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.
Shakespeare planted dreams in many of his plays to sharpen the psychological features of a character or to promote dramatic irony. They are all quite effective, but Clarence’s dream in Richard III (Shakespeare 1592) is perhaps his most extraordinary oneiric creation. Bloom (1984) calls Clarence’s dream simply Shakespeare’s dream to bring emphasis to the stunning artistry of the creator and not just the character. I believe it may qualify as a dream within a dream, an argument I would like to propose in this brief communication. I will present the dream in its entirety; I will define the dynamic structure of dreams within dreams; I then hope to make a convincing case that Clarence’s dream is indeed an example of a dream within a dream.
The dream occurs in Act 1, Scene 4, of Richard III. It is related in two parts. Clarence has been confined to the Tower of London, the victim of a piece of treachery engineered by his brother Gloucester—subsequently Richard III—designed to get Clarence, along with many other contenders, “out of his light” so that Gloucester can claim the throne for himself. Clarence is telling his dream to the jail keeper of the Tower, who comments fearfully at times as the nightmarish dream unfolds in Clarence’s dramatic retelling of it.
The plot of the play is well known, but I will summarize briefly to give the context out of which the dream emerges. The play begins with Gloucester’s (th
e future Richard III’s) famous soliloquy in which he suggests that since he entered the world “rudely got up” with a deformed body and hunchback, this prenatal, genetic assault on his anatomy entitles him to seek revenge on a world that treats him cruelly. He goes on to describe how he has betrayed his brother Clarence by suggesting to the then-reigning king, Edward, that Clarence is plotting against him. King Edward IV (brother of Clarence and Gloucester) has ordered Clarence to be incarcerated in the Tower as a result.
Gloucester tells Clarence that he will help se