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Christine
Though she doesn’t appear in the play, Miss Julie’s mother set Miss Julie up for failure (according to Strindberg) by teaching her about female equality and raising her without gender or the skills needed to adjust to a “natural” life as a wife and mother. Miss Julie’s mother was born to common parents without any desire to get married or have children. However, when Julie’s father (the Count) proposed, Julie’s mother said yes and had a child “against her will.” As a result, Julie’s mother disdained men, especially her husband, and set about ruining his reputation and life. Her unconventional ideas made Julie’s family the laughing stock of their province, and ultimately lead their family to bankruptcy. When Julie’s father rebelled and took control of his home, Julie’s mother became violently ill and conspired with her lover, a bricklayer, to burn down their farm and have her husband borrow money from the bricklayer to rebuild. However, once the bricklayer collected the money, he swindled Julie’s mother, leading, eventually, to her death. Within the play, Miss Julie’s story about her mother is meant to illustrate the source of her “degeneracy.” The story also foreshadows Miss Julie’s own death after similarly placing her trust in a low-born lover who swindles her.
Julie’s Mother Quotes in Miss Julie
The Miss Julie quotes below are all either spoken by Julie’s Mother or refer to Julie’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Miss Julie
Quotes
The young lady is too stuck up in some ways and not proud enough in others. Just as was the countess when she lived. She was most at home in the kitchen and among the cows, but she would never drive with only one horse.
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I came into the world-against my mother’s wish, I have come to think. Then my mother wanted to bring me up in a perfectly natural state, and at the same time I was to learn everything that a boy is taught, so that I might prove that a woman is just as good as a man.
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But he was the one who reared me in contempt for my own sex—half woman and half man! Whose fault is it, this that has happened? My father's—my mother's—my own? My own? Why, I have nothing that is my own.
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Get the entire Miss Julie LitChart as a printable PDF.
Julie’s Mother Quotes in Miss Julie
The Miss Julie quotes below are all either spoken by Julie’s Mother or refer to Julie’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Miss Julie
Quotes
The young lady is too stuck up in some ways and not proud enough in others. Just as was the countess when she lived. She was most at home in the kitchen and among the cows, but she would never drive with only one horse.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I came into the world-against my mother’s wish, I have come to think. Then my mother wanted to bring me up in a perfectly natural state, and at the same time I was to learn everything that a boy is taught, so that I might prove that a woman is just as good as a man.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
But he was the one who reared me in contempt for my own sex—half woman and half man! Whose fault is it, this that has happened? My father's—my mother's—my own? My own? Why, I have nothing that is my own.
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