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THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM
INTERPRETATION
 [Reprinted from The Psychological^ Review, Vol. IV, No. i, Jan., 1917.]

TRANSLATION
THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 1

By Dr. Wilhelm Stekel

Translated by John Edward Lind, M.D.

" Aristotle says somewhere :

'
When we
we have a universal
are awake
world, when we dream, then everyone has own particular one.' I think
his
this last sentence should be turned around and we should say: If each one of
different men has his own particular world, then it is to be presumed that
they dream." —Kant.
One who has read my long array of chapters carefully could be
easily led to believe that he is a finished interpreter of dreams and
has become a complete master of this new science. Now I have
gone to a great deal of pains to perfect the understanding of sym-
bolism according to our modern standards of knowledge. But with
the knowledge of symbolism everything is not yet accomplished.
To be sure there are dreams which are so simple that one can trans-
late them without the assistance of the dreamer. But these dreams
have also their overdetermination, their individual meanings, which
cannot be discovered without the active aid of the dreamer. The
longer one works with a person, the more intimately one gets to
know him. So that without knowledge of the dream material one
can often discover two or even more meanings. One can see through
many dreams at the first glance. Yet now and then even the most
skilful dream interpreter will meet dreams which remain a mystery
to him. It is necessary to have the help of the dreamer.
The usual method of dream interpretation is the one laid down
by Freud. We must record the ideas of the dreamer scrupulously
and keep our own to ourselves. So we have the dream told to us. It
is advantageous to have this recital made a second time. As Freud
justly emphasizes, the variations from the first recital are very im-
portant. They contain the places which have been subjected to the
greatest repression. Now and then the repetition coincides exactly.
We begin then with the interpretation.
1 Chapter XL VII, from his book, " Die Sprache des Traumes," published
by J. F. Bergmann, 191 1. Translated with the consent of the author.
 THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 85

We ask the dreamer, what occurs to him in connection with the

dream. If he is a novice, he will invariably reply " Nothing at all.
:

What should occur to me?" We then insist that the dream must
suggest occurrences. If the resistance or the lack of understanding
is considerable, the dreamer will still insist that nothing occurs
to him.
Now there are various aids, nevertheless, to get him to talk. We
ask him of what actual experience the dream reminds him. About
this most people have some idea. They regard the dream as the
distorted reproduction of various experiences and are quite willing
to offer these. Then one observes that the presentation of the
dream has altered or falsified the experience, that strange elements
—
have insinuated themselves and thus come unawares into the anal-
ysis. Or one asks, what meaning for the life of the dreamer this or
that person occurring in the dream has, and thus brings the dreamer
to speech. As a rule he then speaks on and reveals his suppressed
material.
We will endeavor to represent the course of such a dream anal-
ysis and we choose for our paradigm a rather difficult theme. It

concerns a man about forty years old who does not believe in the
interpretation ofdreams and relates a dream to me. I request him
to write down the dream, which he does. The two versions do not
differ materially.
The dream is peculiar enough. It permits of no interpretation
with the aid of our symbolism. We are dependent upon the good
will of the dreamer. Listen, then, to the dream picture of one P. F.

The Dream of the Dent

"I tell a mechanic to give me my wife's bicycle. As I look at it

I notice that it has a large dent. I push it into the workshop.

There are a number of workmen who stand at tables like composi-
tors. One, a friendly young man, asks me what I want.
" Then I discuss the German Kaiser. ' He is an energetic, vigor-
ous man,' I say to my companion. High above stands the Kaiser
Franz Josef. ' You can say what you like,' I remark, ' Our Kaiser
is a dear old man.' My companion agrees.
"Before or after: Two women, scantily clad, are lying on the
floor. The one older, the other younger. I wonder at the perfect
development of the younger one and say to the older woman: ' You
are indeed well-informed, too. But these perfect legs! ' At that my
gaze wanders to the legs of the old woman which were almost Her-
culean in build and covered with fine hair."
86 WILHELM STEKEL

I acquaint the dreamer with the method of dream work and say
" Close your eyes, so that your attention is not distracted by the
outer world. Tell me all the thoughts that are passing through
your head."
P. F. :
" Nothing is passing through my head."
"That is impossible. Our brain works constantly. You must
be thinking of something."
P. F. "Well, then, I am just thinking about the dream."
:

" What do you think of the dream ? "

P. F. " That it is nonsense.

: anyone can dream such stuff How
Absurd."
"What is absurd?"
P. F. :
" The whole dream
is absurd. The business about the
bicycle, about the two kaisers, Wilhelm and Franz Josef, and the
affair of the two women."
Of whom do the two women remind you?"
"
P. F. " Of no one.
: They were strangers, women entirely un-
known to me."
" Have you made a remark to any person about the shape ? To
any woman ? "
P. F. :
" Not Wait something occurs to me
that I remember. —
I was at the seashore. was a seeshore. One saw many
It certainly
strikingly beautiful women there. There I saw one, not so good
looking, but rather flirtatious, a tempting sort of a person. She
was lying on the sand and winked across at me, although her hus-
band was lying by her and whispering little pet names to her. I
was struck with her well-developed, Herculean limbs. She aroused
"
my passion. I thought, ' One could start something with her.'
" Which of the two women of the dream was it ? "

P. F. " The older.

: She had those astonishing, perhaps some
what too muscular thighs. For the size of the woman her legs were
much too big. . .
."

" And what occurs to you about the younger woman ? "
"
P. F. : Is silent a long time and then says, hesitatingly, " No one !

"You say that so dubiously, that I can imagine that someone

does occur to you."
"
P. F. " No No: Positively no one! ! !

" Maybe so Be sure you speak frankly "

! !

P. F. " Someone does occur to me.

: But I do not believe that
she belongs in this. She has nothing to do with the dream."
"We shall see about that. Now will you have the goodness to
 "

THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 87

tell me what occurs toj^ou? Or will you abandon the interpretation

"
of the dream ?
P. F. :
" By no means ! Although I do not believe in it. So
listen : It has to do with my mistress. For several years past I have
had an affair with a widow. She has one daughter, fourteen years
old, as yet an innocent child. I said to the mother recently Mizzi :
'

is splendidly proportioned. She will have a beautiful shape one of

these days.'
" And how "
is the mother proportioned ?

P. F. :
" Very large and sensual. She is a splendid specimen of
a woman. Everyone is envious of me."
" Is this lady conspicuously hairy ? "
P. F. " No Quite the contrary
: She has a snow-white, fault-
! !

less body. She is constantly boasting about her complexion and her
skin, saying, '
I have never had a pimple on my body.' Quite dif-
ferent from me. I am terribly hairy."
" And the pimples. ." . .

P. F. :
" Well, you know my old trouble. Since I have recovered
from the syphilis, I fear that every pimple might be a relapse. I suffer
very much from a skin eruption. The doctors always say, A harm- '

less rash Acne.' I worry nevertheless.

: An incident of my youth
now occurs to me. I was still quite small when my father took me
with him to a Turkish bath. There was a masseur who was covered
all over with pimples. I heard my father remonstrate with the
manager of the baths and seemed to hear something about 'con-
tagious and disgusting.' The manager said, That doesn't amount
' ' '

to anything. It is a harmless rash. The man has too much unused

vigor.' But has that anything to do with the dream?
. . .
." . .

" Perhaps so. But what about this unused vigor ? " . . .

P. F. " In confidence I have still another mistress.

: My cham- ;

bermaid, a fine woman, but awfully passionate. She makes de-

mands on me which I cannot satisfy. To be sure, if I were
younger."
" So you feel old, then ? Why, you are a man in the prime of
life. . .
."

P. F. :
" Yes, but in spite of that, I seem old to myself. Just
look —my immense bald spot. Not a hair on my bald pate. My
teeth are loose. My vitality is decreasing. I cannot do as much
work as formerly. ." . .

Then there came a long pause. One would say that the riddles
of the dream are not yet solved. Nothing in the last part about the

» *
»
88 WILHELM STEKEL

old and the young women. Yet we notice that we have stumbled
upon a sensitive place in the inmost mind of Mr. P. F. Like all
mankind, he would gladly be young again. But there must be a
definite reason for this, which is concealed in the dream. The hair
which he has lost adorns his mistress in order to make it less desir-
able. Something else now occurs to the dreamer about the hair.
P. F. " That is a curious thing about the hair.
: My mistress has
a little moustache. She often says to me, Strange, where it does '

not belong, there you cannot get rid of hair, but where it does belong
it falls out.'

"Does anything occur to you in connection with' the subject

;

'hairy'?"
P. F. : "I love beautiful blonde hair. Mizzi, the daughter of
my mistress, has beautiful, golden hair that she always wears loose.
She also has a hairy birthmark."
"How do you know that ? "
P. F. :
" Her mother showed it to me. It is on the upper part
of the thigh. The mother asked me what she could do about it, if

she should go to a skin specialist, a beauty doctor. I said 'What

for? One does not uncover that part of the body,' and at that the
mother and Mizzi laughed very much."
" Was that the end of the incident ? "

P. F. " Practically, yes, only later the mother said, You never
:
'

can tell but what Mizzi might not some time have to uncover herself.
It disfigures the girl.' I protested at this and argued that such a

small birthmark was on the contrary rather piquant. With that the
incident was closed."
" It does not appear, however, to be closed, for you have dreamed
about it. You have attributed the ugly hair to the mother in order
to make the younger one, the daughter, appear without a blemish."
P. F. " Why, that is nonsense. What have I to do with the
:

little girl. She will soon belong to another."

He says this almost in a tone of regret. Then he continues
P. F. " I admit this much to you, that the view of the uncovered
:

thigh of Mizzi made a certain impression on me. I am especially

fond, as a rule, of the tender, half developed creature. Fidus ges-
talten —Do you know Ahasver in Rome by Hammerling. The
'
'

scene in which the immature young girl, I think about thirteen or

fourteen years old, is robbed of her virtue, made a great impres-
sion on me. I value that work very highly and read it with great
enjoyment. . .
."
 "

THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 89

Here the beginning of a perversion reveals itself the love of :

children. But listen to the further associations. I ask what next

occurs to him, especially about the mistress. " She must certainly
"
be a well-developed woman of middle age ?

P. F. :
" You're right, she is not my style ; she is too coarse for
me. Then, too, she has a fault; she has, since the birth of her
daughter, suffered from a large perineal tear."
"
" Do you know that that is represented in the dream ?
P. F.: "Where?"
" You give the bicycle of "
your wife to be repaired of a dent?
P. F. :
" Yes, but the mistress is not my wife I have been di- ;

vorced from her these many years."

" That means — now the mistress
"
is your wife ; she replaces your
wife. Isn't that so ?

P. S. " Yes, that is so, and furthermore I have advised her to

:

have an operation. Doctor Fleischmann (a gynecologist in Vienna)

has told her Nothing but an operation will help you.' I made a
'

joke about it and said, It is only a little repair work, go into a sani-
'

torium, and let them mend the hole for you.'

Here the first analysis was ended. It consumed a whole hour.
Next day we began again. We took as the theme The dent. :

P. F. :
" You probably know what a dent means —a bent, useless
wheel. After a collision or a heavy fall a wheel loses its beautiful,
circular shape. ... It receives a dent. In past years I have trav-
eled a great deal on a wheel. So have my mistress and her daughter.
My mistress had, as a matter of fact, at one time a dent."
"Doesn't the connection occur to you between the last part of
the dream and the bent wheel? A patched-up hole a patched-up —
wheel."
P. F. :
" Yes, it is astonishing. I have alluded to every mistress
as a wheel. I have now a new wheel, means a new mistress. My
wife, the real one, from whom I have been divorced, had a wheel
too much in her head.
" It
had the appearance as if I were busy in the dream with old
bicycles, when I would rather have new, perfect wheels. I am, to
be sure, a Don Juan I would like to have a new mistress every week.
;

Best of all an untouched young

"
—
" What occurs to you about the mechanic ? "

P. F. "A man by the name of Schlager although he certainly

: ;

occurs to me, it is a mystery why. He is employed in a printing

office as a manager. I have not seen him for many years. At one
90 WILHELM STEKEL

time, I read proof on various printed matter and had recourse to

him."
" It deals with the correction of a fault. Then it agrees."
P. F. :
" But something else agrees. I have been waiting a long
time now for a 'Schlager' (theatrical success or 'hit'); my last
pieces have not made a hit. I have now finished two pieces for the
theater. I hope that one will be a success. Then the word Schlager
has an association with my wife. I discovered her in an act of
infidelity and struck her in anger, so that I was in reality a '
Schlager
(one who strikes). I subsequently regretted it very much. . .
."

That was, then, the reason for the divorce ? "

"

P. F. "If that had but been the only reason.

: As I found out
later, my wife had a number of lovers, who, so to speak, had worked '

with her.' She was a practised hussy."

" Do you not remember the part of the dream, There are a '

number of workmen who stand at tables like compositors ? '

P. F. :
" Yes, I see now, that represents all the people who have
worked with her."
" Who, then, is the friendly young man ? "
P. F. He reminds me of my
:
" son, —wait—a scene now appears
to me Once when I left my wife
: What do in anger, the boy said, '

you want with mamma ? I often think of this occurrence.

' Once
the boy said, If you take me away from mamma, I will die.' His
'

mother had taught him to say that. For he is well contented now
with his governess and does not want to see his mother. Before
many years I am going to marry again. I am a Catholic. A Cath-
olic marriage in Austria is only dissolved by death. ." . .

"You want to risk the experiment of matrimony once more,

then?"
P. F. " Yes, it was a charming young girl.
: I was passionately
in love with her, yet out of regard for my children I gave up the
project. At that time my wife was very sick, her life was despaired
of. I confess to you, that I wished in a corner of my soul she might
die. Then I could have married the young girl."
" "
Do you entertain similar wishes now about your mistress ?

P. F. :
" Very candidly, yes ; I can get rid of them only with diffi-

culty. When I spoke of the operation for the perineal tear, the case
of a friend who lost his wife by this innocent operation came cu-
riously enough to my mind."
"It is as if the dream wanted to compare the mother and
daughter and wished to say The daughter is much prettier. If
:
'
 THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 91

the mother dies, you can start something with the daughter.' And
the blow?"
P. F. :
" Is perhaps the heavy blow, which should happen to me,
Moreover
the death of the loved one. —her father died a year ago
from apoplexy" (Herzschlag).
" Therefore, the mechanic, who will make everything right, who
only can dissolve the Catholic marriage, is death."
P. F. : "I am very much interested in death. I occupy myself
a great deal with thoughts of death, even in regard to my children.
Often I picture them as an encumbrance. Such a brutal egoist is

the human being. I, to picture myself a hypochondriac ! Yet I am

enough of a philosopher not to get any gray hair about it."
" The friendly young man in the dream, your son, represents the

virtuous opposition of your inmost mind. He asks you, what you

wish."
P. F. :
" Yes, as if
he would say :
'
Old donkey, haven't you done
enough foolishness in your life?'"
" One section of the dream we haven't yet cleared up, the part
about the two kaisers."
P. F. "I saw our Kaiser last year several times.
: The remark,
which the dream contains, has been made to me by someone or other.
By whom? . .
."

Here the dreamer stops. There come no other reminiscences.

A great opposition makes every further interpretation impossible.
We therefore stop the interpretation.
" The meaning of a dream," says Freud, " does not reveal itself
always at once, not infrequently one finds his resources (capacity for
work) exhausted when he is following a chain of associations. The
dream says nothing more on that day, then it is well to stop and
return to work the next day. Then another part of the dream
claims the attention and one finds the way to a new layer of dream
thoughts. This may be called the fractional dream interpreta-
'
'

tion." (T. D., 322.)

On the third day he came again and showed that he had not cor-
rectly given the part about the Kaiser. He did not find the right
impression there. In any case it did not happen in the dream the
way he told it to me.
This doubt also 2 belongs to the dream material. It has to do
with an important, suppressed complex.

2 " The doubt concerning the correct representation of the dream, or of

its individual data, is again only an offshoot of the dream censor —that is, of
the resistance against penetration to consciousness of the dream thoughts.
92 WILHELM STEKEL

At the next sitting the dreamer is very reticent. For a long- time
he has very few associations until I call his attention to a circum-
stance. The whole dream concerns the contrast of youth and age.
—
The old mechanic the young workman. The old wheel the new —
wheel. The old mistress —the young daughter. The old Kaiser,
Franz Josef —the young Kaiser, Wilhelm.
P. F. :
" You are right. The contrast is striking. As if the old
Kaiser should represent the old mistress and Kaiser Wilhelm the
young daughter. Now something occurs to me. I had some crazy
thoughts a few days ago. If I were younger, I could marry the
daughter of my You old donkey. She
mistress. Then I thought :
'

would have the horns placed on you then.' And then I thought:
'
You could make the young one your mistress.' But yet I have pity
for my old one.' You can say what you like, she is still a good
'

fellow."
" Do you not notice that you have used the same expression in
the dream ? ' You can say what you like, . . ., etc. ?
'

P. F. :
" Sure enough ! You are right. Still I beg of you what

could I do with the young one? It would be the same with me as

with my father."
"
" How do you mean ?
P. F. My father was already an old man, when he took my
:
"

mother home. Everyone talked about it. In confidence, I am sup-

posed to be the son of a cousin of my mother. ." . .

This resistance has not entirely exhausted itself in bringing about the dis-
placements and substitutions,, and it therefore adheres as doubt to what has
been allowed to pass through. We can recognize this doubt all the easier
through the fact that it takes care not to attach the intensive elements of the
dream, but only the weak and indistinct ones. For we already know that a
transvaluation of all the psychic values has taken place between the dream
thoughts and the dream. The disfigurement has been made possible only by
the alteration of values; it regularly manifests itself in this way and occa-
sionally content's itself with this. If doubt attaches itself to an indistinct
element of the dream content, we may, following the hint, recognize in this
element a direct offshoot of one of the outlawed dream thoughts. It is here
just as it was after a great revolution in one of the republics of antiquity or
of the Renaissance. The former noble and powerful ruling families are now
banished ; all high positions are filled by upstarts ; in the city itself only the

very poor and powerless citizens or the distant followers of the vanquished
party are tolerated. Even they do not enjoy the full rights of citizenship.
They are suspiciously watched. Instead of the suspicion in the comparison,
we have in our case the doubt." The Interpretation of Dreams, page 409.
 —

THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 93

" Whose name is Wilhelm. ." . .

"
P. F. " : How
do you know that ?
" I have only mentioned it incidentally, because the younger
"
Kaiser is called 'Wilhelm.'
P. F. :
" Marvelous He also ! was called Wilhelm he ; is dead,
and my father's name was Franz.
" "
Then you have had two fathers ?

P. F. :
" Curiously enough, yes. For Wilhelm left me his whole
fortune after his death. To him I owe my whole existence in every
sense."
Now is the opposition explained. It concerns a taint of his
mother. The two
kaisers are the two fathers. The dear old man
his impotent father. " You can say what you like," the people are

talking about it. The energetic, vigorous man is his own father.
The between young and old is a constellation from youth.
relation
He indentifies himself with his mother. He might also have the
young one after the old.
The dream still contains a number of puzzles. Especially in the
second part a companion appears, who agrees. " Of whom does the
companion remind you ? "
P. F. " No one."
:

" You are beginning again. Some one will soon come to you."
P. F. :
" Yes, —a Dr. Spiegelglas, who died a long time ago. He
'

was small, bald-headed, had goggle eyes, glasses and hideous rat-
like teeth. We named him after a Roman figure by Arne Geborg,
the Death of Lubeck.' "
'

" In other words The companion is death. : The hidden sense of

the dream is then this, death might remove your mistress and your
wife in order that you can marry the young one. Also the striker
(Schlager) was death." ("The stroke shall attack them" 3 is in-
deed a familiar curse.)
P. F. " My mistress is very fat and said lately, I will certainly
:
'

die soon of apoplexy ' " (Herzschlag).

Now I shall conclude the analysis in this form. The relations of

this dream to the infantile are of many kinds. He believes he has
reason to think that his mother could scarcely wait for his nominal
father to die. In short, it appears to be the typical family story,
this time with a real foundation. The dreamer has concluded that
the dream is not nonsense. It was the source of a secret commu-
nication and a great psychic unburdening.

3 A common expression of ill-will in Austria, equivalent to the English,

" The devil take you !
" Trans.
94 WILHELM STEKEL

Is this dream analysis complete ? No professor of dream inter-

pretation could say for sure. We have uncovered the upper strata
of the dream material. His love for the immature girl and the
death wish about her mother. We have brought up fragments from
the deep layers, the doubt of his origin, which was brought out as
his doubt about the repetition of the dream.
A dream affords a longer
further research into the secrets of the
working with thisFor the dreamer is a neurotic, who has
dream'
applied to me in order to become cured of an unbearable anxiety,
insomnia and slight melancholia; it is certainly our duty to go into
the deeper layers. We note already, he is afraid of himself and his
secret thoughts ; he does not sleep because in imagination he
is always

unfortunate in his sexual experiences he suffers from depression,

;

because he renounces a strong wish (to possess a maiden).

We continue our work. We lead the dreamer on step by step
and bring him to further associations. It appears that each word
still has many determinations. The analysis has lasted already a
week and we are not yet finished. The whole neurosis is contained
in the dream. This is peculiarly the rule. The dream is a micro-
scopic world, which reproduces in miniature the whole psychic world.
I would have to write a whole book, the story of
and of his life
his neurosis, in order to explain the dream. 4 mention I shall only
two examples of the remarkable condensation of the dream. They
are the words " Mechanic " and " Dent."
He has a lot of material to relate to me about a mechanic. He
himself is a mechanic. He makes his affair with his mistress purely
mechanical. He has to imagine himself with the daughter to have
an erection. (This is the substance of his anxiety neurosis.) A
mechanic repaired a wheel for him once badly. It was almost use-
less. He tripped and lay for several weeks in a hospital. Now his
wife has such a bad wheel. She ought to trip and lose her life so
that he is free. She has an inguinal hernia and an osteopath (me-
chanic) had taken her measure. He was jealous at that time. To-
day he doesn't care a bit. On the contrary he would be happy if
she would console herself. Nevertheless, his mistrust breaks
through the dream. His mistress likewise has had a number of
lovers. She deceives him (there are a number of workmen who
stand at tables). He has the right to hold himself blameless.
4 1 shall carry out this idea sometime —a supplement to this work, which
only considers the surface of the dream; an analysis which is complete and
as far as this is possible —contains all overdeterminations and relations.
 THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 95

Still in connection with mechanics there occurs to him a young

typesetter who impressed him very favorably. He is so skillful that
he can repair a part of the wheel better than a mechanic. The type-
setter appeared to him to be a homosexualist. For he was never
with a woman. He always blushes when he meets him. He wishes
to exchange his loved one for the typesetter. The typesetter is

called " Wilhelm " the same as the German Kaiser.

Thus we see two things already fulfilled in our progress. We
have discovered the death symbol and bisexuality. We are still
always in the upper strata.
Further investigations uncover also associations of onanism The :

dreamer calls his penis " The Machine " in contradiction to his mis-
tresses. He suffers from premature ejaculation, especially when
the charm of the object is inferior. It is only a comparative pre-
mature ejaculation, like most of this variety. Several months ago
he was alone with an old woman who was not very good looking.
Matters came to a coitus he played the underneath part. 5 Then he
;

was amazed at his virility. He was able to satisfy the lady three
times, and she, who had a large experience, told him that she had
never met with such manly vigor before in her life. 6 When young
he was a constant onanist. He masturbated indeed continuously
from his eighth to his eighteenth year. Then for several years fol-
lowing he was psychically impotent. He had read in a work that
masturbation was the cause of impotence. He is therefore the
mechanic who has ruined the work of his machine. He has made
a dent in himself. Therefore he thinks now more charitably about
his first wife. She became untrue to him because he could not sat-
isfy her. Thus she has to take a " crowd of workmen " instead of
the mechanic.
About mechanics there occurs to him also a mechanic " Schneider "
who once had an affair with a Stampiglie (Penis!) and on that
account was christened Stampiglius. He is skinny and was often
ridiculed when young on account of his lack of weight. He always
seemed to be weak. He was impotent because he was too weak.
He envied large, strong men (Schlager, a fighter) who could
" stamp " (stempeln) properly. Here comes to notice the sense of

5 That is called in Vienna, " To make a boy." I don't know for what
reason.
6 That is worthy of note! It is this way with most psychic impot'ency.
When it comes to a specifically adequate satisfaction, then the psychic im-

potency disappears.
96 WILHELM STEKEL

inferiority on which Adler justly lays such great weight. But from
Schneider a vein goes back into youth and reveals a series of dis-
honesties, which he had committed. He was a liar, thief and forger
in his youth and developed into an extremely moral man a model ;

of truth, honor and propriety.

His thefts were mostly from his father. He never remembered
having stolen from his mother. Here we come upon the great oppo-
sition to his father. ... A
scene appears suddenly to him! His
father had surprised him and given him a sound drubbing with
hand and foot. His father had struck him blindly and cried " You :

misguided boy. You will certainly end in jail or on the gallows

!

We notice that the " dear old man " is intended ironically. For he
is indeed the striker (Schlager) and would not have dared to speak

cut such a prophecy. ("You can say what you like.") Besides he
is dead from apoplexy (Herzschlag). His younger brother had
dealt him a blow (Schlag) in the stomach. He lost consciousness
for a second. 7
Now for the first time it appears that another sexual object of
his childhood, his brother, is concealed behind the young compositor.
Yet we cannot pursue the subject further. We will only give
several associations of dent (Krampe) as best we can. His mistress
suffers from spasms of the heart (Herzkrampfen). It occurs to

him that he has sold the old rubbish in the yard (Bodenkram) Also .

his mistress is old rubbish (Krampel). Still more significant is the

approach (Rampe) to the university which was destroyed during

the last riot. He envied young people in those days. Yes, who
. . .

could fight and carouse. There occurred to him a girl named

Kramer, whom he had often kissed in secret. Later she became a
light woman. He has always a marked fancy for light women. He
has in that matter a loose system of morals. He is not narrow-
minded like a shopkeeper (Kramer). From shopkeeper an asso-
ciation leads to Kramer, as an admirer of his sister was called.
Now something significant occurs to him. His sister suffered when
young from severe cramps (Krampfen) at her menstruation. He
was at that time seven years old and was sent for the doctor. In the
house lived a grocer (Kramer) who had a son named Wilhelm, who
said to him, "Tell your sister she ought to let the business be brushed
out by me. I have a little brush.' " His wife had bought herself
'

7 The most important root is the criminal. He is not an energetic, vig-

orous man, otherwise he would slay (erschlagen) the old "Krampe" (Vien-
nese expression for an old horse). He wishes to be the slayer (Schlager).
 :

THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 97

a little brush several days before for cleaning her wheel. little A
brush is his penis, with whose size he is very much dissatisfied
unjustly.
Now a number of scenes from his earliest childhood occur to
him. One from later years. He was sixteen years old when he
sneaked at night to the servant girl. His mother woke up and
asked where he was going. He answered stammeringly that he had
been "outside," he had such violent cramps in the stomach (Bauch-
krampfe) . Then his poor mother got up and made him warm appli-
cations. As she did so, he saw her astonishing large legs. . . .

But enough of this analysis. I believe that the reader has been
more than convinced that with a symbolic translation only one mean-
ing of the dream can be brought out and that the most important
material is to be had from the dreamer himself. Also bear this in
mind, that the symbol does not have to mean the same thing invari-
ably. It has a marked individual meaning in every case.

Bishop Synesios, a noted investigator of dreams of the fourth

century, says very strikingly
" There are people who create little dream in-
dictionaries about
terpretation. I, for my part, laugh at all this argument and hold it
to be completely worthless. The imagination of man is not as easily
classified as the build and the physiognomy of the body —which can
always form the subject of a general scientific observation.
"If a Phemonoe or a Melampus or some one else ventures to
pose as an expounder of universal laws of dream interpretation I
might ask if then both concave and convex lenses or mirrors out of
different materials reflect objects in the same way, for everyone has
individual attributes and it is impossible that the same dream picture
should have for all of them the same meaning." (Cod. Theodos,
XVI, 10/17. Edikt von Jahre 392.)
I can only confirm these words. All symbolism is relative and
applies only to the great majority of cases. Exceptions are always
possible even though they seldom occur.
In many cases the knowledge of the case history aids us to un-
derstand the dream.
I shall give here an interesting series of criminal dreams of a
single night which I could interpret without the aid of the dreamer.
(584) "I was tying a bouquet of autumn leaves together, then I
had a wonderfully pretty red rose that I wanted to put with it, but
while I was tying them together all the pe'tals but one fell off and
then that fell off too. Afterwards I brought the bouquet to a lady
and thought they belonged in this vase."
98 WILHELM STEKEL

(585) "Hans was sick. Dr. St.'s maid was bathing his abdo-
men, but I rinsed out his genitals in the tea in his father's tea cup.
They appeared like a heart and kidneys and were held together by
means of shreds of fat. While I was rinsing them out I was think-
ing that the ligament would tear."
(586) "Papa lay sick in bed and this had to be made up while
he lay in it. Supplement: Papa was sitting up in bed; he appeared
miserable and had a large dirty white counterpane under his body."
(587) " The maid brought me a note which had been lying in the
Utter box. On the paper was: Shary was with us at home to-day.'
'

Dr. St. had had a prescription in the pharmacy. The paper gave me
the impression that Dr. St. wanted to tell me that something from
me was with you."
(588) "I went out. The pharmacist met me, he looked like
uncle Fred and kissed me affedtionately."
(589) "Later I went into the forest. There I came across
Trude and Erich who had been in the forest with the pharmacist."
(59°) "I was sick an d to °k a, bath. I said to mother, 'I hope
it is nothing serious,' but then I said in Muller you are advised to

bathe."
(591) "Looking out from my room I saw people swimming.
Near me was my bed uncovered."
(592) " I ran across the fields to the people in the houses. All
the time I was doing this I was losing my underskirt. Then I saw
Dr. St. with his wife and children on the street and then she passed
me and I thought if she only wouldn't see that I was losing my
skirts."
The dreamer, a woman, presented these nine dreams not one ;

of them have any basis. I know the facts of her sexual life. She
loves only married men and pictures herself circumstances which
free them so that she can marry them.
In the transfer I am the last ideal in a long series which has its

origin in her father. The last dream (No. 592) showed me that she
has the idea she is losing her skirts.
My wife and children appeared her last obstacle to happiness.

Her thoughts and endeavors are all towards removing this obstacle.
How does she picture that in the dream? Dreams 590 and 591 ex-
She bathes during the time of her period because
plain this. it is

recommended in Muller ( Geschlechtsmoral und Lebensgliick).

An association came to me. A bath during menstruation — is a
blood bath. In the next dream, 591, the people swim. Of course
 THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 99

they swim in blood. Nearby her bed stands uncovered. The blood
bath means to her a bridal bed.
Still bloodier are the phantasies in the dreams 585 and 589. The
two children in the forest are common occurrences in fairy tales.
From former analyses I knew that the fairy tale about Snow White
had played an important role in her phantasy. At once the scene
occurred to me where the hunter is to cut out the intestines of poor
Snow White so that the bad queen could eat them. (Necrophilic
instinct!) The whole dream is a frequent occurrence and charac-
teristic of the most unbelievable sadistic fancies.
Every bouquet in her dreams is a funeral wreath. This holds
good here. The bouquet of leaves and the leafless rose in dream 584
represent a death wish whose red color refers to the blood bath.
My wife was to receive this ominous present while my children were
sent out of the world by the druggist. (The messenger of death!)
In dream 589 my son Erich becomes identified with her brother
Hans, to whom was assigned the same fate as poor Snow White in
consequence of her boundless jealousy. She tore asunder the band
which bound her to him she also tore asunder the band which bound
;

her beloved man to another; also she allowed her father to die in
her fancy because he stood in the way of her plans (586).
The next dream (587) brings the romantic criminal fancy of a
secret agreement between her and me. I did away with my wife.
Prescription and pharmacist usually form a poison complex. This
interpretation I explained to her (zettel). The last dream is cer-
tainly 588; there the goal is attained. The dearly beloved uncle
(uncle instead of pharmacist) both are in this dream and in the
—
minds of evil-minded people poison-mixers.
The physician and the pharmacist are also symbols of death. She
suffers a just punishment and receives the kiss of death. She strug-
gles continuously with suicidal impulses.
Further analysis of this case confirms the complete truth of this
dream interpretation which was possible to me only through the
knowledge of the history of her illness. The association of the
blood bath furnished the key.
That was a dream with an individual symbolism which one not
acquainted with it could scarcely have seen through. The next
dream shows a quite typical symbolism. In many dream interpre-
tations we can quickly discover the sense of a dream with the help
of symbolism. A further progress depends upon the associations of
the dreamer. A short dream may require a complicated analysis.
A long dream often leads back to a single thought.
100 WILHELM STEKEL

Wepresent for illustration of this fact two dreams. The one

very long and the other fragmentary of which only two words
remain. The long dream is by Dame Frau Alpha and runs
(593) " The scene of the action: The new Armory at Schott en-
ring. A large, handsome room
filled with a number of gymnastic
and Dr. Hochstetter was standing in scanty
electrical apparatus.
attire on a sort of an automatic weighing machine and made a mock-
ing face just like a bad child who says 'I am not going to play any
more.' The doctor goes to him and says, 'For shame, doctor, you
—
behave yourself like a bad boy.' No use Dr. Hochstetter con-
tinues to be stubborn. As I observed the culprit closer I noticed
that he had nothing on but a pair of spotlessly clean pants and a
dirty, flimsy shirt that would almost stand alone, and that had be-
sides numberless spots and tears. Next I also noticed that he didn't
have buttons on his linen. I think to myself how disgusting this
Dr. Hochstetter is, and closer observation made him look consider-
ably more so. At that I looked down at myself and noticed that I
was not properly clothed, without being the least embarrassed. I
dressed myself calmly; with that I fell to the floor. They asked me
why I cried so at whereupon I answered, '
this, The whole left half
of my body hurts me They laughed and it is very surprising to
so!
me that I said the word left for this means something unheard
of. I corrected myself quickly, 'perhaps the right, I don't know.'
Thereupon I finished dressing myself. They talked for a while
with my husband and explained all the many apparatuses to him.
Then you sit down and unpack a newly arrived apparatus, whereat
you explain that you will use it on me. 'Will it do me good?' I
asked, to which you answer, 'I tell you in such cases electricity
really works marvels. I electrify all my patients before I discharge
them from the cure.' I asked you then why Dr. Hochstetter stands
up there so pugnaciously on his pedestal. ' Why, he is being electri-
fied,' you say; Yes, but,' I ask, does he have to be undressed for
' '

it? '
'
Of course, because he has silk lining in his clothes; that would
interfere,' was the answere I received. Strange that a man with silk
lining in his clothes should have such underclothes. With that I
woke up."
For the experienced this dream explains itself. The lady wishes
to give up the psychoanalysis. Before that she wants to receive
electrical treatment. The new apparatus with which she wishes to
be worked upon is a new apparatus to her, my penis. Already poor
Dr. Hochstetter serves to symbolize this conceived wish. (Hoch-
 :

THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION IOI

stetter = Hoch steht er = he stands on high.) The opposition of

Dr. Hochstetter, his filth, are remonstrances which are directed
toward me. Then one observes the awful power of my phallus
which continues a very long time pugnaciously on the apparatus.
At the close the hitherto passable logic suffers a shock. To the
question, why Dr. Hochstetter had to be undressed follows the
absurd answer, because he had would interfere.
silk lining; that

We besought the lady to explain this passage to us. She was silent
awhile for she imagined this part of the dream was senseless and
absurd.
According to Freud, in this criticism lies an important affect of
the dream material.
" Thus the dream is made absurd if there occurs as one of the

elements in the dream thoughts the judgment ' That is nonsense/

and in general if disdain and criticism are the motives for one of
the trains of unconscious thought. Hence absurdity becomes one of
the means by which the dream activity expresses contradiction, as it
does by reversing a relation in the material between the dream
thoughts and dream content, and by utilizing sensations of motor
impediment. But absurdity in the dream is not simply to be trans-
lated by 'no,' but is rather intended to reproduce the disposition of
the dream thoughts, this being to show mockery and ridicule along
with the contradiction. It is only for this purpose that the dream
activity produces anything ridiculous. Here again it transforms a
part of the latent content into a manifest form."
And in another place
Thus my solution of the problem of the absurdity of dreams is
"

that the —
dream thoughts are never absurd at least not those belong-
—
ing to the dreams of sane persons and that the dream activity pro-
duces absurd dreams and dreams with individual absurd elements,
if criticism, ridicule, in the dream thoughts are to be
and derision
represented by it in its manner of expression. My next concern is
to show that the dream activity is primarily brought about by the
cooperation of the three factors which have been mentioned —and
of a fourth one which remains to be cited —that it accomplishes
nothing short of a transposition of the dream thoughts, observing
the three conditions which are prescribed for it, and that the ques-
tion whether the mind operates in the dream with all its faculties, or
only with a portion of them, is deprived of its cogency and is inap-
plicable to the actual circumstances. But since there are plenty of
dreams in which judgments are passed, criticisms made, and facts
102 WILHELM STEKEL

recognized, in which astonishment at some single element of the

dream appears, and arguments and explanations are attempted, I
must meet the objections which may be inferred from these occur-
rences by the citation of selected examples."
" Myanswer is as follows Even-thing in the
: dream which occurs
as an apparent exercise of the critical faculty is to be regarded, not
as an intellectual accomplishment of the dream activity, but as be-
longing to the material of the dream thoughts, and it has found its
way from them as a finished structure to the manifest dream con-
tent. I may go even further than this. Even the judgments which
are passed upon the dream as it is remembered after awakening and
the feelings which are aroused by the reproduction of the dream,
belong in good part to the latent dream content, and must be fitted
into their place in the interpretation of the dream." (The Inter-
pretation of Dreams, p. 351.)
"We now ask the dreamer to pay attention so that she can notice
especially the reproaches which appear ridiculous in connection with
this passage. "We could draw out nothing about this because the
dreamer will not understand. In this last hour (it is one of her
last dreams) she does not wish to listen.
"We can now fully understand the meaning of the reproach. It
is directed against me. She supposes that I have desired ardently
through the whole course of the psychoanalysis (permanent erec-
tion). Xow she says to me, "Why that is absurd, that is simply
ridiculous you know what sort of a treatment would help me, then
;

help me." s
And the association to silken lining. She presents no associa-
tions. From earlier dreams, I know her vacillations between ardent
sexual desire (silken lining) and strict continence (designation for
soiled linen) We can also hazard the guess Futt, etc., but it re-
. :

mains a guess. It only occurred to me later that this place signified

abuse, reviling of my rightful lining. At any rate the whole dream
is useless for the knowledge of the deeper strata because the material

is withheld.
We bring out only the superficial relations ; how altogether dif-
ferent is the analysis of the next dream. The dreamer, Mr. B. D.,
"
tells us he had when he woke up only two words in his ear, " snake
and " Mesopotamia." He produced his associations immediately.
In Mesopotamia was paradise. It must also have reference to the
8 I refer to the eunuch's dream, in which this patient, out of revenge,
because I have not done as she desired, made me impotent by castration.
 :

THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 103

female genitals, for Meso in the years of his youth called the vagina
this. The Euphrates and the Tiber form a delta which reminds one
of the legs of a woman.
Further associations cease to flow. I call his attention to the
connection between snake and paradise. It certainly deals largely
with original Yesterday he hesitated for the space of a moment
sin.

whether he should go to a prostitute finally he did not do it. Fur-

;

thermore he was pious for a long time now he is a free thinker. ;

He is not able by himself to present further associations to the

two words. I now ask him to construct a sentence in which both
words occur. He is unable to do it and says "It can't be done."
"Another question occupies me much more. I am always thinking
whether there are any snakes at all in Mesopotamia whether the —
snakes belong to Mesopotamia. I believe they were first discovered
in India." In border India or interior India. (Literally, Front
India or Back India, Trans.)
We set about the construction of a sentence. He says :
" The
snake is the source of all evil " and " In Mesopotamia, at one time,
Paradise was supposed to lie."

We notice that he returns to his religious complex. He tells us

with what interest he read a small illustrated Bible history. He is
reminded of pictures and suddenly of a scene at a christening. He
was seven years old a lady sang a couplet at the christening of
; his
sister at a late hour, whose refrain caused great laughter to all those
present. The refrain had clung to him tenaciously. It goes
"When Adam in the apple bit,
From very fear ... his trousers split."

That occupied him a great deal at that time. What does the
apple mean ? Did the good Lord drive mankind out of Paradise on
account of such an act of foolishness? Was that not too severe?
Then he was silent and his associations failed.
We have noticed that he could not compose a sentence with
" snake " and " Mesopotamia." We return to this doubt. The
doubt has to do apparently only deliberately with the propagation of
the serpent.
" You mean," he says suddenly, " that I do not know where my
penis belongs ? Whether I ought to go to women ormen ? Border
or Interior India ? " (Vide supra.)
So he himself gives the explanation, the while he supposes it to
me. But the analysis is not yet finished. It is diverted to the word
104 WILHELM STEKEL

" Mesopotamia." He begins to explain it in French. Pot became

chamber. He thinks immediately of chamber pot. number of A
scenes occur to him from the paradise-like condition of childhood
where all were in one room before each other and were not ashamed.
He saw different things and distinguished various noises. He con-
jectured as to the size of an opening from the loudness of the noise.
He set about his phallic studies at home and in the toilet and arrived
finally at the question whether " amien " could have a meaning. He
analyzed " a mien," " mienne " my people (f.), and " la mien " my
la

people (m.). Yet, the most important of all, he failed to see (ami
= the friend). That, of course, "amien" contains the anxious
question? Man or woman? (Where does the snake belong?
Border or Interior India? Front or back. Un ami or une amie?)
Finally it him that Amiens is a city in France, in which
occurs to
the Maid of Orleans was born. (The typical bisexual symbol as —
the Amazons and the Valkyries the woman with the lance.)
: That
proved to be a false memory. He has forgotten that there occurred
a fierce battle between the English and the French. The two na-
tions represent to him the " pure morals " and the " lax morals."
Paris is for him a Babel of sin. The angel triumphs over the
. . .

devil. But the most important (association) about Amiens is that

there General Manteufel struck the French on the head. He had
known this very well and quite forgotten it for the minute.
We come to the answer Man is for him the devil. He is afraid
:

of homosexuality. He is pure concerning women because they do

not appeal to him.
We have been able to form weighty conclusions out of insignifi-
cant material, out of two words, 9 while the long dream of the gym-
nastic apparatus does not lead us nearly so deep into the problem
of the neurosis.
Often dreamers bring only a single word, that they have retained
out of a dream. Such an example is the word "Ronacher," the
name of a Viennese pleasure establishment. The analysis showed
that it stood for " Acheron " and " Charon " and in addition served
to symbolize fear of hell and its punishments.
This coining of words meets with the greatest opposition on the
part of the uninitiated. And Artemidoros relates a classical in-
stance that was famed a thousand years ago. " It seems to me," he
says, " that Aristandros gave a fortunate interpretation to Alexander

9 Compare my analysis of an example of a slip of the tongue in Zentral-

blatt fur Psychoanalyse, 1910, Heft 1-2.
 THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 105

of Macedonia. When he had shut in and beleaguered Tyre and on

account of this great loss of time was depressed and moody of coun-
tenance, he saw a satyr dancing on his shield by chance Aristandros
;

found himself in the vicinity of Tyre and in the presence of the king
who was besieging the Tyrians. When he separated the word Satyr
into 2a and Tupos (Tyre is yours), he brought it to pass that the king
took the siege aggressively in hand, so that he became the master of
the city."
To-day, 2,200 years after, we are obliged to return to the genial
technique of Aristandros. Examples of this same art are not lack-
ing in this book. The methods of dream interpretation are more
varied than one would believe.
The associations of the dreamer, his conversation, his affects, his
reservations, his opposition and his agreements all belong to the
dream material. A
knowledge of symbolism is absolutely neces-
sary because one can call the dreamer's attention to many of them
and thereby lead to a more thorough analysis The more convinced
:

the dreamer is of the art of dream interpretation, the more willingly

does he set about the work of interpretation. Complete knowledge
of the language of dreams is indispensable to convince the dreamer.
Moreover, no dream can be interpreted with the best associations
without adequate technique. The psychoanalyst receives only raw
material. He must be able to make out of that the corresponding
picture.
Also we have learned to know the different structure of the
dream. The dream of the "
Gymnastic apparatus in the office
hours " is a dream fantasy, which portrays the repetition of a
perhaps consciously constructed day-dream in the mind of the
dreamer. She shows only a minimal secondary elaboration as Freud
calls the rationalizing activity of the dream. The dream endeavors
by moulding and reinforcing to make sense out of nonsense. But
this secondary elaboration according to my view must not be under-
estimated. Like the hysterical symptom or the obsession it betrays
exactly as much of the suppressed material as it wishes to conceal.
The dreamer of the apparatus dream has not given herself the trou-
ble to undertake a secondary elaboration. The dreamer of the two
words, however, whose dream shows a thorough secondary elabo-
ration,had himself been anxious not to hinder an interpretation.
Two words by themselves could hardly overcome the opposition of
the unconscious and penetrate into the conscious.
Of course, dream interpretation is much easier, the longer one
106 WJLHELM STEKEL

works with a dream at analysis; certain symbols reappear; the

method of dream formation is as a rule typical and shows few vari-
ations with a simple nature one recognizes the earmark of his most
;

important object of love; one recognizes his conflicts and can pick
them out much easier. The first dreams are always the most diffi-
cult. (Cf. the chapter, "First Dreams.") If an interpretation
fails, one need not be disappointed. The theme reappears in many
variations until the interpretation is successful. I have already

mentioned that all too many dreams are many times signs of oppo-
sition and only serve the purpose of occupying the psychoanalyst and
leading him away from the important complex. One can guard
one's self against this if one consistently remains with the one dream
or disregards the dreams entirely. Now many patients reveal an
incredible facility in the manufacture of interesting dreams, which
appear to be capable of an exact interpretation. They bring the
dream, explanation and confession which the analyst solicits. One
is easily led astray, then, to explain and soon finds himself in a blind

alley. The skilled analyst can scarcely distinguish there whether

he is the dupe or the wise man ... in such cases it pays to remain
with one dream until it goes absolutely no further. . . .

Many times, however, the dream gives a long-desired explana-

tion. It explains for us a previous dream. 10 In short, it serves in
place of an interpretation. How interesting it is, e. g., that the
dreamer in the "electric machine dream" corrects herself and
changes the left side into the right. The difference between left
and right she has already learned from me. She applied this knowl-
edge in order to indicate her wish. She wishes to be united to me
legally. Then a dream also can make us observant of a fault in
the dream and the psychoanalysis. I shall give such
interpretation
an example here because it makes us familiar with the technique of
the neurotic. It shows us how the unconscious does not always
reveal itself frankly, but will allow itself to be caught. We are
reminded of the play of the bride robber. The bridegroom must
first conquer his bride. Thus the unconscious also demands that the
doctor himself shall solve the riddle. Otherwise what is he a dream
interpreter for? Fraulein Etha dreams.
(.594) "I came back from the country with Bruno into our
former town residence. There a large, blonde Frenchwoman was
waiting and gave him lessons and with whom he had an affair. He
10 Cf. the admirable dream analysis by Otto Rank :
" A dream, which
explains itself." Jahrbuch II, 2, 1910.
 THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 107

presented me to her as his cousin and left us there alone awhile.

The French woman was very sad and appeared to me to be jealous.
She was quite sympathetic to me and I thought: ' Why, then, is this
cousin comedy necessary ? If I told her that I was his sister, she
would be just as well satisfied.' But I did not wish to do it against
his will. Then Bruno came back again and the French woman said:
'
Are you near relations f ' Yes,' I cried, laughing. 'We resemble
each other very much. We have the same hands, the same profiles,'
and thought: 'Now she will catch on.' But she noticed nothing.
Then I went happily and quietly to my room and lay down to sleep.
Curious that I am so happy, I thought. Dr. Stekel will certainly
say: Because I feel myself free now that Bruno has an affair.
II. " Then I saw a garden with several persons, and then I was
in the hall of a home, lying rigidly on an opened wardrobe and await-
ing death. My my head whirled around and
limbs were fixed, but
I thought: Mimi is dead now, too, she can tell me how it is/ and
'

I dreaded an intense pain and thought it must be a feeling like when

one is hung and all the blood rushes forcibly to the head. I wished,
nevertheless, to force death, but it did not come; then for the present
I gave up the thought of dying."
This dream came after a series of dreams, which I could not in-
terpret. We know already The dreamer has had different things
:

to do with her brother. But the teacher of the children was a

Frenchwoman. I ought then to recognize that the Frenchwoman is
also her teacher. That is to be sure from the secondary elaboration.
This dream should inform me that she expects from me an entirely
different treatment than the psychoanalytic. She loves me and I do
not observe it. For that she is happy. But happy people do not
wish to die. I treat her as a sister. She wishes, however, to be
treated as a stranger. She does not wish, moreover, to tell anything
about her true relations with her brother. She was more than a
sister to him.
By this dream the experience with the brother and the French-
woman were brought to light. I recognized immediately that the

reproach, " But she noticed nothing," was a home thrust at me. Fi-
nally the dream thoughts have to do with what Dr. St. will say.
She desires to free herselffrom these things.
The end appears to be a defloration fantasy, which pictures itself

in death (stiff limb, intense pain. Mimi is her Mama, who could
tell her how it is).

The dream warns me of the transfer; reproaches me, that I do

108 WILHELM STEKEL

not notice her; reproaches, that I did not interpret the last dream
correctly. It gives the correct one after a few unfortunate interpre-
tations. Yes, it forces the right interpretation (forcibly — forces—
did not wish to do it against his will, etc. )

The objection that one places something in the dream which was
not contained in it, is disposed of by such examples: The dreamer
does not accept the false interpretation. Do not misunderstand me.
Very many interpretations are rejected by the dreamer. But the
next dream brings a new confirmation of the same. Or the dreamer
brings other material that proves just the thing which he disputed
so strenuously before.
If an interpretation wrong, then there comes a subsequent
is

dream which teaches us The danger of accepting false inter-

better.
pretations is not too great if one lets himself be guided by the
dreamer. But there are exceptions. I know overly clever persons
who from conscious or unconscious motives hinder the work of in-
terpretation through associations fantastically constructed, or where
a superficially associated wealth of material makes a passage into
the depths illusory.
Finally, all dream interpretation depends upon the self-knowl-
edge of the analyst. have seen intelligent colleagues who could
I

not interpret simple dreams.

Every psychoanalyst has also his individual complexes for which
he has then no understanding in the psychoanalysis, if they have not
become known to him. I call this phenomenon, " The psycho-
analytical skotoma." It is therefore necessary to learn one's own
dream analysis and in the first line to know oneself.
We are all no better than dreamers This knowledge ought to !

lighten our way through the darkness of the false passages of

dreams. Moreover, we are thrown into life with a breast full of
hate and have with difficulty overcome our wild desires and instincts.
Then, too, we first must need to learn love. That is the great knowl-
edge which I have gained through my work with dreams. Hate is
instinctive in human beings. Incest love or love which appears to
us to be incest love, if it becomes fixed through overmastering reac-
tion to the emotion of hatred should teach the child to overcome the
hate. The child learns from his home life. He learns to control
the criminal in himself, not alone from fear of a higher power; No
For love of good, beauty, from ethical motives. Then his sexual
desire which accordingly is kept in bounds by all other emotions
renders him the worthiest service.
 THE TECHNIQUE OF DREAM INTERPRETATION 109

The meaning of the criminal in persons is explained by this book.

For cure of a neurosis a knowledge of the " inner criminal " is posi-
tively necessary. What could easier unmask him than the art of
the dream interpreter ?
The interpretation of dreams affords long years of study and
practice. Not every one is equal to this work. It is the task of an
artist and cannot become mechanical. The psychoanalyst must be
able to place himself in the unconscious of a dreamer. He must be
able to think with him and like him.
Then come lightning-like revelations and connections which
have something of inspiration in them. Then the dream interpre-
tation is a " Miterleben." That is certainly the most difficult task
after that of the priest.
We must be able to rejoiceand suffer with our patients. Their
pains must be our pains. Their deliverance from the bonds of a
neurosis our deliverance. By this difficult task the dream interpre-
tation renders an invaluable service. If my work can help psycho-
analysts and similarly employed colleagues, then is its mission ful-
filled.
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