The portrayal of main female characters in August Strindberg’s plays

The portrayal of female characters especially in drama by August Strindberg has drawn the attention of researchers long ago for many reasons. This study aims at exploring the physical, social and physiological dimensions of the main female characters in order to understand their motives, arising conflicts due to their contributing factors and analyze the extent of Strindberg’s misogyny i.e. his strong dislike for women for creating those female characters who are shown as “demons” in his plays. Lagos Egri’s Tri-dimensional character bone structure as the main model were employed in the analysis of women’s role in Strindberg’s four plays namely The Father, Miss Julie, The Stronger and The Link. Strindberg’s female characters have a complete physical dimension; they are physically perfect and often portrayed as beautiful. They often belong to the upper class and are depicted as predominantly clever when dealing with others. This is perhaps due to the genetic factors and social traditions that Strindberg attributed to them. Strindberg focused mainly on the social and psychological dimensions of his female characters and conflicts with regard to their social class, gender, and psychological status were identified. However, it was difficult to make a conclusive decision on Strindberg’s position as a true misogynist as a critic and the author is divided into opinions. It can be concluded that the creation of drama characters can be a risky venture especially when involving female ones and the roles of the other characters in the overall development of the drama should not be underestimated.