On pages 273-74, Marain has a dream in which she sees Walter Hartright in various settings such as stranded on a wrecked ship, in a forest, lying on the steps of an old temple, and in front of a tomb. Throughout this dream, Marian’s subconscious places Hartright into numerous deadly situations. Throughout the situations he becomes more and more alone, and in larger amounts of danger. Throughout this passage, Walter often refers to himself, and the “me” is italicized. It is also used in reference to his fate, usually him being spared. For Marian to think of Hartright in this way shows that she thinks of him as separate from other variables in her life, and he is going to be responsible for solving whatever mysteries are surrounding them.
In Freud’s “Remembering, repeating, and working through,” he discusses dreams as a way for unconscious desires and memories to come to the surface. Especially in terms of repetition, where he believes that one “repeats everything that has already made its way from the sources of the repressed into his manifest personality” (page 151). Before describing her dream, Marian claims that she has not thought of or talked about Hartright all day, but he just appeared in her mind. This combined with the repetition of him appearing repeatedly in multiple different locations shows that she is experiencing an unconscious fixation on Walter Hartright, despite her conscious denial of thinking about him. The fact that these thoughts only appear when she claims to not be in control of her mind support Freud’s idea that our repressed desires come to us in dreams and other “weakened” states. While Marian appears to be one of the stronger women in the novel, this dream shows her unconscious fears that she does not want to acknowledge, as well as her fixation with Hartright.
I think that this is particularly fascinating when we think of the ways that Hartright and Marian “love” each other. Freud often focuses on dreams and thoughts being a place of unconscious desire, and I think that this is a really good example of that playing out. While Marian remains unmarried at the end, her relationship with Hartright is still more familial than friendly, and more intimate than the typical relationship dynamic between brothers and sisters. Could we interpret Marian’s dreams/the way Hartright springs into her thoughts unwarranted to be an indication of some unconscious desire for him?
I thought your second reading contextualized Marian’s visions and dreams in a productive way. I like the juxtapose you focus on with Marian’s characterization as a strong female personality with masculine tendencies and how her dreams may put that strength of mind at odds with itself, exposing her fears not explicitly expressed in her narrative. Though, I think with this analysis, it would be worth it to explore the impact of Marian’s narrative control or lack of penmanship on her dreams and unconscious thoughts. Are the dreams uncovering truths behind Walter that he refuses to share in his own narrative? Do dreams, then, become a gateway to true narrative writing as they share what isn’t included in the writing?