A Comparison of the Themes between August Strindberg's Naturalistic and Expressionistic Plays

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to acquaint the reader with some of August Strindberg's major dramatic themes. Since so little has been written in the English language about the plays of Strindberg, the paper is to be regarded as something of an introduction to this playwright. It attempts to expose the content of certain plays as a basis for and prelude to further studies about this much-neglected, yet important and fascinating, Swedish dramatist. It is beyond the scope of this paper to delve into a probing analysis of Strindberg's style or to consider the significance of certain symbols he may use or, for that matter, to consider other similarly subtle points appearing in the plays.