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Many years ago, in his Interpretation of Dreams, (1) Freud drew attention to the fact that a hat may very often be interpreted with certainty as a symbol for the male genitals. Later, in a short paper written in 1916, entitled A connection between a symbol and a symptom (2) he says: “The hat has been adequately established as a symbol of the genital organ, most frequently the male, through the analysis of dreams. It cannot be said, however, that this symbol is at all an intelligible one”. In the same essay (3) Freud himself advances what he regards as a tentative explanation by saying that the symbolic meaning of the hat may possibly be derived from that of the head and its phallic significance, in so far as the hat can be considered a continuation or prolongation of the head. Again, in the Introductory Lectures (4) Freud writes: “Why hats and cloaks are used in the same way (i.e. as sexual symbols), is certainly difficult to divine, but their symbolic meaning is certainly unquestionable.” Later, in his New Introductory Lectures (5), Freud was able to add some explanatory details regarding the symbolism of cloaks, but was still, apparently, unable to cast further light on the symbolism of hats.
Before we embark on a discussion of the derivation of this most interesting symbol, it will be instructive to consider some of the many ramifications of the symbol itself, and of the different cultural aspects in which its sexual significance may be discerned. I propose, therefore, to regard the occurrence of this symbol in dreams as unquestioned, since we can all verify it from our psychoanalytic experience (6). Instead, I propose to invite attention to the occurrence of this sexual symbol in everyday life, in superstitions, and also in the use of language.
In a motion picture made some years ago and released