Miss Julie Character Analysis
Our attitude towards what is normal in terms of gender as well as social class has changed dramatically from the Victorian Era into the Modern Era. During the Victorian Era, women had clearly defined roles as housewives, mothers, caretakers, and mediators, however, this all began to change during the modern era as the ideology and morals shifted over time and women began to take on a more flexible and dynamic role. Through the presentation of Julie and Jean's nontraditional characters in the play Miss Julie, August Strindberg explores the themes of class and gender dynamic during the late Victorian era to be one that is shifting. The 1889 play took place in an elaborately decorated estate that is home to a Count and his daughter, Miss Julie. Miss Julie's engagement recently ended and she finds herself in the estate kitchen one evening and has an affair with one of the servants, Jean, who is engaged to another servant, Christine. Julie and Jean end up dancing together before they disappear to Jean's bedroom, and then making plans to run away and begin a hotel business together. They discuss the harsh realities from their childhood and reveal secrets to each other over the course of their night together. Jean talks about growing up poor and how he would admire Miss Julie when she was little. Miss Julie discusses the trouble between her mother and father that brought along her hatred of men. After the two bond, Christine wakes up and Jean tells her what happened between him
Analysis Of Miss Julie By Stanislavski
Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) is considered as the father of realism. His system of acting uses a balance between an actor's personal experience and an attempt to imagine being in their character's situation. Stanislavski believed by preparing correctly with characterization, you can harness your subconscious and create a truthful performance, "Because the very best that can happen is to have the actor completely carried away by the play. Then regardless of his own will, he lives the part, not noticing how he feels, not thinking about what he does, and it all moves of its own accord, subconsciously and intuitively." However, one cannot create subconsciously without inspiration, and inspiration cannot be forced, so Stanislavski...show more content...
Those feelings, drawn from our actual experience, and transferred to our part, are what give life to the play". Also, by using emotional memory for the characterization, the actor will be able to understand what 'Miss Julie' is going through and the emotions she is required to display. However, Emotional memory recall proved to be too exhausting for actors and produced negative results like tension and hysteria. Stanislavski also realized that unconscious feelings needed to be coaxed, 'lured' and 'enticed' gently, rather than forced out.
"In ordinary life, truth is what really exists, what a person really knows. Whereas on the stage it consists of something that is not actually in existence but which could happen". This line is especially important in realism, where the aim of the actor is to create the appearance of reality or 'truth' on stage. "An actor does not actually believe in the truth of the events on stage, only in the imaginative creation of them", this then posed the question of creating the appearance of reality for the spectator. Stanislavski answered this question by creating the magic 'if', and thus, the character's objectives drove the actor's physical action choices. The actor had to answer the question, "if I were in Miss Julie's position, what would I do?" and this was a question that should be constantly asked during rehearsal processes for characterization. By doing
Summary Of ' Miss Julie '
Miss Julie... The old lady sat there peering at me with her pale blue eyes, till I began to feel uneasy. Her hair was matted and frizzy, appearing as if it hadn 't been brushed in years. "What 'd you say your name was?" she asked, then reached down, picked up the butt of a cigar lighting it, puffing to get it lit. I had not even spoken a word to her; but I was not going to be rude, so I told her my name. "My names Miss Julie," she said thoughtfully... "I had a sister named Susan, she was a pretty lady like you." she mused. I smiled and said thank you, Miss Julie. Then turned back to my sister, with whom I was trying to engage in conversation, to get her out of her own fantasy world. When the old lady spoke up again, saying that she wished she still had a sister to visit with her, as I was doing with mine. "Your sister, she 's a real sweet lady," she said. "Yes ma 'am, she is," I agreed, turning again back to my sister. Miss Julie though, lonely for conversation again spoke up and this time my sister joined in, if only for a moment or two, till she again drifted back into her own fantasy world. Miss Julie, looked sadly at me as she said. "You know, sometimes all that medicine, just don 't help, you know..." I agreed, that no it didn 't. We sat and talked off and on, for the remainder of my visit with my sister, and as I was getting ready to leave, she said. "It was nice talking to you, Susan." I smiled and said, "It was nice talking to you too, Miss Julie"
Theme Of Class In Miss Julie
Trapped Between Class and Freedom
Class is an important theme in the story Miss Julie. This includes one of the many ism's, classism. While there are others such as sexism, classism stood out to me more because it is one we have not talked about before. Freedom is also a reoccurring theme that I took away. Freedom to be and display something that you do not believe you truly are. Miss Julie wants to go against these, but can she rid her already known morals that were taught to her to try and live a life she does not know?
Miss Julie is obviously upper class, born into it, lived it her whole life, it is all she knows throughout most of her being. Her father being a Count, she is treated differently than the servants on her counterpart. The classes are so separated that intermingling within them is unheard of, and frankly, forbidden. Miss Julie feels trapped and wants out of her social class. It seems that she has a perfect life, I mean she is filthy rich, right? Despite this, she feels as if she has not lived life to the fullest being confined to this one social class. It could be that she feels bad essentially for the lower class, but I believe it is because she wants to experience life not so privileged.
I also believe that her ending things in her engagement is her first step to making herself feel free. She frees herself for the opportunity of opening new doors. The servant Jean, is considered below her because he is a descant, but technically also considered above her
Miss Julie Essay
Miss Julie
In Miss Julie, by August Strindberg wrote about the naturalistic view of human behavior. He symbolizes the behavior through animal imagery. The animal image Strindberg uses helps him exemplify his naturalistic view. The first animal imagery Strindberg uses is the dog. Jean uses the dog imagery to describe to Kristen how Miss Julie made her ex–fiancé act before the break–up. " Why, she was making him jump over her riding whip the way you teach a dog to jump." A dog is mans best friend only because a dog is an extremely loyal animal. Having Jean compare what Miss Julies did to her ex–fiancé with what some one would do to a dog shows Miss Julies drive to be the dominant one or the master. Strindberg again uses the imagery of a...show more content...
Jean comparing himself to a mad dog also shows how Miss Julie feels that Jean is a sick animal and deserves to die. Like the imagery of the dog Strindberg uses the imagery of a horse. Jean says that, "A dog may lie on the Countess's sofa, a horse be stroked on the nose by a young lady, but a servant." In that quote Jean suggests that a servant is unable to socialize with the upper class, while dogs and horses are. Jean also compares himself to a horse when his master rigs his bell. " I've only to hear his bell upstairs and I start like a shying horse." The simile of comparing Jean to a shying horse also has an ironic overtone, because a horse is a very powerful animal and why should a powerful animal shy to a weaker animal. That shows a good comparison to Jean physical stature and his outlook on the social structure of society that is around him. A horse also symbolizes work and that is Jean main plot in life. The last animal imagery used in the play is that of a hawk. Jean explains Miss Julie what the world looks like from the lower class. "Do you know how the world looks from below? You don't. Like hawks and falcons, whose backs one rarely sees because they usually hover above use." The symbolism of the hawk and only see the under side is actually showing that since Miss Julie is part of the upper class she is able to see the Hawks back. While Jean is part of the
Analysis Of Chekhov 's ' Miss Julie '
Naturalism in theatre displayed the concept of creating 'real life' on stage. Notable practitioners such as Emile Zola, Anton Chekhov, and August Strindberg, illustrate in their plays this illusion of reality on stage. Director and practitioner, Konstantin Stanislavski, created a method where actors achieved naturalistic performances. Moreover, the key features seen in Naturalism theatre is the determinism of the environment, the actors portrayal of the characters and the concept of happiness. Both of this concepts can be seen in Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters and August Strindberg's Miss Julie.
Determinism in the environment is the idea that the characters are victims of their own circumstance. In Miss Julie, Julie is infatuated with Jean, this is displayed by her actions. To illustrate, Julie tells him to go dance with her, and later she asks him to take her to the lake. Ultimately, Jean takes advantage of Julie's naivety and tells her to go away with him to open a hotel. However, Jean soon realizes that Julie does not have any fortune, which causes Jean to not go anywhere with Julie. "Julie: 'I can't do that, I own nothing myself... Jean: 'Things stay as they are'" (Strindberg 58). Miss Julie feeling ashamed and not wanting to ruin her father's reputation chooses to commit suicide. Strindberg creates a cycle of who has the power between Julie and Jean. Julie is first seen commanding Jean and at the end of the play, Jean commanding Julie. "Julie: ...Bark me an order and
Miss Julie Essay
Findings on the play:
Miss Julie is a play written by Johan August Strindberg in 1888. Strindberg was a Swedish playwright born in 1849 in Stockholm, Sweden. The play has three characters, Miss Julie, a 25 year old who is the daughter of a count, Jean, a 30 year old valet, and Kristin, a 35 year old cook. The play takes place in the count's manor house in Sweden, on a midsummer eve in the 1880's. Strindberg describes the kitchen excessively so the reader could imagine the scene and everything that is going on. The play opens with Jean walking into the kitchen, he talks to Kristin about Miss Julie's odd behavior. He says that she was crazy since she went to dance in the barn and tried to waltz with him. Jean and Kristin continue to talk when Miss Julie comes into the kitchen and tells Jean to dance with her at...show more content...
When they calm down, Julie tells him about her past and how her mother was cheating on her father but he doesn't seem to care, she tells him that she can't stay at the Count's house after what she's done so she begs him to tell her what to do. Scared of the consequences of the Count, Jean tells her to go so she leaves to prepare for her departure. When Miss Julie leaves Kristin enters the room and finds out what has happened between the other two. They hear footsteps upstairs and it is the Count. Julie appears with a small bird cage and tells Jean that she's got money and begs him to join her so he agrees, but he says that she must leave the canary behind and tells her he'll kill it. Jean beheads the bird on a chopping block and so Miss Julie freaks out and wants him to kill her too. She approaches to the chopping block and says how she would like to see Jean's head on a chopping block. She starts to get angry and says that she'll wait for her father so she could confess everything to him. Later on, the bell rings twice which means it is the count. Miss Julie gets scared and begs Jean to help her by telling him she'll obey him as a
Critical Analysis Of Miss Julie
August Strindberg constructed his play, Miss Julie, as a theatrical, allegorical representation of the processes of the natural world. He dissects the soul with, what Strindberg considers, scientific precision in order to illustrate how our souls operate within our biological contexts. The contexts of the soul that biology contributes to being things like sex, heredity, environment and adaptability. Strindberg takes a scientific, Darwinian standpoint in the way his drama operates, and determines that his characters exist on opposite ends of the theory of evolution and survival of the fittest. Julie's humanity to modern audiences is a testament to the downfall of misogynistic readings of the scientific and philosophical doctrine of the time. Most notably, the theories of Charles Darwin and Friedrich Nietzche. These men, themselves, founded and popularized the schools of thought that would eventually be wielded by the very marginalized groups that they persistently condemned: Women. Their contradictory attitudes toward the rights of women is a key piece of evidence pointing toward this condemnation not being a result of any sound logic pointing toward the disenfranchisement of women as having any real advantages, biologically, economically, or philosophically, in modern society. Rather, these views are a result of the socially charged destructive masculinity promoted in western culture at the time. These men needed feminism, as they too were trapped by the confines of their
Oppression In Miss Julie, By August Strindberg
Oppression. Criticism. Subjection. Life during the nineteenth century contained harsh gender roles and ironhanded social hierarchies. Men and women were polar opposites of each other and numerous double standards existed. Each social class kept to themselves and fraternizing between the upper class and lower class resulted in social pariahs. However, towards the end of the nineteenth century high–class women began to demand equal treatment. To lower class men, this demand proved offensive and received heavy opposition. These lower class men, such as August Strindberg , despised women who sought power and termed them "degenerate" women. In Strindberg's play, Miss Julie, he illustrates the danger of attempting to defy gender and social roles...show more content...
The column she climbs symbolizes culture and how her birth predetermined her social stature. Julie knows that due to the height of this column, if she falls she can never regain her place in the upper class. Nonetheless, she still wishes to fall from her high social position despite the dire consequences that will ensue. Strindberg includes Julie's dream because it is crucial to understanding her own demise and foreshadows her fate in the play. He employs this symbol in order to demonstrate that Julie's resistance to social order ultimately causes her own death. Additionally, throughout the play Jean and Julie both fear the bell that hangs in the kitchen. Whenever the count returns from a trip he rings the bell, reinforcing the strict social order. To Jean and Julie the bell represents the oppression of the classes and the strict role they both must play in society. At the end of the play after Julie had sex with Jean, Julie frantically tries to decide if she should run away or stay. The guilt and shame of her actions consume her and the societal implications of her actions prove too much for her to handle. After much debate between Julie and Jean about her predicament, Jean yells, "To be scared of a bell! Yes, but it isn't only the bell – there is somebody behind it... Two quick rings from the bell...It's horrid! But there's no other end to it! – Go [Miss Julie]!" (36). Ultimately, the count and the significance of his presence were too hard for Julie to endure, so she commits suicide. The bell serves as a reminder for Julie, its symbolism and magnitude emphasize Julie's betrayal and her fall. Even though Julie desired to join the lower class, the implications of her actions grew too great to cope with. Strindberg uses the bell as a cautionary symbol to demonstrate that we cannot escape from society. The bell is ever present throughout the story symbolizing that
Analysis Of The Movie ' Miss Julie '
Creating Reality in Theater Theater was about attracting the middle class crowd to see their play but also to please the audience. For many years in theater, much of it presented false or unrealistic concepts. Many authors of playwrights were accustomed to the idea of displaying productions that were not likely happen in real life. Around the late 19th century, there was a push for creating more of an authentic and truthful piece of work. Realism was a movement that highlighted the "representation of familiar things in a way that is accurate or true to life" (Google). "Reality is the state of things as they actually exist and is the perception of things as they actual exists" (Google). In Miss Julie written by August Strindberg, this play displayed his attempt at representing realism. Creating reality in theater requires implanting realistic points such as characters, actions, and dialogue that is accurate to real life. Foremost, characters are a main part of a play. Establishing characters with relatable backgrounds to people and depth makes the work more believable to the viewer or reader. Miss Julie, who is twenty–five years of age and the main character, she reveals a lot of information about her past. "I learnt from her to mistrust and hate men, for, so far as I could hear, she always hated men and I swore to her that I would never be a man 's slave"( Strindberg 30). The quote gives the reader background information about her mother's past. Her mother spent her
Essay about Animal Imagery in "Miss Julie"
August Strindberg was one of the first naturalist playwrights. Darwinism influenced the naturalists to perceive a person's fate as the product of blind external or biological forces, chiefly hereditary and environmental. By replicating observed details of environment, the artist would allow the audience a deeper understanding of the forces acting on characters. Miss Julie demonstrates the naturalistic idea that human beings are strictly products of the forces surrounding them – that "free will" and "choice" are illusions. In August Strindberg's play, Miss Julie, Strindberg's naturalistic view of human behavior is exemplified through the use of animal imagery.
The first and most utilized animal image Strindberg employs is the dog....show more content...
"Oh just some filthy muck Miss Julie wants for Diana." Kristin demonstrates Miss Julie's disgust when she says "She who nearly had that bitch of hers shot for running after the gatekeeper's mutt." The sexual tryst between the dogs also represents the sexual affair between Jean and Miss Julie, and how they mutually desire one another, while at the same time look down upon one another. Jean looks down on Miss Julie for being surprisingly easy to obtain, while Miss Julie looks down on Jean for being a servant of hers and of a lower social class.
In the play, Miss Julie says that she would like to have Jean "put down like an animal." Miss Julie feels that Jean is a sick animal and deserves to die. Like the imagery of the dog, Strindberg also uses the imagery of a horse. Jean says that, "A dog may lie on the Countess's sofa, a horse may have its nose stroked by a young lady's hand, but a common drudge!" In that quote Jean suggests that a servant is unable to socialize with the upper class, while dogs and horses are. Jean also compares himself to a horse when his master rings his bell. " I only have to hear that bell up there and I start like a frightened horse." The simile of comparing Jean to a frightened horse also has an ironic overtone, because a horse is a very powerful animal, and why would a powerful animal cower down to a weaker human animal, unless under
From its first publication and performance, August Strindberg's play "Miss Julie" has been the source of critical controversy and debate. Written in the span of little more than one month in the summer of 1888, the play was banned or censored throughout Europe in the late Nineteenth Century. Because it dealt with situations and attitudes deemed morally or socially offensive (the daughter of an aristocrat seduces her father's valet, and he, in turn, coerces her to commit suicide) the initial negative reaction to the play was rooted in generalized, fanatical, self righteous outrage and did not seek to deal with or engage the text in any specific manner. Instead, "Miss Julie" was a convenient target, symptomatic of all that was...show more content...
As critic and creator, Strindberg has effectively dictated the direction of discourse surrounding his play. To determine Strindberg's impact on the continuous generation of this controversy, we must examine and assess his preface in conjunction with the primary interpretive concerns of several critics of "Miss Julie" both early and modern.
Though Strindberg's dramatic method is characterized by a compulsion to experiment, the innovations he sought to develop were designed with a specific moral and social agenda in mind. In this manner, the "Preface to Miss Julie" represents an ideological and artistic manifesto.
Strindberg envisions the "dramatist as lay preacher hawking contemporary ideas in a popular form", while simultaneously insisting that "I have not tried to do anything new– for that one can never do– but merely to modernize the form so as to meet the demands which I supposed that the new man and woman of today would make of this art"(Strindberg 91–2). He is painfully aware of what he calls "our declining capacity for illusion" and wants to prevent the theatre from "being discarded as a dying form which we lack the necessary conditions to enjoy" (Strindberg 99,92). "Miss Julie" is thus orchestrated to aid in or anticipate the arrival of a "hyper–sensitive spectator" (Strindberg 92). Strindberg is fundamentally concerned with the ethical/intellectual response his work evokes in an audience. He yearns for
Miss Julie Essay
Miss Julie is a naturalistic tragedy, in which Strindberg examines the rigid class structures of 19th century Sweden. His manipulation of the setting and staging to establish the social strata within his play allows both the criticism and reinforcement of the play's social hierarchy, as well as that of Sweden. This manipulation is further utilised to exhibit the role of the characters, predominantly Miss Julie and Jean, the disparate protagonists, within these strata. Strindberg establishes a single setting, which acts as a platform for sexual and social conflicts. His use of spatial determinism suggests that class divisions are permanent social constructs, which can only be temporarily subverted. The incorporation of epitomic components within the single setting – the kitchen and the garden – highlights the profound disparity between the aristocracy and the proletariat. The psychological and physical distance at which the lower class is alienated from the upper class is also portrayed through contrasting settings. Thus, Strindberg's ingenious adaption of mise–en–scène in conjunction with the application of a multitude of literary techniques essentially allows the comprehensive exploration of the rigidity of class structures. Strindberg's utilisation of spatial determinism essentially conveys the inflexible nature of 19th century class structures and emphasises Miss Julie's powerlessness to subvert her social stereotype permanently. Julie's physical inability to escape the
Miss Julie Character Analysis
Both set in the late nineteenth century, Miss Julie by August Strindberg and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen both support Strindberg's definition of a "man–hating half–woman." The characters of Miss Julie and Hedda Gabler both are women who do not follow the the social conventions a woman ought to follow causing them to be an "[un]sound species." Miss Julie is an aristocrat who wishes to be on the level of her servants, while Hedda chooses to become part of a lower class by marrying the poorer George. Both of them express resentment toward their current class and the men that hold them there. Although both of the titular female protagonists are the stereotypical "man–hating half–women" who meet their downfalls, Miss Julie reaches hers due to her own weakness and the influence of Jean, unlike Hedda Gabler, who meets hers out of spite and resolution to not give into the control of Judge Brack.
Both Miss Julie and Hedda Gabler have a powerful social status, but express a need for equality towards males due to their hateful sentiment toward those who control them. The two women form this need based on their previous experiences. As a child, Miss Julie's mother was a radical feminist for the day and raised Julie to want equity towards her male counterparts. Julie tells Jean, "I was to be an example of a woman being as good as a man [...] Through her, I learned to distrust and hate men, and I swore to her to never be a man's slave" (Strindberg 19–20). Miss Julie's mother had
Naturalism in Miss Julie Essay
Naturalism in Miss Julie
Writers involved in the naturalist movement believed that actors' lines should be spoken naturally, and that mechanical movements, vocal effects, and irrational gestures should be banished. A return to reality was proposed, with the old theatrical attitudes replaced with effects produced solely by the voice. There was a call to individualise characters, instead of generalising them, to produce characters whose minds and bodies would function as they would in real life. Strindberg's 'Miss Julie' has been said to be an excellent example of this movement, as it involves stress on multiple motivation of action; a departure from the stereotypical depictions of character; and random, illogical...show more content...
There is also the bluntly overt exchange of lines such as, 'Beast!' 'Menial! Lackey!' 'Menial's whore, lackey's harlot!' It has been proposed that this retreat to the characteristics of old theatricality is perhaps only redeemed in the last minutes, when the stage action becomes solemnly symbolic. The end of the relationship is represented by the decapitation of Julie's songbird; the sudden ring of the Count's bell introduces a character that has been silent throughout, present only in spirit. Jean places a razor in Julie's hand, and she walks out to her death in silence, as if in a hypnotic trance. Her death is not as melodramatic or theatrical as her previous behaviour, so this goes some way to compensate for earlier lapses.
Strindberg expressed an aversion to dividing his play into acts, as he believed that, "the declining capacity for illusion is possibly affected by intervals, which give spectators the time to reflect and thereby withdraw from the suggestive influence of the author hypnotist." His theory centres on the assumption that by eliminating intervals, which act as breaks from the action, continuity would improve, thereby increasing the intense nature of the plays action and creating a claustrophobic environment. In order not to break the illusion, he also wanted to be rid of any musicians that the audience could see, and would not
The play Miss Julie was written by August Strindberg in 1888 and is his most famous work. The play is a naturalistic play because it is realistic and really captures human behaviour and psychology and shows the motivations and dreams of the characters. What also makes the play a naturalistic play is that the conflicts in the play are life–altering and purposeful. August Strindberg, the playwright, full name was Johan August Strindberg and he was born born Jan. 22, 1849 in Stockholm, Sweden, and died on May 14th , 1912 in Stockholm. Strindberg did not finish university and in his early career he worked as a journalist and librarian before becoming a naturalistic playwright. Strindberg was born into a family of 10 his father worked as a shipping...show more content...
He then tells her a story about him when he was a boy and how he saw her walking once on a rose terrace, and then the next Sunday he went to church so that he could see Julie again after that he tries to commit suicide because he thought he would never get her. Julie, who is moved by the story, asks if Jean would go with her to the lake but he refuses warning her of the danger it could cause her reputation. The guests are then heard coming towards the kitchen who Jean says are singing filthy songs about them. Jean and Julie now go to Jean's room and it is suggested that they had sex. Jean then starts telling Julie that they should run away and start a hotel, but Julie begs that Jean says that he loves her, it is evident that at this point Julie is in love with Jean. However, Jeans true motives now begin to really show and tells Julie to pretend that nothing happened. Julie then points out that she has no money and Jean cancels the plans. Julie then starts acting hysterical and Jean does not comfort but instead insults her. Jean reopens the idea of running away together but Julie begins to take about her early
Gender Issues in August Strindberg's Miss Julie
August Strindberg was undoubtedly a contemporary writer, but where gender issues were concerned, he preferred to support the past. His work reflected the cultural and societal environment around him in 1887; this suggests themes throughout Miss Julie, such as gender inequality and women's' rights, were inflicted by his own struggle between classes and promiscuous relationships with women. It becomes apparent in the play that Miss Julie, a self–portrait of Strindberg, typifies Strindberg's creative energy and the close relationship between his writing and lifestyle. Miss Julie's downfall can be associated with many aspects of her life, ranging from the masculine influence in her life, to her degenerated brain, thus making her a damaged,...show more content...
Mind you, Strindberg believed women to be of secondary form, despite him preaching equality of the sexes in marriage in 'The Red Room'. Strindberg cleverly blurs the divisions of class and sex within 'Miss Julie', as in his patriarchal society, men had control of who is at the top, and who is at the bottom, hence the use of metaphors 'I'm on top of a high pillar'. Therefore, it is applicable that the battle of sexes and gender inequality are responsible for Miss Julie's inevitable fate. 'Because I'm a man, I'm young' conveys Jean's desire to the audience, while the sinister language is used to suggest that Jean is allowed to 'play with fire' empowering himself over Miss Julie. On top of this, Miss Julie is also presented as a dominant character, suggesting a sense of competition from the start 'She was training him'. On the other hand, this clarifies the battle of the sexes, as the struggle for supremacy appears in Miss Julie's failed effort to dominate her fiancé.
Certainly, it seems that the winner of the battle claims power as a prize, and thus Jean's feeble attempt to climb the social ladder represents the infamous battle. 'I listen when my betters are talking, listen and learn' suggests that Jean is channelling her position in authority, whilst his use of
Theme Of Miss Julie
Miss Julie has two subordinates, a daughter of the Count and a servant who are subject to each other's authority. Miss Julie and Jean differs in terms of class and in terms of morality. In terms of class, Miss Julie is superior compared Jean since Miss Julie is a daughter of the Count while Jean is only a servant of the count. But, it terms of Morality, we can say that Jean is superior compared to Miss Julie in that fact that Miss Julie had miserable experience in her love life. She was not able to achieve being a loving wife for her partner due to her inappropriate actions towards her partner. She beats her partner which forces her partner to leave her and resulted their separation.
The differences structure most of the play's action. In the play, the characters who are superior and inferior does not change in their positions. The superior characters remained in their position and the inferior characters also remained in their position. Both the superior character and the inferior character follows the rule of the character that has the highest position which is the Count who is the father of Miss Julie who is considered as a...show more content...
One way in which this play could be related to the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest is through the play's examination of class and how it looks at two characters who seem to be rather unhappy about where they are placed in the social ladder. The Darwinian concept of the survival of the fittest states that there will be some members of a species who, thanks to their genetic variations, will be more suited to prosper and survive better than others. Applying this to humans led to the theory of Social Darwinism, which allowed people to argue that those who prospered were just better adapted to suit their
Examples Of Animal Imagery In Miss Julie
Miss Julie is a drama of paradoxes and reversals. It is a play by August Strindberg which is set on midsummer's Eve. It is a play that touches on symbols through animal imagery. These references to animals as Miss Julie shows the idea that "human beings are the products of the forces surrounding them". Strindberg adopted animals to parallel characters and convey ideas dramatically which would be otherwise be kind of inappropriate with explicit representation of mortals. The animal imagery in this play demonstrates how society looks down upon the people they feel are inferior to them. I believe that August has given the audience a deeper understanding of the forces acting on the characters in Miss Julie through the use of animal imagery. I am discussing the...show more content...
This suddenly reveals the characters to both Julie and Jean himself. Strindberg decides to use animals to match characters and convey the meaning behind everyone's actions. He firstly uses "stable yard" to show a place Miss Julie and her ex–husband were at and thus brings about a horse in mind. Here we get to see Miss Julie putting his ex–husband in a horrible situation and treating him like a child. "Teach a dog to jump" [4] also shows how proud Miss Julie is and wants to show that class rules but Jean eventually shows that no matter what, whether rich or not men are superior to women when he takes control of the situation of Miss Julie and The bird. Even though Miss Julie wants to show that women too have a say in judgements, she is easily weakened by Jean "flirts" and cannot say any more. Strindberg uses Julie's dog, Diana' which seems to serve as an epitome of Julie's fate or fortune. The dog get into an ''affair" with a pug of the lower standing, the "gatekeeper's pug". Using these antitheses foreshadows Julie and Jean where an aristocrat "Julie" escapes her social levels and has an affair with a commoner,
Miss Julie and Swedish Culture
Miss Julie and Swedish Culture
The play Miss Julie by August Strindberg is set in Sweden in the late 1800's on the count's estate. The play unfolds on Midsummer's eve throughout the night of the annual celebration. Jean, a thirty–year–old valet, is attempting to enjoy an evening in the kitchen with his lover Christine who works alongside Jean on the manor as a cook. The couples evening is rudely interrupted by miss Julie, the count's bitter daughter, who requests Jean be her dance partner at the festivities. The two risk being caught together to continue talking through the night. However, throughout the night both Jean and Julie reveal who they really are which leads them to resent one another and eventually leads Julie to take her own life. Her suicide is the focus of the dramatic play but the theme of honor and respect pair together to guilt the young lady to her end. August Strindberg's play Miss Julie is an accurate depiction of late 1800's Swedish culture is every respect.
It is not a coincidence that the play Miss Julie hits the cultural bulls–eye. The writer Johan August Strindberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1849 and was a citizen of Sweden for a majority of his life. Many of the themes of the play such as socio–economic classes, religion, and gender roles doubled as themes of Strindberg's life. "In his autobiographical novel The Son of a Servant (1886), Strindberg underlines the class difference between his parents as one source of the conflict in his nature