CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS LOOK FOR SUBSTANTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN A WRITER'S LITERARY WORK AND THE EXTERNALS OF HIS LIFE, A PRACTICE THAT ENGLISH SCHOLARS ESCHEW. HOWEVER, A USEFUL KIND OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY MAY BE FOUND IN THE WORKINGS OF SHAKESPEARE'S IMAGINATION THROUGHOUT MOST OF HIS PLAYS. SHAKESPEARE, IN HAMLET'S WORDS, CAN BE CONCEIVED AS "A KING OF INFINITE SPACE, WERE IT NOT...(FOR) BAD DREAMS." RECURRENT BAD DREAMS REFLECTED IN HIS PLAYS ARE (1) A MALE BIAS, IN WHICH WOMEN ARE OUTNUMBERED AND OUTTALKED AND IN WHICH MEN ARE DEEPLY DISTURBED, LARGELY THROUGH THEIR OWN COMPOUNDING, (2) A PATTERN OF SEXUAL BETRAYAL, ILLUMINATING THE EVIL THAT BEFALLS THOSE GUILTY OF SELF-DECEPTION, (3) A MOTIF OF INFIDELITY, IN WHICH LOVE RARELY COMES INTO ITS OWN, AND (4) THE SPECTRE OF A WORLD"FULL OF SOUND AND FURY," LACKING A DIVINE HIERARCHY OF POWER. IN ADDITION, SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS INTIMATE SPECIFIC EVENTS IN HIS LIFE. FOR EXAMPLE, HE COMPOSED "HAMLET" AND "CORIOLANUS," TWO MOURNING PIECES WHICH EXPLORE FILIAL DUTY, AT THE TIMES OF HIS FATHER'S AND MOTHER'S DEATHS RESPECTIVELY. (THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN "PSYCHOLOGY TODAY," VOL. 1 (APRIL 1968), 39-41, 66-68.) (JB)