A Marxist Reading of <i>Miss Julie</i>

Abstract

Written in the Victorian era, a period noteworthy for its strict ideological dictates, MissJulie is a sociological play in which the dominant social paradigms control, alienate, and bring about psychological problems for the subjects. If this play be read from a Marxist perspective, it can be obtained how the repressive ideologies of the capitalistic government such as hierarchy and religion are manipulated to control the exploited and dominated class symbolized here by Jean and Kristin and their petty bourgeois mistress, Julie. Both class hierarchy and religion are understood to oppress the individuals, to make them subordinate subjects who internalize the ideological values and belief system of the bourgeoisie. In Miss Julie, Strindberg shows how the hero and heroine are obsessed to achieve their personal needs by any means; what the bourgeoisie strongly supports. Other Marxist terms such as, hailing the subject or interpellation, false consciousness, sign-exchange value, and commodification are also recurrent in this play.