Context
Context, Context, ContextNo, context itself isn't a symbol for Freud, but we're going to start here because Freud pretty much reinvented symbolism—or at least the way people thought about symboli...
The Dream of Irma's Injection
The first specimen dream that Freud examines in The Interpretation of Dreams is the famous Dream of Irma's Injection. Let's unpack some of the symbolic elements that give this stunner its meaning.I...
The Dream of Uncle Josef
Freud's Dream of Uncle Josef is short and sweet, and it doesn't include any elements that he would list as "universal" or "common" symbols. But, as Freud's interpretation of the dream makes clear,...
The Dream of the Botanical Monograph
Freud's Dream of the Botanical Monograph is a short and sweet little ditty that goes a little something like this:I had written a monograph on a certain plant. The book lay before me and I was at t...
The Dreams of Rome
In Freud's multiple Dreams of Rome, Rome itself has many symbolic meanings. For one thing, as one Freud fan points out, it's "an object of both enmity and desire" that Freud associates with the Rom...
The Dream of the "Aegean Stables"
We'll close with a fun one, Shmoopers. Freud's Dream of the "Aegean Stables" isn't the only one of his dreams to include gross-out humor and poop jokes, but it may be the most memorable. Take a gan...