The Female Response to the Walby’s Patriarchal Model in the August Strindberg Plays the Father and Miss Julie

Abstract

The examination of female reactions to patriarchal institutions in August Strindberg's Miss Julie and The Father may be framed using Walby's approach, which emphasizes the interaction of social, cultural, and economic variables. This research demonstrates how Julie's character represents the battle against patriarchal tyranny and cultural expectations. The play Miss Julie delves into female hysteria and patriarchy, which may represent the influence of 19th-century neuroscience, demonstrating how cultural beliefs of mental illness overlap with gender roles. The two Strindberg plays emphasize that even aristocratic society engages in unethical behavior. The two plays are loaded with class strife and repressive reality, exposing the psychological effects of their social status. This interplay of deception emphasizes the constraints imposed by patriarchal and class hierarchies, distorting their relationships and personal identities. While Strindberg's work criticizes patriarchal standards, it also raises questions about the more significant implications of gender and class in literature, implying that the fight against oppression is multidimensional and deeply established in societal conceptions. Contemporary versions of Miss Julie use cinematographic techniques to explore these topics, highlighting the unseen tensions and complexity of gender and class in modern society. While Strindberg's writings usually depict women as victims of patriarchal oppression, they also encourage a closer examination of female agency and resistance within these boundaries, revealing a more complicated picture of gender relations during his time.