Jean whispers the fatal instructions in her ear. However, Christine disdains Miss Julie for the hypocrisy of her behavior—an example of what Strindberg believed to be the self-congratulatory piety and morality of the lower classes. Julie’s admission that she “no longer believes in anything” indicates that her continual “fight against nature” has left her confused and untethered to the reality of both society and her own life. Gesturing toward the rumor-mongering crowd, Jean declares it is impossible to stay at the manor.
She pledges to stay, to wait for her father and confess everything. In this way, he builds his argument that Julie is unfit for life because she had no sense, growing up, of her natural place in the world with respect to her femaleness and nobility. In searching for someone to blame for her death, Julie lists all the contributing “factors” that Strindberg outlines in the preface, including her mother’s “unnaturalness,” her father’s weakness, and her fiancé’s “corrupting influence.” In this way, she is shown to be a victim of the aristocracy more than anything. The dreams ultimately foreshadow both characters’ fates at the end of the play. He explains that Miss Julie was “training” her fiancé with a horsewhip like one would train a dog. LitCharts uses cookies to personalize our services. Christine falls asleep next to the stove. It is set on Midsummer's Eve and the following morning, which is Midsummer and the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist. Jean rejects this idea, insinuating that he knows Julie to have slept with her fiancé (and potentially other men) whom she then saddles with the blame to protect her reputation. The result is an angry and unhuman tirade which suggests that Strindberg (as his preface indicates) views “half-women” as monstrous, non-human creatures. Jean’s sexual domination of Julie allows him to think of himself as her moral and emotional superior. The Count's lovely garden was visible from his window. Here, Strindberg suggests that a classless society is as “unnatural” as a genderless society.
In addition, Jean claims that he “could’ve made a countess” of Julie, reminding her that he could buy a noble title and pass it on to his children while she, a woman, has no right over title or lineage. This is another instance in which Julie uses her social status to order Jean to do her bidding.
Julie took her mother's side and grew up to hate men as her mother did. Christine refuses. Julie’s “simple” taste is a reference to her socially egalitarian upbringing. This suggests that, although Jean possesses the soul and intellect of a nobleman, his low class resolutely places him in an inferior position to Julie. It is also a somewhat irreverent thing for a servant to tell his employer, signaling a shift in the power dynamic between Julie and Jean. By telling Julie that he has heard Christine talking in her sleep, Jean alerts Julie to the sexual nature of their relationship.
According to Strindberg, Jean’s comment that suicide is a sin shows that despite his status as a liberated “new man,” he still has the “slave” mentality of believing in God. Jean and Christine believe Julie’s “mistaken” upbringing and her mother’s influence to be the reasons that she is not able to meet even the most basic expectations of aristocratic society. Jean’s rejection of Christine’s religious moralism proves that Julie and Jean’s predicament is philosophical and sociological instead of religious or emotional. -Graham S. He grew up on a wasteland. The “results” that Julie refers to, coupled with Jean’s discussion of “fathering counts,” is likely a reference to the possibility that Julie may already be pregnant. He agrees, but insists that she leave the canary behind, offering to kill it. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Miss Julie Summary.
Lovelorn, Jean watched Julie walk among the roses. Terrified of the consequences with the Count, Jean commands her to flee. Jean tires of Julie's talk, and tells her she is sick. Therefore, Jean attempts to assert his superiority as a self-made man over Julie and her inherited aristocracy. Complete summary of August Strindberg's Miss Julie. Julie validates Jean’s “aristocratic” tastes, but still understands herself to be “stepping down” in seducing him. eNotes plot summaries cover all the significant action of Miss Julie. It remains unclear what the consequences of Julie’s suicide will be for Jean, but it’s likely that by encouraging her to commit suicide, he is protecting himself—without any regard for the life of this “unnatural” woman. Julie accepts Jean’s story as true, though it is later revealed to be false, because it plays into her own conception of poverty as a dramatic, exciting, and freeing condition that will strip her of the stifling responsibilities of nobility. She has fallen for him. Julie asks Jean to tell her that the first will receive the gift of grace. The bell rings twice; it is the Count. Having been overpowered and sexually dominated by a “real” man like Jean, Julie’s “suppressed” feminine instincts emerge.