CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
In a book edited by Alvin B. Kernan The Modern American Theatre, Tyrone Guthrie writes that The Matchmaker is a farce in the most traditional style,
identified by: mistaken identity, hiding under tables and in cupboards, men dressed up like women, lost purse. In The Matchmaker, the stage is gaily dressed
and lighted up in the style which was familiar to our grandparents. Unlike Our Town
and The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker makes absolutely no attempt new theatrical territory Kernan, ed, 1967: 50.
Just as in Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, so the audience of The Matchmaker
not asked to believe itself anywhere but at the theatre. The author uses the mechanism of the theatre not to create illusion but as a constant reminder
that the theatre is a symbol of life. The stage is the world. The characters are not merely themselves, but representative of humanity. The elaborate and the
preposterous ‘plot’ derives not from life, which it but faintly resembles, it derives from the theatre Kernan, 1967: 50
In the book written by Kernan, Travis Bogard calls the play as the complete farce, centering on farce’s basic concerns: folly, money and love;
developing its story with complex and improbable plotting, filled with ‘screen scenes’ involving sudden discoveries and disguises. However, Bogard catches
Wilder’s creed, and perhaps provide a partial explanation of his insistence that
8 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
man is better off not knowing the nature of his destiny in the soliloquy Mrs. Levi, one of its main characters. The soliloquy itself has been altered by Wilder from its
origin under the title The Merchant of Yonkers to its modification under the title The Matchmaker
Kernan, 1967: 66. According to Bogard, the difference is partly in the tone, the use of the
concrete rather than the general, but mostly in the quality of the imagery. In its stress on growth and on the value of life, the imagery of this one speech is almost
sufficient on itself to lift the farce from its emptiness Kernan, 1967: 66 In this thesis the writer uses the result of their observations which
report the application of traditional farce techniques. Their observations support the finding of why Wilder uses the traditional of style in writing The Matchmaker.
The thesis will not argue the information conveying by many critics concerning the play. It takes the information as the references.
B. Theoretical Review
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