Shakespeare, influenced by the Medieval dream sequence seen in
Chaucer, uses dreams as “a dramatic device” in his history plays,
tragedies, romances and even comedies. In Richard III, Clarence’s
dream foreshadows his death by being stabbed and drowned in the
butt of Malmsey wine and has a prophetic quality, and also in
Julius Caesar Calphurnia’s dream before Caesar’s assassination at
the Capitol in Rome by the conspirators possesses the same
tendency. Hermia’s dream in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
reflects her fear of loss of virginity as well as the betrayal of
Lysander. In Shakespeare’s romance, Pericles at the last act
Pericles hears the music of the spheres and falls asleep. In his
dream, Diana asks him to come to her temple in Ephesus which
will later bring out the reunion of his family. In Othello, Iago’s
fabricated dream of Cassio has the purpose to provoke the anger
and to intensify the jealousy of Othello but this invented dream
also sheds light upon the inner psyche and the subconscious mind
of Iago. Coleridge mentions Iago’s passionless character and
points to his evil nature without any target at all. Both Wangh and
Adelman regard Iago as suffering from repressed homosexuality.
This article will deal with the ambiguity of Iago’s fabricated dream
of Cassio and explore the hidden reality in Iago’s subconscious
mind concerning his sexuality while examining the symbols and
use of language in psychoanalytical terms and taking into account
Jacques Derrida’s concept of language as “pharmakon” having
both the power of cure and poison.