The Dream by Mary Shelley. Short summary

5 seconds

There is irreconcilable enmity between the lovers and their families. Therefore, the girl refuses to marry her lover and decides to go to a monastery. Seeing a prophetic dream, she changes her decision.

1 minute

A civil war has ended in France. The men of the de Vaudmont and de Villeneuve families were irreconcilable enemies.

The lovers Gaspard and Constance are the only descendants of these families. King Henry IV insists that they marry. Constance refuses.

The death of her kin stands between the young couple. She is ready to retire to a monastery, but not to betray the memory of the dead. Gaspard de Vaudmont reminds Constance of the oath of love and fidelity they have sworn to each other.

But the girl considers him complicit in the deaths of her father and brothers and cannot resolve to make this alliance. Constance, distraught, asks St. Catherine for help. The latter sends her a vision.

The vision shows that Constance’s refusal will be the cause of Gaspar’s death and that their happiness cannot be the betrayal of their dead relatives. The girl agrees to marry her lover.