The Dream, 1_______________________________________

Laurey has a dream, as well. But it has her confused.
"Aunt Eller, I want everythin to stay just the way it is," she says.

"Well, won't it?" asks Aunt Eller.

"I like livin the way we do," says Laurey.
"I like the looks of the prairie outside my window
and the thicket where the possums live
and the way we set round in the evenings in thrashing time
eatin muskmelons and a singin
and lots of things."

"Why should any of that have to change,
Laurey honey?" asks Aunt Eller. 

"What if somethin happened," says Laurey.

"What could happen?" Aunt Eller responds.
"We got money in the bank and
its gonna be another good year for corn and oats.
(She laughs) You are a silly."

Perhaps Laurey is expressing concern here
about the danger posed by Jud.
But she's also confused about Curly.
On one side, her love for Curly is pulling her toward adulthood.
On the other, she's afraid of leaving behind
the safety and predictability of childhood.
Her comment makes clear that, behind her fear of being vulnerable
by letting on how much she wants Curly,
is a deeper fear of the vulnerability brought on by change.
As in the story Curly sang to her earlier,
she wants her ideal life to "go on forever".

Fortunately, the Peddler was on hand, earlier,
with some "Elixir of Egypt",
that will let Laurey see things clearly
and help her decide what to do.
It's really just smelling salts, according to Aunt Eller,
but Laurey wants to believe in it.

So, after expressing her fear of the uncertainty of things
and suffering from indecision,
Laurey goes out to the porch to inhale
some Elixir of Egypt, so she can end her fear and confusion.

"Ask your heart what you really want,"
the bottle says, "and wait for the answer."

"Elixir of Egypt, make up my mind for me,"
Laurey says. "I'm waitin for the answer."

Then the answer begins to come
as Laurey drifts into a dream
and sings of love in a bold and certain voice:

"Out of my dreams and into your arms I long to fly.
I will come as evening comes, to woo a waiting sky.
Out of my dreams and into the hush of falling shadows.
When the mist is low and stars are breaking through
then out of my dreams I'll go into a dream with you."

But then something unexpected happens --
In her dream, both she and Curly
are replaced by doubles, who will represent them
as her dream unfolds.

There's Laurey in the dream, above, touching her double
and passing on her identity to it
as the double awakes to life and love.
They are surrounded by a dead and unreal sky and landscape
that lacks the blues and greens of life.

There's Curly on the left
and the double who is replacing him,
as it too opens its eyes and awakes to life.

Like virtually everything in the dream,
the use of doubles is gothic in character,
adding a sense of anomalousness and depersonalization
that will culminate in one of
the great symbolic sequences of the movies.

At the same time, the use of another man and woman
to represent Curly and Laurey
suggests we are watching
the story of an image of male and female,
that has been activated inside Laurey --
a universal story about archetypes
and their unfolding.

At first, their doubles enact the classic love story
that Laurey yearns to be part of --
and the sky is blue again.

Finally, through her dream double,
Laurey knows love.

Then, the dream double
moves away from the male double
and snaps its fingers, enacting the lyric Laurey sang earlier:
"I'll snap my fingers to show I don't care."
So, here, Laurey's double is repeating her mistake;
it is holding out and allowing pride
and the fear of vulnerability to interfere with love.

But when the male double turns his back
the female double immediately comes back to him
and endearingly rests her head on his chest.
Clearly, in Laurey's dream, the desire to hold out
is melted away by love.