In the novel By the Open Sea (1890), Strindbergian themes are at play in a furious way. The scientist Axel Borg has taken on the task to teach the uncultured fishermen on the East Skerries how to develop their fishing techniques. The newly appointed commissioner sets out equipped with extreme self-confidence and an arsenal of shining instruments, useful for scientific work as well as pseudo-scientific efforts. He appears to be a very resourceful man. But most of his endeavours – although promising at first – turn into failures. 

The world of Axel Borg – increasingly confined to the isolated island where he is determined to endure – becomes a battlefield. The forces he brings into action will not surrender to his dominance. This article examines the play of counterforces in the novel, with the scientist Borg at the very centre.