| Sumario: | (Strindberg [41], 36) At the end of Act II, Laura succeeds in crushing the Captain, and in a last act of desperation, the Captain throws a lamp at Laura before he surrenders: he regresses to a helpless, childlike state; renounces his own manhood; pathologizes himself; and implores mercy for his life. (Strindberg [41], 37) From Laura pointing out the Captain's fatal mistake and her assertion of the eternal strife between the sexes, the deeper psychological causes of the Captain's anxiety may arguably be gleaned. The images seem to instigate profoundly symbolic motifs and highly subjective psychology.[5] The Cause of the Captain's Anxiety Act II arguably serves as a backdrop against which Strindberg's audience can better understand the Captain's mental condition. Strindberg uses mythopoeic imagery to illustrate the Captain's state of mind in a way that marks a shift from realism to the more symbolic and transgressive "indeterminism" as Strindberg addressed in the aforementioned letter to Axel Lundegård. I Fadren i (1887; I The Father i [1998]) has traditionally been considered one of Strindberg's naturalistic plays.
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