The thesis writer finds that the main male character in Pillars of Society namely
Karsten Bernick does deception in his life. By analyzing the drama, she wants to find out
what factors that make him commit deception and what reasons that enable him to
overcome his deception at the end. This analysis is significant because people often do
deception unintentionally while on the other hand, getting other people?s trust is not easy
when they find they have been laid.
In her analysis, she finds that Bernick?s traits such as selfish and deceitful make him
do something that is intolerable to the conservative society where he lives in so that he
does deception to cover up his past wrongdoings to save his standing and his money. She
also finds that his conflict with Lona leads him to his inner conflict so that his inner-self
wakes up and he starts to realize that he is sick of living on lies, and some triggering
incidents in his life give him bravery at last to confess the truth in front of the society.
Before doing the confession, Bernick?s relationship with his wife is awful because there
is insincerity between him and Betty related to Betty?s family so that Bernick find it
difficult to share his burdens with his wife while his wife feels sinful during their
marriage because of her family. Yet, his business is successful because his people
believe in him. However, after the confession, Bernick?s marriage is recovered. Yet, his
business falls down because the society finally knows that as a pillar of society, Bernick?s
motif in doing businesses is not purely for the progress of the town. As a result, they may
lose their belief on him and the worst they may isolate him socially and not give him any
chance anymore to participate in big deals.
To explore Bernick?s deception, the thesis writer does library research. The first
source is the play itself. The second source is any related critical analysis from critics
and literary approach namely characterization, conflict, and setting, and psychological
term on deception to support her in making and developing her thesis.