But for _Lona_, or, rather, what she symbolizes, _Bernick_--even as _The Indian Girl_--would go to the bottom. In the last act, the whole town is preparing to give the great philanthropist and benefactor, the eminent pillar of society, an ovation. There are fireworks, music, gifts and speeches in honor of _Consul Bernick_. At that very moment, the only child of the _Consul_ is hiding in _The Indian Girl_ to escape the tyranny of his home. _Johan_, too, is supposed to sail on the same ship, and with him, _Dina_, who has learned the whole truth and is eager to escape from her prison, to go to a free atmosphere, to become independent, and then to unite with _Johan_ in love and freedom. As _Dina_ says: "Yes, I will be your wife. But first I will work, and become something for myself, just as you are. I will give myself, I will not be taken." _Consul Bernick_, too, is beginning to realize himself. The strain of events and the final shock that he had exposed his own child to such peril, act like a stroke of lightning on the _Consul_. It makes him see that a house built on lies, shams, and crime must eventually sink by its own weight. Surrounded by those who truly love and therefore understand him, _Consul Bernick_, no longer the pillar of society, but the man becomes conscious of his better self. "Where have I been?" he exclaims. "You will be horrified when you know. Now, I feel as if I had just recovered my senses after being poisoned. But I feel--I feel that I _can_ be young and strong again. Oh, come nearer--closer around me. Come, Betty! Come, Olaf! Come, Martha! Oh, Martha, it seems as though I had never seen you in all these years. And we--we have a long, earnest day of work before us; I most of all. But let it come; gather close around me, you true and faithful women. I have learned this, in these days: it is you women who are the Pillars of Society." _Lona:_ "Thee you have learned a poor wisdom, brother-in-law. No, no; the spirit of Truth and of Freedom--these are the Pillars of Society." The spirit of truth and freedom is the socio-revolutionary significance of "The Pillars of Society." Those, who, like _Consul Bernick_, fail to realize this all-important fact, go on patching up _The Indian Girl_, which is Ibsen's symbol for our society. But they, too, must learn that society is rotten to the core; that patching up or reforming one sore spot merely drives the social poison deeper into the system, and that all must go to the bottom unless the spirit of Truth and Freedom revolutionize the world. A DOLL'S HOUSE In "A Doll's House" Ibsen returns to the subject so vital to him,--the Social Lie and Duty,--this time as manifesting themselves in the sacred institution of the home and in the position of woman in her gilded cage.