They were down at the stables one evening, and Miss Julie was training him--that’s what she called it. Do you know how? She made him leap over her riding crop, the way you teach a dog to jump. Twice he jumped, and got a cut each time; but the third time, he snatched the whip out of her hand, broke it into a thousand pieces and went off (Strindberg 72).
According to Jean Miss Julie teaching her ex fiance to jump over her riding crop like a dog showed that Miss Julie’s had a dominant side. She was trying to make him into her slave she treated him like a dog. A dog is suppose to be a man’s best friend because dogs are suppose to be extremely loyal pets to their owners. Miss Julie saw it as her being the owner taking all the control and her ex fiance being the dog listening to every word she said. She kept treating him like a dog trying to train him until he got sick of it and broke her riding crop right before the engagement ended.
Diana, Miss Julie’s dog is used to symbolize Miss Julie when referring to the social class status. It was said that Diana looked just like her Mistress. Miss Julie’s dog in the play got impregnated by the gatekeeper’s dog, a mongrel. Just like her mistress who’s trying to seduce her servant not caring about the different class he falls into. Miss Julie became very coquettish after her engagement ended and she started acting more wild and crazy than usual.
I went with the