Effect of Butterfly Theory on The Pillars of Society in Light of Northrop Frye's Criticism

Abstract

Henrik Ibsen being the founder of Modernism in theatrical works and the father of Realism in scriptwriting, had revealed his values of Realism by writing the play The Pillars of Society in 1877. The play is about a corrupt businessman who made his fortune by stealing and blaming an innocent person and assumes himself to be a pillar of society. His affair with an actress results in an illegitimate and unacknowledged daughter. After his son is placed in a perilous position, he realizes the error of his ways and repents. The framework of the research was to apply the Butterfly Effect Theory and Northrop Frye's Criticism on plots and kinds of heroes to identify the types of the particular realistic hero (i.e. Karsten Bernick) and the ending. The analysis represents the minor events that took place in the four act play that leads to the defined ending. The results portray certain dialogues and events that were reasonable to reach the ending and describe the protagonist as a low mimetic hero with a redemptive ending.