Dreams typically reveal a person’s innermost desires in life that they don’t act upon in reality. In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream written by William Shakespeare, Hermia’s dream conveys her unconscious desire yearning for Lysander’s true love reveals the play’s argument that a person’s vulnerabilities and most impulsive desire lie where one is not influenced by the consciousness and influence of others.
Based on the psychology of the details Hermia reveals about her dream revolving around her wanton desires, crying for Lysander “to pluck this crawling serpent from my breast,” (2.2.152). Hermia uses the word “pluck” to imply that though she is incapable of removing the serpent binding her on her breast, Lysander has the power to simply …show more content…
The serpent is also a phallic symbol: a subconscious representation of an extension of the male body coiling around Hermia’s breast and threatening to eat her heart out as Lysander sat idly as it ravished her, revealing an underlying fear that she might be raped by this creature that personifies Hermia’s subconscious vulnerabilities reveal her fear that Lysander would leave her and let her fade into nothing but an unhappy, heartless woman while Lysander makes no effort to save her. Lysander is Hermia’s true love and with her love is her devotion to this man: the one who stood up to Egeus and proclaimed his love to Hermia, “I am beloved of the beauteous Hermia” (1.1.105) so why does she fear that Lysander will discard her while the subtle serpent is wrapped around her? Hermia’s dream broadcasts her loving hero, Lysander, has unrequited love for her that he masks with the guise of running away from Athens and her father to get married. Hermia then awakens with Lysander’s name upon her lips in distress as she struggles to escape the terrifying imagery her fears had conjured in her dreams, and was even more shaken to find her …show more content…
She nervously says “Lysander – what removed? Lysander, lord - / What, out of hearing, gone? No sound, no word? / Alack, where are you?” (2.2.157-159) All of the fears that were personified in her dream are hitting her like a slap in the face, as she thought Lysander was “removed” – possibly by force away from her – in some deliberate way to ostracize Hermia and leave her vulnerable to the serpent to creep on her. Hermia’s hysteria rises as she fills the tense air with panicked questions for any kind of communication from her missing “lord”. Her anxiety is building with no Lysander at her side to protect her from the real fears haunting her in her dreams, even though he only sat as a voyeur as he watched her struggle. Her dream fuels her intent on finding and replace Lysander by her side as she says “Speak, of all loves. I swoon almost with fear. / No? Then I well perceive you are not nigh. / Either death or you I’ll find immediately” (2.2.160-163) She is willing to risk her life to find her true love – even though her memories of her terrifying dream still linger – and implies that she would rather die than be forcefully torn away from her lord’s side. She is afraid of being alone and afraid of vulnerabilities becoming reality where she cannot simply wake up and have everything be content, but Hermia still cannot show this because her mental and emotional part of her brain refuses
Based on the psychology of the details Hermia reveals about her dream revolving around her wanton desires, crying for Lysander “to pluck this crawling serpent from my breast,” (2.2.152). Hermia uses the word “pluck” to imply that though she is incapable of removing the serpent binding her on her breast, Lysander has the power to simply …show more content…
The serpent is also a phallic symbol: a subconscious representation of an extension of the male body coiling around Hermia’s breast and threatening to eat her heart out as Lysander sat idly as it ravished her, revealing an underlying fear that she might be raped by this creature that personifies Hermia’s subconscious vulnerabilities reveal her fear that Lysander would leave her and let her fade into nothing but an unhappy, heartless woman while Lysander makes no effort to save her. Lysander is Hermia’s true love and with her love is her devotion to this man: the one who stood up to Egeus and proclaimed his love to Hermia, “I am beloved of the beauteous Hermia” (1.1.105) so why does she fear that Lysander will discard her while the subtle serpent is wrapped around her? Hermia’s dream broadcasts her loving hero, Lysander, has unrequited love for her that he masks with the guise of running away from Athens and her father to get married. Hermia then awakens with Lysander’s name upon her lips in distress as she struggles to escape the terrifying imagery her fears had conjured in her dreams, and was even more shaken to find her …show more content…
She nervously says “Lysander – what removed? Lysander, lord - / What, out of hearing, gone? No sound, no word? / Alack, where are you?” (2.2.157-159) All of the fears that were personified in her dream are hitting her like a slap in the face, as she thought Lysander was “removed” – possibly by force away from her – in some deliberate way to ostracize Hermia and leave her vulnerable to the serpent to creep on her. Hermia’s hysteria rises as she fills the tense air with panicked questions for any kind of communication from her missing “lord”. Her anxiety is building with no Lysander at her side to protect her from the real fears haunting her in her dreams, even though he only sat as a voyeur as he watched her struggle. Her dream fuels her intent on finding and replace Lysander by her side as she says “Speak, of all loves. I swoon almost with fear. / No? Then I well perceive you are not nigh. / Either death or you I’ll find immediately” (2.2.160-163) She is willing to risk her life to find her true love – even though her memories of her terrifying dream still linger – and implies that she would rather die than be forcefully torn away from her lord’s side. She is afraid of being alone and afraid of vulnerabilities becoming reality where she cannot simply wake up and have everything be content, but Hermia still cannot show this because her mental and emotional part of her brain refuses