How do social class and heredity affect Julie and Jean in Miss Julie?

In August Strindberg's play Miss Julie, social class and heredity are presented as deterministic forces that shape the characters' lives and ultimate fates.1

• Julie: As an aristocrat, she represents a social class whose era has passed. Her background and hereditary status leave her ill-equipped for the changing world, contributing to her inability to find a place in the new social order.1
• Jean: As the count's valet, he is portrayed as an opportunistic social climber. His character is defined by his ambition and his position as a representative of the future, contrasting sharply with Julie’s declining aristocratic status.1

Strindberg suggests that these factors—heredity, combined with the rigid social and psychological structures of the time—effectively dictate the trajectories of both characters, leaving them with little common ground once their brief affair concludes.1