[In the following essay, Wirmark considers the relevance of the play-within-a-play in Queen Christina.]

In the fourth act of Strindberg's drama Queen Christina (Kristina, 1901), there is a play within the play that draws upon Greek mythology. Let us call this play Pandora. It takes place at a private party given by Christina for Klas Tott. The two lovers are the only actors. This drama is of great interest from different aspects, also from a dramaturgical point of view. The Pandora play is composed of two different and contrasting parts, as will be shown later, and both actors play several parts.

The queen herself is the producer of the play. It starts when Klas Tott arrives at the party, in all probability costumed as Prometheus. At the same moment a rain of flowers falls from above, sweet music is heard, and the light shines brighter. This is the triumphant beginning of the play. Klas Tott/Prometheus greets his beloved Kristina/Pandora with the following words:

KLAS Tott:
Pandora, “Allbegåvade” Eva; första kvinna och enda. Du, som skänker människobarnen livet, sedan du givit livet åt en man!

[Strindberg, SS 39:242]

KLAS Tott:
Pandora with all the gifts, Eve, the first and only woman! You, who give life to children of men, when you have given life to a man!)

[Johnson 70]

Christina is characterized as the breeder of life; she gives new life to a man as well as to children.

In the beginning of the play Christina and Klas Tott fully identify with their parts. As the play proceeds, this identification becomes less visible, and the actors' private identity comes to light. To begin with, the spectator is confronted with what seems to be a drama written beforehand, probably the ballet planned to take place the same night, but canceled. The initial lines have a very dignified tone. Further on, the dialogue changes into what can be characterized as common language; these late lines seem to grow out of improvisation.

The story told in the first part of the Pandora play is a mixed one. In part it stems from the Greek myth, in part it belongs to the private world of the lovers. The myth fuses with commonplace reality: the result is odd and rather confusing. The myth adds an extra dimension to the love story between Christina and Klas Tott: this is a saga about Man and Woman, not a story about two individuals.

The duo Pandora and Prometheus is a striking one. As Örjan Lindberger (249 f.) and Ola Kindstedt (189-206) have shown, the combination does not originate with Strindberg, however. It can be traced back to the classical works of Hesiod and Aischylus. Josephin Péladan—highly admired by Strindberg—also uses this couple in his La Prométhéide, which appeared in 1895. His is a translation of Aischylus's drama Prometheus Bound into French. Furthermore Péladan adds the two missing parts of the trilogy. Strindberg uses the story told by Péladan in the fourth act of Queen Christina. He writes in Ockulta dagboken (1977; The Occult Diary):

I Péladans Prométhéide skildras Pandora, Grekernas Eva, först såsom sänd av Zeus, (hvilken skrattade när han släppte ner henne) för att plåga menniskorna; men Prometheus förvandlade henne till menniskornas välsignelse i modren, makan …

[Strindberg, OD 135]

(In Péladan's Prométhéide Pandora, Eve of the Greeks, first is portrayed as being sent by Zeus (who laughed in letting her go) in order to torment mankind. Prometheus, however, transformed her into the blessing of mankind as mother and wife …)

[My translation]

This story is told in Prométhée, porteur du feu (1895), the first part of the Péladan trilogy. Pandora has been sent down to earth by Zeus, who wants to punish Prometheus for the theft of fire, and she seems to be without conscience when she arrives. She is escorted by Hermes, who offers her to Epimetheus, Prometheus's less clever brother, as a wife. Epimetheus is tempted by Pandora's beauty and by her domestic skills and accepts the offer. In so doing, he breaks his promise to his brother not to accept any gift from the gods.

When Prometheus returns, he finds that Pandora has opened the lid of the golden box. The revenge of the gods seems to have succeeded. Prometheus manages to change the situation, however, by teaching Pandora how to love mankind. Pandora is transformed into a being like himself. For the second time mankind is saved; thanks to Prometheus's presence of mind the wrath of the gods is transformed into their blessing. This is the version of the Greek myth told by Josephin Péladan in his Prométhéide.

It is this story Christina selects for her drama. She invites Klas Tott to play the Prometheus part, and she herself takes the part of Pandora. Strindberg takes great care in describing her dress:

en enda urringad vit tättfallande klädning som slutar vid anklarne med en bård. På fötterna vita sandaler. Hon har utslaget hängande hår, en rosenkrans på huvudet och är strålande skön

[Strindberg, SS 39:235]

(a one-piece, low-necked white, tight-fitting dress which ends in a border at the ankles; she has a garland of roses on her head.)

[Johnson 66]

Her loose hanging hair, the white dress as well as the garland of roses are a sign of innocence. By her dress Christina stresses her strong decision to put an end to her former life and leave the past behind her. For the first time Christina has fallen in love; her new capacity is a gift from Prometheus. The white dress underlines that, as a loving creature, she is newborn.

Christina/Pandora carries in her hands the unopened engraved golden box, containing the royal crown. In the play the regalia is placed in the box as the equivalent of evil. Christina wants to get rid of the crown, the symbol of her former life. The only thing she intends to keep is Hope, which lies at the bottom of the box. What she is longing for is a life married to Klas Tott, a common life like anybody else's:

KLAS Tott (på knä):
Härska över mig, Zeus; jag böjer mig för din makt under kvinnan! d i n kvinna!
KRISTINA:
Råd över min vilja, Zeus, att jag endast må vilja det goda.

[Strindberg, SS 39:243 f.]

(TOTT (on his knees):
Rule over me, Zeus; I bow before your power, under woman! Your woman!
CHRISTINA (on her knees):
Rule over my will, Zeus, so that I may will only what is good.)

[Johnson 70]

Christina and Klas Tott kneel and make a solemn vow, asking Zeus for assistance. Once again Strindberg underlines that this is the starting point of something new.

A wedding follows this solemn invocation. Klas Tott takes Christina's hand, and she asks him to keep it in marriage. For the first time he is called Epimetheus, the name of Pandora's husband according to the Greek myth. Christina uses the myth to emphasize that a wedding has just taken place. A third ceremony follows, Christina's abdication from the throne. She takes out the royal crown and burns it. After that, a new king is proclaimed. Christina leads her husband up to a throne, the throne in her private kingdom:

KRISTINA:
En krona ger jag dig icke, min härskare, men en tron, en tron i mitt lilla rike … mitt rike där ingen skillnad är på människa och människa! Hell dig konung!

[Strindberg, SS 39:246]

(CHRISTINA:
I don't give you a crown, my master, but a throne, a throne in my little kingdom … my kingdom in which there is no difference between people! Hail to thee, my king!)

[Johnson 72]

The four ceremonies take place within a few minutes only. The Pandora play is a short one, and its tempo very fast. A grand finale is expected, a climax carefully planned by the director. At this very moment the front wall is meant to disintegrate to make room for the new paradise. Christina makes the sign as agreed upon and awaits the space to grow into endlessness. Nothing that she expects comes through, however.

Man ser i stället för den väntade tablån—en skara underligt folk, alla oröriga, tysta, bleka i ansiktet.

[Strindberg, SS 39:247]

(One sees instead of the expected tableau a crowd of strange people, all of them motionless, silent, pale-faced.)

[Johnson 72]

A wall of white faces hinders her entry into the new paradise. Numerous pairs of eyes are staring at her from the very place where she expects her new future to appear. These are the eyes of the past. These are the eyes of the Swedish people, eyes filled with accusation.

In this scene the names Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora are not appropriate, and from this moment they are not used. These names were selected by the Queen as director. Up until now the story has followed Christina's intentions, but suddenly a new director—invisible, unknown—takes over the floor. The play chosen by Christina stops abruptly, and she loses the part she has chosen for herself. A new drama is immediately introduced, the drama about Eve, the myth from the Old Testament. Christina is forced to play a part she knows nothing about, a part she has never devised or selected.

Christina is confronted with her guilt very abruptly, but to the spectator is does not arrive unexpectedly. Her guilt has been hinted at earlier. Again and again during the act strange roars have been heard from the outside. They come from the crowd in the street protesting the Messeniuses being taken to their execution. Those roars prepare for the moment when Christina is confronted with the wall of white faces, and her guilt becomes visible even to herself.

The day of judgement has come. In the scene just analyzed Christina's trial has begun, and the Swedish people act as a jury. It examines the Queen, and sentence is passed. Christina is found guilty of having failed to do right by her own people.

The judgement on her reign is followed by another; this time her sexual past is focused upon. In this part of the trial Klas Tott acts as a judge; her former lovers Bourdellot and Pimentelli are witnesses. After having had to read a love letter delivered by Pimentelli, Klas Tott comes to know Christina's past, a past he cannot accept.

KRISTINA (anar innehållet och vill rycka det från Tott):
Läs det inte, det är gift! Läs inte!
KLAS Tott:
Gift? (läser, bleknar, ser på Pimentelli, raglar baklänges och faller.)

[Strindberg, SS 39:250]

(CHRISTINA [senses the contents of the letter and wants to snatch it away from TOTT]:
Don't read it! It's poison! Don't read it!
TOTT:
Poison? [Reads, becomes pale, looks at PIMENTELLI, staggers backwards and falls.])

[Johnson 74]

At the day of judgement Christina/Eve is the only one who is sentenced. Klas Tott never has to accept the Adam part. His role is to act as judge, to pronounce her conviction: “Sköka!” (“Whore!”). After that Tott leaves the stage.

The borderline between the two plays—the Pandora play and the play about Eve—is marked by the wall of white faces. When Christina/Eve is confronted with this wall she screams out, shrilly and piercingly. As she hears the sentence pronounced by Klas Tott, she puts her hand over her heart and falls to her knees. Defenseless and unmasked, she lies on the floor. She is forced to take on the role of Eve, to enact the drama from the Old Testament. She makes the same movements as Eve and pronounces almost the same words.

KRISTINA:
Å! Giv mig min kappa! Jag är ju naken! Min kappa! (Hon söker liksom svepa om sig det långa hängande håret.)

[Strindberg, SS 39:252]

(CHRISTINA:
Give me my coat! … Why, I am naked! My coat! [She tries to cover herself with her long, loose hair.])

[Johnson 75]

Her new role is strongly underlined with the help of costume. Up until now Christina has hidden herself behind the white Pandora costume. Now the royal coat is placed over her shoulders, and at the same time the past returns with all its accusations. Strindberg does not mention the color of the royal coat; in all probability it is red as blood.

To sum up: the first part of the play within the play has the innocent Pandora as its center. That play abruptly stops and is transformed into its opposite. The new play centers around Eve, the woman who brought sin into the world. In the first part Christina acts as a kind of savior; in the second part she is transformed into a whore. After the spiritual elevation follows the physical degradation. The curve of the play goes from triumph to defeat.

Strindberg's drama has yet another ending, however. Christina has the capacity to learn, and she manages to rise from her degradation. When the play within the play has come to an end, Christina has learned something about herself. The sacrifice she has made she does not undo. She remains an ex-monarch, just as planned. It is true that her future turns out to be other than her plans for it. The husband she hoped for has disappeared, and the wedding journey must be canceled. In spite of this she has the courage to leave her native country and exchange a secure life for something she knows very little about. The braveness of this behavior is striking and culminates in her farewell speech, in which she stands up for the right of the individual to follow her conscience. She pays homage to religious liberty and tolerance, and at this very moment she turns out to be a real ruler, the true daughter of the great Gustavus Adolphus. Thus Strindberg's drama ends in triumph for Queen Christina.

Works Cited

Johnson, Walter. Strindberg's Queen Christina, Charles XII, Gustav III. See Strindberg.

Kindstedt, Ola. Strindbergs Kristina. Historiegestaltning och kärleksstrategier. Studier i dramats skapelseprocess. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1988.

Lindberger, Örjan. “Some notes on Strindberg and Péladan.” Structures of Influence: A Comparative Approach to August Strindberg. Ed. Marilyn Johns Blackwell. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1981.

Péladan, (Sar) Josephin. La Prométhéide: Trilogie d'Eschyle en quatre tableaux. Paris, 1985.

Strindberg, August. [OD] Ockulta dagboken. Stockholm: Gidlunds, 1977.

———. [SS] Samlade skrifter. Vol. 39. Stockholm: Bonniers, 1916. 55 vols. 1912-20.

———. Strindberg's Queen Christina, Charles XII, Gustav III. Trans. and introd. Walter Johnson. Seattle: U of Washington P, 1955.