S. and I discovered we have a similar dream about haunted houses. The difference being that in her house, there's always only one ghost/scary thing. And usually she knows what it is and how to avoid it. In mine, it's always several ghosts. I'm in a big house with lots of windey staircases and hidden alcoves. I never see the ghosts, but I know they are there, and I dread having to go into the rooms they haunt.
It's always puzzled me, what these dreams mean. But maybe I just need to pick up my dog-eared copy of Jane Eyre to figure it out. Course, it's known among English majors everywhere that Bronte used the house as a metaphor for the mind. The madwoman that Jane discovers in the attic is just her own wild alter-ego.
Maybe, those haunted rooms are places in my brain I'm afraid of going. Maybe next time I have that dream, I should just march right in, proclaim I'm staying until the ghosts get out.
1 comment:
This post reminds me of certain ideas of Carl Jung's - that the things we fear (in this case, the ghosts in your dream) are things we need to incorporate into our selves. The idea is to confront them (as you imagine confronting the ghosts) and invite them from the shadows into the light, where we can no longer fear them. Jung had this idea that we all need to constantly strive to be "whole" people, and that you can't do that without facing and defeating your fears.
(The only reason I know this is because I've taught and directed a play by Ann-Marie MacDonald called "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)" that uses these ideas of Jung's. I'm probably getting it wrong, too).
How does Jane Eyre fit into this? The "madwoman" ends up burning down the house. And of course she has to die so that Jane and Rochester can be together... not very Jungian, really.
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