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58 Strindberg
comes a question of life and death, a moment
that means discovery and consequent ruin, or
safety for both.
Jean, though the male is aroused in him, pleads
with Julie not to play with fire, begs her to re
turn to her room, and not to give the servants a
chance for gossip. And when later Jean suggests
his room for a hiding place that Julie may escape
the approaching merry-makers, it is to save her
from their songs full of insinuation and ribaldry.
Finally when the inevitable happens, when as a
result of their closeness in Jean s room, of their
overwrought nerves, their intense passion, the
avalanche of sex sweeps them off their feet, for
getful of station, birth and conventions, and they
return to the kitchen, it is again Jean who is will
ing to bear his share of the responsibility.
"
I
don t care to shirk my share of the blame," he tells
Julie,
"
but do you think any one of my position
would have dared to raise his eyes to you if you
had not invited it?
"
There is more truth in this statement than the
Julies can grasp, namely, that even servants have
their passions and feelings that cannot long be
trifled with, with impunity. The Jeans know
"
that it is the glitter of brass, not gold, that
dazzles us from below, and that the eagle s back
is gray like the rest of him." For Jean says,
"
I m sorry to have to realize that all that I have
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