Typical Dream Vision Plot Stages and Character Types

1) the dreamer falls asleep in the midst of some life crisis or emotional impasse;

2) the dreamer, almost always a male, finds himself in a beautiful natural place (locus amoenus), often an enclosed garden filled with beautiful plants, animals, etc. (hortus conclusus);

3) the dreamer encounters a guide figure who instructs the dreamer and/or leads the dreamer to one or more allegorical visions;

4) the dreamer may interrogate the guide figure about the significance of the visions, but often this does not produce satisfactory results;

5) something within the dream causes the dreamer to awaken before the full significance of the dream can be explained, though the audience is left with a few highly likely choices which are likely to stimulate debate about important cultural values that are in contention or undergoing change.