August Strindberg could not help attacking with much bitterness such a farce and outrage parading in the disguise of radicalism. For _Bertha_ is not an exceptional, isolated case. To-day, as when Strindberg satirized the all-too-feminine, the majority of so-called emancipated women are willing to accept, like _Bertha_, everything from the man, and yet feel highly indignant if he asks in return the simple comforts of married life. The ordinary wife, at least, does not pretend to play an important rôle in the life of her husband. But the Berthas deceive themselves and others with the notion that the "emancipated" wife is a great moral force, an inspiration to the man. Whereas in reality she is often a cold-blooded exploiter of the work and ideas of the man, a heavy handicap to his life-purpose, retarding his growth as effectively as did her grandmothers in the long ago. _Bertha_ takes advantage of _Axel's_ affection to further her own artistic ambitions, just as the Church and State married woman uses her husband's love to advance her social ambitions. It never occurs to _Bertha_ that she is no less despicable than her legally married sister. She cannot understand _Axel's_ opposition to an art that clamors only for approval, distinction and decorations. However, _Axel_ can not resist _Bertha's_ pleadings. He visits the patron saint of the salon, who, by the way, is not M. Roubey, but Mme. Roubey; for she is the "President of the Woman-Painter Protective Society." What chance would _Bertha_ have with one of her own sex in authority? Hence her husband must be victimized. During _Axel's_ absence _Bertha_ learns that his picture has been refused by the salon, while hers is accepted. She is not in the least disturbed, nor at all concerned over the effect of the news on _Axel_. On the contrary, she is rather pleased because "so many women are refused that a man might put up with it, and be made to feel it once." In her triumph _Bertha's_ attitude to _Axel_ becomes overbearing; she humiliates him, belittles his art, and even plans to humble him before the guests invited to celebrate _Bertha's_ artistic success. But _Axel_ is tearing himself free from the meshes of his decaying love. He begins to see _Bertha_ as she is: her unscrupulousness in money matters, her ceaseless effort to emasculate him. In a terrible word tussle he tells her: "I had once been free, but you clipped the hair of my strength while my tired head lay in your lap. During sleep you stole my best blood." In the last act _Bertha_ discovers that _Axel_ had generously changed the numbers on the paintings in order to give her a better chance. It was _his_ picture that was chosen as _her_ work. She feels ashamed and humiliated; but it is too late. _Axel_ leaves her with the exclamation, "I want to meet my comrades in the café, but at home I want a wife."