1
0
Summary
Characters
1) Mrs. X (married actress)
2) Miss Y (unmarried actress, Bob’s beloved)
3) Bob (Mrs. X’s husband)
“The Stronger” is a play by August Strindberg. It is an ironic work. It is one of the most famous of Strindberg’s one-act plays. He wrote it in 1890 for the Experiment Theater in Copenhagen (the capital and most populous city of Denmark).
“The Stronger” is unusual because only one character speaks while the other listens and reacts. The speaking character tells and interprets a narrative of events. The title of the play suggests that the events that are narrated makes up a character contest over which woman is the stronger. Strindberg’s approach used in the analysis would cover the discussion of gender role, women’s self-esteem, competition for males, women’s friendships, ego style, and female psychology. “The Stronger” has shown an mysterious attraction in Strindberg’s authorship in which the readers could see the co -existence, crash, conflict, and merge of different models concerning sex, gender, and sexuality.
In the play, there are two characters who are women simply called Mrs. X and Miss Y. Only Mrs. X speaks and Miss Y responds with body languages. The play represents a triangular love among Mrs. X, Miss Y and Bob but Bob never appears in the play. Bob and Miss Y were in love. Mrs. X has still fear that Miss Y and Bob will get romance by visiting secretly. The play sets in the female restaurant where Miss Y is drinking beer. She is alone on the festival, Christmas Eve. In the mean time, Mrs. X enters in the same restaurant and disturbs Miss Y. Then Mrs. X shows a slipper decorated with tulip (flowers) that she has bought for her husband, Bob. She insults Miss Y saying that she should not stay alone on Christmas Eve. She also advised Miss Y to entertain with her partners. She also instructs Miss Y that it is her time to get marry and settle. She says that Bob does not love her any more.
Now being proud, Mrs. X requests her to forgive and forget her husband. She reveals that she also forgives him. Mrs. X has also bought a toy pistol for her child. She shoots Miss Y mockingly(for fun). Being jealousy, Mrs. X says that Bob does not love her anymore. If she does not believe, she requests Miss Y to come at home to see their love.
Then Mrs. X talks about her husband’s physical structure. He is small but very handsome. So, once as they were in Norway, she says that many girls had loved him. In fact, Mrs. X hates tulip because as Miss Y and Bob were in love, Miss Y would offer him tulip in everything. She would decorate his slipper with tulip or buy him tulip decorated slipper that Mrs. X had often notices. Mrs. X reveals that to make her husband happy like Miss Y, she drinks Miss Y’s drinks, reads Miss Y’s favorite authors’ book and eat Miss Y’s favorite dishes.
However, she has still doubt that Miss Y and her husband meet secretly. So, she says that Miss Y is eating her inside. At last she says that she will go home to love her husband and also thanks her for teaching her husband to love.
The play “The Stronger” is rich in irony. Although the play is very short, one can actually spend hours thinking about it and trying to understand its deep meaning. As the play progresses, we can see that Miss Y and Mrs. X are actually rivals. After reading the play, the question rises who is “the stronger”. On the one hand, Miss Y is seems stronger because she proves her stronger remaining silent against Mrs. X’s dirty accusations whether false or true. On the other hand Mrs. X seems stronger because she screams at Miss Y: “I hate you, hate you, hate you! But you you just sit there, silent, calm. She is also courageous enough to accept the truth about her husband’s love and she is able to go on. She says, “Thank you Miss Y, for teaching my husband to love! Now I am going home, to love him”.
Strindberg brings up the debate about the role of the women in society of that time. He shows the fundamental duality of women’s role in society. Mrs. X is a devoted mother and wife, a woman who has lost all individuality. She is a woman that enjoys the stability of family life. There are also some women like Miss Y who live their own life in their own manner. It is impossible to make a statement of who is “the stronger”.
Questions
1) Elaborate the triangular situation in the play.
Ans: Bob and Mrs. X are husband and wife. Bob and Miss Y were in love. In this way, the play represents a triangular love among Mrs. X, Miss Y and Bob but Bob never appears in the play. Mrs. X has still fear that Miss Y and Bob will get romance by visiting secretly.
2. How do you think Mrs. X won Bob from Miss Y?
Ans: Although Bob and Miss Y were in love, Bob did no marry to Miss Y. In this sense we can say that Mrs. X won Bob from Miss Y. Miss Y is staying alone in the restaurant even in the great festival, Christmas Eve. Now Mrs. X has won Bob from Miss Y and she wants to make him happy every time. For that, she drinks Miss Y’s drinks, reads Miss Y’s favorite authors’ book and eat Miss Y’s favorite dishes. She has also bought tulips slipper for her husband to make him happy.
3) Which of the two women is stronger? Why
Ans: Although Bob and Miss Y were in love, Bob did no marry to Miss Y. Miss Y is just staying alone in the restaurant even in the great festival, Christmas Eve. Now Mrs. X has her house, husband and children but Miss Y is alone. In that sense, we can say that Mrs. X is stronger and Miss Y is weaker.
4) What does the play tell us about women competing for males?
Ans: The play tells us about two women are competing for a man, Bob. Mrs. X tries to keep Miss Y away from her husband and hates whoever comes to her way. Miss X competes to have her husband from Miss Y. So, to win the heart of her husband, she has bought a tulip decorated slipper on Christmas Eve. Miss Y had also competes to have Bob because as she was in love with Bob, she would decorate his slipper by tulip.
6) Why does Mrs. X use tulips on the shoes, even though she hates the flowers?
Aas: Mrs. X uses tulips on the shoes even though she hates tulip flower to win the heart of her husband.
Average Rating