Julie becomes a sick woman, suffering from hysteria and feminine masochism, Julie had the desire to fall and be dominated by a man. Now Julie was totally dependent upon Jean. Jean was superior to Julie in terms of morality as he was a man and she was a degenerate woman. Strindberg wants to show that Jean’s power over Julie is not because of the fact that he is rising socially but only because he is a man. This shows how maleness is a sign of superior status. Julie suffers a severe depression and humiliation as the sexual affair with Jean pushed her to the edge. Julie degrades herself when taking the initiative and sleeping with Jean, places herself beneath his level, destroyed the image of the woman.
In “A Doll’s House”, Nora is Torvald’s wife. She had a life just like a typical family at that time. Nora stayed at home, taking care of the house and of the children while Torvald went to work, to get money to sustain his family. It is showed the role of woman as wives and mothers in society. At the start of the play, Nora seems to be like a doll, an innocent wife, who is totally dependent upon her husband. She used to talk to Torvald in a childish way; she had minor acts of disobedience and lack of responsibility just like a child too. The difference between the role of women and the role of men in a family is shown, as the man is earning the money by working and the wife spending it on things for the house. So, Nora had to ask her husband for money, she couldn’t control the money or conduct a business. “You could give me money, Torvald. Only as much as you feel you can afford’: then later I’ll buy something with it.” Nora enjoyed the power women have with their feminine charm. She used it to be able to get what she wants, to manipulate her husband. With minor acts, the subordination and inferior role of women starts to be clearly seen. Torvald didn’t have an interaction with the children like Nora, as this was the “women’s role”. He was always telling her to do things like to take care of the house and to play with the children. With events occurring, we discover that Nora is not so innocent and in a conversation with Mrs. Linde she tells some facts that reveal her to be another person, not that innocent wife. She shows to be able to lie about significant things to her husband. She tells that once she travelled with her husband who was very ill. She forged the signature of her father and used borrowed money to pay for the trip. To pay what she owes, she still has to ask money to Torvald. In a certain way, it was a well – intentioned action although illegal. She had done that to save her husband. “I’ve something to be proud of. It was I who saved Torvald’s life” (pg 159). Nora had the power to change rules at home but she had no idea of the business world, didn’t realize the rules of the outer world. Due to her desperate situation, her act should be overlooked, as there is no crime for a woman to do everything to save her husband, but the law would not see the motive behind what she did; she should know the crime of forging a signature and borrowing money. Again, the subordinate role of women is shown as to their inexperience with the real world. Torvald gives a speech that Nora is not good enough as a mother. This is when she sees the reality of her world and her low social position. She realizes that playing with her children happily and dressing them nicely does not make her a suitable mother. She could not pretend to be someone she was not, just to fulfil the role of what Torvald and society expected from her. She has no responsible position or moral judgement to give, due to her ignorance.
In the end of both plays, we can see the decreasing or increasing of the position of women in each one. In Miss Julie, she ends the play asking him “Help me-give me orders, I’ obey like a dog, one last service- save my name, my honour. You know what I ought to do, but haven’t the strength to do. Use your strength and order me to do it’’ Julie (pg 113). Julie is self destroyed and this is the final point of Jean’s power. Julie can only see one way out and this is by killing herself. But she lacks the power to make the decision and needs Jean to tell her to kill herself and even thank him for giving permission. This clearly stated the inferiority she ended the play in relation to Jean. Strindberg wants to show the humiliation passed by Julie, to show the need that Julie had for that man in the end. He wanted to emphasize the idea of class and gender conflict happening in the play. In the play, Julie degrades; ending in an inferior position in relation to men. Julie started the play seeming a determined woman. The play ends with Julie, surprisingly enough being totally dependent upon Jean. After being entirely under a man’s domination, as she wanted, Julie displays lower position by begging Jean to give her permission to end her life.
Nora since the beginning of the play looked like she was dependent of her husband, of his money and did what she was told by him. She had the ideal home, marriage and parenting. With the progress during the play, Nora realizes that with the final destruction of her ‘’doll’s house’’, she should seek her individuality. Nora had sacrificed herself to save her husband. She always had discouraged the independent thoughts and actions as she had everything she needed. Nora realizes that Torvald is devoted not to her but to the idea of her as someone who depends on him.
So at this point, with courage and determination, she decides to leave her children, her house and her husband and go out into the world alone, in the desire of independence and of discovering herself. She shows the important sacrificial role of women, who leaves everything behind to survive, to be accepted and pursue her own identity. “A Doll’s House” wants to show the importance of women’s realization of the inferiority put in them, and that they should not be seen as so dependent on men but as a person herself with proper triumphs and aims in life. The author wants to pass a message to women so that they can understand the subordinate position they are put in by society and change their attitudes.
The titles of both plays have a say about the story of each one. “A Doll’s House” passes the idea of a perfect family place just like a dollhouse would be like. It doesn’t centralize Nora, but the environment where she lives. But, the play given the title of “Miss Julie” reinforces the idea of a woman, showing Julie to be the main issue of that play.
