An Exploration Of August Strindberg s Life Through Its...

â€Å"I find the joy in life through its cruel and powerful struggles† (Strindberg 57): An Exploration of August Strindberg’s Personality through Hypnotism in Miss Julie In the preface of the â€Å"brutal... cynical... heartless drama† (Strindberg 57), Miss Julie, August Strindberg gives an in depth analysis of his play and himself. Fashioning his characters as â€Å"souls† (Strindberg 91), Strindberg permits mobility in personal development and reflects the complexity of the self. Through his drawing of the characters to be â€Å"swift and vacillating† (Strindberg 82), Strindberg reflects the temperament during the late 1800s, incorporating an â€Å"urgently hysterical† (Strindberg 91) atmosphere. During this time period, hysteria was respective to females, and†¦show more content†¦The preface demonstrates Strindberg’s take on hysteria (alike how the character drawing can be used to reflect Strindberg’s views on psyche) as an influx of â€Å"lower, unreliable instruments of thought which we call feelings† (Strindberg 88). Although this waking suggestion brings a violent end to the play, Strin dberg’s use of hypnosis can instead be seen as a reflection of his desperation and hopelessness regarding the truth of life. Each character is unique in the play, avoiding â€Å"simple stage characters... one [which] is stupid.. one brutal... one jealous...† (Strindberg 59). Strindberg avoids the â€Å"idiotically mathematical† (Strindberg 57) ideology where the â€Å"big eat the small† (Strindberg 57), instead employing a variety of characters and plot, which mirror the irregularity of everyday life. Strindberg adds minute details to each character, justifying his premise that â€Å"[any] event in real life... springs generally from a whole series of motives† (Strindberg 58). Several of Miss Julie’s motives are attributed to her rearing as â€Å"her father s mistaken upbringing of the girl† (Strindberg 58). Strindberg also corroborates Miss Julie’s persona with â€Å"her own nature... degenerate brain† (Strindberg 58), which decides her fate to imitate that of degenerate offspring to â€Å"succumb [in the end], either because they are