Summary

Following this conclusion that Dora has a repressed desire to yield to Herr K., Freud adds another element to his interpretation of Dora’s dream, based on his principle of inversion: the symbol of the fire actually signifies water in her psyche, which he connects with love, “for love also makes things wet” (64). Connecting water to her concern that an “accident” might occur in the night, Freud conjectures that Dora was a bed-wetter to a later age than is normal in children. Dora concedes to his guess, saying that her doctor attributed it to a “nervous weakness” that would pass with time.

Another aspect that Freud examines is the presence of smoke in the dream, which he relates to the smoking habit of Herr K. and her father. Guessing that Dora must have smelled smoke on Herr K.’s breath, he concludes that...