Jean: “That very difference-of man and woman.”
Julie: “That’s true, I am the lowliest–the lowliest of the lowly.”
In reading this story you can tell that at times the context is biased towards Strindberg’s view of woman. Strindberg views woman as being nearly a “half woman” and inferior in regards to men. Where as men are naturally powerful, women believe they are just as powerful but in reality they aren’t. These feelings towards women are evident in the first quote where it is established that there is a firm difference between man and woman. Jean, the major male character in the story, knows that this big difference is that men are the superior and women are the inferior. Women try and be as powerful as men through hard work but it doesn’t prevail. The second quote also backs up Strindberg’s notion that men are dominant to females in that Julie confirms that she is the “lowliest of the lowly.” Julie accepts in this quote that women, like herself, may actually have less say than men. In this story, Strindberg makes it evident how he thinks the roles of women should be in society and how they should act. Strindberg in the story also refers to women as a “half women”, which I take to mean that she acts half like a woman and half like a man. Both her mother and father give her these strong traits that even though she is only a woman, she tries to have the authority and say of men at times.
3 responses so far ↓
f.falconite // Mar 18th 2016 at 11:54 pm
In reply to j.yusufova,
I found it very interesting your interpretation of what you think is a “half woman.” When reading the play I wasn’t entirely sure what Strindberg meant when he called Julie a “half woman,” but your interpretation is very interesting. It is evident that reading the play that she does try hard to be one of the guys at times and your interpretation of what it means is very insightful. It is also very interesting when you explain how woman try and be like men when in today’s day and age do have power. Your use of quotes was also very impressive and overall your response was very good.
a.sanchez // Mar 19th 2016 at 2:31 am
I thought your views on Miss Julie were interesting. I think your quotes do well to prove that Strindberg sees women as inferior to men. I agree with you when you say that even though women try to work hard they have a hard time finding success. I also agree on how you think that when she says she is the “lowest of the lowly” she is accepting that she has no say in matter compared to men. In this case the lowly would be women in general.
d.kim5 // Mar 19th 2016 at 3:18 am
I agree with you about how you interpreted the quotation and Strindberg’s view on women. Strindberg’s prejudice that men is above women is revealed by the second quotation you used. As you said, Miss Julie accepts that men are dominant to women because she mentioned herself as “lowliest.” Also, I have same opinion on half-woman. I’ve thought so too that half-woman indicated that acting like half women and half men. The reason why Miss Julie was considered as half-woman is because she was greatly influenced by her mother. Her mother also taught her what men should need to know.
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