Pillars of Society [Paperback]

Henrik Johan Ibsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

There! I have given it him in earnest now; I don't think he will forget that thrashing! What do you say?--And I say that you are an injudicious mother! You make excuses for him, and countenance any sort of rascality on his part--Not rascality? What do you call it, then? Slipping out of the house at night, going out in a fishing boat, staying away till well on in the day, and giving me such a horrible fright when I have so much to worry me!

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Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Norwegian --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419141643
• ISBN-13: 978-1419141645
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,585,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is it that maintains society?, May 3, 2010

By 

Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pillars of Society (Paperback)

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.