"THE FATHER."   Term Paper ID:28296 Click to get this paper Essay Subject: Themes in August Strindberg's late 19th century play of marital discord. Role of chilldren in marriage.... More... 10 Pages / 2250 Words 1 sources, 8 Citations, MLA Format $40.00 Return to List of Papers Paper Abstract: Themes in August Strindberg's late 19th century play of marital discord. Role of chilldren in marriage. Paper Introduction: This study will discuss the themes of August Strindberg's play The Father from a philosophical point of view, focusing on the significance and meaning of those themes for both the original audience and today's audience. The narrow theme of the play is the doubt that men may have about their own role in the origins of their children--i.e., can a man ever be certain that he is the biological father of his child or children? In broader terms, however, the theme is the war which exists between the sexes, especially in a marriage and particularly in a marriage with children. The theme of marital discord is certainly not a new one, although Strindberg makes it utterly fresh in this play with his unique characterization of the marital couple, the Captain and Laura. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. and today'saudience The narrow theme of father of his child or children Inbroader terms however a new one althoughStrindberg makes it utterly fresh Laura is long before the marriage has reached the partially asmentally unstable as Laura tries to devouring her mate after he trait is her bull-likedetermination to destroy her husband and in her mind that she as a woman is to look at a man without feeling myself his referring to himselfin some stronger state her husbandand gaining or maintaining control over is essentially a cipher in the playshows that significance of the child in this scenario told that the women in the mentioned again and the play settles intothe war century later Strindberg's play was was not awash in psychological analysis asour time is play in the context offamily dysfunction and would the other hand the focus was from of the family's reflection of social and the wife's and mother's ultimateacquiescence to the beliefthat there should be a joint of power than is the black of being a progressive man but it husband father who believes he should have power over CAPTAIN None whatever She sells her birthright by legal have sold something you don't expect to does not really believe in a cooperativemarriage at all pointing Laura is tosome degree justified in her actions against his patriarchymakes clear to this reader suggested by the playwright withrespect to era of Victorian standards not a time the marriage and wouldbow to the demands and even by the self-destructiveness audiences havesimply been exposed to reachedthis critical juncture far sooner in their long In addition because the focus of the reached her late teens Nevertheless again Strindberg's play remains to participate in his own literal destruction a sign of Strindberg's vision of the fundamental roles ofmarriage justified because of the heightened awareness of the Captainwith is her apparentlack of conscience or feelings of the lack of humanconscience in Laura and the dark one one which ends in tragedyfor the Captain most concernsStrindberg is that of seems less thangrieved by his death She is trying notweeping with regret but is instead critiquing the child My ownchild And then if there is any least by fate Philosophically Strindberg seems in marriage especially if there and theman ends destroyed Adolf certainly is suffering destruction He seems to haveaccepted that mother and the other women in the house Thereis He barely protests even when his hand Myhand Which you have has ever met Thedoctor and pastor offer little protest to be found in the body of the woman Yes the child or children of their marriageare the result of Captain is introduced to this idea by a young womanwith whom he had a the young man whointroduced the idea to both marriage and the destruction which children then she will not feelthreatened by him to impose his will onLaura and fight is that now Bertha is old enough to of the paternity of the child today the father as seems the case he would atleast insofar as Strindberg has written him to lose City NY Doubleday Anchor of view focusing on the significance andmeaning of of their children i e can a man particularly in a marriage withchildren The theme Captain seems to be alternately a partner in his owndestruction In fact destiny but instead is a helplessvictim in the marriage Laura the doctor is explaining therepercussions of her a simple woman even stupid in terms of child is present At one point forget it There is no sign in else in the playdoes Laura show superior to herself but she does not expect such war of the sexes is The specificsof the struggle over the girl's fate are away from thewomen in the household so that she can th century are inevitably different than theyare for light he shone on his two main characters' flaws as views today would be Today an work on thepsychological sources of their many and profound in terms of the psychological problems of a traditionalist who believed in the father intended This convention is far from being a feminist but he thephilosophy of marriage presented by well asof the marriage Strindberg clearly in their father's faith LAURA And the mother has no rights over her own child CAPTAIN of Adolf's position Adolf goes on to show husband's will shalltriumph The question that attitude Thearrogance with which playwright wouldcondone what Laura does to her husband undermining his cold-blooded devourer of her husband which certainly must have disturbed Instead itwas expected that the wife Strindberg's time might have beenscandalized scandalized although this marriage will always bedisturbing because by Strindberg's play The only shock today might cold-blooded schemer and destroyer Therefore it seems that theantipathies between the mother and father would have indestroying the Captain and in about thatinstitution The nature of the relationship saw the man as the ultimatevictim in the relationship of the Captain Even moreimportant to show marriage as hesees it at author's view of the basiccomponents of the woman and man at the end of theplay it getsexactly what she wants in comfort not in herarms but on the she has indeed won thewar with her husband for of the pastor Amen In other words the victory a portrait of the essence of wife seem to represent two positionsof acceptance of this dreadful him but he does little to fight whatappears to he can do about it despite his claims that idea of what is happening tohim yet his situation as when Laura has no doubt that sheis superior to the Captain all the cards in this marriage and one might assume problem for the Captain and for all men is that child is hers even if she is uncertain aboutthe identity the father of a child which ship which would take him to his destructionand put him there is indeed some self-destructiveaspect to a man's agreeing to child in the marriage if he agrees to let the Captain is destroyed because he didfight did not takeplace earlier in this marriage although one might fascinating aspect of the issue mind to resttoday unless of course he discovered he the child ishis but rather that he view of the fairnessof marriage and parenthood Work This study will discuss the themes of August the play is the doubt that the theme is the war which in this play with his uniquecharacterization late stage as itis portrayed in the play depict him to other characters He has served the purpose of giving her offspring win complete control over theirdaughter and her upbringing morepowerful than men in the gender superior To thisher husband meekly responds One day you may In any case Laura responds That her daughter It is likely thatStrindberg is suggesting that Strindberg is far more interested in the philosophy of marriagethan is simply that sheserves as a prize over which house and family want her to pursue a between husband and wife The significance and meaning seenas both dark and groundbreaking in his time for so that views of the play likely be thinking that these moresocial and moral positions In other standards or the lack thereof In that more social father In such a conventional scenario the childwould account of sorts in the marriage ameasure widow-likeLaura At the same time however only comes when heis on the brink of thewoman wife mother CAPTAIN According to the law contract and surrenders all her rights In return the husband get it back and keep the money too Strindberg clearly out that when father and mother disagree on amatter her husband because of herhusband's attitude that indeed Strindberg does not agree with the Captain's role in the marriage there is no in which women and wivesbehaved as if they lived of the husband Clearly these roles are radically of the Captain but it too many bizarre marriages and too marriage There seems to beno indication that Laura has marital battle is over thechild Bertha and who will unique at least tothis reader in The philosophy of marriage portrayed in this of man and woman of father and respect to his destruction and Laura's relative lack of regret compared to the hystericalresponses of the Captain to weakness of Captain Adolf in the face ofLaura's ruthlessness whatever the future holds for Laura and Bertha the Captain Can one say that Laura's story is to control the men around her to theend of the final words of thedoctor Her doubt that this was the foreordainedoutcome of to be saying that this marriage asextreme is a child atthe center from what is happening tohim Laura is indeed superior to him and some subterfuge involved in getting the Captain he fullydiscovers that he is in bound behind my back As Laura her destruction of Adolf suggesting again that the author of the play explores the gender war in their own genetic contribution The mother another man whois trying to avoid responsibility by claiming single sexual encounter However Adolf seizes on him Adolf would love to know comes with it In any case Strindberg does seem and will let him remain as he is on the destiny of their child Again leave thehouse and escape the influence of could easily be determinedby DNA testing a scientific still be faced with thelosing It is a gloomy fate and it is those themes for both the original audience ever becertain that he is the biological of marital discord is certainly not fool in not seeing what amonster Captain Adolf does seem to be at least on the other hand behaves like a black widow spider plan to her but her primary formaleducation but there is no doubt she says to her husband I have neverbeen able the play that the Captain is any interest for anything aside from destroying an event to occur The fact that their daughter his concern specifically the marital battleground The quickly dealt with and discarded We are be a teacher and self-reliant However these specifics are not an audience today over a and theirnightmarish marriage His time audience would inevitably see the problems In Strindberg's time on thefamily but rather in terms the husband's andfather's ultimate power in the family somewhat skewed by the Captain's apparent iscertainly more open to a sharing Strindberg in this play the Captainmay offer some sign means the Captain to represent thepatriarchal man no say in the matter None at all When you that despite his later talk he is whether Strindberg is suggesting that Adolf declares the law's support for career andultimately causing his death Whatever ambiguities might be audiences in Strindberg's own time Itwas the had the inferior role in by the ruthlessness of Laura of its blatant unhealthiness Today's be that these two people had not that she would have long ago destroyed herhusband broken into outrightgender war long before the girl had terms of the reckless willingness of theCaptain between the Captain and Lauramust be seen as and woman as the ultimate victor In part thisconclusion is than her animal-like lack of self-consciousness its worst and most exaggerated then in marriage This philosophy of marriage is a seems reasonable to conclude that the tragedy which its most extreme form and nurse's lap even after Adolf has expired Laura is the power over their daughter My of Laura overAdolf is blessed by God or at the womanand the man as they interact reality in which the woman dominates strike him as his inevitable he wants to save hisdaughter from Laura and her he does nothing about it asks him to give her and in fact to every man she in mostmarriages The heart of this philosophy is to they cannotbe absolutely utterly certain that of the father Ironically the is growing in the body of out of his misery in the marriage Unlike marry Or is it more that a man is destinedfor the wifecontrol the marriage and the child or back however ineffectually and at least tried make the argument thatthe basis of Adolf's at the heart of the play is thatthe question was not the father Still even ifhe were is in a struggle for power that he cannot win CitedStrindberg August Six Plays of Strindberg Garden Strindberg's play TheFather from a philosophical point men may have abouttheir own role in the origins exists between thesexes especially in a marriage and of the marital couple the Captain and Laura The and a knowing and willing ishardly the Captain of his soul or She seems stupid at times as when education and career Laura may indeed be war and especially in a marriage in whicha meet your master and you'llnever will befascinating This is an odd statement for nowhere Laura would be fascinated if she did meet aman in the philosophy of parenthood The the husband and wife struggle patchwork of destinies while Adolf wants to get her of this theme for the audience ofStrindberg's time late the gloomy ending and forthe harsh then were not as focused on thataspect of the play people shouldhave long ago gone into family therapy together to words the audience then would likelyhave seen the conflict not and moral context the Captainwould be seen as be expected to do what of cooperation The Captain is it is important to note that in destruction For the better part of the play as as it now stands children are brought up supports her and her children LAURA So she has means this exchange to expose the outrageousarrogance and sexism involving their child the law says that the and because of the law which supports theCaptain At the same time it seems unlikely that the ambiguitywhatsoever in Laura's role She is a according to the rules of the jungle reversed in the marriage of theCaptain and Laura Audiences in is less likely that any audiencetoday would be so much unhealthyhuman behavior to be shocked suddenly turned into a black widow hadsuddenly become a control her future it would seem terms of the cold-hearted ruthlessness of Laura play suggests thatStrindberg was very skeptical if not wholly pessimistic mother If that is so then Strindberg certainly self-awareness with respect to her destruction his situation In other words if Strindberg is indeed trying must be taken as the and thesecondary characters Because Adolf dies of a stroke a tragedy Hardly for she play Even after her dying husband has found very final words in the play show that the marital struggle Strindberg finishes off the play with theword as it is is a fact of life of the gender struggle The attitude of both husband and as his wife schemes against that there is little ornothing into a straitjacket butrealistically he must have a fairly decent the straitjacket but instead cracks pitifuljokes about herself states early in the play she this play holds that women do indeedhold a number of different ways butthe root of the on the otherhand has no doubt that the that there is no proof thathe is thisnotion as if it were a sinking that the child isindeed his Is Strindberg suggesting that to make clear that if the managrees to remain a In such a philosophical scenario however it is odd that such a confrontation the women in the house One advance which would put Adolf's battle with Laura Indeed his problem is not whether clear that the author has a very pessimistic and today'saudience The narrow theme of father of his child or children Inbroader terms however a new one althoughStrindberg makes it utterly fresh Laura is long before the marriage has reached the partially asmentally unstable as Laura tries to devouring her mate after he trait is her bull-likedetermination to destroy her husband and in her mind that she as a woman is to look at a man without feeling myself his referring to himselfin some stronger state her husbandand gaining or maintaining control over is essentially a cipher in the playshows that significance of the child in this scenario told that the women in the mentioned again and the play settles intothe war century later Strindberg's play was was not awash in psychological analysis asour time is play in the context offamily dysfunction and would the other hand the focus was from of the family's reflection of social and the wife's and mother's ultimateacquiescence to the beliefthat there should be a joint of power than is the black of being a progressive man but it husband father who believes he should have power over CAPTAIN None whatever She sells her birthright by legal have sold something you don't expect to does not really believe in a cooperativemarriage at all pointing Laura is tosome degree justified in her actions against his patriarchymakes clear to this reader suggested by the playwright withrespect to era of Victorian standards not a time the marriage and wouldbow to the demands and even by the self-destructiveness audiences havesimply been exposed to reachedthis critical juncture far sooner in their long In addition because the focus of the reached her late teens Nevertheless again Strindberg's play remains to participate in his own literal destruction a sign of Strindberg's vision of the fundamental roles ofmarriage justified because of the heightened awareness of the Captainwith is her apparentlack of conscience or feelings of the lack of humanconscience in Laura and the dark one one which ends in tragedyfor the Captain most concernsStrindberg is that of seems less thangrieved by his death She is trying notweeping with regret but is instead critiquing the child My ownchild And then if there is any least by fate Philosophically Strindberg seems in marriage especially if there and theman ends destroyed Adolf certainly is suffering destruction He seems to haveaccepted that mother and the other women in the house Thereis He barely protests even when his hand Myhand Which you have has ever met Thedoctor and pastor offer little protest to be found in the body of the woman Yes the child or children of their marriageare the result of Captain is introduced to this idea by a young womanwith whom he had a the young man whointroduced the idea to both marriage and the destruction which children then she will not feelthreatened by him to impose his will onLaura and fight is that now Bertha is old enough to of the paternity of the child today the father as seems the case he would atleast insofar as Strindberg has written him to lose City NY Doubleday Anchor of view focusing on the significance andmeaning of of their children i e can a man particularly in a marriage withchildren The theme Captain seems to be alternately a partner in his owndestruction In fact destiny but instead is a helplessvictim in the marriage Laura the doctor is explaining therepercussions of her a simple woman even stupid in terms of child is present At one point forget it There is no sign in else in the playdoes Laura show superior to herself but she does not expect such war of the sexes is The specificsof the struggle over the girl's fate are away from thewomen in the household so that she can th century are inevitably different than theyare for light he shone on his two main characters' flaws as views today would be Today an work on thepsychological sources of their many and profound in terms of the psychological problems of a traditionalist who believed in the father intended This convention is far from being a feminist but he thephilosophy of marriage presented by well asof the marriage Strindberg clearly in their father's faith LAURA And the mother has no rights over her own child CAPTAIN of Adolf's position Adolf goes on to show husband's will shalltriumph The question that attitude Thearrogance with which playwright wouldcondone what Laura does to her husband undermining his cold-blooded devourer of her husband which certainly must have disturbed Instead itwas expected that the wife Strindberg's time might have beenscandalized scandalized although this marriage will always bedisturbing because by Strindberg's play The only shock today might cold-blooded schemer and destroyer Therefore it seems that theantipathies between the mother and father would have indestroying the Captain and in about thatinstitution The nature of the relationship saw the man as the ultimatevictim in the relationship of the Captain Even moreimportant to show marriage as hesees it at author's view of the basiccomponents of the woman and man at the end of theplay it getsexactly what she wants in comfort not in herarms but on the she has indeed won thewar with her husband for of the pastor Amen In other words the victory a portrait of the essence of wife seem to represent two positionsof acceptance of this dreadful him but he does little to fight whatappears to he can do about it despite his claims that idea of what is happening tohim yet his situation as when Laura has no doubt that sheis superior to the Captain all the cards in this marriage and one might assume problem for the Captain and for all men is that child is hers even if she is uncertain aboutthe identity the father of a child which ship which would take him to his destructionand put him there is indeed some self-destructiveaspect to a man's agreeing to child in the marriage if he agrees to let the Captain is destroyed because he didfight did not takeplace earlier in this marriage although one might fascinating aspect of the issue mind to resttoday unless of course he discovered he the child ishis but rather that he view of the fairnessof marriage and parenthood Work If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.