The Pillow Fairy


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Jane is a practical dreamer herself. Dreams gives her a chance to mull over her everyday problems. As Hartmann says, “dreams deal with them by making a pictured metaphor of our concerns” (2). Take for instance this dream, when Jane is dissatisfied at Lowood:

I could not tell: nothing answered me; I then ordered my brain to find a response, and quickly. It worked faster and faster: I felt the pulses throb in my head and temples; but for nearly an hour it worked in chaos, and no result came of its efforts. Feverish with vain labour, I got up and took a turn in the room; undrew the curtain, noted a star or two, shivered with cold, and again crept to bed.

A kind fairy, in my absence, had surely dropped the required suggestion on my pillow; for as I lay down, it came quietly and naturally to my mind. -- "Those who want situations advertise; you must advertise in the -shire Herald." (94).

sick.jpg When talking about Bronte dreams, I felt that the "pictured metaphor" (2)theory of psychologist Ernest Hartmann was best. I looked at a few dream theorists when trying to find someone scientific who would be comparable to Bronte’s use of dreams. Sigmund Freud’s idea of all dreams being wish fulfillment (181)? Not really. Carl Jung’s theory of dreams compensating for your daily life (38)? Not quite. Biologist J. Allan Hobson’s dogma of all dreams being useless chemical byproducts of the sleeping brain (4)? Not even close. The only thing that came close was Hartmann’s idea of dreams dealing with your waking emotions. Bronte uses her Jane Eyre dreams in a way that is similar to Hartmann, but predates him. Dreams get Jane’s thoughts and emotions out onto a stage where they can play themselves out, like Hartmann’s “pictured metaphor” (2).

Jane is really chewing over a predicament that she just cannot solve while awake. But as soon as her head hits the pillow-- BAM-- problem solved. (Now that’s some practical dreaming.) It’s a pillow fairy. (That’s not to say, an actual fairy, but a solution that comes directly from sleep.) Many of the dreams play out in a fashion similar to this one (although perhaps not as directly). Bronte uses her Jane Eyre dreams in a way that is similar to Hartmann, but predates him. Dreams get Jane’s thoughts and emotions out onto a stage where they can play themselves out, like Hartmann’s “pictured metaphor” (2). Problem. Dream. Solution.





*upper left- young Jane and her everyday problems (from the recent BBC production).
*lower right- picture this metaphor.


Read more:

  • The Practical Use of Dreams in Jane Eyre
  • The Pillow Fairy
  • Big Bad Bertha
  • A Novel Idea
  • Suggested Reading
  • About the Author