This theme is stated explicitly in the preface, where Strindberg describes his two lead characters, Miss Julie and Jean, as vying against each other in an evolutionary "life and death" battle for a survival of the fittest.

The play has various themes, partly because Miss Julie's actions are motivated by a range of factors and influences: her class, her desires and impulsive nature, her father, and the dynamic traumas of her family histories.

The people in the play are described by Strindberg as "modern characters living in an age of transition [...] more vacillating and disintegrating than their predecessors, a mixture of the old and the new.

Miss Julie is not only successful as a naturalistic drama, but it is a play that has achieved the rare distinction of being performed on stages all over the world every year since it was written in 1888.

[8] The play was written as Strindberg was creating a new theatre of his own, the Scandinavian Naturalistic Theater, which would be founded in Copenhagen.

For example, the first audiences were spared the shock of hearing Miss Julie, in an angry moment, compare making love to Jean to an act of bestiality.)

Raised by her late mother to "think like and act like a man," she is a confused individual: she is aware of the power she holds, but switches between being above the servants and flirting with Jean, her father's manservant.

He has aspirations to rise from his station in life and manage his own hotel, and Miss Julie is part of his plan.

Christine delves into Miss Julie's background, stating how, unable to face her family after the humiliation of breaking her engagement, she stayed behind to mingle with the servants at the dance instead of going with her father to the Midsummer's Eve celebrations.

Miss Julie got rid of her fiancé seemingly because he refused her demand that he jump over a riding whip she was holding.

Jean takes out a bottle of fine wine with a "yellow seal" and reveals, by the way he flirts with her, that he and Christine are engaged.

Jean calls Miss Julie "too stuck-up in some ways and not proud enough in others," traits apparently inherited from her mother.

Despite Miss Julie's character flaws, Jean finds her beautiful or perhaps simply a stepping stone to achieve his lifelong goal of owning an inn.

When Miss Julie enters and asks Christine if the "meal" has finished cooking, Jean instantly shapes up, becoming charming and polite.

Jokingly, he asks if the women are gossiping about secrets or making a witch's broth for seeing Miss Julie's future suitor.

At this point Jean and Miss Julie notice some servants heading up to the house, singing a song that mocks the pair of them.

Now they are forced to figure out how to deal with it, as Jean theorizes that they can no longer live in the same household because he feels they will be tempted to continue their relationship until they are caught.