A Critical Analysis of the play Miss Julie by August

Strindberg.
In August Strindbergs naturalist play Miss Julie, the action
revolves entirely around an upper class womans affair with her fathers
servant. Written in 1890, the naturalist views of the author become apparent
through the narratives display of disparity between classes and genders and
futile attempts to overcome the limitations in each respective group the
characters are born in. In the preface of said work, August Strindberg states
that one must not feel sorry for the degenerate woman that the play is
about, making it clear that the focus of the work is that of the woman who it
is named for, and that she is not meant to be someone that is admired. The
portrayal of the titular character, Miss Julie, does not hinge solely on her
class. A large amount of it is centered on her gender and refusal to abide by
traditional roles expected of her because of it, imitating the beginning
feminist and womens rights movements that were occurring at the time that
the play was written. August Strindberg uses warped gender roles to create a
moral parable that demonstrates his views of what he considers to be a
degenerate woman.
The repression of women, as a whole, gave men the power to
control the female gender by creating general outlines of what their
interpretation of the role of femininity encompassed. In doing so, the female
was systematically stripped of her individuality and forced into a cookiecutter mold of what was considered to be socially acceptable for herself and
her gender. Psychologically, this creates a situation where men, to some
degree, become beholden to certain gender roles in order to be considered
socially acceptable, as well. It is a natural occurrence for one to be successful
according to the tenets of the society they inhabit. However, for women, this
resulted in subordination, subjugation and objectification and consequently,
wreaked terrible havoc on her psyche. In Victorian society, such mental and
spiritual malaise within the female gender was clearly evident. There were
some feminist writers of the time, male and female, that shed light on this
type of psychosis by highlighting the inequities between the genders and the
devastating effects these inequities had on women. One such author
was August Strindberg and his play Miss Julie.
Queen Victoria, the image of purity and moral fortitude, set the
social standards for the age that was named for her. But, also true to the
time, everyone could not be as the Queen was. Nineteenth century

(Victorian) society was a time of social and moral extremes. According to the
literature of the time that dealt with these social issues, people seemed to
operate within an air of hypocrisy, projecting a clean face and hiding a dirty
behind, so to speak. Strindbergs protagonist, Miss Julie, represents this
duality of human nature. On the surface, she appears to be a fine Victorian
specimen and expects to be considered as such. But, she inadvertently
displays a dark side in her character. This dark side exists as a result of her
tumultuous upbringing by a sadomasochistic, man-hating mother and absent
father. In the play, the overriding gender theme appears to be that women
are evil, weak and dependent. Consequently, this contributes to the
sadomasochistic psychosis of Miss Julie, which according to the author, are
brought on by repressed sexual desires. Miss Julie appears to be in a
constant battle with herself to reconcile her fiery nature with the demands of
the social mores of the times. Naturally, she wants to be successful as a
proper Victorian woman, but she also needs some real help and guidance.
She, sadly, has nowhere to turn and no constructive way to direct her intense
energies because she lacked that example in her mother, who herself, was
out of control.
Miss Julie experienced in the play was not only a result of her
upbringing, but was the result of the systematic oppression of the female
gender. Throughout human history, women have been subjected to
everything from social subtlety to holy religious conquest and murder by the
male hierarchy to bring about the total subjugation of women for the sake of
male domination and control. The fact that the primary tool of oppression
was the violence conducted by men towards women and towards the Divine
feminine worshippers caused women not to only be physically and socially
oppressed, but most importantly, spiritually subjugated.
Again in the play, Miss Julie, the protagonist, displays a deep
mental and spiritual disturbance in her character. One can also surmise that
she inherited this spiritual malady from her primary example of
womanhoodher mother. In such a society as the Victorian one, female
oppression, objectification and social subjugation may have made female
hatred of men a typical occurrence. Psychology of oppression refers, first
and foremost, to the fact that oppressed psychology is the subjective
processes that sustain oppression within the victims of oppression.
Oppressed psychology is oppressive, oppressing psychology. It is not the
passive result of oppression, but an active reproducing of oppression by
consciousness/subjectivity/agency (Ratner, 2011). Victims of oppression are
unwittingly complicit in their own oppression. Psychology of oppression

consists of motivation, agency, perception, emotions, ambitions, ideals,

reasoning, memory, aesthetics, and morals that accept the oppressive social
system, desire it, identify with it, take it for granted as normal and even as
ideal, take pleasure in it, defend it, and reject alternatives to it. This is only
possible because consciousness/psychology has been mystified and
manipulated to not perceive, understand, or resist the oppressive society
and the oppressive social basis, characteristics, and function of psychological
phenomena. (Ratner 1) Throughout history, oppressed peoples who are
shoved into controllable molds are first subjugated. This strips the oppressed
people, as well as the individual, of their uniqueness and importance in the
world and in society. These oppressed peoples are eventually forced to
abandon themselves and their own individuality for the sake of survival and
the continued ability toward self-expression. This, in turn, creates a deep
feeling of self-abandonment and self-loathing. This person has to lead a sort
of schizophrenic existence in order to remain true to themselves, in some
way, inwardly, while outwardly projecting what is considered to be
acceptable by the terms of the society in which they reside. Women are no
different.
To me, Miss Julie is a product of her upbringing. Technically, she is
not at fault for her conditionthis is all she knows. But, she lives in a society
where men patronize and undermine women. So, she doesnt receive the
approval of men and she doesnt receive the approval of other women who
have been socialized according to male-dictated, Victorian standards. She
gets the shaft not only in terms of gender, but also class, as well. I feel sorry
for Miss Julie! She is all alone pining for acceptance in a society built on
schizophrenic extremes. This only adds to her psychosis and deepens her
sense of despair in the end. Ultimately, she is forced to rely on the
instruction and direction of the ones who despise and mishandle her because
she is female, upper-class and privileged. The fact that she is mentally
unstable only adds gasoline to the flames that engulf her when she dies at
her own hand.
Besides the catalyst of Miss Julies sense of hopelessness arises in
the cooks character. Kristine, the cook, was portrayed as the devout
Christian in the play. But, she too, drops the ball when it comes to fair
dealings with Miss Julie and by no fault of her own. Kristine is just as much a
product of the masochistic mindset of the Victorian-age woman as Miss Julie
is. Instead of standing up to her fiance, Jean, for being unfaithful to her with
Miss Julie, she cooperatively tolerates his behavior. However, due to social
edict, she is in no position to say much because of her class and gender. She

is a servant and a female. She is subservient to Jean, because he is a male

and to Miss Julie because she is a household servant. However, near the end,
when she is met with the proposition of running off to Europe with Jean and
Miss Julie, who has now become his lover. Jean quips at her for being less
than pious for her unscrupulous dealings with the butcher despite her
religious veneer. Truly, no one is perfect, but Miss Julie gets what I consider
to be a horrible backlash instead of Jean who came up with the whole sordid
idea of a travelling threesome to begin with. Kristine basically informs Miss
Julie there is no means of redemption for herself by implying that her familys
wealth, combined with her wickedness, is her albatross. Well, you see, we
cant have it (faith) without Gods special grace, and that isnt given to
everyone/Thats the secret of the workings of grace, Miss Julie, and God is no
respecter of persons, for the last shall be the first/and it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom
of God. That is how it is, Miss Julie! Now, whether Kristine was mis-taught by
the male-dominated church or simply stuck it to Miss Julie to make herself
appear better is left to question. Either way, class and oppression
appeared to be the source of her quip. Miss Julie, who is desperately looking
for a way to socially redeem herself, is cast into spiritual outer darkness as
a result of this comment. Kristine had the opportunity to lead a lost soul to
redemption, but chose to squash out a flickering light in Miss Julie in order to
redeem herself. Psychosis begets psychosis and the wages of sin most
certainly result in death. Miss Julie was forced to seek redemption from her
own demise because in her world, there appeared to be no other means of
redemption socially or personally. The rules were too rigid; the pathology was
deeply and systematically inbred at every level of society.
At last it can be said that although the play is completely
psychotic, it provides a birds eye view of trying to walk the straight and
narrow path when the sidewalk is uneven. But, also, there is to each his or
her own. In Victorian society, a womans role, unfortunately, determined her
path in life. For a woman to set out on her own, to express her deepest
desires and be candid with her thoughts was considered socially sacrilegious.
Such women didnt garner the respect of the so-called moral and decent lot
of society. Although Strindberg, himself, was rumored to be a misogynist, he
wrote from a perspective that exposed hypocrisy within society. Through Miss
Julie, he displays and accurate portrayal of women as the walking
wounded. Unlike Strindberg, I see the repression of sexual desires as a
smaller issue in the bigger scheme of things. Women were totally oppressed
with no way of achieving a sense of self and individual self-expression. To

me, this causes a psychosisa spiritual malady. So women become the very
thing they are seen to beevil and dependent. Women are punished for
being what they are forced to become. That is absolutely abominable!
To sum up the analysis of Miss Julie culminate in the warped
gender roles that Miss Julieis made to embody. The play serves as a parable,
showcasing August Strindbergs views on women that arose during a time in
which feminist and womens rights movements became more visible.
Through his characterization, diction, dialogue, conflict, and symbolism, his
views and themes are heavily integrated into the work. The warped gender
roles portrayed in Strindbergs Miss Julie create a parable for what he
perceived to be the negative and harmful qualities found within his times
degenerate women.