The image of mists or clouds recurs in its link with dreams or illusions. On the
surface, the bad dream from which Charles Gould is escaping is Pedro Montero as
such. However, if Charles Gould has indeed been awakened to the skeptical outlook
of power for power's sake, then Pedrito's "Caesarism," flaunting a moral
and even democratic pretense for absolute power, would be the "oppressive
dream" (or "monstrous illusion," to use Gould's term )
that idealism inflicts upon mankind.