Interpretation of Dreams & Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious

“The virtuous man contents himself with dreaming that which the wicked man does in actual life. ”Regarded as Sigmund Freud’s most significant work, The Interpretation of Dreams was published in 1899 and aims to give readers a peek through the workings of the unconscious mind through dream interpretations. In this book, Frued paves a new way of understanding human nature and thought processes. The book fascinates the readers with symbolisms that establish how everyday experiences get manifested into dreams. Describing them as picture-puzzles, Freud asserts that dreams can form a “poetical phrase of the greatest beauty and significance”. 


Building on the crucial insight that jokes use many of the same mechanisms he had already discovered in dreams, Freud developed one of the richest and most comprehensive theories of humour that has ever been produced. Jokes, he argues, provide immense pleasure by allowing us to express many of our deepest sexual, aggressive and cynical thoughts and feelings which would otherwise remain repressed. In elaborating this central thesis, he brings together a dazzling set of puns, anecdotes, snappyone-liners, spoonerisms and beloved stories of Jewish beggars and marriage-brokers. Many remain highly amusing, while others throw a vivid light on the lost world of early twentieth-century Vienna.