A Comparison Of Dreaming In The Works Of Freud And Borges

Dreaming is always a great thing to certain people. Some people believe dreaming is an indication of good sleeping habit while some people believe dreaming is an indication of unaware desire. In Freud’s Fragment of an Analysis of Hysteria (Dora), it demonstrates how dream works as unconscious desire, on the other hand, Borges’ The Circular Ruin provides a powerful reading on dreaming. Therefore, it is interesting to compare how dreaming is presented in both works. In both Freud’s and Borges’ work, there are significant similarities and differences on the intention of the dream, the consciousness of dreaming and the interpretation of the dream.
First, the characters in both works have different intentions on their own dreams. In Freud’s Fragment

In the preface by Andre Maurois in “Labyrinths: Selected stories and other writings”, he describes Borges story as “Nothing please Borges better than to play in this way with mind, dreams, space and time. The more complicated the game becomes, the happier he is. The dreamer can be dreamed in his turn. ‘The Mind was dreaming; the world was its dream’” (Borges, Preface xi) In The Circular Ruin, it is a dream within a dream. When the gray man arrived the temple, “he closed his pale eyes and slept…He knew that this temple was the place that his unconquerable plan” (Borges, The Circular Ruin 96) The reason why he decides to dream in this particular temple that “crowned by some figure of a horse or tiger” (Borges, The Circular Ruin 96)is because “he knew that his immediate obligation was to sleep.” (Borges, The Circular Ruin 96) Borges further demonstrates his dream in detail. In comparison with Freud, Dora is recalling her dream to Freud whereas Borges is describing what the gray man is dreaming. “He wanted to dream a man. He wanted to dream him completely, in painstaking detail and impose him upon reality”, “The foreigner dreamed that he was in the center of a circular amphitheater, which was somehow the ruined temple; clouds of taciturn student completely filled the terraces of seats.” (Borges, The Circular Ruin 97) His intention to dream is to dream a man that can transfer from virtual to reality. It is a huge difference in comparison to Dora’s intention. Dora is expressing her repression in sexual terms with Herr. K whereas the gray man is recreating a man within a dream. It is arguable that if Dora feels that she has an obligation to dream, as she doesn’t even know she is dreaming and expressing her repression. In Freud’s word, he would not argue dreaming is an obligation since he believes dreaming is an expression of repression. Therefore, Freud and Borges have different approach to the intention of