Patriarchy and Gender Roles in The Father

The Father is a play about the undoing of a man at the hands of his own wife. She destroys him
by implementing a plan that takes away his passions, challenges his immortality and deems him
insane. The plays characterization of its main characters Adolf and Laura reveal the instability
of patriarchy.
Strindberg characterizes Laura as inherently deceitful and power-hungry which directly
challenges the submissive, subservient role she as a woman is expected to fulfill during the time
period. Women are often stereotyped as conniving and deceitfulthe character of Laura, Adolfs
wife, is the stereotype personified. Before we actually see her in the play, we know that, of all the
women in Adolfs house that work against him, she squeezes [him] the hardest (7). Lauras
brother tells Adolf how, as a child, Laura would lie prostrate, as if she were dead, until she got
what she wanted then subsequently return whatever is was she had acquired, explaining she
didnt want it, she just wanted her own way, (8). The Pastors memory of his sister establishes
early Lauras controlling nature as something that is not acquired, but instead that is embedded in
her from birth. Though Laura is the main character that embodies the deceitful Eve stereotype,
we see it trait attributed to other women in the play. The married woman that left a calling card in
Adolfs book was unconsciously villainous (34). To Adolf, women are not pure beings that end
up corruptedinstead, they have an instinctive villainy that is so instinctive, in fact, that
women themselves are unaware of it (34).
This characterization of Laura and all women gives a cause for Adolfs demise and men in
general, but it can also be seen as a reaction to the oppressed state of women at the time. Laura is
in pursuit of power, which on one hand is in line with the deceitful, power-hungry stereotype of
women, but on the other hand is rebellion against the submissive, subservient role that women
were expected to fulfill in this time period. The lengths that Laura goes to to destroy her husband
and control her childs education is evident of that fact that her desire to have her own way has
only grown stronger as she has.
Not only does Strindbergs characterization of women as inherently deceitful give a cause for
Adolfs demise, it makes the clash between the two inevitable. Laura says in the second act that
love between the sexes is a battle, and in the final act Jonas, who Adolf confided in at the very
beginning of the play, says [hed] been expecting something like this all the time because fire
and water are bound to explode in the end (46). On a larger scale, womans inherent deceitful
nature gives a cause for the unstable nature of patriarchy. Patriarchy is dependent upon the
compliance of women, but if it is their nature to be conniving and power-hungry, Patriarchy is a
structure that is set up to fail. We see the colossal failure of the Patriarchy in the main character,
Adolf the Captain.
Instead of strengthening and empowering him, societys definition of manhood infantilizes Adolf
and contributes to his demise. Laura takes decisive steps to bring her husband to his knees, but
his manhood is unraveling at the very beginning of the play. His entire conversation with Jonas is
about how to keep [his] womenfolk in order, specifically his wife Laura. Adolf is outnumbered
by the women in his home and he has no control over them, despite his performances of
masculinity like providing for the home financially and even being Berthas father. The lack of
respect that the women in his life have for him and the ways that they undermine him show that

Patriarchy is not truly based on superior male strength; instead, it is based on compliance by
women. Women who challenge their subservient position the way that Laura does deliver
crushing blows to Patriarchy because they understand that their obedience is the only thing that
keeps the structure intact.
The women in The Captains home do not simply disregard him, though. He complains to his
brother-in-law about the women in his home treat[ing] [him] as if [he] should still be wearing a
bib (7). Adolf has only one companion in his househis childhood wet nurse, Old Margaret
who refers to him as her great big boy and her good boy. She loves him dearly but she does
not seem to respect his manhood either. Her position as his only confidant is telling. His refuge
from the disrespect of the other women is still a woman, moreover one that serves as a mother
figure. Societys definition of manhood, providing financially and father children, has let him
down and causes him to revert to a sort of childishness. Despite his performance, the women in
his life do not respect him as a manin their eyes, he is a boy.
Margaret is not the only woman that has filled in for the role of Mother to Adolf. During the
Second Act, we learn that at it was as [Adolfs] second mother [that Laura] came into [his] life
(40). The problem that plagued him then still plagues him now[his] body was big and strong,
but [he] had no vigor (40). In this analogy, his big and strong body are his outward
manifestations and performances of manhoodhe performs well as a man, but he is lacking
somethingvigorthat compels women to submit to him. It does not matter that he can tame
men an animals with one word because he does not have the vigor to properly lead the women
in his life. Patriarchy has done him the disservice of making him believe that the performance
was the most important part, that if he acted in manly, masculine ways, it would only be natural
for women to follow. It undoes him when he discovers, much too late, that the respect of women,
not brute strength is what keeps the structure intact.
In the second act, Adolf completely breaks his masculine performance by reversing roles and
submitting to Laura. Here, he is again associated with childishness instead of manliness
pleading with for her to tell him the truth about Bertha, he is as helpless as a child,
complaining like a child to its mother (40). From here, his descent to madness is swift.
Strindberg has Adolf quote Shylocks speech from Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice.
Adolfs tone helpless tone echoes Shylocks at that point in the play. In Merchant, the tone of the
speech goes from sad and sympathetic to angry and vengeful, but Strindberg expertly uses only
the sad and sympathetic part, for Adolf does not recover from this break in performance. This
scene is much like a recognition scene in a tragedyhe realizes he is doomed with no options
for recovery, but he does not realize that the Patriarchy he submitted himself played a large part
in his untimely end.
In his play The Father, Strindberg explores the intricacies and questions the stability of
patriarchal society. The gender roles are reversedAdolf the husband lacks respect from and
control of his household despite his manhood and Laura the wife uses her conniving and
deceitful nature to undermine him and bring about his demise.