Mss141: Sleep and Dream

Reading Questions for Gautier, "The Mummy's Foot" (1840)

1.  What is the narrator looking for in the antiques shop?  How does he happen to purchase the mummy's foot?

2.  Describe the shop and the shop keeper.

3.  Which elements seem particularly dreamlike when the narrator meets the princess Hermonthis?

4.  Why does the Pharoah refuse to let the narrator marry the princess?

5.  What themes does Gautier associate with ancient Egyptian civilization and religion?

6.  Compare this tale to "The Coffee Pot" and "The Dead in Love": what similarities do you observe in Gautier's depiction of a) women; b) the dream-state; c) ideas of eternity  and divinity? 

7.  How does this tale unsettle the distinction between waking reality and dream?  Compare to the narrative strategies employed by "The Coffee Pot" and "The Dead in Love."  Which tale of the three do you prefer and why?