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 theme 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 of Miss Julie represents the last of a dying aristocratic breed and serves to characterize women in modernity. Jean represents one who is clambering upwards and who is fitter to thrive because he is more adaptable in terms of the "life roles" he can take on.

The play has various 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. In utilizing the naturalistic style, the author goes against the dominant theatrical idea that says that characters should be written with only one primary motivation.

The author's preface

Miss Julie is preceded by an author's preface, which is considered a significant manifesto of naturalism in the theatre. In it Strindberg states that the source of the play is an actual story he once heard, which made a strong impression on him, and which "seemed appropriate for tragedy, for it still seems tragic to see someone favored by fortune go under, much more to see a family die out."

Strindberg describes both Jean and Miss Julie as representations of their classes and society. The people in the play are described by Strindberg as "modern characters living in an age of transition [...] more vacillating and disintegrating than their predecessors, a mixture of the old and the new." The preface to the play may not be the best guide to the play, and is at times in variance with the play itself. The preface urges naturalism and deterministic readings of the play, but the play seems to offer more anti-naturalism and even feminist readings. Strindberg's play may have other values than his own critical assessment. In the preface, Strindberg discusses aristocracy and classism beyond what occurs in the play itself.

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:

Faire vrai: 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.

Faire grand: The conflicts in the play should be issues of meaningful, life-altering significance–not small or petty.

Faire simple: The play should be simple–not cluttered with complicated sub-plots or lengthy expositions.

Strindberg believed that French playwrights had been unable to achieve naturalism in their writings, and he felt that he could. 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

Strindberg's brother, Olof Strindberg, was head gardener at the manor house of Leufsta, also called Lovstabruk, a grand estate which had been largely created by the entomologist Charles De Geer in the eighteenth century. It may be that Olof's experiences influenced August's portrayal of life in a grand manor house.

The play was written as Strindberg was creating a new theatre of his own, the Scandinavian Naturalistic Theater, 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 having sex with Jean to an act of bestiality.) With disastrous timing for new theater, 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 premiere 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, her father's manservant. 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). Jean 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 a bell sounds, his presence is also noted more strongly.

Plot

Jean walks on 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. 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 Miss Julie's background, 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 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 Miss Julie's character flaws, Jean finds her 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, Julie 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 saw it as "the Garden of Eden, guarded by angry angels with flaming swords"―and, from under a pile of stinking weeds, gazing at her longingly. He says he was so distraught with this unrequitable love that, after seeing her at a Sunday church service, he tried to die beautifully and pleasantly by sleeping in a bin of oats strewn with elderflowers, as sleeping under an elder tree was thought to be dangerous.

Stage productions

In 1913, with the title Countess Julia, it was directed by Mary Shaw on Broadway at the 48th Street Theatre for three performances.* In 1912, Anna Hofman-Uddgren directed a film version, based on her own and Gustaf Uddgren's screenplay; Manda Björling played Julie and August Falck played Jean (based in turn on the stage production in Stockholm in 1906).

In 1935, it was revived at the Arts Theatre in London in a translation by Roy Campbell with Rosalinde Fuller as Julie and Robert Newton as Jean.

In 1949, it was performed at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London with Joan Miller as Julie and Duncan Lamont as Jean.

In 1950, Birgit Cullberg co-wrote and choreographed a ballet version to the music of Ture Rangström, which she directed twice for Swedish television, in 1959 and 1980.

In 1960, it was performed in Elizabeth Sprigg's translation at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London with Diane Cilento as Julie and Leon Peers as Jean.

In 1962, it was directed by Alf Sjöberg on Broadway at the Cort Theatre for three performances, with Inga Tidblad as Miss Julie and Ulf Palme as Jean.

In 1983, Judy Davis and Colin Friels performed the play at the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney.

The 1984 Internationalist Theatre London production was characterized by the disruption of ethnic preconceptions with a "small, dark" Angelique Rockas depicting Miss Julie in a performance of great depth. Garry Cooper played Jean.

In 1995, Patrick Marber wrote and directed After Miss Julie, in which the events of the play were transposed to an English country house on the eve of the Labour Party's landslide 1945 General Election win. The play was staged in 2003.

Operas

In 1965, it was adapted as an opera by Ned Rorem to an English libretto by Kenward Elmslie.

In 1973, Antonio Bibalo wrote an opera (revised in 1975) which has been performed over 160 times in Germany.

In 1977, William Alwyn's opera, with an English libretto adapted from the play by the composer, was premiered as a BBC Radio 3 broadcast.

In 2005, it was adapted as an opera by Philippe Boesmans to a German libretto by Luc Bondy.

In 2018, it was adapted (in a contemporary reworking) as an opera Juliana by Joseph Phibbs to an English libretto by Laurie Slade.

Film and television

In 1912, Anna Hofman-Uddgren directed a film version, based on her own and Gustaf Uddgren's screenplay; Manda Björling played Julie and August Falck played Jean (based in turn on the stage production in Stockholm in 1906).

In 1922, Felix Basch directed the German silent version starring Asta Nielsen, William Dieterle, and Lina Lossen.

In 1947, it was adapted as the Argentine film The Sin of Julia. It was directed by Mario Soffici and featured Amelia Bence and Alberto Closas as the main characters.

In 1951, Alf Sjöberg made a film version from his own screenplay.

In 1956, Dennis Vance directed a version for Armchair Theatre with Mai Zetterling and Tyrone Power as Julie and Jean.

In 1956, Gabriel Axel directed a television movie starring Ingeborg Brams, Jørn Jeppesen and Lisbeth Movin.

In 1960, Arild Brinchmann directed a television movie starring Urda Arneberg, Arne Lie, and Ragnhild Michelsen.

In 1965, Alan Bridges wrote and directed a television movie for Theatre 625, starring Gunnel Lindblom, Ian Hendry and Stephanie Bidmead.

In 1969, Keve Hjelm directed a television movie starring Bibi Andersson, Thommy Berggren and Kerstin Tidelius.

In 1974, John Glenister and Robin Phillips directed a television movie with Helen Mirren and Donal McCann as Julie and Jean.

In 1977, Patrick Tam directed 七女性 (Chuk Nu Sing/Seven Women), a seven-episode television anthology series depicting the stories of different women in late '70s Hong Kong, with Louise Lee playing a version of Miss Julie.

In popular culture

In season 3 of the TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Sophie Lennon (played by Jane Lynch) plays the titular character in a disastrous adaptation of the play.