_Countess Julie_ inherited the primitive, intense passion of her mother and the neurotic aristocratic tendencies of her father. Added to this heritage is the call of the wild, the "intense summer heat when the blood turns to fire, and when all are in a holiday spirit, full of gladness, and rank is flung aside." _Countess Julie_ feels, when too late, that the barrier of rank reared through the ages, by wealth and power, is not flung aside with impunity. Therein the vicious brutality, the boundless injustice of rank. The people on the estate of _Julie's_ father are celebrating St. John's Eve with dance, song and revelry. The Count is absent, and _Julie_ graciously mingles with the servants. But once having tasted the simple abandon of the people, once having thrown off the artifice and superficiality of her aristocratic decorum, her suppressed passions leap into full flame, and _Julie_ throws herself into the arms of her father's valet, _Jean_--not because of love for the man, nor yet openly and freely, but as persons of her station may do when carried away by the moment. The woman in _Julie_ pursues the male, follows him into the kitchen, plays with him as with a pet dog, and then feigns indignation when _Jean_, aroused, makes advances. How dare he, the servant, the lackey, even insinuate that she would have him! "I, the lady of the house! I honor the people with my presence. I, in love with my coachman? I, who step down." How well Strindberg knows the psychology of the upper classes! How well he understands that their graciousness, their charity, their interest in the "common people" is, after all, nothing but arrogance, blind conceit of their own importance and ignorance of the character of the people. Even though _Jean_ is a servant, he has his pride, he has his dreams. "I was not hired to be your plaything," he says to _Julie_; "I think too much of myself for that." Strange, is it not, that those who serve and drudge for others, should think so much of themselves as to refuse to be played with? Stranger still that they should indulge in dreams. _Jean_ says: