VANDERGELDER : I know I’ve been a fool about Mrs. Molloy, and that other woman. But, Dolly, forgive me and marry me.
Wilder, 1964: 279
2. Cornelius’ Behavior in his Courtship
Cornelius Hackl, one of Mr. Vandergelder’s clerks, is having an adventure in New York. He is escaping from his duty to run Mr. Vandergelder’s
store and taking the other clerk, Barnaby, to go with him. While he is in New York, he meets Mrs. Molloy, the owner of a hat shop. Cornelius meets her when
he is hiding from Mr. Vandergelder, who indeed knows Mrs. Molloy and wants to ask her to be his wife. Cornelius, without knowing the situation, likes Mrs.
Molloy a lot. He thinks that she is the finest person in the world, and he is ready to take risk to bring Mrs. Molloy with him.
To make this section easier to understand, it is better to have a brief explanation about the character of Mrs. Molloy. Mrs. Molloy is a widow, and she
is the owner of Mrs. Molloy’s shop, hats for ladies. Although she is the owner of the shop, she hates hats. She can no longer being suspected of being a wicked
woman, while she has nothing to show of it. She is interested in being married in order to get out of the hat business. As she explains to her assistant, people think
of women in the millinery trade as being wicked, and she has had to limit her social life in order to keep up an air of respectability. She cannot go out to
restaurants, balls, or the theater, because it would hurt her reputation. The only men she meets are feather merchants.
MRS. MOLLOY : Minnie, you’re a fool. All millineresses are suspected of being wicked woman. Why, half the times of
those women come into shop merely to look at me. Wilder, 1964: 213
Mrs. Molloy is also a fine person who likes to help people. It is shown when Cornelius and Barnaby are nearly caught by Mr. Vandergelder and they
chose to hide inside her store. Although she is rather confused with what happen, she allows them to hide little longer. Moreover, when Mr. Vandergelder has
known that someone is hiding there, she protects them by sending Mr. Vandergelder out and says goodbye to him and Mrs. Levi.
MRS. MOLLOY : There’s a very little explanation, but for the present, good afternoon. Wilder, 1964: 232
From the play, we can see that Mrs. Molloy adores beautiful things. As she is a hat maker for women, she knows about women’s appearance. Besides
adoring beautiful things, Mrs. Molloy also likes the fashionable worlds. When Cornelius asks her to have dinner at railway station, she rejects it and prefers to
eat at Harmonia Garden Restaurant, the heart of the fashionable worlds. MRS. MOLLOY : Railway station? Certainly not No, sir You’re
going to give us a good dinner in the heart of fashionable world. Go on in, Minnie Don’t you boys forget that you’ve
made us lose our reputations, and now the fashionable world’s the only place we can eat. Wilder, 1964: 234
As a woman, she is good at arrange things. She has a character of a mother, which are protecting and full of forgiveness. It is proven when finally
Cornelius tells her the truth, and she still accepts Cornelius as who he is. And when they are dancing, she dressed Cornelius as a woman to protect him so that
he cannot be recognized by Mr. Vandergelder. Just knowing a little about Mrs. Molloy, Cornelius likes her a lot. It
can be say that Cornelius likes her at the first sight. And it has been his character to take a risk for everything that he wants, and for the same reason he finds Mrs.
Molloy. For once, he enters Mrs. Molloy’s hat shop to avoid Mr. Vandergelder, but there he finally finds someone who he likes.
His courtship towards Mrs. Molloy is full of risk, and he always takes the risk just to get closer with her. First, he takes the risk by staying at Mrs.
Molloy’s hat shop rather than running away while Mrs. Molloy, Mrs. Levi, and Mr. Vandergelder are in the workroom. He knows that it will be safer for him to
runaway rather than keep hiding at the cupboard and can get caught in time. But he takes the risk and keeps hiding there just to give Mrs. Molloy impression that
he is not a thoughtless fellow. BARNABY [poking his head out from under the table] : maybe she
wants us to go, Cornelius? CORNELIUS : certainly I wont go. Mrs. Molloy would think we were
just thoughtless fellows. Now all I want is to stretch a minute. Wilder, 1964: 223
Second, he also takes a risk when Mrs. Molloy asks him to treat them dinner at the most fashionable worlds, Harmonia Garden Restaurant. He knows
that he cannot afford to treat them dinner there, but he still dares to take the risk so that Mrs. Molloy thinks that he is really rich. He knows the risk that he will go to
jail by taking them dinner to Harmonia Garden Restaurant without any money, but Cornelius still takes that risk.
BARNABY : she’s angry at us, Cornelius. Maybe we’d better run away now.
…………… CORNELIUS : jail or no jail, we’re going to take those ladies out to
dinner. So grit your teeth. Wilder, 1964: 234 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
One characteristic that can be seen while Cornelius is doing courtship towards Mrs. Molloy is that he is trying to be full of confidence but in fact, he is
lack of confidence. When he is in front of Mrs. Molloy, he wants to be seen as a person who can be relied on. Even before he meets Mrs. Molloy, he practices his
speech just to make a perfect conversation with her. He asks suggestion from Barnaby about his speech, and while he does that, he also set the perfect gesture to
support his speech. CORNELIUS : Good afternoon, Mrs. Molloy; wonderful weather…..’
We’ll make her think we’re very rich. [one hand in trouser pocket, the other on back of chair]
‘Good afternoon, Mrs. Molloy….’ You keep one eye on the door the whole time. ‘We’ve been looking everywhere for……’
Wilder, 1964: 216
His over confidence is shown again when they are in Harmonia Garden Restaurant. Knowing they come without money, Cornelius, as a person
who has to pay, orders the expensive food, which is in the bill of fare, plus he orders champagne for them with the style of confidence person as if he can afford
it all. He does not care about the risk of being jail. He thinks that by the time they get out of jail they can move right over to the Old Men’s House. He is just trying
to make a good impression in front of Mrs. Molloy. CORNELIUS [losing all his fears, boldly] : all right, Barnaby, you
watch me. Rudolph, write this down: Neapolitan ice-cream; hot-house peaches; champagne….
ALL : Champagne Wilder, 1964: 245 He is always trying to make a good impression to Mrs. Molloy.
Whatever happens to him, he dares to take any risk just to make Mrs. Molloy PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
pleased. One of the greatest impressions that he can get is when Mrs. Levi tells Mrs. Molloy about how wittiest, gayest, naughtiest, most delightful man Cornelius
is in New York. Mrs. Levi says that Cornelius lives a double life and that he is very rich. Because what Mrs. Levi has said, Cornelius has to pretend to be
someone else in front of Mrs. Molloy. While doing courtship towards Mrs. Molloy, he has to act that he is
someone who is rich, gayest, wittiest, and most delightful man in New York. He has to do that because he does not want Mrs. Molloy knows that he is actually just
a clerk that works for Mr. Vandergelder. It will ruin his reputation in front of Mrs. Molloy. By pretending to be someone else, Cornelius knows that he can easily get
closer to Mrs. Molloy. Treating Mrs. Molloy and Minnie at Harmonia Garden Restaurant, ordering expensive foods, and ordering champagne is the consequence
for Cornelius of being someone else. It is shown that how he feels not confidence about his truly identity in front of Mrs. Molloy. He finally confess about who
really he is to Mrs. Molloy, and what he is afraid of is not happens because Mrs. Molloy is still accept him as what he really is.
CORNELIUS : Irene, I’m not rich as Mrs. Levi said I was. MRS. MOLLOY : Not rich
CORNELIUS : I almost never come to New York. And I’m not like
she said I was, - bad. And I think that you ought to know that at this very minute Mr. Vandergelder’s sitting on the other
side of that screen.
MRS. MOLLOY : What Well, he is not going to spoil any party of mine. So that’s why we’ve been whispering? Let’s forget all
about Mr. Vandergelder and have some more wine. Wilder, 1964: 255
As in the end of the play, Cornelius nearly gets nothing from his courtship. With all the trouble that happens while they are in the Harmonia
Garden Restaurant, and what happens in Miss. Van Huysen’s house, he does feel enthusiasm. He says to Mrs. Levi that he is ready to face everything. The cause is
just one, because he has done what he wants the most that is getting an adventure once a life time. But if we look carefully, he is enthusiastic because he has spent
his night with Mrs. Molloy. At once, he just wants to get an adventure once of his life, but when he meets Mrs. Molloy, he chases her with all the risk. It is indicates
that Mrs. Molloy has been the main target of what Cornelius does in the play. And what he does finally success because in the end of the play, they finally plan to
marry. BARNABY : Cornelius is going to marry Mrs. Molloy
MRS. LEVI : Isn’t that fine Wilder, 1964: 280 As the discussion above, it seems clear that both Mrs. Levi and
Cornelius’s characters is complex characters Perrine, 1974: 63-64 since their action in the play often surprise the audience and are quite difficult to guess. Their
characters might influence the way they behaves, especially when they have relations and doing courtship with someone they loves. As it is shown about how
they do their courtship, it is obvious that they are having somewhat called changing identity. The writer can say that because their actions are unpredictable
and often cross with their truly character. Mrs. Levi, as we know, is a person who is very helpful and fun
becomes someone who is totally different. She becomes someone who is legalizing everything just to get what she wants. As example when she set up
Ambrose Kemper and Mr. Vandergelder’s niece, Ermengarde, to go to Harmonia Garden Restaurant. At first, the audience might think that Mrs. Levi has good
intend to help the lovers. But then the audience will know that Mrs. Levi just set them up just to make her plan runs perfect. She brings them there just to show to
Mr. Vandergelder that he has nobody likes him except her. And she uses the situation to force Mr. Vandergelder to marry her.
It is not the only one Mrs. Levi helps person in the play. When Cornelius Hackl gets caught by her while he is hiding in the cupboard at Mrs.
Molloy’s hat shop, she helps him continue hiding there. She does not tell Mr. Vandergelder that his clerk is hiding somewhere in the place. But again, in the end
Mrs. Levi uses the situation for her benefits. She pretends that she does not know about anything, but then she makes Mr. Vandergelder believe that Mrs. Molloy
has an affair with someone else. She tells to Mr. Vandergelder to go out from there and right away to Harmonia Garden Restaurant because Miss Simple is
waiting for them. This word makes Mr. Vandergelder forgets about Mrs. Molloy immediately.
Different from Mrs. Levi, Cornelius Hackl also has his changing identity while he does courtship towards Mrs. Molloy. Cornelius is a person who
is very well arranged person. His life as a chief clerk makes him acts as in order. But actually he wants to enjoy his live. When he meets Mrs. Molloy, he acts as a
different character as at first one. He pretends to be a very rich man who comes from Yonkers. And one of the greatest impressions that he can get is when Mrs.
Levi tells Mrs. Molloy about how wittiest, gayest, naughtiest, most delightful man PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Cornelius is in New York. Mrs. Levi says that Cornelius lives a double life and that he is very rich. Because what Mrs. Levi has said, Cornelius has to pretend to
be someone else in front of Mrs. Molloy. As he pretends to be a very rich man, he has also to play a person who
is totally different from his truly character. His behavior about pretend to be familiar with everyone in New York is one of his act to be seen as a gayest and
wittiest person. The way he orders champagne in front of the ladies indicates that he finally enjoys about his changing identity and he feels comfortable with it.
Although he is finally admits to Mrs. Molloy that he is not as rich as Mrs. Levi says he is, it is clear that he does it to make a good impression to Mrs. Molloy
about who he is.
C. Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ Motives in their Courtship
