Dream Story/Freud

I really focused in on the connections between the eros and thanatos drives evident in the Dream Story, which were quite prominent. Thanatos, the death drive or destructive forces, is seen around every corner. Fridolin is almost chasing thanatos throughout the dream story, seeking out that which is destructive. He follows his friend Nightingale to the mysterious costume party, although he is warned against going. There are many symbols along the way before he gets there to suggest that he should stay away; the coach that looks like a hearse, the strangeness of the costume shop where he procures his monk's habit, the young girl, Pierrette (possibly a madwoman, or at least according to Mr. Gibisier), and the password to the party- Denmark, which is where Fridolin and his wife had spent the summer (it also reminded me of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which took place in the same city--"Something's rotten in the state of Denmark--also, it is mentioned that he feels a sea-change within himself, much as Hamlet did when he went abroad and came back to Denmark, the sea-change being a recurring theme in Shakespeare in general.). He attends the strange party and it is evident that danger is all around him, that the other party-goers know or suspect that he does not belong. Intertwined with the danger of the events that are playing out is the life-drive and the sex-drive of eros. Something about the danger excites him, at the party there are beautiful, naked, masked women. He is aware of the fact that he is in danger but he can't seem to bring himself to leave without this beautiful woman who has been warning him to leave the party. It's as though thanatos and eros are waves crashing inside of him, because one instant he is attracted to danger and the next instant he is pulled towards beauty or love or music with the same fervor.