Chapter 1, Part 1 Summary

In the introduction to Part 1, Freud proposes to show a technique for interpreting dreams. He also offers to clarify the dream process and identify the forces that contribute to the creation of dreams. Freud defines the act of dreaming, gives an historical overview of the dream as it was regarded in history, and discusses the classification system for dreams and dreaming. Finally, the author challenges the likening of dreaming to other kinds of mental activity such as hallucinations and visions.

Freud discusses the relationship of dreams to waking states. For him, this dynamic includes ideas the dreamer has during the day carried over into the sleeping hours as all the "desires and loathings" of the dreamer. The "Father of Psychoanalysis" also recounts ancient theories that parallel his own regarding dream manifestation and cites the poetry of Lucretius as evidence.

Continuing, Freud...