Christine Character Analysis

Christine is the cook on the Count’s estate and Jean’s lover. In contrast to Julie, Christine models conventional, nurturing femininity, cooking and comforting Jean even when he is cold or distant. Christine is a servant who, unlike Jean, has no designs about improving her social standing, and sees the desire to improve one’s social position as disloyal. According to Strindberg, Christine “is a female slave, full of servility and sluggishness acquired in front of the kitchen fire, and stuffed full of morality and religion.” And indeed, Christine hides behind conventional piety and godliness in order to shame Miss Julie for her promiscuity, and to chastise Jean for his desire to achieve his social ascent at the expense of someone else. Because Strindberg views Jean’s manipulation of Miss Julie as a necessary step in his escape from servitude, he views Christine’s morality, by contrast, as a weakness—characteristic of those working class people who, unlike Jean, do not possess the intelligence and drive to succeed in the world. However, Christine ultimately uses her moral and spiritual high ground to leave the Count’s estate. By promising to inform the stable boy of any plot by Jean or Julie to escape, Christine seals Julie’s fate and makes Jean unable to escape as well.