Exceptionally long analysis of Consolation Prize, Chapter 12
For eolivet for the meme from the other day!
As a student of literature not film I'm not sure I can do a DVD commentary very well, but I shall instead try a thematic analysis of the chapter followed by a commentary.
The title for Chapter Twelve was very carefully chosen and was in fact one of the few chapter titles that I had planned from the beginning. Situated at the middle of the story (12/23), the “Act One Finale”, Chapter Twelve had always been a focal point and planned from the beginning. Everything that came before was leading up to it and everything that followed was in consequence of it.
The title, “A Dream of Thee” is taken from the first verse of John Donne's poem The Good Morrow. And in a DVD commentary moment, actually I was not familiar with the poem except for its use in an excellent Peter Wimsey fanfic I read years ago.
I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then?
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?
'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.
The poem raises several ideas that are important in this chapter: awakening from sleep, what is a dream and what reality, love and what happened before love, past loves being nothing compared to present love and so on.
The chapter has two parts; the first, Matthew's proposal to Sybil and the circumstances leading up to it, and the second, his dream of Mary. In this way Matthew is shown to be balanced between his two love interests for the only time in the story and this chapter is really Matthew's chapter. He is a secondary character in the story and a passive one - passive until the end, that is, when his movement from passivity to action is such a vital turning point. In Chapter 12 he finds himself asking Sybil to marry him almost without having the intention of doing so: the idea was put into his mind by Robert and the question inspired by resentment of Mary and his perception that she is marrying someone else - a kneejerk reaction. Later on, he dreams, something else out of his control. Matthew's subconscious and reactions may be on display here to a greater extent than in any other chapters since the first chapter and until Chapter 20 but he is not in control of himself yet.
Balanced as it is in the middle of the story and for Matthew between his two women, it also marks a distinct changing point in the plot. Matthew and Sybil become engaged which is the catalyst for the development of both Sybil and Mary's relationships with Branson and Sciarpa respectively. Relationships that were only hinted at until this point, for Matthew both with Mary and Sybil, are made explicit and the nature of both are shown in clear relief in the contrast between the two kisses, one real and mediocre, the other a dream and intensely sensual. If Matthew has given his hand to Sybil then the reader should easily perceive that he has also given his heart to Mary. It is also handy for these two scenes to be juxtaposed so that the Matthew/Mary shippers do not get overly anxious about the Matthew/Sybil relationship. How could that engagement represent end game when it's followed by that dream!?
Now for a bit of commentary.
Edith's comment that Sciarpa is probably not a real aristocrat is naturally foreshadowing. You go, Edith, four for you. As is Gwen's less than glowing impression of Sciarpa written to Sybil. Her opinion and her letters will become important later in persuading Matthew to go to Italy.
Sybil's letter from Grace is the first of the set-backs/reality checks that she will get about her planned life. From the start, Sybil's ideas about going to university are not meant to be well thought out or particularly realistic. She has wonderful enthusiasm for whatever she does but lacks steadiness or realism. In this way she is the idealist to Mary's pragmatist. For Sybil, Chapter 12 represents her swing from the idealism of independence to the idealism of romance first with Matthew and then with Tom. Her personal journey must lead to a compromise between both points of view. In this chapter she finds meets a very minor reality check in her plans and immediately veers off in the opposite direction. She'll do that several times more in the course of the story before finally taking a step back and seeing things for what they are.
The proposal scene was one of the hardest I've written. It was necessary to lead the conversation in just the right way to get Matthew in a position to propose, Sybil to accept, keep it in character, make it plausible, and yet make it quite clear that it was not romantic without making it horrible. Matthew and Sybil have a lot in common; there is no reason why a marriage between them shouldn't work.
Matthew's mental comparison of Sciarpa to Pamuk is inaccurate because the two are nothing alike physically. However, he is right in the similarity of character. Both wish to take advantage of Mary without marriage and both answer her strange ability to be attracted to slightly dangerous, smooth talking, powerful foreign men. The idea is planted in the reader's brain.
The conversation around the proposal is signifcant. Once again the theme of what the characters want and the way women should live their lives is raised and this is a central theme of the story. (Reading the entire story looking for the use of the word “want” could be interesting.) The way Matthew actually proposes is significant. By saying that he would “like Sybil to marry him” he is putting the action onto Sybil's part, disengaging himself. Matthew would be the passive recipient of Sybil's activity. Compare this to his positive proposal to Mary in Chapter 22 in which the entire proposal and explanation of it is couched in terms of what he wants to do and his relationship to her.
Of course making her the active partner appeals to Sybil but what really makes her accept is that he wants her to be her. This is all that Sybil wants and after Grace's letter she feels will be something she will never get. Then suddenly Matthew offers her exactly the opportunity she wants most in the world and it follows Branson's advice, a person she is subconsciously far more keen to listen to and obey than she is aware. Of course she says yes.
Now for the fun part of the chapter! I love writing dreams mainly because I love the mythological background to stories and Jungian/Frye analysis of myths and dreams. The same principles which dominate romance - archetypes, symbolism, imagery - are also found in dreams. To the extent that CP is a romance it very much contains these elements. CP is a story that shifts between standing in the realism tradition and being a romance. Characters are written to be psychologically real and inhabiting a recognisably historical world. However, at the same time, the story represents a romance narrative and it is the symbolism and foreshadowing of the earlier chapters, especially the dream sequence, that allows the story to step over into romance for the final few chapters. If romances involve the journey of the main character from their home into the fantastical land of the quest, then Italy represents that land and the further Mary goes into Italy, the further she is entering the other world. However, the two are inseparable. Mary cannot escape the real world and its effects even in Sciarpa's castle, and the romance will intrude into Matthew and Sybil's lives in England through books, music, and dreams.
I decided not to separate the dream from the rest of the narrative because I wanted it to be completely real, as real as it was to Matthew - not a cheesy “AND NOW THIS IS A TOTALLY UNRELATED DREAM” sequence in italics. One reviewer commented on how glad they were I didn't do that so I think it paid off. After all, what is reality and what is fantasy? We'll come back to that. I would at this point really like to stress that the symbolism of dreams is extensive. This is a basic analysis of what I was aiming at (as much as I can remember). There are other interpretations! I'd love to hear them. This is not meant to be a crib sheet; Matthew's subconscious is more interesting than that!
Matthew wakes up in the library in the middle of 1x04, a moment significant both for his relationship with Mary and because the scene gave this story its title. The colour red which has already been important to Mary when she met Sciarpa a couple of chapters back and which stands for passion is highlighted. We know exactly what point of 1x04 we're at because the bell has just been pulled. Mary is dressed as she was in that scene.
The following dialogue bears similarities to the scene it is remembering but is not meant to be a copy, as you'd expect of someone's subconscious. In fact the whole dream was meant to be like reality but not quite - as dreams so often are, I think.
Mary claims Matthew has just woken up because in the dream world he had been asleep on the sofa. Has he? After all, he is dreaming. Literally speaking, he has just fallen asleep. But on a symbolic level considering the dream shows Matthew his true feelings for Mary, it is possible to say that he has woken up during it to how he really feels. One is also reminded of the chapter title and its source: “If ever any beauty I did see, / Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.” If this scene with Mary is waking up then the previous scene with Sybil must have been a dream - Sybil is the beauty he has desired and got but she is only a dream - an image, a poor shadow - of Mary, the one he truly wants.
Matthew wants to know if he is there for a particular reason. It's a good question. He's so passive throughout the story one has to wonder (and the readers did) whether he was ever going to do anything. Matthew working out what on earth he's there for and feeling comfortable in his role as heir to the estate and a lawyer and standing up for himself represents his journey in the story. Mary is determined to give him no help and Matthew wishes he could help, feeling useless. He'll continue to feel useless until Sybil points him to how he can act. But that's still come. At the moment he will have to be useless a bit longer.
Mary goes to the window. Windows are important in CP. Scenes occur frequently in front of windows but this one, where Matthew first kisses Mary in the stoy, foreshadows the epilogue in which he will kiss her for real as her husband in front of a window. It also pays homage to the final scene of A Room with a View in which the hero and heroine also kiss in front of a window. Symbolically the window could represent an opening into a different world. The curtains (red again) are pulled back but the window itself is shut. A crescent moon shines in the background and changes Mary's appearance. We are close to the world of romance. Or perhaps her true colours are shown - after all, from the first chapter onwards, Matthew sees her as two women in one - a good and a bad Mary, a dark and light Mary. Perhaps that is also represented in her changing dress from the purity of ivory to the ripped, passionate red dress that she wears after he has touched her. The moon means lots and lots of things connected to dreams, new beginnings, women, maidens... Take your pick! The crescent moon in particular tends to represent change and renewal.
Matthew breathes in her perfume and the same phrase “something fresh and complex” is used which previously described Matthew's fantasies of sharing his bedroom with, er, Sybil. Maybe not Sybil then.
Mary's comment about the window being over the ocean and it being difficult to bring her back is a reference to the song she sang in Chapter 5: “The winds have blown over the ocean and brought my Bonnie back to me.” The next time the winds will be over the ocean will be when Mary is on the island of Proschia and Matthew will be making the effort to bring her back. Matthew wonders if it will be worth it and concludes that it would and Mary is dismissive. He can try but she is not sure of a positive outcome. She always was more pragmatic. Then Matthew finally says the title, quoting Mary's phrase from earlier. The story likes to play with expected gender roles and now it is Matthew who must have the consolation prize, that of trying without necessarily succeeding. Is this some great reveal of what the title means? Not really to be honest; the dialogue means less than it sounds. The sort of dialogue you get in dreams - where on the face of it the sentences follow logically but really they don't make sense at all. Of course the title is significant and it is spoken at a significant moment. The two words won't occur in dialogue again until Matthew and Mary are reunited and walking by the sea in Naples in Chapter 22. (Search all the uses of the word “prize” in this story - all significant.)
Dreams often represent hidden desires and Matthew's hidden desires are pretty obvious. The sexual content is present both on the surface in the kissing and symbolically. Matthew is not allowed to kiss Mary's lips however; before he can she is whirled away out of reach. As he comes closer to her he notices her freckles, “the imperfection only adding to her perfection”. When he is kissing her in front of a window for real in Chapter 23, he will again notice her freckles, “tiny, beloved imperfections”.
Soon they are falling out of the window in a storm. The gap between worlds has been broken. Falling is standard symbolism in dreams for feeling insecure and not in control of life. The storm represents violent change and uncontrollable emotion, shock, catastrophe. To fall through water as Matthew is soon doing represents being overwhelmed by emotions. By this point Mary has changed from wearing the ivory dress to the red. The sea is symbolically fascinating, representing emotion, change, and sex. Being lost at sea shows that a person is feeling emotionally lost and confused. In terms of the story, the sea is also important, linking Matthew's dream with Mary's channel crossing and the castle in the middle of the sea, the boat trip they will take together, and the ocean of the song.
The calm scene was based in my mind on the scene in CS Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader when they reach the end of the world and the sea gets calm and it is very silent. The dream has also gone from stormy night with a moon to calm day with the sun. The sun, along with the calm sea, suggests tranquillity, peace of mind and enlightenment. The following dream sequence will certainly be enlightening in terms of the direction of Matthew's story. However, the sun has a metalic glare to it and this represents disruption and serious problems in life. The contrast of sun and moon also harks back to the first song Sybil sang in Chapter 5, the first verse of which dealt with the sun and the second with the moon.
The seagull is the only other living creature. The seagull represents a desire to get away and escape. It will also point forwards to the seagull Mary will see from her window in Sciarpa's castle. In the dream, it points Matthew in the right direction to find Mary.
Mary is chained semi-naked to a rock in the middle of the ocean. This is a literal representation both of her situation at the end of the story and of the myth she discusses in her first conversation with Matthew. CP was originally written to be a historically plausible retelling of the Perseus and Andromeda myth - that is its raison d'etre. Obviously the literal reading of the myth is impossible but it can happen in Matthew's dream. Thus this part of Matthew's dream both foreshadows symbolically the climax of the story and literally represents the entire meaning of the story.
It is also a scene loaded with sexual imagery. Matthew's attempts to cut the chains off her, and the speck of blood that wells up where he cuts her complete with her crying out represent the sexual act as well as Matthew's fear of it evinced by his reluctance to free her and disbelief in his belief in his ability to do. He is afraid of Mary's scorn and of rejection by her. The chains also symbolise Mary's situation and lack of freedom. Again, Matthew wants to help her but isn't able to do so effectually. When the chains do vanish it has nothing to do with Matthew trying to saw at them with a butter knife, a blunt instrument representative of fastidious social etiquette. The knife itself stands for anger, aggression and sexuality as well as separation and the desire to get rid of something in life. That it is blunt suggests that effort and hard work will come to nothing.
It was at this point in writing the chapter that I became extremely aware of the male gaze. Throughout the dream Mary has been the object of Matthew's male gaze. She has existed as a fantasy, pure one moment, passionate the next, always just out of reach. As a feminist this bothered me, even though it was his dream, so I turned it on its head: Matthew notices Mary watching him and this is a big turn on. What Matthew wants is for Mary to want him. And we are back to the theme of what women want.
The rest of the dream is pretty self-explanatory and Matthew wakes himself up before he can get too carried away!
All the elements of the dream mean something individually related to the story but if Matthew had gone to a psychiatrist about it they might have told him that put all together it means that he is feeling out of control of his life which is rapidly changing round him, experiencing strong, predominantly negative, emotions, wants what he can't have, feels sexually insecure, and desires Mary.
So that was a nice dream. We now cut immediately to Mary who has also had a dream. Hers is also sexual in content but looking back rather than forwards, a recurring nightmare she has of what happened with Pamuk. One of the themes of CP is Mary facing up to and overcoming her experience with Pamuk. Throughout the story there are hints that this traumatic sexual experience still holds subconscious power over her and this reference to these nightmares she has is one of those signs. Mary knows how to deal with the nightmare but what is unexpected is it happening in Italy. She cannot run away from her own past even in the fantasy/other/dream world of Italy. As will be seen later, her past really will follow her abroad and after all, her dream was memory not dream. If Sybil's journey is reconcile idealism with reality, and Matthew's is to replace a passive state with an active one, then Mary's is to be freed from her past. All of these themes are explored in this chapter.
I strongly believe that it is not the author's job to tell the reader what a story means. As soon as the words are on the page the author loses control of the interpretatin of the story. But I will only say - go back to the title. Who is the dreamer? What is reality? When do the characters wake up? Is Mary the dream creature who must be replaced by the reality of Sybil? Or was Sybil the dream who could not live up to Mary? How does Matthew's relationship with these two women reflect and provide commentary on Sybil and Mary's relationships with the various men in their lives? Who is dreaming of whom? And what do they all want? In the end, do they get it? And who gets the consolation prize?
As a student of literature not film I'm not sure I can do a DVD commentary very well, but I shall instead try a thematic analysis of the chapter followed by a commentary.
The title for Chapter Twelve was very carefully chosen and was in fact one of the few chapter titles that I had planned from the beginning. Situated at the middle of the story (12/23), the “Act One Finale”, Chapter Twelve had always been a focal point and planned from the beginning. Everything that came before was leading up to it and everything that followed was in consequence of it.
The title, “A Dream of Thee” is taken from the first verse of John Donne's poem The Good Morrow. And in a DVD commentary moment, actually I was not familiar with the poem except for its use in an excellent Peter Wimsey fanfic I read years ago.
I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then?
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?
'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.
The poem raises several ideas that are important in this chapter: awakening from sleep, what is a dream and what reality, love and what happened before love, past loves being nothing compared to present love and so on.
The chapter has two parts; the first, Matthew's proposal to Sybil and the circumstances leading up to it, and the second, his dream of Mary. In this way Matthew is shown to be balanced between his two love interests for the only time in the story and this chapter is really Matthew's chapter. He is a secondary character in the story and a passive one - passive until the end, that is, when his movement from passivity to action is such a vital turning point. In Chapter 12 he finds himself asking Sybil to marry him almost without having the intention of doing so: the idea was put into his mind by Robert and the question inspired by resentment of Mary and his perception that she is marrying someone else - a kneejerk reaction. Later on, he dreams, something else out of his control. Matthew's subconscious and reactions may be on display here to a greater extent than in any other chapters since the first chapter and until Chapter 20 but he is not in control of himself yet.
Balanced as it is in the middle of the story and for Matthew between his two women, it also marks a distinct changing point in the plot. Matthew and Sybil become engaged which is the catalyst for the development of both Sybil and Mary's relationships with Branson and Sciarpa respectively. Relationships that were only hinted at until this point, for Matthew both with Mary and Sybil, are made explicit and the nature of both are shown in clear relief in the contrast between the two kisses, one real and mediocre, the other a dream and intensely sensual. If Matthew has given his hand to Sybil then the reader should easily perceive that he has also given his heart to Mary. It is also handy for these two scenes to be juxtaposed so that the Matthew/Mary shippers do not get overly anxious about the Matthew/Sybil relationship. How could that engagement represent end game when it's followed by that dream!?
Now for a bit of commentary.
Edith's comment that Sciarpa is probably not a real aristocrat is naturally foreshadowing. You go, Edith, four for you. As is Gwen's less than glowing impression of Sciarpa written to Sybil. Her opinion and her letters will become important later in persuading Matthew to go to Italy.
Sybil's letter from Grace is the first of the set-backs/reality checks that she will get about her planned life. From the start, Sybil's ideas about going to university are not meant to be well thought out or particularly realistic. She has wonderful enthusiasm for whatever she does but lacks steadiness or realism. In this way she is the idealist to Mary's pragmatist. For Sybil, Chapter 12 represents her swing from the idealism of independence to the idealism of romance first with Matthew and then with Tom. Her personal journey must lead to a compromise between both points of view. In this chapter she finds meets a very minor reality check in her plans and immediately veers off in the opposite direction. She'll do that several times more in the course of the story before finally taking a step back and seeing things for what they are.
The proposal scene was one of the hardest I've written. It was necessary to lead the conversation in just the right way to get Matthew in a position to propose, Sybil to accept, keep it in character, make it plausible, and yet make it quite clear that it was not romantic without making it horrible. Matthew and Sybil have a lot in common; there is no reason why a marriage between them shouldn't work.
Matthew's mental comparison of Sciarpa to Pamuk is inaccurate because the two are nothing alike physically. However, he is right in the similarity of character. Both wish to take advantage of Mary without marriage and both answer her strange ability to be attracted to slightly dangerous, smooth talking, powerful foreign men. The idea is planted in the reader's brain.
The conversation around the proposal is signifcant. Once again the theme of what the characters want and the way women should live their lives is raised and this is a central theme of the story. (Reading the entire story looking for the use of the word “want” could be interesting.) The way Matthew actually proposes is significant. By saying that he would “like Sybil to marry him” he is putting the action onto Sybil's part, disengaging himself. Matthew would be the passive recipient of Sybil's activity. Compare this to his positive proposal to Mary in Chapter 22 in which the entire proposal and explanation of it is couched in terms of what he wants to do and his relationship to her.
Of course making her the active partner appeals to Sybil but what really makes her accept is that he wants her to be her. This is all that Sybil wants and after Grace's letter she feels will be something she will never get. Then suddenly Matthew offers her exactly the opportunity she wants most in the world and it follows Branson's advice, a person she is subconsciously far more keen to listen to and obey than she is aware. Of course she says yes.
Now for the fun part of the chapter! I love writing dreams mainly because I love the mythological background to stories and Jungian/Frye analysis of myths and dreams. The same principles which dominate romance - archetypes, symbolism, imagery - are also found in dreams. To the extent that CP is a romance it very much contains these elements. CP is a story that shifts between standing in the realism tradition and being a romance. Characters are written to be psychologically real and inhabiting a recognisably historical world. However, at the same time, the story represents a romance narrative and it is the symbolism and foreshadowing of the earlier chapters, especially the dream sequence, that allows the story to step over into romance for the final few chapters. If romances involve the journey of the main character from their home into the fantastical land of the quest, then Italy represents that land and the further Mary goes into Italy, the further she is entering the other world. However, the two are inseparable. Mary cannot escape the real world and its effects even in Sciarpa's castle, and the romance will intrude into Matthew and Sybil's lives in England through books, music, and dreams.
I decided not to separate the dream from the rest of the narrative because I wanted it to be completely real, as real as it was to Matthew - not a cheesy “AND NOW THIS IS A TOTALLY UNRELATED DREAM” sequence in italics. One reviewer commented on how glad they were I didn't do that so I think it paid off. After all, what is reality and what is fantasy? We'll come back to that. I would at this point really like to stress that the symbolism of dreams is extensive. This is a basic analysis of what I was aiming at (as much as I can remember). There are other interpretations! I'd love to hear them. This is not meant to be a crib sheet; Matthew's subconscious is more interesting than that!
Matthew wakes up in the library in the middle of 1x04, a moment significant both for his relationship with Mary and because the scene gave this story its title. The colour red which has already been important to Mary when she met Sciarpa a couple of chapters back and which stands for passion is highlighted. We know exactly what point of 1x04 we're at because the bell has just been pulled. Mary is dressed as she was in that scene.
The following dialogue bears similarities to the scene it is remembering but is not meant to be a copy, as you'd expect of someone's subconscious. In fact the whole dream was meant to be like reality but not quite - as dreams so often are, I think.
Mary claims Matthew has just woken up because in the dream world he had been asleep on the sofa. Has he? After all, he is dreaming. Literally speaking, he has just fallen asleep. But on a symbolic level considering the dream shows Matthew his true feelings for Mary, it is possible to say that he has woken up during it to how he really feels. One is also reminded of the chapter title and its source: “If ever any beauty I did see, / Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.” If this scene with Mary is waking up then the previous scene with Sybil must have been a dream - Sybil is the beauty he has desired and got but she is only a dream - an image, a poor shadow - of Mary, the one he truly wants.
Matthew wants to know if he is there for a particular reason. It's a good question. He's so passive throughout the story one has to wonder (and the readers did) whether he was ever going to do anything. Matthew working out what on earth he's there for and feeling comfortable in his role as heir to the estate and a lawyer and standing up for himself represents his journey in the story. Mary is determined to give him no help and Matthew wishes he could help, feeling useless. He'll continue to feel useless until Sybil points him to how he can act. But that's still come. At the moment he will have to be useless a bit longer.
Mary goes to the window. Windows are important in CP. Scenes occur frequently in front of windows but this one, where Matthew first kisses Mary in the stoy, foreshadows the epilogue in which he will kiss her for real as her husband in front of a window. It also pays homage to the final scene of A Room with a View in which the hero and heroine also kiss in front of a window. Symbolically the window could represent an opening into a different world. The curtains (red again) are pulled back but the window itself is shut. A crescent moon shines in the background and changes Mary's appearance. We are close to the world of romance. Or perhaps her true colours are shown - after all, from the first chapter onwards, Matthew sees her as two women in one - a good and a bad Mary, a dark and light Mary. Perhaps that is also represented in her changing dress from the purity of ivory to the ripped, passionate red dress that she wears after he has touched her. The moon means lots and lots of things connected to dreams, new beginnings, women, maidens... Take your pick! The crescent moon in particular tends to represent change and renewal.
Matthew breathes in her perfume and the same phrase “something fresh and complex” is used which previously described Matthew's fantasies of sharing his bedroom with, er, Sybil. Maybe not Sybil then.
Mary's comment about the window being over the ocean and it being difficult to bring her back is a reference to the song she sang in Chapter 5: “The winds have blown over the ocean and brought my Bonnie back to me.” The next time the winds will be over the ocean will be when Mary is on the island of Proschia and Matthew will be making the effort to bring her back. Matthew wonders if it will be worth it and concludes that it would and Mary is dismissive. He can try but she is not sure of a positive outcome. She always was more pragmatic. Then Matthew finally says the title, quoting Mary's phrase from earlier. The story likes to play with expected gender roles and now it is Matthew who must have the consolation prize, that of trying without necessarily succeeding. Is this some great reveal of what the title means? Not really to be honest; the dialogue means less than it sounds. The sort of dialogue you get in dreams - where on the face of it the sentences follow logically but really they don't make sense at all. Of course the title is significant and it is spoken at a significant moment. The two words won't occur in dialogue again until Matthew and Mary are reunited and walking by the sea in Naples in Chapter 22. (Search all the uses of the word “prize” in this story - all significant.)
Dreams often represent hidden desires and Matthew's hidden desires are pretty obvious. The sexual content is present both on the surface in the kissing and symbolically. Matthew is not allowed to kiss Mary's lips however; before he can she is whirled away out of reach. As he comes closer to her he notices her freckles, “the imperfection only adding to her perfection”. When he is kissing her in front of a window for real in Chapter 23, he will again notice her freckles, “tiny, beloved imperfections”.
Soon they are falling out of the window in a storm. The gap between worlds has been broken. Falling is standard symbolism in dreams for feeling insecure and not in control of life. The storm represents violent change and uncontrollable emotion, shock, catastrophe. To fall through water as Matthew is soon doing represents being overwhelmed by emotions. By this point Mary has changed from wearing the ivory dress to the red. The sea is symbolically fascinating, representing emotion, change, and sex. Being lost at sea shows that a person is feeling emotionally lost and confused. In terms of the story, the sea is also important, linking Matthew's dream with Mary's channel crossing and the castle in the middle of the sea, the boat trip they will take together, and the ocean of the song.
The calm scene was based in my mind on the scene in CS Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader when they reach the end of the world and the sea gets calm and it is very silent. The dream has also gone from stormy night with a moon to calm day with the sun. The sun, along with the calm sea, suggests tranquillity, peace of mind and enlightenment. The following dream sequence will certainly be enlightening in terms of the direction of Matthew's story. However, the sun has a metalic glare to it and this represents disruption and serious problems in life. The contrast of sun and moon also harks back to the first song Sybil sang in Chapter 5, the first verse of which dealt with the sun and the second with the moon.
The seagull is the only other living creature. The seagull represents a desire to get away and escape. It will also point forwards to the seagull Mary will see from her window in Sciarpa's castle. In the dream, it points Matthew in the right direction to find Mary.
Mary is chained semi-naked to a rock in the middle of the ocean. This is a literal representation both of her situation at the end of the story and of the myth she discusses in her first conversation with Matthew. CP was originally written to be a historically plausible retelling of the Perseus and Andromeda myth - that is its raison d'etre. Obviously the literal reading of the myth is impossible but it can happen in Matthew's dream. Thus this part of Matthew's dream both foreshadows symbolically the climax of the story and literally represents the entire meaning of the story.
It is also a scene loaded with sexual imagery. Matthew's attempts to cut the chains off her, and the speck of blood that wells up where he cuts her complete with her crying out represent the sexual act as well as Matthew's fear of it evinced by his reluctance to free her and disbelief in his belief in his ability to do. He is afraid of Mary's scorn and of rejection by her. The chains also symbolise Mary's situation and lack of freedom. Again, Matthew wants to help her but isn't able to do so effectually. When the chains do vanish it has nothing to do with Matthew trying to saw at them with a butter knife, a blunt instrument representative of fastidious social etiquette. The knife itself stands for anger, aggression and sexuality as well as separation and the desire to get rid of something in life. That it is blunt suggests that effort and hard work will come to nothing.
It was at this point in writing the chapter that I became extremely aware of the male gaze. Throughout the dream Mary has been the object of Matthew's male gaze. She has existed as a fantasy, pure one moment, passionate the next, always just out of reach. As a feminist this bothered me, even though it was his dream, so I turned it on its head: Matthew notices Mary watching him and this is a big turn on. What Matthew wants is for Mary to want him. And we are back to the theme of what women want.
The rest of the dream is pretty self-explanatory and Matthew wakes himself up before he can get too carried away!
All the elements of the dream mean something individually related to the story but if Matthew had gone to a psychiatrist about it they might have told him that put all together it means that he is feeling out of control of his life which is rapidly changing round him, experiencing strong, predominantly negative, emotions, wants what he can't have, feels sexually insecure, and desires Mary.
So that was a nice dream. We now cut immediately to Mary who has also had a dream. Hers is also sexual in content but looking back rather than forwards, a recurring nightmare she has of what happened with Pamuk. One of the themes of CP is Mary facing up to and overcoming her experience with Pamuk. Throughout the story there are hints that this traumatic sexual experience still holds subconscious power over her and this reference to these nightmares she has is one of those signs. Mary knows how to deal with the nightmare but what is unexpected is it happening in Italy. She cannot run away from her own past even in the fantasy/other/dream world of Italy. As will be seen later, her past really will follow her abroad and after all, her dream was memory not dream. If Sybil's journey is reconcile idealism with reality, and Matthew's is to replace a passive state with an active one, then Mary's is to be freed from her past. All of these themes are explored in this chapter.
I strongly believe that it is not the author's job to tell the reader what a story means. As soon as the words are on the page the author loses control of the interpretatin of the story. But I will only say - go back to the title. Who is the dreamer? What is reality? When do the characters wake up? Is Mary the dream creature who must be replaced by the reality of Sybil? Or was Sybil the dream who could not live up to Mary? How does Matthew's relationship with these two women reflect and provide commentary on Sybil and Mary's relationships with the various men in their lives? Who is dreaming of whom? And what do they all want? In the end, do they get it? And who gets the consolation prize?