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Analysis of The Stronger by August Strindberg Essay

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The Stronger by August Strindberg is a play that is filled with irony. One of the first things noticed in this play is that the characters have no names, nor are they labeled by any type of status. Rather than having names like most plays, the two characters are differentiated by the letters "X" and "Y." Another ironic thing about this play, is how it is written; the dialogue of the play is not evenly spoken. Instead of the two characters conversing between one another, the play is written almost like a monologue where only Mrs. X speaks. Because Mrs. X is the only speaker, one would think that she is "the stronger," but ironically, she is not.

One reason Mrs. X is not thought to be the stronger is that she goes back …show more content…

X the stronger. She is not stronger because instead of confronting her husband attempting to resolve the relationship, she is scared to disrupt the false perfection of her marriage.

Another reason Mrs. X is not strong is that she has no control over her life; the irony about this is that she honestly believed that the decisions she made came from her own thought when they did not. When Mrs. X first discovers the affair between her husband and Miss Y, she realized that most of her decisions in life were based on her husband's knowledge of Miss Y's likes and dislikes: her vacations were by the lake because Miss Y hated the seaside; her son was named Eskil - the same as Miss Y's father's. The colors she wore, the books she read, the foods she ate, the drinks she drank were all favorites of Miss Y. Mrs. X's reaction to the discovery of these controls proves that she truly had no idea that her choices had been influenced. She responds, "That's why - oh my God, it's terrible to think of, terrible! Everything, everything came to me from you - even your passions." This proves how unexpectedly the facts were realized by Mrs. X.

Despite the proof of her weakness, Mrs. X still persuades herself that she is stronger; ironically, her proclamations of strength proves that she is not stronger. Mrs. X starts her persuasion by announcing to herself and to Miss Y that she prevails. She says, "Perhaps, my dear, taking everything into consideration, at this

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