Dreams

The meaning of dreams is an important theme in the play, and gives rise to several key questions. Are dreams real? Do they have a bearing on reality? Is there meaning in a dream? While Shakespeare doesn’t give direct answers, he does provide some really important insights. For example, the fact that Bottom believes his very real experience was just a dream suggests that dreams can actually hold some important and valuable meaning about reality. This is further seen in Hermia’s dream about a serpent eating her heart while Lysander watches on. Of course, this is just a dream, but the fact that while her dream was unfolding Lysander had left her for Helena, indicates that Shakespeare believes that the dream world has parallels with the real world.