The examples of the usage of dreams for rendering the author’s message are numerous in literature. The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament’s account of the Story of Joseph are ones of them. The researcher investigates the way the dreams are used in these works to set off the tales, to disclose the context and to elucidate characters. Special attention is paid to the dreams sequence, which is important for understanding the place of the human being in the universe. The present work deepens the attempts made by the previous researchers, namely, Crisp T., Huddleston L. E., Sarna N. The research is made with the purpose to ensure that that dreams and their divination played an important role in the religious and governmental activities in the ancientry and show how they helped the authors to incarnate their ideas. The functions of dreams in both works are studied by the researcher, their significance is underlined, differences and parallels between the usage of dreams in both works are established, the enduring values that the works reveal are emphasized.
The following questions are raised in the research. What main ideas did the authors of both works want to render by means of the mechanism of dreams? How the character’s dreams are depicted, and how does their description contribute to the reader’s understanding of the message? What impact does the duality of dreams have on their interpretation? To answer all these questions, the author conducts a profound analysis of both works. The whole research is aimed at revealing the way dreams help the characters and the reader to understand the place of the human being in the universe. The research results in answering the question of how similar and different the interpretations of dreams from both works are.
While conducting the research, the author makes use of the comparative method. It helps the author to make a step-by-step investigation of the usage of dreams in the Works under consideration. On the basis of this method and critical evaluation of the sources, the researcher states that the purpose of using the mechanisms of dream in both works is the same. It is rooted in the ability to predict the characters’ future and interpret it properly. The dream is ‘… the attempt to find certainty amid uncertainty, to control or direct the threatening forces of nature, to find ones way through the events of life’ [Crisp]. The main feature of the dreams from both works is emphasized. This is a duality that distinguishes the dreams of Gilgamesh and Joseph (‘…dreams in the Joseph biography always come in pairs’[Sarna] ). Though the similarities between the dreams presented in the works are obvious, their difference is highlighted as various assumptions of the way the world works that the characters have.
The author resorts to Crisp’s work titled Babylonian Dream Beliefs, Huddleston’s The Epic of Gilgamesh: An Outline of the Babylonian Version (With Comments and Bibliography), Sarna’s Dreams: Interpreting Joseph’s Dreams, Jewish Heritage Online Magazine. The works deal with the problem of dreams in Epic of Gilgamesh and The Story of Joseph. They present a profound analysis of the issue studied. Their critical evaluation conducted by the researcher gave way to working out one’s own well-grounded point of view on the problem.
The present research is one more attempt to solve the mystery of dreams that humanity is always struggling for. Through the investigation of the role of dreams in the two literary works, the author works elaborate a conception of dreams and their significance for understanding the role of the human being in the world.
References
Crisp, T. (1995), Babylonian dream beliefs, New Dream Dictionary
Sarna, N. 2001), Dreams: interpreting Joseph’s dreams, Jewish heritage online magazine