LO: To understand how and why Strindberg constructs the
character of Miss Julie.
T.O.E
In groups of three, place the plot cards
in the correct order. Read through
carefully to refamiliarise yourself with
it. Then choose one of the roles and
complete your task.
Level 6 By analysing
Level 5 By explaining
Level 4 By commenting
Summariser- Reduce the info on
the card to three sentences.
Illustrator- Illustrate the info on
the card with images and symbols.
Hunter- Find one key quotation
from that moment in the play
which you think either reveals
something about the character or
the writer’s ideas.
Each lesson we will be focusing on: Approaches to Learning [ATLs]

A combination of these
two ATLs will be
covered in today’s lesson
 As well as our…IB Learner Attributes
You understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance You understand and express ideas and information confidently
to achieve personal well-being for yourself and others. and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of
modes.

You can explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance.
In doing so you acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across and
broad and balanced range of disciplines.
You can act with integrity, honesty with a strong sense of fairness, justice and
respect of individuals, groups and communities. You can take responsibilities
for your actions and the consequences that accompany them.

You can approach unfamiliar situations with courage and forethought, and
have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. You
You can show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and
are able to show bravery in articulating and defending beliefs.
We’ll be inquirers feelings of others. You have a personal commitment to service, and act to
make a positive difference to the lives of others and the environment.
today.
You are able to develop a natural curiosity. You acquire the skills
necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence inYou are able to understand and appreciate your own cultures and personal histories,
learning. You actively enjoy learning. and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and
communities. You are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view,
and are willing to grow from the experience.

You are able to give thoughtful consideration to your own learning and
experiences. You are able to assess and understand your strengths and
limitations in order to support learning and personal growth.
We’ll be thinkers
You are able to exercise initiatives in applyingtoday.
thinking skills critically and creatively to
recognise and approach complex problems, and make reasoned ethical decisions.
 Level 6 By analysing
Level 5 By explaining
Level 4 By commenting

How do we know that

Strindberg was a misogynist?

You are able to exercise initiatives in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to
recognise and approach complex problems, and make reasoned ethical decisions.
 LO: To understand how and why Strindberg constructs the
character of Miss Julie.

Connect
Why do we think Miss Julie chose to
‘go’ with Jean?

For what specific reason?

Do we know anything about Darwin?

Level 6 By analysing
Level 5 By explaining
Level 4 By commenting
 HOW DOES DARWINISM
APPLY TO GENDER?
He stated that the result of sexual selection is for
men to be, “more courageous, pugnacious and
energetic than woman [with] a more inventive
genius. His brain is absolutely larger [...] the
formation of her skull is said to be intermediate
between the child and the man” (Darwin 1871).
 Darwin was, after all, a man of his time, class and society,
and therefore his views on gender were utterly
conventional.
 Although female choice explains sexual selection, it is the
males who evolve in order to meet the chosen criteria of
strength and power.
 Such nineteenth century differentiation between the sexes
was crucial in providing an alleged biological basis for the
superiority of the male.
In 1881, Saini recalls, women’s-rights activist
Caroline Kennard wrote to Darwin seeking
clarification of his views on women. Darwin
replied that “there seems to me to be a
great difficulty from the laws of inheritance,
(if I understand these laws rightly) in
[women] becoming the intellectual equals of
man.” Kennard responded: “Let the
‘environment’ of women be similar to that of
men and with his opportunities, before she
be fairly judged, intellectually his inferior
please.”
DARWIN AND STRINDBERG
The Darwinian motifs in the play are in keeping with
Strindberg's literary naturalism.

As Strindberg notes in the preface to

Miss Julie, he has "added a little
evolutionary history [to the play] by
making the weaker steal and repeat
the words of the stronger."
 ‘The half-woman is a type who thrusts herself forward and sells herself nowadays for power, decorations,

RECAP- THE honours, or diplomas as formerly she used to do for money. She is synonymous with degeneration. It is not a
sound species for it does not last, but unfortunately it can propagate itself and its misery in the following
generation; and degenerate men seem unconsciously to select their mates among them so that they increase in
PREFACE number and produce creatures of uncertain sex for whom life is a torment. Fortunately, however, they succumb,
either because they are out of harmony with reality or because their repressed instincts erupt uncontrollably or
because their hopes of attaining equality with men are crushed.’ - Strindberg

Strindberg explains that Miss Julie is a “modern

character” because the “man-hating half woman”
has begun to get more power in society as she
becomes more educated and controls her own
wealth. Strindberg sees this trend as a threat not
only to society at large, but also to the gene pool
of humanity, as these women are able to
convince “weak” men to have children with them.
According to Strindberg, their offspring are
members of an “indeterminate sex” who lead
tortured lives because their misguided
upbringings counteract their fundamental
natures. Ultimately, Strindberg explains, the
indeterminate sexes die, like Miss Julie, in
“fundamental struggles against nature.”
What scientific, evolutionary language does Strindberg
use in this extract of the preface?
Why do you think Strindberg explains his (misogynistic
views) on women in terms of evolution?
As well as viewing autonomous, wealthy and educated
women as a threat to patriarchal society, what is he
suggesting they do to the gene pool?
How is this effect our understanding of Miss Julie and her
mother?
Strindberg’s condemnation of 19th
century European feminism

Add to your notes:

What was happening around the time that Strindberg was writing
Miss Julie?
How does Strindberg challenge these social movements?
How might a modern audience respond differently to the play to a
contemporary audience?

Level 6 By analysing Strindberg, in his fear of early European feminism, attributes Julie's problems
Level 5 By explaining to a mother who believes in the equality of the sexes and, indeed, hates
Level 4 By commenting men. He also blames an initially absent, ineffectual father.
 The Influence of Miss Julie’s Mother
Strindberg's misogyny is apparent in Julie's continued
humiliation. Her mother's feminist ideas are portrayed as
unquestionably abhorrent and her treachery as a familiar story.
Julie is supposedly lucky that the law does not arrest
temptresses. Jean thinks Julie is sick, a diagnosis we are meant to
agree with. This scene blames Miss Julie's illness on her family
history, laying the blame at the feet of her mother.
1. How does Strindberg demonstrate that
Julie’s heredity has been a major force
in shaping her ‘sick’ behaviour’?
2. How does this relate to Naturalism?
**Think about her mother and her father; her
surroundings, background and upbringing**
https://literarydevices.net/naturalism/
Theme: Biology versus society
- Heredity and environment are the major
forces that shape human beings.
In other words, like lower animals, humans
respond mainly to inborn instincts that influence
behavior in concert with—and sometimes in
opposition to—environmental influences,
including economic, social, cultural, and familial
influences.
Miss Julie, for example, responds partly to her
inborn female instinct for male companionship
and partly to her environmentally induced
hatred of men. Consequently, she both desires
and despises Jean, causing her deep internal
conflict.
 LO: To understand how and why
Strindberg constructs the
character of Miss Julie.

Paper 2 question: To what extent do authors explore

the deterioration of a character due to their society?
• How does Julie’s deterioration compare to Blanche’s? Who / what is to
blame for each?
• How might a modern, feminist audience come to a different conclusion
than a contemporary 19th century audience?
Paper 2 question: To what extent do authors explore
the deterioration of a character due to their society?

Refer to the
worksheet.

• What does it show us about

the character?
• How does it link to the
context?
• How is the playwright
exploring the ‘deterioration
of the character?
• How is society to blame?
 Paper 2 question: To what extent do
authors explore the deterioration of a
character due to their society?
MODEL:
In the opening of the play, it is clear that Miss Julie is a character who is at odds with societal expectations and Strindberg immediately hints at the
tragic doom towards which she is headed. At ease in their domestic setting of the kitchen, Christine and Jean discuss Miss Julie’s behaviour at the What?
Midsummer’s Eve party: ‘Miss Julie is wild again tonight: completely wild.’ It is through this conversation that the audience are introduced to the
tragic heroine and the servants’ disproval of Miss Julie’s behaviour is immediately apparent. In this exposition scene, we are made aware of Miss How?
Julie’s unconventional behaviour in relation to her social inferiors. Moreover, Jeanne recounts an event which occurred prior to the play’s beginning Why?
during which Miss Julie whipped her fiancé like a horse. This introduces the audience to her overwhelming desire for dominance (primarily over
men) and also, importantly, to her failure to comply with the duties of “natural” womanhood: not only to marry, but to be nurturing and
supportive of her husband. Despite the fact that Miss Julie is socially superior to Jean, it is clear even in this opening scene that in Strindberg’s In each of
opinion, Jean is superior purely by virtue of his gender. Miss Julie is representative of all late nineteenth century women, and any woman who these
steps outside of the constraints of her gender must be punished. example
Later in the play, as Jean and Miss Julie’s conversation descends into fantasy and absurdity, Strindberg directly attacks burgeoning feminist ideals paragraphs,
and portrays his tragic heroine as a victim of such ideals. Becoming increasingly drunk, Julie tells Jean the story of her own upbringing. Miss Julie’s the “how”
mother was a commoner, brought up with ideas about women’s equality and independence. Miss Julie’s mother disdained the idea of marriage section
but agreed to the Count’s proposal all the same. Strindberg presents Julie’s “man-hating” nature as another consequence of her “unnatural”
upbringing. For Strindberg, women such as Julie’s mother who ‘thrust [themselves] forward’ are acting outside of biological constraints. Writing at
needs
a time when feminism and the suffragette movement was gaining momentum in both Sweden and the rest of Europe, Strindberg offers a critique developing.
in which he exposes what he believes to be the truths of evolution. Heavily influenced by Darwinism, Strindberg portrays women as unable to be Choose one
equal to men in any way. Julie’s mother is unable to manage an estate, and as her ‘degenerate’ offspring, Julie succumbs to her own sexual desires section to
and is ultimately crushed. Thus, for Strindberg, such women will momentarily weaken the gene pool but will ultimately be subjugated by the
biologically superior men. develop.
 Level 6 By analysing
Level 5 By explaining
Level 4 By commenting

How do we know that

Strindberg was a misogynist?

You are able to exercise initiatives in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to
recognise and approach complex problems, and make reasoned ethical decisions.
 Characterisation: Miss Julie
Let’s reflect and summarise:

How is Miss Julie a product of her

environment?

What’s Strindberg’s message to society of

his time?
Level 6 By analysing
Level 5 By explaining LO: To understand how and why Strindberg constructs the
Level 4 By commenting character of Miss Julie.
1. Jean: In the first few pages, how can we see that Jean simultaneously idealises Miss Julie and degrades her?
2. Who is the goddess Diana, and how does Strindberg use this allusion ironically when applied to Miss Julie’s
dog?
3. What are the similarities between Diana’s actions and Miss Julie’s?
4. How does Jean’s manipulation of Miss Julie reflect Strindberg’s beliefs on evolution and ‘natural order’?
5. How can we see Miss Julie’s conflicting feelings for Jean? Why is she in conflict? What’s your interpretation of
Strindberg’s intention with this?
6. How does Strindberg suggest that Miss Julie wants to degrade herself? How does this relate to his beliefs in
female masochism?
7. Why is Miss Julie a ‘half-woman’? Consider her environmental factors (upbringing) and inherited qualities.
8. Define the Victorian condition of ‘female hysteria’. How is Miss Julie a ‘hysteric’?
9. Is it lust that motivates Jean to invite Julie to his room? Or does he want to lower her to a reduced social
status? Is it cruelty? Is it the desire to dominate?

LO: To understand how and

Challenge: How does Julie’s deterioration compare to Blanche’s? why Strindberg constructs the
Who / what is to blame? character of Miss Julie.