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The energetic hissing sounds: 'pillows^, 'si^i' 'soon', 'asleep'
'blissful condition', 'ancient', '£teerforth''friendship''coaches',
and archwayare indicative of the strong feelings David has for
Steerforth. The fact that he mentions "ancient Rome, Steerforth, and
friendship" in one go, and later on "thunder and the gods" prove
that he regards Steerforth as having an exalted station in life and
being way above him. The grand gesture of having "pillow, enough for
six" which one normally does not have, shows this as well. Once again
the elements in the dream are very telling but more can be deduced
from the mood that t; dream radiates.
The other relationship of David's that this novel deals with, is with
Agnes. It takes a while before friendship, admiration and respect turn
into love, once David has become a widower:
"I never shall forget that night. I never shall forget how I
turned and tumbled; how I wearied myself with thinking about
Agnes and this creature; how I considered what I could do, and
what I ought to do; how I could come to no other conclusion
than that the best course for her peace was to do nothing,
and to keep to myself what I had heard. If I went to sleep for
a few moments the image of Agnes with her tender eyes, and of
her father looking fondly on her, as I had so often seen him
look, arose before me with appealing faces, and filled me with
vague terrors. When I awoke, the recollection that Uriah was
lying in the next room, sat heavy on me like a waking nightmare
and oppressed me with a leaden dread, as if I had some meaner
quality of devil for a lodger."
This passage is from Chapter 25, when David has just been shocked by
Uriah Heep's confessions, hopes and expectations. David has always
been disgusted by the slimy Uriah but now he seems to feel threatened
as well - his very nearness is "like a waking nightmare" to David.
The dream therefore is full of apprehension, what will happen to Agnes,
what will David do, what can he do and finally that to do nothing at
all is the best course to follow. Having had these thoughts on his
mind he dreams of Agnes right after that, "Agnes with her tender eyes"
and slightly idealizes her. In this way the dream is not only natural at
the time it is dreamed but it also links up this part of the novel
with what will happen later on when David's child-wife has died. Thus
the dream functions. One function is to deal with the facts, everything
