dreaming to be imagined? Do all the dream thoughts exist side by side,
or do they occur one after another, or are many simultaneous trains of
thought constructed from different centres, which meet later on? I am of
the opinion that it is not yet necessary to form a plastic conception of
the psychic condition of dream formation. Only let us not forget that we
are concerned with unconscious thought, and that the process may easily
be a different one from that which we perceive in ourselves in
intentional contemplation accompanied by consciousness.
The fact, however, that dream formation is based on a process of
condensation, stands indubitable. How, then, is this condensation
brought about?
If it be considered that of those dream thoughts which are found only
the smallest number are represented in the dream by means of one of its
ideal elements, it might be concluded that condensation is accomplished
by means of ellipsis, in that the dream is not an accurate translation
or a projection point by point of the dream thoughts, but a very
incomplete and defective reproduction of them. This view, as we shall
soon find, is a very inadequate one. But let us take it as a starting
point for the present, and ask ourselves: If only a few of the elements
of the dream thoughts get into the dream content, what conditions
determine their choice?
In order to gain enlightenment on this subject let us turn our attention
to those elements of the dream content which must have fulfilled the
conditions we are seeking. A dream to the formation of which an
especially strong condensation has contributed will be the most suitable
material for this investigation. I select the dream, cited on page 142,
of the botanical monograph.
Dream content: _I have written a monograph upon a (obscure) certain
plant. The book lies before me, I am just turning over a folded coloured
plate. A dried specimen of the plant is bound with every copy as though
from a herbarium._
The most prominent element of this dream is the botanical monograph.
This comes from the impressions received on the day of the dream; I had
actually _seen a monograph on the genus “cyclamen”_ in the show-window
of a book-store. The mention of this genus is lacking in the dream
content, in which only the monograph and its relation to botany have
remained. The “botanical monograph” immediately shows its relation to
the work on cocaine which I had once written; thought connections
proceed from cocaine on the one hand to a “Festschrift,” and on the
other to my friend, the eye specialist, Dr. Koenigstein, who has had a
share in the utilisation of cocaine. Moreover, with the person of this
Dr. Koenigstein is connected the recollection of the interrupted
conversation which I had had with him on the previous evening and of the
manifold thoughts about remuneration for medical services among
colleagues. This conversation, then, is properly the actual stimulus of
the dream; the monograph about cyclamen is likewise an actuality but of
an indifferent nature; as I soon see, the “botanical monograph” of the
dream turns out to be a common mean between the two experiences of the
day, and to have been taken over unchanged from an indifferent
impression and bound up with the psychologically significant experience
by means of the most abundant associations.
Not only the combined idea, “botanical monograph,” however, but also
each of the separate elements, “botanical” and “monograph,” penetrates
deeper and deeper into the confused tangle of the dream thoughts. To
“botanical” belong the recollections of the person of Professor
_Gartner_ (German: Gärtner = gardener), of his _blooming_ wife, of my
patient whose name is _Flora_, and of a lady about whom I told the story
of the forgotten _flowers_. _Gartner_, again, is connected with the
laboratory and the conversation with _Koenigstein_; the mention of the
two female patients also belongs to the same conversation. A chain of
thoughts, one end of which is formed by the title of the hastily seen
monograph, leads off in the other direction from the lady with the
flowers to the _favourite flowers_ of my wife. Besides this, “botanical”
recalls not only an episode at the Gymnasium, but an examination taken
while I was at the university; and a new subject matter—my hobbies—which
was broached in the conversation already mentioned, is connected by
means of my humorously so-called _favourite flower_, the artichoke, with
the chain of thoughts proceeding from the forgotten flowers; behind
“artichoke” there is concealed on the one hand a recollection of Italy,
and on the other a reminiscence of a childhood scene in which I first
formed my connection with books which has since grown so intimate.
“Botanical,” then, is a veritable nucleus, the centre for the dream of
many trains of thought, which, I may assure the reader, were correctly
and justly brought into relation to one another in the conversation
referred to. Here we find ourselves in a thought factory, in which, as
in the “Weaver’s Masterpiece”:
“One tread moves thousands of threads,
The little shuttles fly back and forth,
The threads flow on unseen,
One stroke ties thousands of knots.”
“_Monograph_” in the dream, again, has a bearing upon two subjects, the
one-sidedness of my studies and the costliness of my hobbies.
The impression is gained from this first investigation that the elements
“botanical” and “monograph” have been accepted in the dream content
because they were able to show the most extensive connections with the
dream thoughts, and thus represent nuclei in which a great number of
dream thoughts come together, and because they have manifold
significance for the dream interpretation. The fact upon which this
explanation is based may be expressed in another form: Every element of
the dream content turns out to be _over-determined_—that is, it enjoys a
manifold representation in the dream thoughts.
We shall learn more by testing the remaining component parts of the
dream as to their occurrence in the dream thoughts. _The coloured plate_
refers (_cf._ the analysis on p. 145) to a new subject, the criticism
passed upon my work by colleagues, and to a subject already represented
in the dream—my hobbies—and also to a childish recollection in which I
pull to pieces the book with the coloured plates; the dried specimen of
the plant relates to an experience at the Gymnasium centering about and
particularly emphasizing the herbarium. Thus I see what sort of relation
exists between the dream content and dream thoughts: Not only do the
elements of the dream have a manifold determination in the dream
thoughts, but the individual dream thoughts are represented in the dream
by many elements. Starting from an element of the dream the path of
associations leads to a number of dream thoughts; and from a dream
thought to several elements of the dream. The formation of the dream
does not, therefore, take place in such fashion that a single one of the
dream thoughts or a group of them furnishes the dream content with an
abridgment as its representative therein, and that then another dream
thought furnishes another abridgment as its representative—somewhat as
popular representatives are elected from among the people—but the whole
mass of the dream thoughts is subjected to a certain elaboration, in the
course of which those elements that receive the greatest and completest
support stand out in relief, analogous, perhaps, to election by
_scrutins des listes_. Whatever dream I may subject to such
dismemberment, I always find the same fundamental principle
confirmed—that the dream elements are constructed from the entire mass
of the dream thoughts and that every one of them appears in relation to
the dream thoughts to have a multiple determination.
It is certainly not out of place to demonstrate this relation of the
dream content to the dream thoughts by means of a fresh example, which
is distinguished by a particularly artful intertwining of reciprocal
relations. The dream is that of a patient whom I am treating for
claustrophobia (fear in enclosed spaces). It will soon become evident
why I feel myself called upon to entitle this exceptionally intellectual
piece of dream activity in the following manner:
II. “_A Beautiful Dream_”
_The dreamer is riding with much company to X-street, where there is a
modest road-house_ (which is not the fact). _A theatrical performance is
being given in its rooms. He is first audience, then actor. Finally the
company is told to change their clothes, in order to get back into the
city. Some of the people are assigned to the rooms on the ground floor,
others to the first floor. Then a dispute arises. Those above are angry
because those below have not yet finished, so that they cannot come
down. His brother is upstairs, he is below, and he is angry at his
brother because there is such crowding._ (This part obscure.) _Besides
it has already been decided upon their arrival who is to be upstairs and
who down. Then he goes alone over the rising ground, across which
X-street leads toward the city, and he has such difficulty and hardship
in walking that he cannot move from the spot. An elderly gentleman joins
him and scolds about the King of Italy. Finally, towards the end of the
rising ground walking becomes much easier._
The difficulties experienced in walking were so distinct that for some
time after waking he was in doubt whether they were dream or reality.
According to the manifest content, this dream can hardly be praised.
Contrary to the rules, I shall begin with that portion which the dreamer
referred to as the most distinct.
The difficulties which were dreamed of, and which were probably
experienced during the dream—difficult climbing accompanied by
dyspnœa—is one of the symptoms which the patient had actually shown
years before, and which, in conjunction with other symptoms, was at that
time attributed to tuberculosis (probably hysterically simulated). We
are already from exhibition dreams acquainted with this sensation of
being hindered, peculiar to the dream, and here again we find it used
for the purpose of any kind of representation, as an ever-ready
material. That part of the dream content which ascribes the climbing as
difficult at first, and as becoming easier at the end of the hill, made
me think while it was being told of the well-known masterful
introduction to _Sappho_ by A. Daudet. Here a young man carries the girl
whom he loves upstairs—she is at first as light as a feather; but the
higher he mounts the more heavily she weighs upon his arm, and this
scene symbolises a course of events by recounting which Daudet tries to
warn young men not to waste serious affection upon girls of humble
origin or of questionable past.[DI] Although I knew that my patient had
recently had a love affair with a lady of the theatre, and had broken it
off, I did not expect to find that the interpretation which had occurred
to me was correct. Moreover, the situation in _Sappho_ was the _reverse_
of that in the dream; in the latter the climbing was difficult at the
beginning and easy later on; in the novel the symbolism serves only if
what was at first regarded as easy finally turns out to be a heavy load.
To my astonishment, the patient remarked that the interpretation
corresponded closely to the plot of a play which he had seen on the
evening before at the theatre. The play was called _Round about Vienna_,
and treated of the career of a girl who is respectable at first but
later goes over to the _demi-monde_, who has affairs with persons in
high places, thus “climbing,” but finally “goes down” faster and faster.
This play had reminded him of another entitled _From Step to Step_, in
the advertisement of which had appeared a _stairway_ consisting of
several steps.
Now to continue the interpretation. The actress with whom he had had his
most recent affair, a complicated one, had lived in X-street. There is
no inn in this street. However, while he was spending a part of the
summer in Vienna for the sake of the lady, he had lodged (German
_abgestiegen_ = stopped, literally _stepped off_) at a little hotel in
the neighbourhood. As he was leaving the hotel he said to the
cab-driver, “I am glad I didn’t get any vermin anyway” (which
incidentally is one of his phobias). Whereupon the cab-driver answered:
“How could anybody stop there! It isn’t a hotel at all, it’s really
nothing but a _road-house_!”
The road-house immediately suggests to the dreamer’s recollection a
quotation:
“Of that marvellous host
I was once a guest.”
But the host in the poem by Uhland is an apple tree. Now a second
quotation continues the train of thought:
FAUST (_dancing with the young witch_).
“A lovely dream once came to me;
I then beheld an apple tree,
And there two fairest apples shone:
They lured me so, I climbed thereon.”
THE FAIR ONE.
“Apples have been desired by you,
Since first in Paradise they grew;
And I am moved with joy to know
That such within my garden grow.”
_Translated by_ BAYARD TAYLOR.
There remains not the slightest doubt what is meant by the apple tree
and the apples. A beautiful bosom stood high among the charms with which
the actress had bewitched our dreamer.
According to the connections of the analysis we had every reason to
assume that the dream went back to an impression from childhood. In this
case it must have reference to the nurse of the patient, who is now a
man of nearly fifty years of age. The bosom of the nurse is in reality a
road-house for the child. The nurse as well as Daudet’s Sappho appears
as an allusion to his abandoned sweetheart.
The (elder) brother of the patient also appears in the dream content; he
is upstairs, the dreamer himself is below. This again is an _inversion_,
for the brother, as I happen to know, has lost his social position, my
patient has retained his. In reporting the dream content the dreamer
avoided saying that his brother was upstairs and that he himself was
_down_. It would have been too frank an expression, for a person is said
to be “down and out” when he has lost his fortune and position. Now the
fact that at this point in the dream something is represented as
inverted must have a meaning. The inversion must apply rather to some
other relation between the dream thoughts and dream content. There is an
indication which suggests how this inversion is to be taken. It
obviously applies to the end of the dream, where the circumstances of
climbing are the reverse of those in _Sappho_. Now it may easily be seen
what inversion is referred to; in _Sappho_ the man carries the woman who
stands in a sexual relation to him; in the dream thoughts, _inversely_,
a woman carries a man, and as this state of affairs can only occur
during childhood, the reference is again to the nurse who carries the
heavy child. Thus the final portion of the dream succeeds in
representing _Sappho_ and the nurse in the same allusion.
Just as the name _Sappho_ has not been selected by the poet without
reference to a Lesbian custom, so the elements of the dream in which
persons act _above_ and _below_, point to fancies of a sexual nature
with which the dreamer is occupied and which as suppressed cravings are
not without connection with his neurosis. Dream interpretation itself
does not show that these are fancies and not recollections of actual
happenings; it only furnishes us with a set of thoughts and leaves us to
determine their value as realities. Real and fantastic occurrences at
first appear here as of equal value—and not only here but also in the
creation of more important psychic structures than dreams. Much company,
as we already know, signifies a secret. The brother is none other than a
representative, drawn into the childhood scene by “fancying backwards,”
of all of the later rivals for the woman. Through the agency of an
experience which is indifferent in itself, the episode with the
gentleman who scolds about the King of Italy again refers to the
intrusion of people of low rank into aristocratic society. It is as
though the warning which Daudet gives to youth is to be supplemented by
a similar warning applicable to the suckling child.[DJ]
In order that we may have at our disposal a third example for the study
of condensation in dream formation, I shall cite the partial analysis of
another dream for which I am indebted to an elderly lady who is being
psychoanalytically treated. In harmony with the condition of severe
anxiety from which the patient suffered, her dreams contained a great
abundance of sexual thought material, the discovery of which astonished
as well as frightened her. Since I cannot carry the interpretation of
the dream to completion, the material seems to fall apart into several
groups without apparent connection.
III. Content of the dream: _She remembers that she has two June bugs in
a box, which she must set at liberty, for otherwise they will suffocate.
She opens the box, and the bugs are quite exhausted; one of them flies
out of the window, but the other is crushed on the casement while she is
shutting the window, as some one or other requests her to do
(expressions of disgust)._
Analysis: Her husband is away travelling, and her fourteen-year-old
daughter is sleeping in the bed next to her. In the evening the little
one calls her attention to the fact that a moth has fallen into her
glass of water; but she neglects to take it out, and feels sorry for the
poor little creature in the morning. A story which she had read in the
evening told of boys throwing a cat into boiling water, and the
twitchings of the animal were described. These are the occasions for the
dream, both of which are indifferent in themselves. She is further
occupied with the subject of _cruelty to animals_. Years before, while
they were spending the summer at a certain place, her daughter was very
cruel to animals. She started a butterfly collection, and asked her for
arsenic with which to kill the butterflies. Once it happened that a moth
flew about the room for a long time with a needle through its body; on
another occasion she found that some moths which had been kept for
metamorphosis had died of starvation. The same child while still at a
tender age was in the habit of pulling out the wings of beetles and
butterflies; now she would shrink in horror from these cruel actions,
for she has grown very kind.
Her mind is occupied with this contrast. It recalls another contrast,
the one between appearance and disposition, as it is described in _Adam
Bede_ by George Eliot. There a beautiful but vain and quite stupid girl
is placed side by side with an ugly but high-minded one. The aristocrat
who seduces the little goose, is opposed to the working man who feels
_aristocratic_, and behaves accordingly. It is impossible to tell
character from people’s _looks_. Who could tell from _her_ looks that
she is tormented by sensual desires?
In the same year in which the little girl started her butterfly
collection, the region in which they were staying suffered much from a
pest of June bugs. The children made havoc among the bugs, and _crushed_
them cruelly. At that time she saw a person who tore the wings off the
June bugs and ate them. She herself had been born in June and also
married in June. Three days after the wedding she wrote a letter home,
telling how happy she was. But she was by no means happy.
During the evening before the dream she had rummaged among her old
letters and had read various ones, comical and serious, to her family—an
extremely ridiculous letter from a piano-teacher who had paid her
attention when she was a girl, as well as one from an aristocratic
admirer.[DK]
She blames herself because a bad book by de Maupassant had fallen into
the hands of one of her daughters.[DL] The arsenic which her little girl
asks for recalls the arsenic pills which restored the power of youth to
the Duc de Mora in _Nabab_.
“Set at liberty” recalls to her a passage from the _Magic Flute_:
“I cannot compel you to love,
But I will not give you your liberty.”
“June bugs” suggests the speech of Katie:[DM]
“I love you like a little beetle.”
Meanwhile the speech from _Tannhauser_: “For you are wrought with evil
passion.”
She is living in fear and anxiety about her absent husband. The dread
that something may happen to him on the journey is expressed in numerous
fancies of the day. A little while before, during the analysis, she had
come upon a complaint about his “senility” in her unconscious thoughts.
The wish thought which this dream conceals may perhaps best be
conjectured if I say that several days before the dream she was suddenly
astounded by a command which she directed to her husband in the midst of
her work: “_Go hang yourself_.” It was found that a few hours before she
had read somewhere that a vigorous erection is induced when a person is
hanged. It was for the erection which freed itself from repression in
this terror-inspiring veiled form. “Go hang yourself” is as much as to
say: “Get up an erection, at any cost.” Dr. Jenkin’s arsenic pills in
_Nabab_ belong in this connection; for it was known to the patient that
the strongest aphrodisiac, cantharides, is prepared by _crushing bugs_
(so-called Spanish flies). The most important part of the dream content
has a significance to this effect.
Opening and shutting the _window_ is the subject of a standing quarrel
with her husband. She herself likes to sleep with plenty of air, and her
husband does not. _Exhaustion_ is the chief ailment of which she
complains these days.
In all three of the dreams just cited I have emphasized by italics those
phrases where one of the elements of the dream recurs in the dream
thoughts in order to make the manifold references of the former obvious.
Since, however, the analysis of none of these dreams has been carried to
completion, it will be well worth while to consider a dream with a fully
detailed analysis, in order to demonstrate the manifold determination of
its content. I select the dream of Irma’s injection for this purpose. We
shall see without effort in this example that the condensation work has
used more than one means for the formation of the dream.
The chief person in the content of the dream is my patient Irma, who is
seen with the features which belong to her in waking life, and who
therefore in the first instance represents herself. But her attitude as
I examine her at the window is taken from the recollection of another
person, of the lady for whom I should like to exchange my patient, as
the dream thoughts show. In as far as Irma shows a diphtheritic membrane
which recalls my anxiety about my eldest daughter, she comes to
represent this child of mine, behind whom is concealed the person of the
patient who died from intoxication and who is brought into connection by
the identity of her name. In the further course of the dream the
significance of Irma’s personality changes (without the alteration of
her image as it is seen in the dream); she becomes one of the children
whom we examine in the public dispensaries for children’s diseases,
where my friends show the difference of their mental capabilities. The
transference was obviously brought about through the idea of my infant
daughter. By means of her unwillingness to open her mouth the same Irma
is changed into an allusion to another lady who was once examined by me,
and besides that to my wife, in the same connection. Furthermore, in the
morbid transformations which I discover in her throat I have gathered
allusions to a great number of other persons.
All these people whom I encounter as I follow the associations suggested
by “Irma,” do not appear personally in the dream; they are concealed
behind the dream person “Irma,” who is thus developed into a collective
image, as might be expected, with contradictory features. Irma comes to
represent these other persons, who are discarded in the work of
condensation, in that I cause to happen to her all the things which
recall these persons detail for detail.