used in the same way is certainly difficult to divine, but
their symbolic meaning is quite unquestionable. Finally, it may be asked
whether the representation of the male organ by some other member, such
as the _hand_ or the _foot_, may be termed symbolic. I think the context
in which this is wont to occur, and the female counterparts with which
we meet, force this conclusion upon us.
The female genitalia are symbolically represented by all such objects as
share with them the property of enclosing a space or are capable of
acting as receptacles: such as _pits_, _hollows and caves_, and also
_jars and bottles_, and _boxes_ of all sorts and sizes, _chests_,
_coffers_, _pockets_, and so forth. _Ships_ too come into this category.
Many symbols refer rather to the uterus than to the other genital
organs: thus _cupboards_, _stoves_ and, above all, _rooms_. Room
symbolism here links up with that of houses, whilst _doors and gates_
represent the genital opening. Moreover, material of different kinds is
a symbol of woman,—_wood_, _paper_, and objects made of these, such as
_tables_ and _books_. From the animal world, _snails and mussels_ at any
rate must be cited as unmistakable female symbols; of the parts of the
body, the _mouth_ as a representation of the genital opening, and,
amongst buildings, _churches and chapels_ are symbols of a woman. You
see that all these symbols are not equally easy to understand.
The breasts must be included amongst the organs of sex; these, as well
as the larger hemispheres of the female body, are represented by
_apples, peaches and fruit_ in general. The pubic hair in both sexes is
indicated in dreams by _woods and thickets_. The complicated topography
of the female sexual organs accounts for their often being represented
by a _landscape_ with rocks, woods and water, whilst the imposing
mechanism of the male sexual apparatus lends it to symbolization by all
kinds of complicated and indescribable _machinery_.
Yet another noteworthy symbol of the female genital organ is a
_jewel-case_, whilst “jewel” and “treasure” are used also in dreams to
represent the beloved person,[33] and _sweetmeats_ frequently stand for
sexual pleasures. Gratification derived from a person’s own genitals is
indicated by any kind of _play_, including playing the piano. The
symbolic representation of onanism by _sliding or gliding_ and also by
_pulling off a branch_ is very typical. A particularly remarkable
dream-symbol is the _falling out_ or _extraction of teeth_; the primary
significance of this is certainly castration as a punishment for
onanism. Special representations of sexual intercourse are less frequent
in dreams than we should expect after all this, but we may mention in
this connection rhythmical activities such as _dancing_, _riding_ and
_climbing_, and also _experiencing some violence_, e.g. being run over.
To these may be added certain manual occupations, and of course being
threatened with weapons.
You must not imagine that these symbols are either employed or
translated quite simply: on all sides we meet with what we do not
expect. For instance, it seems hardly credible that there is often no
sharp discrimination of the different sexes in these symbolic
representations. Many symbols stand for sexual organs in general,
whether male or female: for instance, a _little_ child, or a _little_
son or daughter. At another time a symbol which is generally a male one
may be used to denote the female sexual organ, or vice versa. This is
incomprehensible until we have acquired some knowledge of the
development of conceptions about sexuality amongst human beings. In many
cases this ambiguity of the symbols may be apparent rather than real;
and moreover, the most striking amongst them, such as weapons, pockets
and chests, are never used bisexually in this way.
I will now give a brief account, beginning with the symbols themselves
instead of with the objects symbolized, to show you from what spheres
the sexual symbols have for the most part been derived, and I will add a
few remarks relating particularly to those in which the attribute in
common with the thing symbolized is hard to detect. An instance of an
obscure symbol of this kind is the _hat_, or perhaps head-coverings in
general; this usually has a masculine significance, though occasionally
a feminine one. In the same way a _cloak_ betokens a man, though perhaps
sometimes without special reference to the organs of sex. It is open to
you to ask why this should be so. A _tie_, being an object which hangs
down and is not worn by women, is clearly a male symbol, whilst
_underlinen_ and _linen_ in general stands for the female. _Clothes and
uniforms_, as we have heard, represent nakedness or the human form;
_shoes and slippers_ symbolize the female genital organs. _Tables and
wood_ we have mentioned as being puzzling, but nevertheless certain,
female symbols; the _act of mounting_ ladders, steep places or stairs is
indubitably symbolic of sexual intercourse. On closer reflection we
shall notice that the rhythmic character of this climbing is the point
in common between the two, and perhaps also the accompanying increase in
excitation—the shortening of the breath as the climber ascends.
We have already recognized that _landscapes_ represent the female sexual
organs; mountains and rocks are symbols of the male organ; _gardens_, a
frequently occurring symbol of the female genitalia. _Fruit_ stands for
the breasts, not for a child. _Wild animals_ denote human beings whose
senses are excited, and, hence, evil impulses or passions. _Blossoms and
flowers_ represent the female sexual organs, more particularly, in
virginity. In this connection you will recollect that the blossoms are
really the sexual organs of plants.
We already know how rooms are used symbolically. This representation may
be extended, so that _windows and doors_ (entrances and exits from
rooms) come to mean the openings of the body; the fact of rooms being
_open or closed_ also accords with this symbolism: the _key_, which
opens them, is certainly a male symbol.
This is some material for a study of dream-symbolism. It is not
complete, and could be both extended and made deeper. However, I think
it will seem to you more than enough; perhaps you may dislike it. You
will ask: “Do I then really live in the midst of sexual symbols? Are all
the objects round me, all the clothes I wear, all the things I handle,
always sexual symbols and nothing else?” There really is good reason for
surprised questions, and the first of these would be: How do we profess
to arrive at the meaning of these dream-symbols, about which the dreamer
himself can give us little or no information?
My answer is that we derive our knowledge from widely different sources:
from fairy tales and myths, jokes and witticisms, from folk-lore, i.e.
from what we know of the manners and customs, sayings and songs, of
different peoples, and from poetic and colloquial usage of language.
Everywhere in these various fields the same symbolism occurs, and in
many of them we can understand it without being taught anything about
it. If we consider these various sources individually, we shall find so
many parallels to dream-symbolism that we are bound to be convinced of
the correctness of our interpretations.
The human body is, we said, according to Scherner frequently symbolized
in dreams by a house; by an extension of this symbolism, windows, doors
and gates stand for the entrances to cavities in the body, and the
façades may either be smooth or may have balconies and ledges to hold on
to. The same symbolism is met with in colloquialisms; for instance, we
speak of “a thatch of hair,” or a “tile hat,” or say of someone that he
is not right “in the upper storey.”[34] In anatomy, too, we speak of the
openings of the body as its “portals.”[35]
We may at first find it surprising that parents appear in our dreams as
kings and emperors and their consorts, but we have a parallel to this in
fairy tales. Does it not begin to dawn upon us that the many fairy tales
which begin with the words “Once upon a time there were a king and
queen” simply mean: “Once upon a time there were a father and mother?”
In family life the children are sometimes spoken of jestingly as
princes, and the eldest son as the crown prince. The king himself is
called the father of his people.[36] Again, in some parts, little
children are often playfully spoken of as little animals, e.g. in
Cornwall, as “little toad,” or in Germany as “little worm,” and, in
sympathizing with a child, Germans say “poor little worm.”
Now let us return to the house symbolism. When in our dreams we make use
of the projections of houses as supports, does that not suggest a
well-known, popular German saying, with reference to a woman with a
markedly developed bust: “She has something for one to hold on to” (_Die
hat etwas zum Anhalten_), whilst another colloquialism in the same
connection is: “She has plenty of wood in front of her house” (_Die hat
viel Holz vor dem Hause_), as though our interpretation were to be borne
out by this when we say that wood is a female maternal symbol.
There is still something to be said on the subject of wood. It is not
easy to see why wood should have come to represent a woman or mother,
but here a comparison of different languages may be useful to us. The
German word _Holz_ (wood) is said to be derived from the same root as
the Greek ὔλη, which means stuff, raw material. This would be an
instance of a process which is by no means rare, in that a general name
for material has come finally to be applied to a particular material
only. Now, in the Atlantic Ocean, there is an island named Madeira, and
this name was given to it by the Portuguese when they discovered it,
because at that time it was covered with dense forests; for in
Portuguese the word for wood is _madeira_. But you cannot fail to notice
that this _madeira_ is merely a modified form of the Latin _materia_,
which again signifies material in general. Now _materia_ is derived from
_mater_ = mother, and the material out of which anything is made may be
conceived of as giving birth to it. So, in the symbolic use of wood to
represent woman or mother, we have a survival of this old idea.
Birth is regularly expressed by some connection with water: we are
plunging into or emerging from water, that is to say, we give birth or
are being born. Now let us not forget that this symbol has a twofold
reference to the actual facts of evolution. Not only are all land
mammals, from which the human race itself has sprung, descended from
creatures inhabiting the water—this is the more remote of the two
considerations—but also every single mammal, every human being, has
passed the first phase of existence in water—that is to say, as an
embryo in the amniotic fluid of the mother’s womb—and thus, at birth,
emerged from water. I do not maintain that the dreamer knows this; on
the other hand, I contend that there is no need for him to know it. He
probably knows something else from having been told it as a child, but
even this, I will maintain, has contributed nothing to symbol-formation.
The child is told in the nursery that the stork brings the babies, but
then where does it get them? Out of a pond or a well—again, out of the
water. One of my patients who had been told this as a child (a little
count, as he was then) afterwards disappeared for a whole afternoon, and
was at last found lying at the edge of the castle lake, with his little
face bent over the clear water, eagerly gazing to see whether he could
catch sight of the babies at the bottom of the water.
In the myths of the births of heroes, a comparative study of which has
been made by O. Rank—the earliest is that of King Sargon of Akkad, about
2800 B.C.—exposure in water and rescue from it play a major part. Rank
perceived that this symbolizes birth in a manner analogous to that
employed in dreams. When anyone in his dream rescues somebody from the
water, he makes that person into his mother, or at any rate _a_ mother;
and in mythology, whoever rescues a child from water confesses herself
to be its real mother. There is a well-known joke in which an
intelligent Jewish boy, when asked who was the mother of Moses, answers
immediately: “The Princess.” He is told: “No, she only took him out of
the water.” “That’s what _she_ said,” he replies, showing that he had
hit upon the right interpretation of the myth.
Going away on a journey stands in dreams for dying; similarly, it is the
custom in the nursery, when a child asks questions as to the whereabouts
of someone who has died and whom he misses, to tell him that that person
has “gone away.” Here again, I deprecate the idea that the dream-symbol
has its origin in this evasive reply to the child. The poet uses the
same symbol when he speaks of the other side as “the undiscovered
country from whose bourne _no traveller_ returns.” Again, in everyday
speech it is quite usual to speak of the “last journey,” and everyone
who is acquainted with ancient rites knows how seriously the idea of a
journey into the land of the dead was taken, for instance, in ancient
Egyptian belief. In many cases the “Book of the Dead” survives, which
was given to the mummy, like a Baedeker, to take with him on the last
journey. Since burial-grounds have been placed at a distance from the
houses of the living, the last journey of the dead has indeed become a
reality.
Nor does sexual symbolism belong only to dreams. You will all know the
expression “a baggage” as applied contemptuously to a woman, but perhaps
people do not know that they are using a genital symbol. In the New
Testament we read: “The woman is the weaker _vessel_.” The sacred
writings of the Jews, the style of which so closely approaches that of
poetry, are full of expressions symbolic of sex, which have not always
been correctly interpreted and the exegesis of which, e.g. in the Song
of Solomon, has led to many misunderstandings.[37] In later Hebrew
literature the woman is very frequently represented by a house, the door
standing for the genital opening; thus a man complains, when he finds a
woman no longer a virgin, that “he has found the door open.” The symbol
“table” for a woman also occurs in this literature; the woman says of
her husband “I spread the table for him, but he overturned it.” Lame
children are said to owe their infirmity to the fact that the man
“overturned the table.” I quote here from a treatise by L. Levy in
Brünn: _Sexual Symbolism in the Bible and the Talmud_.
That ships in dreams signify women is a belief in which we are supported
by the etymologists, who assert that “ship” (_Schiff_) was originally
the name of an earthen vessel and is the same word as _Schaff_
(_schaffen_ = to make or produce). That an oven stands for a woman or
the mother’s womb is an interpretation confirmed by the Greek story of
Periander of Corinth and his wife Melissa. According to the version of
Herodotus, the tyrant adjured the shade of his wife, whom he had loved
passionately but had murdered out of jealousy, to tell him something
about herself, whereupon the dead woman identified herself by reminding
him that he, Periander, “had put his bread into a cold oven,” thus
expressing in a disguised form a circumstance of which everyone else was
ignorant. In the _Anthropophyteia_, edited by F. S. Kraus, a work which
is an indispensable text-book on everything concerning the sexual life
of different peoples, we read that in a certain part of Germany people
say of a woman who is delivered of a child that “her oven has fallen to
pieces.” The kindling of fire and everything connected with this is
permeated through and through with sexual symbolism, the flame always
standing for the male organ, and the fireplace or the hearth for the
womb of the woman.