Man-woman relationship in Miss Julie.

    Miss Julie explores a complex man- woman relationship along gender and class lines. It is the woman who turns out to be defeated and degenerated. It is the values of the patriarchy that have given women a subordinate position in the imbalanced relationship. Miss Julie is degenerated after having physical contact because she is a woman and the man is all right. It is the fear of her father’s arrival that makes her restless and frantic. Though rebellious to some extent their lives are manipulated by males and the male authority frightens them.
    Miss Julie falls morally after she sleeps with Jean. Since she is a woman, she is the victim of this relation. The male uses her and is free and safe. It is she who is degenerate not him. It shows the functioning of patriarchy. He is living with constant fear of her father who represents the male authority. He is the father figure and his presence and impending arrival is a source of constant fear and humiliation for Miss Julie. Though Miss Julie tries to give orders to Jean her orders don’t work because she is a fallen woman now. The fact that she is a woman makes her a defeated person. Even though Jean has badly used her she is not in a position to challenge him openly because in the eyes of the patriarchal society she is a sinner not the man. There is no genuine love between her and Jean because their relation is guided by sex and money. Jean also sexually exploits Christine. Thus the man woman relationship is lopsided and the women are the underdogs manipulated and used by males.

Revolutionary and rebellious elements in Miss Julie.

      Miss Julie is a groundbreaking drama. It was a revolutionary drama because of its shockingly frank and frankly shocking portrayal of sexuality. The really audacious and adventurous strength of Strindberg lies in his successful portrayal of loveless sex. It is he who first ran the great risk to portray sex as an act distinct from love. He refers to the loveless sex act in the play. He does not directly depict it on stage. To portray sex as distinct from love was really a shocking and revolutionary endeavour of the playwright. At that time sex was held to be an expression of love. People of that time were totally alien to the notion of loveless sex. This notion of loveless sex, sex in the absence of love was pretty scandalous to them. Due to this totally scandalous break through in the genre of the 19th century play, Miss Julie was considered as important facet of modern drama. By portraying frankly the idea of intercourse based completely on lust Strindberg sought to demonstrate the strength of sexual desires. Read More...

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    Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest     A comedy is a play with happy ending and aims at making people laugh at certain follies, vanities, hypocrisies and weaknesses of people for reforming society. Read More...

    William Congreve: The Way of the World     Restoration drama had to depict the contemporary times. There was a moneyed class with a search for pleasure. Money became the main concern of the people. Read More...

    William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream     Shakespeare explores the issues of inconsistency in human nature and relation by creating a world of dream where the characters behave in an irrational way by running after dreams, fantasies Read More...

      William Shakespeare: Hamlet       Hamlet is a revenge tragedy written in the line of Roman senecan tragedy. It is the tragedy of reflection and moral sensitivity. The protagonist is very reflective and too sensitive thus unfit for taking revenge. Read More...

    William Shakespeare: The Tempest     The play’s major focus is on Prospero’s quest for perfection, knowledge and power. He devotes himself to learning even to the extent of neglecting his duties as a ruler. Read More...

    Sophocles: Oedipus Rex       Oedipus Rex vividly dramatizes the tension between individuals and their interdependences as well. As the city of Thebes has been paralyzed by a plague the people expect something from the king to end their suffering. Read More...

    Aristophenes: Lysistrata     Aristophanes takes up the issue of war in the cities of ancient Greece and satirizes war for the loss of life and property it has caused. Through aconflict between the sexes he exposes the futility of war ...Read More...

    Lady Gregory: The Rising of the Moon     Lady Gregory’s The Rising of the Moon is an explicitly political play dealing with the relation between England and Ireland trying to fight for freedom from English rule. Read More...

    Samuel Beckett: Endgame       Beckett’s play Endgame belongs to the theatre of the Absurd as it views life as meaningless and beyond human rationality to understand. It shows the influence of existentialist philosophy Read More...

    Eugene O'Neill: Desire Under the Elms    O’Neill presents women as victims of male’s greed and cruelty and at the same time it is women who are driven by a desire for property. They are shown as lustful too.Read More...