OLD KNOWELL
YOUNG KNOWELL, _in love with Bridget_
BRAIN-WORM
MASTER STEPHEN, _a country gull_
MASTER MATTHEW, _a town gull_
CAPTAIN BOBADILL
DOWN-RIGHT
WELL-BRED, _his half-brother_
KITELY,
_husband
to Down-right's sister_
COB, CASH, FORMAL
JUSTICE CLEMENT
DAME KITELY
BRIDGET, _Kitely's sister_
TIB, _Cob's wife_
ACT I
SCENE I.
World's Greatest Books - Volume 17 - Poetry and Drama
I overheard a few words from our boy which
set me on my guard. I and Aune went in the sailing
boat from the yard and reached the _Indian Girl_ when she
was on the point of sailing, and he was soon discovered
hiding away.
BERNICK: And is the ship under sail again?
MRS. BERNICK: No. The darkness came on more
densely, the pilot was alarmed, and so Aune, in your
name, took it on himself to order the ship to stay till
to-morrow.
BERNICK: What an unspeakable blessing.
KRAP: The procession is coming through the garden
gate, consul.
Rector Rorlund, at the head of the procession, makes a presentation to
Bernick in the name of the committee, and expresses the public esteem
and admiration for the consul's services to society. Bernick, to the
astonishment of the audience, proceeds to make a full confession of
the duplicity and deceit of which he has been guilty. He unreservedly
places himself in the hands of the people, who quietly disperse.
Bernick at once finds that, whatever the people may think, he has
won the sympathy of all his own circle. Lona lays her hands on his
shoulder with the words, "Brother-in-law, you have at last discovered
that the spirit of Truth and the spirit of Freedom are the real
Pillars of Society."
FOOTNOTES:
[O] "The Pillars of Society," published in 1877, is perhaps
the most conspicuous of the series of psychological dramatic studies
through which Ibsen has exercised untold influence on European drama.
In it he deals with the problem of hypocrisy in a small commercial
centre of industry, and pours scorn on contemporary humanity, while
cherishing the highest hopes of human possibilities for the future.
BEN JONSON[P]
Every Man in His Humour
_Persons in the Comedy_
OLD KNOWELL
YOUNG KNOWELL, _in love with Bridget_
BRAIN-WORM
MASTER STEPHEN, _a country gull_
MASTER MATTHEW, _a town gull_
CAPTAIN BOBADILL
DOWN-RIGHT
WELL-BRED, _his half-brother_
KITELY,
_husband
to Down-right's sister_
COB, CASH, FORMAL
JUSTICE CLEMENT
DAME KITELY
BRIDGET, _Kitely's sister_
TIB, _Cob's wife_
ACT I
SCENE I.
--_In_ KNOWELL'S _house. Enter_ KNOWELL, _with a letter from_
WELL-BRED _to_ YOUNG KNOWELL.
KNOWELL: This letter is directed to my son.
Yet I will break it open.
What's here? What's this?
(_Reads_) "Why, Ned, I beseech thee, hast thou forsworn all thy
friends i' the Old Jewry? Dost thou think us all Jews that inhabit
there yet? If thou dost, come over and but see our frippery. Leave thy
vigilant father alone, to number over his green apricots evening and
morning, o' the north-west wall. Prythee, come over to me quickly this
morning; I have such a present for thee! One is a rhymer, sir, o' your
own batch, but doth think himself a poet-major of the town; the other,
I will not venture his description till you come."
Why, what unhallowed ruffian would have writ In such a scurrilous
manner to a friend! Why should he think I tell my apricots?