The Stronger by August Strindberg
Summary: This play The Stronger is written by the author of Sweden August Strindberg. He was born in 1849 and died in 1912. Irony abounds in August Strindberg's play The Stronger, where one of the first things you'll notice is that none of the characters are given titles or assigned any sort of position. Another humorous aspect of this play is the way it is written; the dialogue is not evenly uttered, unlike normal plays where the two characters are identified by the letters "X" and "Y." Because Mrs. X is the only speaker and one would assume that she is "the stronger," the play is constructed almost like a monologue where only Mrs. X talks; yet, Mrs. X is not "the stronger."
One reason Mrs. X isn't viewed as being the stronger is that she returns to her husband after realizing there had been an affair, paradoxically believing that the affair won't end her marriage. According to the play, Mrs. X thinks that her affair has somehow strengthened her marriage and will do so in the future. Although she claims that the affair "just gave me a greater hold on my husband," eventually the marriage will suffer as a result of her awareness of the affair. She will typically begin to doubt her husband's loyalty after learning that her trust has been violated: Existed any additional affairs? Is he currently cheating? If so, does she know me? Will he commit fraud again if not? Because Mrs. X has no intention of addressing her husband, these might be queries that go unanswered. This is true because Mrs. X states, "Now I'm going home to love him," in the play's final line. This comment also gives the impression that she is returning home and leading a normal life as if the affair had never happened. However, convincing herself that it has stopped won't help.
Mrs. X is weak, so she devises a strategy to intellectually convince her mind and emotions that she is stronger even when she is not to shield herself from any suffering. Miss Y plainly exhibits greater strength by being silent, so Mrs. X cannot be the stronger. Miss Y demonstrates this fortitude by bearing Mrs. X's accusations and abuse while remaining seated. When she could have easily mimicked Mrs. X's conduct, she chose to sit there and bear it all. Miss Y had two options: she could have ignored Mrs. X's charges or she might have caused a commotion by retaliating against Mrs. X. Miss Y decided to remain silent rather than display any signals of weakness because there was nothing that could be said to improve the situation. Miss Y shows that she is stronger by making this decision.