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Comparison between Midsummer's Night Dream and Miss Julie

Different authors have actively addressed the role of women as illustrated in the two plays

one of William Shakespeare Midsummers Night, and Strindberg plays called Miss Julie.

Shakespeare demonstrates how women are restrained by society. Despite the restricting

circumstances women have been determined to stand for what they truly desired. Against all the

odds they stood firm and a stand in the name of true love. Having fallen in love with Lysander,

Hermia was determined to become Lysander’s bride. Since she was a woman Egeus, her father

had alternative plans for. He wanted her not to marry Lysander but Demetrius. The clashing desires

made the party to the councils of the duke himself, Theseus. Despite the plies set forth by Hermia,

she was denied the relationship that she had desired for long. She defied the order of the Duke and

her father's will and set forth to marry the man she loved. Even in the society dominated by men,

Hermia found the courage to struggle against her oppressors (Strindberg, 2012).

Women struggled for the level playing field with men characters as shown on many

occasions in the play. Ether it was between the persistent Helena and Demetrius, The firm Titania

and unreasonable Oberon the characters conveyed themselves based not upon their gender but

upon what they believed in. After being tossed aside like that of unwanted dog, Helena continued

to desire for the love of Demetrius. She persistently struggled to reach the goal she had set before

her unwavering eyes.

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Despite being treated like that of a dog, Helena doesn’t budge from the path she chose for

herself. This strong-willed attitude benefits her. With this concept in mind, she represents the

modern in depended hardworking women of today. Disregarding the norms set by the society these

deviant women know what they want and perform the actions that will grant them these desires.

These disobedient women do all but to conform to the standards witnessed during their time.

Just like in Shakespeare play August Strindberg talks about the role of women on how they

relate with men. It is a woman Julie who turns out to be defeated by Jean. Miss Julie is degenerated

after having physical contacts with Jean because she is a woman and the man is all right. Miss

Julie falls morally after she sleeps with Jean. Since she is a woman, she is the victim of this

relationship. The male uses her and is free and safe just like what Jean did to her. It is she who

degenerated not thus showing the functioning of patriarchy. Miss Millie lives with the constant

fear of her who represents the male authority just like Hermia in the Midsummers Dream. He is

the father figure, and his presence and arrival is a source of fear and humiliation of Miss Jullie.

Though she tried to give orders to Jean her orders did not work because she was a fallen woman

after sleeping with Jean. The fact that she was a woman makes her a defeated person. Because she

was a woman even after Jean badly using her, she was not in a position to challenge him openly

because according to the patriarchal society she was a sinner, not a man.

The relationship between Christine and Jean does not invite spotlight. They are close

companions as both of them came from the same background. Only their relationship was free

from the challenges of domination. Jean felt ashamed in front of Christine when the issues of the

conversation between him and Julie arose. Christine is a hypocrite. She became jealous of the

growing love between Jean and Jullie. Jean also sexually exploited Christine. Thus the relationship

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between the man and woman is lopsided, and the woman is the underdogs manipulated and used

by men.

The other issue that was actively addressed by the two authors was about male dominance

in both the plays. In a Midsummer Nights, Dream Lysander and Hermia escape into the woods for

a night where they do not fall under the laws of Theseus or Eqeus. Upon their arrival in Athens,

the couples are married. Marriage is considered as an important social achievement for women

while men can go on to do many other great things and gain social recognition (Pielmeier et al.,

2001. The festive success depends on the process by which the feminine pride and power

manifested in Amazon warriors , possessive mothers , unruly wives, and willful daughters are

brought under the control of the lords and husbands.He says that the consummation of marriage is

how power over a woman changes hands from father to husband.

In Miss, Julies play women have tried to fight for dominance against men just like in the

Midsummers Dream. Jean tries to tactfully assert dominance over miss Julie as he knows about

her vulnerabilities. To establish a kind of dominance over her Jean began to go where she wanted

him to take, he did what she advised him to do. He even pretended to understand her gradually and

gave her every impression of being her lover. To secure his dominance over Miss Julie, he

fabricated a tale of Turkish pavilion.To assert final dominance over her Jean pushed Julie to enter

into loveless sexual intercourse with him. By retaining dominance, he wanted to reduce her to the

same level and class from which he wanted her to rise. He wanted to reduce Julie to the level

inferiority.

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relationship with her father's valet. According to Strindberg Miss Julie was driven to wreak

revenge on herself. She was a man-hating half-woman. Without giving torture to others, she could

not feel contented. In an attempt to give torture to a man in a sadistic way, Julie used to incur

masochistic punishment to herself. According to Strindberg, Julie was psychologically driven by

an impulse to fall. In an attempt to fall Julie had to choose a much lower man Jean. Had she chose

a man from the upper class she might not have fulfilled her wish to fall. This drive to fall developed

in Julie when Julie endeavored to be like a man. Being a woman she was instructed how to become

a man. In this process of masculine training, she failed to become like a man. To our surprise, she

becomes a half-woman. In the words of the playwright Julie became a monster, she became a

degenerate woman, she became hysterical.

To trace the theme of the struggle for dominance we have to take into account the separate

lines of the struggle made by Jean and Julie. Jean's struggle is to climb the social ladder, whereas

Julie's struggle is to fall from the top rung of the social ladder.

Indeed, women have always played a very crucial role in society, yet their presence has not

been felt. Men in different societies have always dominated over women the issue that should

seriously be dealt with to bring equality between different genders. Relationship between men and

women has still been exploited at the expense of the other. This problem should be handled with

a lot of seriousness.

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Work Cited

Strindberg, August. Miss Julie. Courier Corporation, 2012.

Strindberg, Johan August. Miss Julie and other plays. OUP Oxford, 1998.

Pielmeier, John, et al. Agnes of God. LA Theatre Works, 2001.

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