Review of August Strindberg's The Stronger

Back home among old friends, deep in conversation the topic arose. We discussed among the myriad of other subjects, the reliability of reading into people's facial expressions. My best friend from grade school and I were given some brotherly advice. "I have been a happier person since I began to resist the habit we have as a family; reading meaning into other people's facial expressions. You can't know what another person is thinking. We tend to think the worst. I have learnt it is best to not allow my thoughts to pass through that filter. "

I remembered that conversation when I read the one act play "The Stronger" by August Strindberg written in 1889. The play is set in a women's café in Stockholm in the eighteen eighties (47). The drama is unique in that of the three characters in the play, only one speaks. A series of facial expressions and gestures by Miss Y however, tempt a person to judge the silent young woman. The fact that I immediately think of my own life when reading this little quarter hour play would delight Strindberg who strove during the period he wrote "The Stronger" to present life in the form of drama as natural as it can be. The struggle to shape a drama so the audience will be drawn into a particular slice of life helps make him the Father of the Modernist movement in Sweden and beyond. "The Stronger" gives a realistic peek at the world of the theatre that the author lives in and probes psychological issues that fascinated Strindberg as he broke away from the traditional plays of Sweden and Europe.

Traditional theatre of the time was historic and poetic plays with grand staging. Strindberg's early plays fail to be accepted because they are written as historical plays with everyday language, not poetry. He also experiments with taking plays with historical themes and making the story line follow more intimate, everyday scenes. These plays are influenced by his familiarity with Shakespeare. In his paper "The Intimate Theatre: Shakespeare Teaches Strindberg Theatrical Modernism" Inga-Stina Ewbanks assess the Bard's influence on Strindberg:

My argument is just that as the art of Strindberg was indispensible to European modernism, so Shakespeare was indispensible to the development of that art" ... [it is] a kind of symbiotic process with several overlapping stages. Strindberg's relationship with Shakespeare did not begin in 1907 but stretched, dynamic and shifting, over a lifetime.

The ingrained drive to experiment and find new expression in drama is the motive that would propel August Strindberg to reshape the modern theater. Strindberg's "art became a restless search for new forms capable of meeting the changing demands of the consciousness of the times, as seen from his unique personal point of view" (Marker 1). He believes in order to bring new life and form to the art; the theatrical experience must be completely reshaped. His work throughout his career reflected experimentation, breaking away from the norm. This impulse would lead him through the three phases of career and theatrical types.

In the naturalist plays there is less emphasis on staging combined with contemporary dialogue. The focus is on topics of current interest. Strindberg concern is to express and discuss topics that were vogue in the 1880's particularly the relationship between men and women. This interest dovetails with his personal interest in psychology and the sciences.

"The Stronger" fits the transition from naturalistic to modern because of the simple staging and monologue. However, the motive for these elements in the production of the play was to allow small production companies with limited budgets to be able to produce the plays. (Marker 11) During the time period Strindberg wrote "The Stronger" his financial situation was strained. The true Modernist play which Strindberg would later help develop has less emphasis on setting, focusing on staging and acting.

Naturalism in terms of theatre is seen in its natural language as opposed to poetry. Contemporary scenes, situations and interests as opposed to the themes the historical plays that predated his naturalistic plays. Strindberg's instructions for the production of "Miss Julie" which "The Stronger" preview with included;

the principles of naturalistic drama: Nothing should have the appearance of 'theatre.' There should be no division into acts, which might break the illusion of reality for the audience. The characters had to be portrayed as determined by their heredity and environment. The action and dialogue had to be natural and logical, and all contrived intrigues or theatrical tricks had to be avoided. (Adams)

One can see by the dialogue that "The Stronger" is of the naturalistic genre. We find Miss Y verbally assaulted by the outspoken Mrs. X with many accusations and innuendos. Ironically we find it is the Mrs. X that has the amazing ability to expose her inner turmoil and insecurity. Mrs. X says she pities the young woman while trying to insinuate she knows why Miss Y did not marry. She brags about gifts for her children after telling Miss Y, "as for children - but you couldn't know anything about that" (Strindberg, The Stronger 47). Mrs. X further insults the silent Miss Y with accusation that Miss Y has reason for retaliation due to loss of employment in the theatre. I think Mrs. X is really pressing for information while trying to get an admission of an inappropriate relationship between Miss Y and her husband. Miss Y, the stronger of the two in character, doesn't get caught up in her scheme. Miss Y resists saying a word even when goaded by Mrs. X who bullies her with, "Why don't you say something. You haven't said a word the whole time. You have just let me go on talking" (Strindberg, The Stronger 49). With that challenge, Miss Y makes an attempt to speak, but gets cut off.

From this dialogue we can see the keen interest in psychology, the working out of the person's inner motive that the play focuses on. "The Stronger" is an interesting psychological drama in that what is left unsaid leaves a lot room for the imagination and draws a person into the story. I believe as an exponent of naturalist theatre that was Strindberg's intent. Not unlike his life this little soap opera like story begs to be analyzed and pieced together. It is very much like life in that rarely are all things open, especially the motives of the heart. As much as she tries Mrs. X cannot know Miss Y's heart or motive. Instead she makes stories up herself and fills in all the blanks just like my friend warned me not to do. Mrs. X does not find the answers she is looking for, however, in the process of interrogating Miss Y, Mrs. X does find out some truth about herself. She finds she has learned about life through imitating Miss Y. She makes it a point to get one last barb in when she tells Miss Y, "Thank you, Amelia for all your good lessons. Thank you for teaching my husband how to love. Now I am going home - to love him (Strindberg, The Stronger 50) , Mrs. X finds answers she can live with or so she wants you to think.

The monologue from the play "The Stronger" helps us see this work as transitional in that although it speaks from everyday life, Strindberg experiments with point of view in telling a story. (Sprinchorn viii) The minimalist stage craft; "two small wrought-iron tables, a plush sette and a few chairs" (Strindberg, The Stronger 47) set the stage for less emphasis on stagecraft and concentration of the verbal and nonverbal exchange going on, on stage. The "Representational setting -- icon of the naturalistic belief in environment as a silent character in the drama" (Marker 11) is evident.

The storyline of "The Stronger" is set in the lives of those involved with the theatre. For that reason as I read and reread the story line I wonder if the piece is autobiographical. I know nothing of Strindberg or his plays. What I do find is by definition, or is how Strindberg sees life, it is all about himself; "nearly everything he wrote, novels, stories, plays and poems, compromised as in Goethe's case, the 'fragments of a great confession'" (Sprinchorn viii). Strindberg believes like the relativists of his day that all you could know was known or seen through ones self. There was no truth beyond what we see or perceive or can know and that is ever changing.

Delving into his personal history and the chronology of his plays I realize the play is written for his first wife Siri von Essen. Known for his use of the story lines from his life, "The Stronger" at the very least reflects the issues of his stormy marriage with Siri. For the two years leading up to the writing and producing of the play they lived at odds. Strindberg filed for divorce in 1887, but the divorce falls to the wayside. He becomes increasingly jealous accusing Siri of affairs and humiliating her in public. (Adams) He begins to believe his three children are not his own and writes the play "The Father" about a man who also questions his children's paternity. It is well known that writing the play inflicts more pain into the already troubled relationship. Early on in the marriage Strindberg finds success in writing parodies about the establishment. He is forced to leave Sweden because he makes enemies when he takes on the bourgeoisie as subject matter. In the book "Married" which he writes in 1884 he slanders the bourgeoisie with a reference to communion. He is brought to trial for blasphemy. His exile will last for 15 years, it ends Siri career as an actress and put the growing family into financial distress. His enemies hound him saying he is being punished by God, (Sprinchorn xi) Once in exile Strindberg moves frequently dragging his young family along, often living on the charity of others or literary advances. In 1887 he writes "A Madman's Defense" about his version of his marriage to Siri. (Sprinchorn xiii)

In 1888 Strindberg writes the play "Miss Julie" which parallels an affair he had with a younger woman whose family has given them a place to live in their castle. The young woman accuses Strindberg of rape. Her brother lies and says she is pregnant planning to blackmail Strindberg. The family is in complete upheaval. When Strindberg's desire to have his own experimental theatre finally comes to fruition in 1889 he plans to produce "Miss Julie" along with three short one act plays. These three plays are written for the occasion of the grand opening of his Scandinavian Experimental Theatre in Denmark. "The Stronger" is one of these plays. "Miss Julie" is banned in Denmark because of the story content. The production is moved to a private venue and opens a week later. Siri plays Mrs. X to good reviews while the plays are not as well received. (Marker 11)

The issues of the drama revolve around suspicion, adultery and the politics of the theater, definitely the fabric of Strindberg's life. I found the little slipper scene where Mrs. X makes fun of her husband is echoed in observations about Strindberg's thoughts on women. During this period he "was preoccupied by the new discoveries in psychology and the 'women question.' He was particularly interested in how a smaller and weaker person could psychologically destroy a much stronger person. (Adams)". In the story line of the little play we find the situation is reversed from Strindberg's real life. In the play Bob is suspected of adultery with Miss Y. In the marriage it is Siri who feels the weight of the accusations while in reality it is Strindberg who has had at least one affair. The soap opera like quality of the Strindberg family finds its way on stage. I would have liked to have been in the audience. No wonder Siri played her part well.

Strindberg was highly critical of his wife Siri. He wrestles with the "woman question", feminism of the time. It has been said that for Strindberg "woman existed for him only as her status as a wife", but not really as an individuals. He does not believe they should have a profession, (Jaspers 104) believing they, among other very derogatory things, should remain in the home. Several authors called him a misogynist. It is with some irony that the dialogue in the play he has Mrs. X , played by his wife defend his belief, "yes Amelia dear, the home is best" (Strindberg, The Stronger 47).

About the opening of Strindberg's theatre and the plays Ewbank's comments that the naturalist Strindberg "had written himself into a minimalist corner with plays like "The Stronger" and then fallen silent" (Marker 12). Strindberg would eventually suffer a severe schizophrenic episode, hold on to his sanity by writing and come back, converted to religion and write the best work of his career in the modernist form.

Modern theatre I believe was transformed because the writer Strindberg was willing to bare his very human soul. He writes of a man who struggles with himself, others and the Forces, a man who compares himself at one point to Jacob struggling with God. This exercise in honesty makes his work powerful, genuine and unforgettable. Strindberg's search for new expressions is courageous seeing he rarely finds financial success or personal happiness.

In the irony that is life; during my divorce the conversation with my friends which reminds me of the play "The Stronger" becomes an accusation of adultery by my ex-husband. So maybe my life, like Strindberg's would run well on the stage. At least be of some interest for those of us who are not unlike the turn of the 18^th century audience, like a slice of someone else's life served up every once in awhile. Work Cited

Adams, Ann-Charlotte Gave. "Twentieth-Century Swedish Writers Before World War II ".Dictionary of

Literary Biography 259. Edited by Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams. University of Washington. 2002.

236-268. Online. Gale Database. 10 Feb.2008.

Ewbank, Inga Stina. "The Intimate Theatre: Shakespeare Teaches Strindberg Theatrical Modernism".

Theatre Journal 50 -2 (May 1998): 165-174. Online. Project Muse. 10 Feb.2008.

Jaspers, Karl. Strindberg and Van Gogh. Trans. Oskar Grunow and David Woloshin.Tucson. The University of Arizona Press. 1977.

Fredrick J, Lise-Lone Marker. Strindberg and Modernist Threatre. Cambridge. Cambridge

University. 2002.

Strindberg, August. Plays of Confession and Therapy. Trans. Walter Johnson. Seattle. University of

Washington Press. 1979.

- - -, Pre-Inferno Plays. Trans. Walter Johnson. New York. W.W. Norton & Compant Inc.

1970.

- - -, Son of a Servant. Trans. Evert Sprinchorn. Garden City. Doubleday & Co.1966.

- - -, "The Stronger."Text Book: Writing Through Literature. 3^rd ed. Robert Scholes,

Nancy R. Comley and Gregory L. Ulmer. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin.2002. 46-50.