Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
The first specimen dream that Freud examines in The Interpretation of Dreams is the famous Dream of Irma's Injection. Let's unpack some of the symbolic elements that give this stunner its meaning.
Irma's paleness and puffiness: Because the real "Irma" was neither "pale" nor "puffy," dream-Irma's paleness and puffiness symbolize her "identification" with someone else (2.1.21). As Freud soon realizes, dream-Irma isn't simply a representation of his real-life patient; she's also a representation of two other women in his life—including his own "pale" and occasionally "puffy" wife (2.1.23).
The "white patch" in Irma's mouth: Freud notes that the white patch in Irma's mouth was an allusion to a real-life friend of Irma's, but he also says that it reminded him of the anxious concern that he had felt two years earlier when his own daughter had suffered from a serious illness (2.1.24). In combination with the "whitish grey scabs" that also appear in dream-Irma's mouth, the "white patch" is one of the dream's many symbols of Freud's professional anxieties and regret.
The "whitish grey scabs" in Irma's mouth: The "whitish grey scabs" (2.1.16) in dream-Irma's mouth symbolize a number of interconnected elements. Freud notes that they remind him of a time when he was using cocaine to treat one of his own illnesses, and one of his women patients had harmed herself by following his example (2.1.24). For similar reasons, they also call to mind the death of Freud's colleague and friend Ernst Fleischl von Marxow, who died from an overdose of cocaine after Freud suggested its use as a painkiller (2.1.24).
Trimethylamin: Freud sees the chemical formula for trimethylamin in his dream, and it brings to mind his friendship with Wilhelm Fliess. Fliess was of the opinion that "one of the products of sexual metabolism was trimethylamin" (2.1.39). With this in mind, the appearance of the formula in the dream not only symbolizes Fliess; it's also a window into the underlying sexual content of the dream.
The "remarkable curly structures" in Irma's mouth: Once Freud realizes that the presence of trimethylamin in the dream alludes to his friend Wilhelm Fliess, he also realizes that the "remarkable curly structures" (2.1.16) in dream-Irma's mouth are symbols of one of Fliess's theories.
As Freud says, Fliess had "drawn scientific attention to some very remarkable connections between the turbinal bones and the female organs of sex" (2.1.40). The "remarkable curly structures" in his dream represent those same connections. So, like the trimethylamin in the dream, they symbolize Fliess and provide windows into the dream's underlying sexual content.