Dream, which is itself disguise, paradoxically becomes the most pertinent and complex comment on the many disguises of The BlithedaleRomance and on its structurally unconvincing elements. Classically functioning both as revelation and wish-fulfillment, Miles Coverdale's central dream tells the perceptive reader what he already knows. This dream, and two framing briefer dream references, unearth disguise more accurately than Miles's consciously prying self can do. Through Miles, Hawthorne wryly portrays the limited success of the (minor?) artist's effort to “lawfully dream awake.”