The Spirit of Dreaming in Shakespeare

This book explores Shakespeare's religious significance through the lens of dreaming, offering a fresh perspective on his works. By analyzing the role of dreams in plays like Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, it uncovers a subtle spirituality that transcends traditional religious teachings. Dreams in Shakespeare's plays--ranging from prophetic visions to magical transformations --invite reflection on deeper spiritual possibilities. Blending religious studies, psychoanalysis, and dream research, it offers a new understanding of Shakespeare's insight into the visionary power of the human mind, appealing to scholars, theater enthusiasts, and general readers alike.

Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D. is a dream researcher, director of the Sleep and Dream Database (SDDb), and author/editor of more than twenty books, including Soul, Psyche, Brain (Palgrave, 2005), Dreaming in the World's Religions (NYU, 2008), Big Dreams (Oxford, 2016), Lucrecia the Dreamer (Stanford, 2018), The Scribes of Sleep (Oxford, 2023), 2020 Dreams (Stanford, 2023), and The Spirituality of Dreaming (Broadleaf, 2023). From 2016 to 2025 he served as a board member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). He has an active social media presence including a blog for Psychology Today, Instagram and X accounts, and a creative partnership with the Elsewhere.to app for online dream journaling.

"This is a really fine book that both people interested in dreams and in Shakespeare will appreciate. The descriptions and analyses of the dreams--and the way they are categorized--are very useful." - Carole Levin, Willa Cather Professor of History Emeritus, University of Nebraska.

"There are good works on dreams and Shakespeare, but nothing so extensive and thorough, and nothing else that attempts a real picture of Shakespeare's 'dreamworld'... There is very likely no one else who combines the same levels of familiarity and deep consideration in the two areas that come together in this book." - Bernard Welt, Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities, The George Washington University.