Pillars of Society

By Henrik Ibsen and R Farquharson (Robert Farquha Sharp

Book Overview

The Pillars of Society (or "Pillars of the Community," as the RSC has performed it; original Norwegian title: Samfundets st?tter) is an 1877 play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.Ibsen had great trouble with the writing of this play which came before the series of masterpieces which made him famous throughout the world. The ending is the most criticised feature, since Bernick is clearly guilty of attempted murder but gets off unscathed, but successfully illustrates that the rich and powerful are often selfish and corrupt.Ibsen first planned a contemporary drama at the end of 1869 but did not begin the writing until October 1875 (in Munich), completing it in the summer of 1877. It was first published on 11 October of that year in Copenhagen, with the first stagings following on 14 November at the Odense Teater and on 18 November at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. The first performance in Norway was at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen on 30 November. By this date, the play had been translated into German, in which it was immediately well received. In December 1880 in London it became the first of any of Ibsen's plays to be performed in English (under the title Quicksands).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1534684263
• ISBN13: 9781534684263
• Release Date: June 2016
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 90 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

What is it that maintains society?

Who or what are the "pillars of society"? The Jewish ethical work called Ethics of the Fathers 1:2 reports that Simon the Just said that the earth endures because of three things, two of which are religious: "Torah, divine worship, and acts of loving-kindness." However, in 1:18 of the same volume, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel offers a practical idea, "the world rests on three things: truth, justice, and peace." Henrik Ibsen has a similar view. The protagonist in this excellent play is Bernick, is a highly respected owner of a ship building business. Bernick lives in a society that he controls because of his wealth and the prestige that wealth produces. He donated many items to his community and placed his name on them. At one point in the play there is a mass demonstration of citizens praising him. But Ibsen shows us why we should despise him. Bernick insists that his community follow the traditional ways, meaning the behavior that the masses sanctioned for some generations, notions that they read into the Bible although a fair reading would not find them, ideas that stagnate human development and societal advancement, thoughts that enlightened people reject. He views women as inferior to men, childlike, foolish, unable to understand, beings that should be subservient to men. He talks down to his wife during the few times that he talks to her. Outrageously, he says to her at one point, as if he were speaking to a wall, I have no one to talk to. Dina, a young woman who he squashes because of his view of women, says that her life in this city is "so proper and so moral" that it is impossible to live with these people. Lona, another character, comes to Bernick's house, to "let in fresh air." Ibsen shows that Bernick is a hypocrite, a liar, a crook, a man who intends, in a Bernie Madoff fashion, to steal from people who trust him, a man who could care less about seeing people die if he can make money. He persuaded a close relative into taking the blame for one of his crimes, and this individual suffered for more than a decade because of it. Ibsen ends his book by saying that the true builders of society are not people, but "the spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom," the very things that Bernick squashed.