Eleonora Galindo Martinez

English Literature I
Mtra. Rosario Faraudo Gargallo

The Dream Allegory

The dream allegory, or dream vision, is a literary resource used mainly in medieval
literature. Its purpose variates from prophetic to self-discovery for the protagonist of a
story, and generally intends to lead him to virtue or trick him into vice. However,
dreams have been part of storytelling since the beginnings of it: it is only necessary to
look back to the ancient Egyptians, or the Aztecs, or practically any human group whose
literature has been preserved and it is possible to see that most heroes, kings and priests
had dreams that would undoubtedly change their destinies.
Since humanity first thought that nature was ruled by superior forces, were
they a god or any other sort of deity, dreams have played a very important role in the
mystical matters of societies. There are plenty of examples: for the Aztecs, the place in
which they would found their golden empire came to them in a mystical dream. In
Ancient Greece, it was usually due to unclear dreams that people visited the oracles,
who gave them answers equally or even more unclear then the original dream, and that
reflects on their literature. In the Bible, one of the ways that God communicates with
humans is through dreams or dream-like situations, and they are often as cryptic as the
Medieval allegorical dreams are.
During the Middle Ages literary dreams were often used as a tool to portray an
idea with a moralizing or didactic purpose, and in some cases even as a way of social
criticism. The source of the dream can be positive, a vision sent by God or induced by a

good spirit; negative, caused by the Devil or another corrupted creature; or neutral,
generally due to a natural factor colliding with the psyche of the character.
The dream is revealed to the reader through the senses of the dreamer, and it
usually follows the same series of steps: the dreamer falls asleep while in some sort of
emotional conflict, and wakes in a beautiful place (locus amoenus). Most of the
plants, creatures and characters that populate this marvellous space are representations
of ideas, which give a distinction to the genre as well as its name. It is through these
allegories that the writer could make a social critique, for since it occurs in a dream it is
not as relevant as what happens during the characters lucidity.
Usually a guide appears and takes the dreamer through this place, giving him
information about what is around him, information that is generally unclear and that the
dreamer feels forced to question but rarely receives a satisfactory answer. Finally, the
dreamer wakes before the significance of the dream becomes clear, but neither he nor
the reader are left clueless: the dreamer knows the dream meant to give him a message
about how to act in a future situation, and that the answer will most likely reveal itself
when the moment comes.
Both The Romance of the Rose and The Vision of Piers Plowman are dream
allegories that deal with important opposite aspects of society: the Romance was
directed to the aristocracy, working as a clever manual on how to be a good lover, while
Plowman is a call to the common people to realise how corrupt and unworthy the
government and the Church have become. They were both receivers of great acclaim
from some parties and heavy rejection from others.
The Romance of the Rose was a very controversial work: the depiction of
courtly love as something so very human instead of the idealisation seen in the medieval

romances clearly appealed to courtiers of the time; however, the humanisation of the
characters gave way to what righteous people would consider vulgar, yet it was never
banned.
The Vision of Piers Plowman is an enormous critique of the institution the
Roman Church had become and the corruption of the nobility, as well as some other
aspects of society. Although it takes the form of a dream of mystical nature, in truth it is
a carefully disguised sermon which criticism lead to the Peasants Revolt in 1381, as
well as inspiring the Reformation.
The dream allegory served its purpose: sending a message that might not have
been entirely accepted or approved of at the time and allowing it to circulate with less
repression due to its quality of non-realism. But, in the end, a message can be powerful
regardless of its straightforwardness.

Bibliography
Langland, William. The Vision of Piers Plowman.
Guillaume de Lorris. The Romance of the Rose. Part One
Lewis, Clive Staples. The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition. Oxford
University Press: Oxford, 1936.