The motive of courtship of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius as seen in thorton wilder`s the matchmaker - USD Repository

  

THE MOTIVE OF COURTSHIP

OF MRS. LEVI AND CORNELIUS AS SEEN IN

THORNTON WILDER’S THE MATCHMAKER

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

NICHOLAS MAYNARD

  Student Number: 024214089

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2008

  

THE MOTIVE OF COURTSHIP

OF MRS. LEVI AND CORNELIUS AS SEEN IN

THORNTON WILDER’S THE MATCHMAKER

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

NICHOLAS MAYNARD

  Student Number: 024214089

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2008

MOTTO PAGE

  

For everyone who asks receives;

he who seeks finds;

and to him who knocks,

the door will be opened.

  

(Luke 11: 10) I dedicate this thesis to: My beloved family My beloved P.R.U.E friends My special someone

• -Nicholas Maynard-

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all I want to express my greatest gratitude to my dearest Lord, Jesus Christ, for making everything possible in this life. Particularly, I thank Him for His amazing love, strength, and forgiveness during the bad and good times in my life. I realize that I would never be able to accomplish my thesis without His blessing.

  I also express my biggest gratitude to my advisor Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum, for his guidance and corrections in finishing my thesis. I also address my gratitude to my co-advisor, Maria Ananta Tri S., S. S. M. Ed. for her time and willingness to improve my thesis. I am really grateful for their time to read, and give many valuable suggestions as well correcting my thesis until I finish this thesis.

  I thank my family who give their support until now. For my father, Bp. Soegeng Sudjana, who always supports me to finish my thesis as soon as possible, and for all that he gives. I really thank for it. And for my little brother who always gives me strength when I am feeling down.

  My special thanks go to Dhina Maya Sari. I thank her for her kindness. I will miss her threatening to finish my thesis. Thanks for her time that she shared with me. She has shared marvelous moments. I am really grateful she is there by my side.

  My biggest appreciation goes to my ‘nakama’ in English Letters, especially class C, for the unquestionably friendship. In particular, I thank also to my P.R.U.E comrades (Gatot Hendy Febiyanto, Yeremias Nardi Cahyanto, Marchelynow Alfa Christian, Gerardus Ferdinand, Jeff Reinhard, Fitra Sony Kurniawan, Rudy Prasojo, Sri Harjanto, Faida Indana, Debora Wienda Rosary, Patricia Dian Virnandi, Kartika Kusumaningsih, and last member Suryo Pramono). Thanks for the love and support from the first time I came to Yogyakarta until now. Our friendship will last forever.

  I would like to thank also my ‘team mates’ at UKM Sanata Dharma. I could not forget some of them, Daru (PBI; Graduated), Hasto (BK), Yoga (Psi), Jimmy (FTI), Bayu (Pendidikan Sejarah), and Diaz (Graduated). Thanks for being my team mates so I can improve my skill.

  Last but not least, I would like to thank people who I can not mention one by one here for their beneficial support.

  Nicholas Maynard

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE ……………………………………………………………….. i APPROVAL PAGE …………………………….......................................... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE …………………………………………………….. iii MOTTO PAGE ………………………………………….............................. iv DEDICATION PAGE ……………………………………………………... v PUBLICATION PAGE …………………………………………………… vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………….................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………….. ix ABSTRACT ………………………….......................................................... xi ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………………. xii

  CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………. 1 A. Background of the Study …………………………………………. 1 B. Problem Formulation ………………………………………………. 5 C. Objectives of the Study …………………………………………… 6 D. Definition of Terms …..…………………………………………… 6 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW …………………………... 8 A. Review of Related Studies …………………………………………. 8 B. Theoretical Review ……………………………….......................... 9

  1. Theory of Character and Characterization …………………….. 9

  2. Theory of Motive ………………..……………………………. 12 a .

  Homeostasis Theory ……………………………………….

  13 b . Social Learning Theory ……….............................................. 14

  3. Theory of Love ………………….............................................. 15

  4. Psychology and Literature ……………………………………… 17

  C. Theoretical Framework …………………………………………… 17

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………. 19

A. Object of the Study …………………………………….................. 19 B. Approach of the Study ………………………………….................. 20 C. Method of the Study ………………………………………………. 22

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS …………………………………………… 23

A. The Description of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius Character in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker…………………………………………... 23

  1. The Description of Mrs. Levi …………………………………... 24

  2. The Description of Cornelius ……………………....................... 32

  B. The Behavior of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius in their Courtship …..…. 39

  2. Cornelius’ Behavior in his Courtship …………………………... 45

  C. Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ Motives in their Courtship …….…… 53

  1. Mrs. Levi’s Motives of Doing Courtship towards Mr. Vandergelder ……………………………………………. 53

  2. Cornelius’ Motives of Doing Courtship towards Mrs. Molloy ... 58

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………………………………………… 64 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………..

   71 APPENDIX: The Summary of The Matchmaker ……………………….

   73

  

ABSTRACT

  NICHOLAS MAYNARD (2008). The Motive of Courtship of Mrs. Levi and

  

Cornelius as seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker. Yogyakarta:

Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  This study discusses the play by Thornton Wilder entitled The , which was written in 1955. Thornton Wilder's play The Matchmaker

  Matchmaker

  is a farce in the old-fashioned sense. It tells about Horace Vandergelder, who refuses to let his niece marry the poor artist she loves, although he himself plans to remarry. Dolly Levi, the matchmaker of the title, pretends that she is helping Vandergelder find a suitable bride, but she actually schemes to marry him herself, and she works to help the young lovers gain his approval. Cornelius, Vandergelder's beleaguered clerk, who is longing for excitement, also meets the woman of his dreams, although she happens to be the one Vandergelder intends to marry. In the end, everyone is happy.

  To achieve the answer of the real motive of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius in doing courtship, three questions are formulated to guide the analysis. They are (1) How are Mrs. Levi and Cornelius characterized in Thornton Wilder’s The

  

Matchmaker ? (2) How do Mrs. Levi and Cornelius behave in their courtship as

  seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker? And (3) What are Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ motives of courtship as seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker?

  The method employed in this study is library research. The approach used is psychological approach. The sources that are needed to support this study are taken from The Matchmaker and sources that contain the theories of literature and theory of psychology in terms of books and internet.

  Based on the analysis, the results of the study are as follows. Firstly, it can be concluded that Mrs. Levi is one of the play's central characters. She is a manipulator and schemer who does not mind making up stories to get the results she wants. Her business cards claims as "a woman who arranges things”. She is also a good liar and a good story maker. She has a lot of charm and with her charm she makes everyone believe her. The other character, Cornelius is a clerk that not rich, and not too old. In his age of thirty-three, he wants to enjoy his life once of a lifetime, because his daily life is boring. He is also a spontaneous person, who decides everything without considering the consequences. Although he is careless, he is a responsible man who does not want to be considered as thoughtless person. They are doing courtship with different behavior, although both of them are doing that with whatever it takes. When they are doing courtship, Mrs. Levi tries to run her plan to make Mr. Vandergelder as her own, while Cornelius tries hard to make Mrs. Molloy sees him even if he must pretending to be someone else. In the end, it is clear that the motive of Mrs. Levi are money, power to control, and feeling that she doesn’t want to be alone, while Cornelius’ motive are protection, success and love.

  

ABSTRAK

  NICHOLAS MAYNARD (2008). The Motive of Courtship of Mrs. Levi and

  

Cornelius as seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker. Yogyakarta: Jurusan

Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Studi ini membahas sebuah drama karya Thornton Wilder yang berjudul The Matchmaker, yang ditulis pada tahun 1955. Drama karya Thornton Wilder yang berjudul The Matchmaker ini adalah sebuah drama komedi dalam pengertian jaman dahulu. Drama ini bercerita tentang Horace Vandergelder, yang menolak menikahkan keponakannya dengan artis miskin yang dicintai keponakannya, walaupun dirinya sendiri berniat menikah lagi. Dolly Levi, sang mak comblang dalam cerita ini, berpura-pura membantu Vandergelder mencari jodoh yang sesuai, tetapi sebenarnya dia berencana untuk menjadikan Vandergelder suaminya sendiri, dan dia berusaha membantu keponakan Vandergelder untuk mendapatkan restu. Cornelius, salah seorang pelayan Vandergelder, yang mengharapkan suatu petualangan, bertemu dengan wanita impiannya, walaupun dia sebenarnya adalah calon dari Vandergelder. Pada akhirnya, semua berakhir bahagia.

  Untuk mengetahui motivasi sebenarnya dari Levi dan Cornelius dalam melakukan pendekatan, diformulasikanlah tiga pertanyaan untuk memandu penganalisaan, yaitu: (1) Bagaimana pengkarakteran Levi dan Cornelius dalam karya Thornton Wilder? (2) Bagaimana Levi dan Cornelius

  The Matchmaker

  bersikap dalam pendekatan mereka? Dan (3) Apa motivasi Levi dan Cornelius dalam melakukan pendekatan? Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah studi pustaka. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalh pendekatan psikologi. Data-data yang diperlukan untuk mendukung studi ini diambil dari drama The Matchmaker dan sumber-sumber yang memuat teori sastra dan teori psikologi dalam bentuk buku- buku maupun internet.

  Berdasarkan analisis yang dilakukan, hasil temuan studi ini adalah sebagai berikut. Pertama, bisa disimpulkan bahwa Levi adalah salah satu pemeran sentral. Dia adalah seorang manipulator dan perencana skema yang rela berbohong untuk mendapatkan apa yang diinginkan. Kartu bisnisnya menandakan bahwa dia adalah “wanita yang mengatur segalanya”. Dia pandai berbohong dan mengarang cerita. Dia mempunyai banyak pesona dan dengan pesonanya itu dia membuat orang lain mempercayainya. Cornelius, karakter lainnya, adalah seorang kepala pelayan yang tidak terlalu kaya dan tidak terlalu tua. Di usianya yang ke tigapuluh tiga, dia ingin menikamati hidupnya, karena kesehariannya membosankan. Dia adalah serang yang sangat spontan yang melakukan sesuatu tanpa memikiran akibatnya. Walaupun dia ceroboh, dia merupakan orang yang bertanggung jawab dan tidak mau orang memandang rendah dirinya. Mereka melakukan pendekatan dengan cara yang berbeda, walaupun mereka menempuh segala cara agar berhasil. Dalam melakukan pendekatan, Levi menyusun siasat- siasat untuk menjadikan Vandergelder miliknya, sementara Cornelius berusaha keras agar Molloy memperhatikan dirinya walaupun dia harus berpura-pura menjadi orang lain. Pada akhirnya, terlihat jelas bahwa motivasi Levi dalam melakukan pendekatan adalah kekayaan, kekuasaan untuk mengatur, dan perasaan tidak ingin sendiri, sementara motivasi Cornelius adalah perlindungan, kesuksesan, dan cinta.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study In this paper, the writer is interested in analyzing a drama/play for

  two reasons. Firstly drama is kind of a representation or a mirror of life trough action or dialogues. Secondly is that drama is written to perform. Reaske says, “A drama is a work of literature or composition which delineates life and human activity by means of presenting various actions and dialogues between groups of characters” (1970: 5).

  The writer chooses The Matchmaker, a farce written by Thornton Wilder in 1954 and published as the revised edition from The Merchant of

  (1938), as the play that would be analyzed. The Matchmaker is based

  Yonkers

  upon a comedy by Johann Nestroy, Einen Jux will es sich Machen (Vienna, 1842), which was in turn in based upon an English original, A Day Well Spent (London, 1835) by John Oxenford. Travis Bogard in a book entitled The Modern American

  

Theatre says that the revision are very slight, amounting in effect only to the kind

  of judicious pruning and tightening which any play may expect to undergo in production (Kernan, ed, 1967: 65). However, both original play version and the revised edition have farce basic concern, folly, money, and love; developing its story with its complex and improbable plotting: filled with screen scenes involving sudden discoveries and disguise (Kernan, ed, 1967: 62) is written as a farce. As it is criticized by many

  The Matchmaker

  literary critics, farce is not more worthy than making laugh. Abrams categorizes farce as low comedy which makes little or no intellectual appeal, but arouses laughter by jokes, humors, or physical activities (Abrams, 1981: 25). Although is categorized as a low art, which according to Nietzsche that it

  The Matchmaker

  is the decadence art form, Thornton Wilder still puts values in his works. Wilder, who is also the playwright of Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, explicitly tells that he has certain aims in writing The Matchmaker. One of his aims is that to

  th

  shake off the 19 century staging and to show the aspiration of the young for participation in life. In this case, Wilder has lift farce from its emptiness or its meaningless.

  th

  Kernan thinks that 19 century staging was nothing but like entertainer who only conveys the beauty but not the use (Kernan, ed, 1967: 50).

  th

  The middle class people had gained control over the theatre since the early of 19 century; they wanted the theatre to be soothing. The middle class people were very influenced by money, and they use theatre to be something that only can entertain them. The fact still remained until the time of Wilder. The abnormality of course bothered Wilder, and wanted to change the perception by writing his farce The Matchmaker. itself tells a lot about the relationship among the

  The Matchmaker

  characters. Wilder writes The Matchmaker to show that the relation between people, especially in 1950’s, that it is more about lower class and upper class, and the only thing that distinguish them is basically money. The story itself tells us about love, which is based on money. In the story, we can see someone adores someone else because they want to have the money.

  The writer’s reason of writing the paper is to see the behavior of the character in doing courtship as seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker. From the play, the writer sees that there are three points that become the center of doing courtship which is done by the characters of The Matchmaker. First is that the character tries to be someone else in order to attract someone they like. Second, they dare to lie between one and another in order to have someone’s trust. And the third, the effect of the love makes everything better compared from the beginning.

  When someone is falling in love, they tries to ‘escape’ from which they really are, and trying to become someone else so they can be considered different. This thing also happens in the play, where Cornelius tries to be someone else in order to attract a beautiful woman, Mrs. Molloy. He pretends that he is as rich as Mr. Vandergelder, although he is only Mr. Vandelgelder’s clerk. The reason why people try to be someone else is because they feel that the ‘someone else’ is usually better than themselves and the motive why they do that is to be likeable. It is very difficult to be ‘yourself’ rather than someone else because we never know whether it is acceptable or not, especially from someone that we like most.

  The characters also dare to lie between one and another. For example, Mrs. Levi lies to Mr. Vandergelder about the existence of Miss Simple, who makes Mr. Vandergelder turn from Mrs. Molloy for a moment. Lie is usually done to cover the truth, or in order to gain something. It means that there is a motive in doing the lie. In this story, each character has their own motive when they tell lie, but we can see that they did their lie in order to get the love from someone they like.

  In the play The Matchmaker, it is lovely to see the happy ending that how loves finally makes everything better than before. The play shows that the way in searching love is not easy, but in the end it will change the previous life to be better. It seems that love has the power to change life to be more colorful and meaningful.

  The interesting part of the play is how Wilder characterized the characters become one unity. Each character has different characteristic, and those differences lead the story becomes more and more interesting. Wilder shows to the audience how those characters with different characteristics do their own way in searching love.

  The writer chooses the issues of courtship between a man and a woman to know the basic motive of what really they seek in loving each other as seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker. The focuses of the issue of courtship are Mrs. Levi and also Cornelius. Mrs. Levi did courtship towards Vandergelder and Cornelius did courtship towards Mrs. Molloy. The writer tries to understand the basic motives of the courtship that is done by Mrs. Levi and also Cornelius.

  The motive is known by looking how the characters do their courtship.

  Basically, the courtship that is done by women is different from the courtship that is done by men. This is because the feeling that women had is different from men. Women act and react based on their feeling and intuition, while men act and react based on their thought, whether it is rational or not. Those are what makes the courtship that had been done by Mrs. Levi were different from the courtship that had been done by Cornelius.

  By knowing that fact, which becomes the most interesting reason of choosing the subject, the writer tries to find out and describe the main character characteristics and also to find out how the courtship influence them so much in their life, especially in the way those characters ‘escape’ from who they really was and trying to become someone else, lie between one and another in order to have someone trust, and also the effect of the courtship, or may called also as love, which can make something become much better than before as seen in the character of Mrs. Dolly Levi and also Cornelius Hackl in Thornton Wilder’s The

  Matchmaker .

B. Problem Formulation

  In this thesis the writer tries to analyze the play based on the following three questions.

  1. How are Mrs. Levi and Cornelius characterized in Thornton Wilder’s The ?

  Matchmaker

  2. How do Mrs. Levi and Cornelius behave in their courtship as seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker?

  3. What are Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ motives of courtship as seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  The objective of the study is to answer the three formulated question in the Problem Formulation. The first section is to know better about the main characters by characterize them, especially Mrs. Levi and Cornelius. By knowing their character, it would be easier to define them and understand what they had done in the play. The second section is seeking of the behavior that Mrs. Levi and Cornelius had done when they did courtship toward someone they like. In this section the writer also tries to show the changing identity of the character who is affected by the spell of love. Doing courtship makes them become someone else and different from their truly character. The last section of the study is to find the real motive of courtship that was done by Mrs. Levi and Cornelius.

  D. Definition of Terms

  In doing the paper, the writer finds several words that need further explanation. The list of several difficult words with their explanation of word is taken from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition. The writer tries to explain the definition of motivation, motive and courtship to help the reader understand the thesis easily.

  There are differences between motivation and motive. To help the reader to understand the definition, the writer uses the definition that is stated by Richard, Elizabeth, and Robert in Introduction to Psychology “The dynamic property of behavior that give it organization over time and that defines its end states is called motive, and the corresponding process is called motivation (1983:

  367). It means that motive is a main goal of our behavior, while motivation is a way to achieve the motive. For example, when a person works so hard to achieve a lot of money so that he can buy a car, we may say that the car is his motive, money is his motivation and his act of working hard is his behavior. Behavior is influenced by a need for something.

  The definition of motive is the act or process of motivating or the condition of being motivated. According to Bruno, motive is a term employed generally for the phenomena involved in the operation of incentives, drives and motivations (1986: 7). However, the term motive is defined as a desire or a wish.

  Murray defines motivation as a desire that has certain goals to be obtained (1964: 5-7).

  Courtship, according to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate is the act, process, or period of courting. Courting here

  Dictionary: Tenth Edition

  means to seek the affection of; especially to seek to win a pledge of marriage. In other word, courtship is a process where someone doing affection towards someone else in order to get their attention to win a pledge of marriage (Webster, 2002: 266).

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 not asked to believe itself anywhere but at the theatre. The author

  Matchmaker

  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 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 1. Theory of Character and Characterization

  In his book entitled A Glossary of Literary Term, there is a definition of character. Abrams clarifies that characters are the people in a dramatic or narrative work, interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that expressed in what they say (the dialogue) and what they do (the action) (Abrams, 1981: 20)

  According to the role the character serve in the story, Henkle (1977: 87-89) mentions that they may be divided into major and minor or secondary character. A major character can be the center of the story. Usually, the acts of the story are focused on this character from the beginning to the ending part.

  Meanwhile, minor or secondary character appears in a certain setting, just necessarily to become the background for the major character.

  In his book Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense, Perrine says that in proportion to the fullness of the character’s development, characters in a story are relatively flat or round (1974: 69) Flat character is the same sort of person at the end of the story as he or she is at the beginning. This character tends to stay the same throughout the story. A round character often changes. A round character tends to react differently toward different situation and or person encountered. They tend to grow, develop, and change.

  In his book Understanding Unseen’s, Murphy points several ways in which the writer attempts to make the characters understandable and come life like to the readers. The ways come from the personal description, the way a character is seen by others, by character’s speech, his or her past life, from the conversation of others, the figure reactions, direct comment stated by author, the character’s thought, and mannerism (1972: 161-173). The explanation is as follow:

  a. Personal description “The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes.”

  b. Characters as seen by another “Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe him through the eyes and opinion of another.” c. Speech “The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons in a book through what that person says.” d. Past life

  “By letting the readers learn something about a person’s past life the authors can give us clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character.” (1972: 166).

  e. Conversations of others “The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and things they say about him.’ (1972: 167).

  Therefore, the reader can study the character by analyzing ‘the direct comment by the author, through the person’s, through his conversations or through the medium of another person.

  f. Reaction ‘The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character directly’

  g. Direct comment ‘The author can describe a comment on a person’s character directly.’

  h. Thoughts ‘The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about.’ i. Mannerism

  ‘The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character.’ (1972: 173)

2. Theory of Motive

  Anyone who observes others in doing something perhaps will question on why they do such thing. He seeks the motive which stimulates their action. For instance, when one watches television program in which a young man kills his girlfriend, normally one will question why he kills his girlfriend and what motive that supports him to do that. Maslow (1976: 23) says that all seek explanations for behavior in people’s motive, but discovering motives is impossible unless the motive is organized. It means that the persistence of behavior is an important aspect of motive because the study of persistence reveals the condition under which one goal is abandoned.

  What is the meaning of motive itself? Many psychologists have formulated the definition of motive. Murray, for example, defines motive as ‘the dynamic property of behavior that gives it organization over time and defines its end states’ (1964: 367). It is similar to Kagan and Havemann’s definition of motive that says ‘motive is a desire of goal that has acquired value for the individual’ (1972: 44). All normal people usually have certain motive when they do something because motive is the foundation of every action human beings do. For instance, a young man who studies hard in facing his final exam, of course, have certain motives, perhaps, to be success, or wants to please his parents, or he wants to prove that he can get better mark towards his friends.

  One of human motives is the motive of achievement and it has been most extensively studied by McClelland. He defines the motive of achievement as

  ‘performing in terms of standard of excellence or, simply, as desire to be successful’ (Murray, 1964: 99).

  Richard, Elizabeth, and Robert in Introduction to Psychology, state that: To understand the way a person’s behavior is organized, we must infer that behavior is guided by some purpose and that it leads to some end state, which may be a goal or the satisfaction of some need. This dynamic property of behavior that give it organization over time and that defines its end states is called motive, and the corresponding process is called motivation (1983: 367). There are two theories that related to my studies, there are homeostasis theory and social learning theory.

a. Homeostasis Theory

  This theory states that human’s behavior happens because of disequilibrium (unbalance) within human. This theory is based on the needs, which occur within human. Abraham Maslow in Goble’s The Third Force sets up a hierarchical theory of needs that can determine human’s motive (1970: 38-43).

  They are: 1) Physiological Need

  They are biological needs such as oxygen, food water, warmth/coolness, and protection from storms and so fort. These needs are the strongest because if deprived, the person could or would die. 2) Safety Need

  They are felt by adults during emergencies, periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting). They are felt more frequently by children who often display signs of insecurity and their need to be safe.

  3) Love, Affections and belongings Need The needs to escape from loneliness and alienation and give (and receive) love, affection, and the sense of belonging.

  4) Esteem Need They are the need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self respect, and respect from others in order to feel satisfied, self self-confidence, and valuable. If these need are not met, the persons feels inferior, weak, helpless, and worthless.

  5) Self-actualization Need Maslow describes this need as an ongoing process. Self-actualizing people are involved in a cause outside their own skin. They are devoted; work at something, something very precious to them-some calling or vocation, in the old sense, the priestly sense.

b. Social Learning Theory

  Atkinson and Hilgard, in Introduction to Psychology state that ‘our behavior is learned through interaction with and observation of the environment.

  The important part that influences our behavior is environment or circumstances that we live rather than instinct” (1983: 320).

  Furthermore, they also say, “vicarious learning is learning by observation. Patterns of behavior are learned by observing the other people’s behavior and also by learning the reinforcement” (1983: 320). We can learn emotion by observing other’s emotion. For example, a child will be afraid to go to a doctor because he or she once watched a person suffering from pain after being injected by the doctor. It is clear that social learning emphasizes the role of ‘models’ in transmitting the behavior.

3. Theory of Love Love can be interpreted as different meaning to different people.

  Expressing the feeling of love can also be different for each person, which is actually would be the same goal at the end that is to get good responses from the person they love. By loving others, people will start to build relationship; sometimes they want the special one, in order to share, to take and give, and to realize that they can complete one and another. In order to know what love is revealed in the story of the play The Matchmaker, there are theories of love to be considered.

  Rubin in Kasschau’s Understanding Psychology writes that there are probably as many reasons for loving as there are people who love. In each case, there is a different constellation of needs to be gratified, a different set of characteristics that are found to be rewarding, a different ideal to be fulfilled.

  (1995: 342) While most people say that they love their parents, their friends, and maybe their brothers and sisters, they attach a different meaning to love when referring to a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. As the writer have stated, love means different things to different people and within different relationships.

  Rubin distinguishes between “liking” and “loving”. According to Rubin, “liking” usually involves respect or high regard for another person. It is based primarily on respect for another person and the feeling that he or she is similar to you. On the other hand, love usually involves liking plus three other elements: great attachment to and dependency on the person; a caring for or to help the person; and the desire to have an exclusive, intimate relationship with the person. (Kasschau, 1994: 342, 433)

  The other expert, Hatfield, distinguish between two types of love: “passionate love” and “companionate love”. “Passionate love” is very intense, sensual, and all-consuming. It has a feeling of great excitement, of intense sexuality, yet there is almost an element of danger that it may go away at any moment. Passionate love is an intensely emotional and sexual fascination with a mate and a strong desire of exclusiveness. Feeling of excitement, anxiety, tenderness, and jealousy are all common in passionate love. Passionate love is what is commonly referred to as “romantic love” in which lovers’ long for their partners and seek to capture their affection. (1995: 342, 433)

  In contrast to the relativity short-life passionate love, “companionate love” is defined as the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply intertwined. Companionate love is more stable love. People who share a mutual concern and care for each other and who have strong, frequent, and long-term interactions are likely experienced companionate love. Friendship, understanding, and the willingness to make sacrifices for each other are the characteristics of companionate love. (1995: 342, 433)

4. Psychology and Literature

  There is a close relation between psychology and literature. Rene Wellek and Austin Waren in their book entitled Theory of Literature stated that “psychology and literature has a close relation in which some works of literature talks about psychological cases”. They write “people can learn psychology that may be revealed in works of literature by analyzing the works” (Wellek, 1956: 81). Further more, “the important part is the application of psychological laws within works of literature” (1956: 81). If the writer can prove that Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ behavior in the play proper to what do we know about human motivation, thus the writer is successful using psychological approach to interpret the Thornton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker.

C. Theoretical Framework

  The first analysis aims to describe the characterization of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius. I use theory of characterization by Stanton, Rohrberger and Woods, and Murphy to describe the characterization of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius. I also use it to describe the characterization of Mr. Vandergelder and also Mrs.

  Molloy, who become the target of the courtship. Murphy states that an author has various ways to make the characters understandable. I use them to find out the description of Mrs. Levi, Cornelius, Mr. Vandergelder, and Mrs. Molloy.

  The second analysis aims to find out the behavior of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius in their courtship. Because discovering motives is impossible unless the motive is organized, the persistence of behavior is an important aspect of motive. Using Social learning theory and also theory of love, I aim to find out their behavior in courtship. Social learning theory by Atkinson and Hilgard is used to describe the behavior through environment. It is also used to describe behavior through others behavior. Theory of love by Rubin and Hatfield is used to describe their behavior while they are in love. Rubin distinguishes between “liking” and “loving”, while Hatfield distinguishes between “passionate love” and “companionate love”.

  The third analysis aims to find out Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ motive in doing courtship. In order to analyze this part I use some theories of psychology. I use the theory of motive by Hall, McClelland, and mostly Abraham Maslow to find the real motives of Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ courtship. Maslow states the hierarchy of needs; psychological needs, safety needs, belonging and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. In this study, those factors become employed in analyzing Mrs. Levi and Cornelius’ motives in doing courtship.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The object of the study is a farce written by Thornton Wilder, The Matchmaker . This play is a rewritten version of The Merchant of Yonkers, which

  was directed in 1938 by Max Reinhardt and is again dedicated to Max Reinhardt with deep admiration and indebtedness. The new product was not a complete overhaul, but a careful and thorough revision of the original text. Because the talented Ruth Gordon was cast as Dolly Levi, Wilder retooled and expanded the matchmaker's role to fit the talent of his lead actress.

  The Matchmaker was produced for the Edinburg Festival by Tennent

  Productions. It was directed by Tyrone Guthrie and the production was designed by Tanya Moiseiwitsch. The first performance was at the Royal Lyccum Theater, Edinburg, on 23 August 1954. The new collaboration was a success at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. And more praise followed a run at the Theatre Royal in London. The Matchmaker hoped to strike up a similar relationship on the American stage, but the Philadelphia premiere brought back haunting memories of the now-forgotten Merchant of Yonkers. The lukewarm reception was short- lived, and The Matchmaker found an audience in Boston and gained enough steam to propel it to a Broadway debut.

  Thornton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker is a farce in the old- fashioned sense. It uses such time-honored conventions as characters hidden under tables and in closets, men disguised as women, a complex conspiracy to bring young lovers together, and a happy ending in which three couples are united with plans to marry. The traditional aspects of the play should come as no surprise: Wilder was the first to acknowledge the sources that it was based upon.

  In all of these permutations, the basic plot has been the same as it is in

  

The Matchmaker . In Wilder’s version, an irascible, penny-pinching store owner,