Each of the characters has their own dream or escapism. They need this; they need to have something positive to aim forespecially towards the end of the play. Their dreams are quite different. For example, Maire's dream is to leave Ireland and live in America, whilst Manus?dream is quite the oppositehe wants to stay in Ireland and help to defend his country and his way of life.
             The biggest dreamer in the play is probably Jimmy Jack Cassie. He is so wrapped up in Homer that, to him, the world of the Greek Gods and mythology is as real as every day life in Baile Beag. We feel that Jimmy is a lonely old man, he has probably never had a proper relationship with a woman in his life, which is why he dreams of marrying the Goddess Athene. At the end of the play, Jimmy has actually convinced himself that he is to marry Athene and he even asks Hugh to be his best man. I do like Jimmy; he's completely harmlessjust a bit dazed by everything.
             Hugh is like Jimmy in the way that he dreams of the pastbut Hugh dreams of his own, actual past, 'we were heroes? He wants Ireland to be as it always wasas do the vast majority of the Irish people. Hugh's escapism is his drink. He can hold his drink pretty wellhe always knows exactly how sober (or, in most cases, how not sober) his is. The drink makes him seem like just some drunken old foolbut Hugh is very clever. He is always aware of what's happening in his surroundings, except, maybe, at the end when he doesn't realise that Manus has gone. He delivers a long speech towards the end, which is more like a soliloquy as he is speaking his thoughts to no-one in particular 'there is no-one else there (except for Jimmy, but he is asleep). The play ends on his desperate attempt to recite a quote from The Aeneid. It sums up the position of the Irish perfectly, but the sad thing is that he can't actually remember it as well as he used to.
             Yolland is also a dreamer. He has th...