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.
Christine Quotes in Miss Julie
The Miss Julie quotes below are all either spoken by Christine or refer to Christine. 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:
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Dover Thrift Editions edition of Miss Julie published in 1992.
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Miss Julie
Quotes
They were in the stable yard one evening, and the young lady was training him, as she called it. Do you know what that meant? She made him leap over her horse whip the way you teach a dog to jump.
Related Characters:
Jean (speaker), Miss Julie, Christine
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Explanation and Analysis:
…but there's after all some difference between one kind of people and another- No, but this is something I'll never get over – And the young lady was so proud, and so tart to the men, that you couldn't believe she would ever let one come near her-and such a one at that!
Related Characters:
Christine (speaker), Miss Julie, Jean
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
That’s good and well, but it isn't my style to think of dying all at once for the sake of wife and children. I must say that my plans have been looking toward something better than that kind of thing
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Christine Character Timeline in Miss Julie
The timeline below shows where the character Christine appears in Miss Julie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Author’s Preface
Strindberg abruptly changes his focus to Christine, who he explains is “purposefully sketched as an ordinary character,” meant to stand in for...
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In terms of the characters, Strindberg chose to exclusively focus on Jean and Julie (adding Christine in for reference), but he made sure to keep the “unfortunate spirit of the father...
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Strindberg explains that he uses a pantomime instead of a monologue when Christine cleans the kitchen because he believes that monologues are unrealistic, and only truly talented and...
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Miss Julie
On Midsummer’s Eve, Christine (a cook) is working in the kitchen. Jean (a valet) enters and begins cleaning his...
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Christine explains that Miss Julie has been crazy ever since she ended her engagement with the...
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Christine gives Jean the food she has been saving for him but Jean is displeased, chiding...
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Christine explains that she is making food for Miss Julie’s dog, Diana, who is pregnant after...
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...links, but insisting on riding horses like a man and dancing brazenly with male servants. Christine asks Jean to dance with her after she finishes cooking and he agrees.
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Miss Julie enters, ostensibly to check if Christine has finished the tonic for her dog. Miss Julie is immediately flirtatious with Jean, asking...
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In a pantomime sequence, Christine finishes her cooking, looks at herself in the mirror, and curls the front of her...
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Jean returns alone, explaining that Miss Julie has been dancing wildly. Christine says that Julie is on her period and often becomes erratic when she has it....
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Julie re-enters and is unhappy to see Jean and Christine being so familiar. Miss Julie orders Jean to change out of his servant’s uniform to...
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Christine has fallen asleep by the stove. Julie remarks that she will make a good wife,...
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...would only fuel the fire. Julie replies coyly that they are not alone, pointing to Christine who mumbles in her sleep and then wakes herself up to go to bed.
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Christine enters, dressed to go to church. She chastises Jean for the messy state of the...
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Christine surmises that Julie and Jean have slept together. She tells Jean that she is not...
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Christine councils Jean that he should find a “respectable” job since they will soon be married....
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...prized canary. The sun has risen and Julie is incredibly nervous. Jean tells her that Christine is awake, but he lies by saying that Christine suspects nothing of Julie and Jean’s...
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Christine re-enters and Julie begs her to “protect” her against Jean as a woman and as...
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Miss Julie tries to convince Christine to run away with her and Jean, telling her that the three of them could...
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Christine asks Julie if she truly believes the story that the three of them could happily...
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Christine counters that she has plenty of respect herself, but Jean chides her for shaming him...
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Christine urges Jean to come to church with her and to use the sermon to cleanse...
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Julie asks Christine if she truly believes in God. Christine answers that she has always believed that God’s...
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...thanks him. Julie asks Jean if she will also receive God’s grace, contrary to what Christine said about rich men not receiving heavenly forgiveness. Jean says he cannot tell her something...
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