Jean’s refusal to submit to Miss Julie suggests that, unlike her fiancé, he is not a “degenerate” man, but possesses the “natural” male impulse to dominate and lead. We worry about her and wonder at her behavior, but cannot look away. Julie’s insistence that her servants “love her” is just another way that she refuses to understand the reality of the social hierarchy. By placing himself at Julie’s command, Jean makes himself both socially and emotionally submissive to Julie. Although the audience cannot hear what Jean whispers to Julie, it becomes clear that he has commanded her to take her own life.

Miss Julie feigns innocence, protesting that Christine is with them anyway. The setting is an estate of a count in Sweden. Jean refuses. Jean enters alone, howling once again that Miss Julie is wild. The “horrible power” of which she speaks is perhaps none other than what Strindberg would call her “natural” femininity. Julie teases him, wondering if his imagination has perhaps gotten the better of him. Jean and Christine believe Julie’s “mistaken” upbringing and her mother’s influence to be the reasons that she is not able to meet even the most basic expectations of aristocratic society. Julie’s very humanity, it seems, is crushed by the burden of her ancestry. By telling Jean that she would only be jealous if he danced with a member of his own class over her, Christine indicates that she is firmly entrenched in her servant’s outlook, and does not possess Jean’s desire to transcend it. Jean even remembers seeing Julie when she was a child.Christine falls asleep next to the stove. On the other hand, by telling Christine to respect her “mistress,” Jean further indicates that he is superior to Christine and therefore has the power to chastise her.

In addition to calling her a “whore” he further humiliates her by explaining that he lied about being in love with her, and therefore their entire sexual encounter was based on false information and false trust. Without the dominance afforded by her title, Miss Julie can only define herself based on Jean’s insults, so she agrees that she is “wretched.” Jean’s ability to dictate the terms of Julie’s suicide is the ultimate indication that he has achieved full sexual and emotional dominance over her. When the Count rebelled, and became the master of his house once more, he also re-instituted the “sexual aristocracy” which places men in control of their wives. Julie’s admission that she “no longer believes in anything” indicates that her continual “fight against nature” has left her confused and untethered to the reality of both society and her own life. The county attorney is an example of the kind of “degenerate” man that Strindberg refers to in the preface, whom “half-women” convince to “breed” with them. In Strindberg’s preface, he makes it clear that Jean is right to assume that he will be able to eventually own his own hotel and even buy a title of his own if he wants one. Jean is immediately conscious of Miss Julie’s reputation and social position, while Julie seems to be willfully ignorant of it. By stopping Julie and Jean from running away together Christine proves herself to be, as Strindberg explains, “full of servility and sluggishness.” Unlike Jean, Christine does not have the vision to recognize her own worth, and therefore is destined to continue as a “slave,” contributing to the outdated hierarchy of the aristocracy and limiting “new men” like Jean from achieving their goals.
The servants enter and sing and dance around the kitchen before exiting. He knows if he can reach the first branch he could succeed, but never reaches it. Christine shuffles off to bed. Struggling with distance learning? The fact that Julie follows Jean’s command at the sound of her father’s bell reflects a reversal of the power dynamic that initiated the play: Julie has, in the play’s final moment, become the servant. She is portrayed as a devious, fickle temptress. Having successfully seduced Julie, Jean now also has the power to humiliate and shame her for her “unnatural,” brazen sexuality. Importantly, the Count’s presence has an equally stark effect on both Julie and Jean, reminding Jean of his duties to his social class and Julie of her duties to (and betrayal of) her family’s honor. Julie accepts Jean’s story as true, though it is later revealed to be false, because it plays into her own conception of poverty as a dramatic, exciting, and freeing condition that will strip her of the stifling responsibilities of nobility.