Gloomy and homely as are the earlier acts, Ibsen sees as yet no way out
of the imbroglio but that known to Scribe and the masters of the "well-
made" play. The social hypocrisy of Consul Bernick is condoned by a sort
of death-bed repentance at the close, which is very much of the usual
"bless-ye-my-children" order. The loss of the Indian Girl is
miraculously prevented, and at the end the characters are solemnized and
warned, yet are left essentially none the worse for their alarm. This,
unfortunately, is not the mode in which the sins of scheming people find
them out in real life. But to the historical critic it is very
interesting to see Bjoernson and Ibsen nearer one another in _A
Bankruptcy_ and _The Pillars of Society_ than they had ever been before.
They now started on a course of eager, though benevolent, rivalry which
was eminently to the advantage of each of them.
No feature of Ibsen's personal career is more interesting than his
relation to Bjoernson. Great as the genius of Ibsen was, yet, rating it
as ungrudgingly as possible, we have to admit that Bjoernson's character
was the more magnetic and more radiant of the two.
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