Rape on the Naturalistic Stage: The Example of Miss Julie

Abstract

Fitzpatrick draws on different translations and interpretations of Strindberg's naturalistic tragedy Miss Julie, including three film versions and two recent adaptions. The play centres around the seduction of a young noble woman by her family's valet (or possibly her seduction of him). The text never clarifies whether the off-stage sex is consensual, but most interpretations---including contemporary ones---never consider the possibility that the play is about a rape. Yet it can be interpreted in that way, as Ingmar Bergman's 1981 production makes clear. Fitzpatrick explores the play's engagement with enduring social and cultural attitudes to women's sexuality, and the relationship between violence and desire.