Character Analysis
Whereas we here at Shmoop have been known to dream dreams of Counts Chocula, Dracula, and von Count, Freud's dreaming mind brought him images of a real-life politician of his day: the aristocratic Count Thun.
Count Thun was a reactionary Austrian politician and "an upholder of Bohemian self-government as against the German nationalists" (source). He appears in more than one of Freud's dreams, and in these dreams he tends to symbolize social hierarchy and authority.
In the Dream of Count Thun that appears in the book's fifth chapter (5.3.35), Freud identifies with the Count but also associates Thun with his father, Jakob Freud. As Freud's interpretation of the dream makes clear, his underlying feelings of rebellion against authority figures, especially paternal authority figures, were part of the underlying content of his dream.