Miss Julie

Themes

One theme of the play is Darwinism, a theory that was a significant influence on the author during his naturalistic period. This is stated explicitly in the preface, where Strindberg describes his two lead characters, Miss Julie and Jean, as vying against each other in an evolutionary “life and death” battle for a survival of the fittest. The character, Miss Julie, represents the last of an old aristocratic breed about to die out as well as a characterization of women in modernity, whereas Jean represents one who is clambering upwards, and who is more fit to thrive because he is better able to adapt in terms of the “life roles” he can take on. The play contains a variety of themes, partly because Miss Julie’s actions are motivated by a range of factors and influences: Her class, her desires and impulsive nature, her father, and the dynamic traumas of her family histories. She is given a number of motivations because the author, in wanting to be naturalistic, realizes that in life people can be motivated in a number of ways, and also because the author is taking a stand against the dominant theatrical idea that says that characters should be written with only one primary motivation.

The author’s preface

The play is preceded by a remarkable author’s preface, which concerns itself with Strindberg’s ideas of naturalism and how they apply to his play, Miss Julie. With the preface Strindberg talks about ideas of the aristocracy and classism arguably even more so than the play itself. In the preface he describes both Jean and Julie as stereotypical representation of their class and society. Miss Julie is especially condemned by Strindberg "as a modern character which does not mean that the man-hating half-woman has not existed in every age... woman, this stunted form of human being who stands between man, the lord of creation, the creator of culture, [and the child], is meant to be the equal of man or could ever be, she involves herself in an absurd struggle in which she falls." Strindberg, with his description of Miss Julie is his preface sets her up as a character representing women in the age of modernity, stating in the preface their downfall through the medium of his naturalistic tragedies.

Naturalism

Strindberg wrote this play with the intention of abiding by the theories of “naturalism” — both his own version, and also the version described by the French novelist and literary theoretician, Émile Zola. Zola’s term for naturalism is la nouvelle formule. The three primary principles of naturalism (faire vrai, faire grand and faire simple) are first, that the play should be realistic, and the result of a careful study of human behavior and psychology. The characters should be flesh and blood; their motivations and actions should be grounded in their heredity and environment. The presentation of the play in terms of the setting and performances should be realistic and not flamboyant or theatrical. The single setting of Miss Julie, for example, is a kitchen.

Second, the conflicts in the play should be issues of meaningful, life-altering significance — not small or petty.

And third, the play should be simple — not cluttered with complicated sub-plots or lengthy expositions.

Strindberg was keenly aware that the French playwrights had been unable to achieve naturalism, and he felt that he could do it. Miss Julie is not only successful as a naturalistic drama, but it is a play that has achieved the rare distinction of being performed on stages all over the world every year since it was written in 1888.

Origins of the play

The play was written as Strindberg was creating a new theatre of his own: The Scandinavian Naturalistic Theatre, which would be founded in Copenhagen. Miss Julie would be the premier offering. Strindberg’s wife, Siri von Essen, would star in the title role, and she would also be the artistic director. After Strindberg agreed to a small amount of censorship, the play was published a few weeks before the first production. (The first English translations also contain these censored excisions. For example, the first audiences were spared the shock of hearing Miss Julie, in an angry moment, compare making love to Jean to an act of bestiality.) With disastrous timing for the new theatre, the censors announced during the dress rehearsal, that Miss Julie would be forbidden. However, Strindberg managed to get around the censors by having Miss Julie premiered a few days later at the Copenhagen University Student Union.

Characters

Miss Julie: Strong-willed daughter of the Count who owns the estate. Raised by her late mother to "think like and act like a man", she is a confused individual. She is aware of the power she holds but switches between being above the servants and flirting with Jean. She longs to fall from her pillar, an expression symbolically put across as a recurring dream she has.

Jean: Manservant to the Count. He tells a story of seeing Miss Julie many times as a child and loving her even then, but the truth of the story is later denied. There is good evidence both for and against its veracity. He left the town and traveled widely, working many different jobs as he went, before finally returning to work for the count. He has aspirations to rise from his station in life and manage his own hotel, and Miss Julie is part of his plan. He is alternately kind and callous. Despite his aspirations, he is rendered servile by the mere sight of the count's gloves and boots.

Christine (or Kristine): The cook in the Count's household. She is devoutly religious and apparently betrothed to Jean, although they refer to this marriage almost jokingly.

The Count: Miss Julie's father. He is never seen, but his gloves and his boots are on stage, serving as a reminder of his power. When the bell sounds, his presence is also noted more strongly.

Plot

The play opens with Jean walking onto the stage, the set being the kitchen of the manor. He drops the Count's boots off to the side but still within view of the audience; his clothing shows that he is a valet. The playwright describes the set in detail in naturalistic style. Jean talks to Christine about Miss Julie's peculiar behavior. He considers her mad since she went to the barn dance, danced with the gamekeeper, and tried to waltz with Jean, a mere servant of the Count. Christine delves into the background of Miss Julie, stating how, unable to face her family after the humiliation of breaking her engagement, she stayed behind to mingle with the servants at the dance instead of going with her father to the Midsummer's Eve celebrations. Miss Julie got rid of her fiancé seemingly because he refused her demand that he jump over a riding whip she was holding. The incident, apparently witnessed by Jean, was similar to training a dog to jump through a hoop.

Jean takes out a bottle of fine wine, a wine with a "yellow seal," and reveals, by the way he flirts with her, that he and Christine are engaged. Noticing a stench, Jean asks what Christine is cooking so late on Midsummer's Eve. The pungent mixture turns out to be an abortifacient for Miss Julie's dog, which was impregnated by the gatekeeper's mongrel. Jean calls Miss Julie "too stuck-up in some ways and not proud enough in others," traits apparently inherited from her mother. Despite her character flaws, Jean finds Miss Julie beautiful or perhaps simply a stepping stone to achieve his lifelong goal of owning an inn. When Miss Julie enters and asks Christine if the "meal" has finished cooking, Jean instantly shapes up, becoming charming and polite. Jokingly, he asks if the women are gossiping about secrets or making a witch's broth for seeing Miss Julie's future suitor. After more niceties, Miss Julie invites Jean once more to dance the waltz, at which point he hesitates, pointing out that he already promised Christine a dance and that the gossip generated by such an act would be savage. Almost offended by this response, she justifies her request by pulling rank: she is the lady of the house and must have the best dancer as her partner. Then, insisting that rank does not matter, she convinces Jean to waltz with her. When they return, Miss Julie recounts a dream of climbing up a pillar and being unable to get down. Jean responds with a story of creeping into her walled garden as a child—he sees it as "the Garden of Eden, guarded by angry angels with flaming swords"—and gazing at her longingly from under a pile of stinking weeds. He says he was so distraught with this unrequitable love, after seeing her at Sunday church service, that he tried to die beautifully and pleasantly by sleeping in a bin of oats strewn with elder flowers, since sleeping under an elder tree was thought to be dangerous.

At this point Jean and Miss Julie notice some servants heading up to the house, singing a song that mocks the pair of them. They hide in Jean's room. Although Jean swears he won't take advantage of her there, when they emerge later it becomes apparent that the two have had sex. Now they are forced to figure out how to deal with it, as Jean theorizes that they can no longer live together anymore — he feels they will be tempted to continue their relationship until they are caught. Now he confesses that he was only pretending when he said he had tried to commit suicide for love of her. Furiously, Miss Julie tells him of how her mother raised her to be submissive to no man. They then decide to run away together to start a hotel, with Jean running it and Miss Julie providing the capital. Miss Julie agrees and steals some of her father's money, but angers Jean when she insists on bringing her little bird along—she insists that it is the only creature that loves her, after her dog Diana was "unfaithful" to her. When Miss Julie insists that she would rather kill the bird than see it in the hands of strangers, Jean cuts off its head. In the midst of this confusion, Christine comes downstairs, prepared to go to church. She is shocked by Jean and Miss Julie's planning and unmoved when Miss Julie asks her to come along with them as head of the kitchen of the hotel. Christine explains to Miss Julie about God and forgiveness and heads off for church, telling them as she leaves that she will tell the stablemasters not to let them take out any horses so that they cannot run off. Shortly after, they receive word that Miss Julie's father, the Count, has returned. At this, both lose courage and find themselves unable to go through with their plans. Miss Julie realizes that she has nothing to her name, as her thoughts and emotions were taught to her by her mother and her father. She asks Jean if he knows of any way out for her. He takes a shaving razor and hands it to her and the play ends as she walks through the door with it, presumably to commit suicide.

Performances and adaptations