You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The dream within a dream is compared to the play within a play as it occurs in Hamlet, in A Mid-summer
Night's Dream, and in one of Shaw's plays. The dream within a dream generally deals with a reality event in the life of the dreamer which the dreamer wishes had never happened. The play within the play also deals with reality events as well as with psychic reality, including the conflicts and problems of the hero or whoever in the play represents an important facet of his personality. These conflicts which are distasteful to the ego are those with which the hero wishes he did not have to struggle. Like the dreamer he wishes they were not really so.