I wonder if I can take Thorton Wilder’s play, The Skin of Our Teeth, seriously. The tone of the play is unsophisticated and sarcastic. Events that occur are unrealistic. The question I ask myself is, “Can I take this play seriously, if the main characters cannot”. The play begins with the characters not coming on stage on cue. When Mrs. Antrobus does not appear on stage, Sabina becomes upset. She begins to improvise in order to stall the audience. When she gets frustrated, Sabina bashes the play. She says, “I can’t invent words for this play, and I’m glad I can’t. I hate this play and every word in it”. In other words, Sabina tells the audience the play is stupid and irrelevant.
Another reason I cannot take The Skin of Our Teeth seriously, is because of the talking animals. Animals cannot talk, and dinosaurs became extinct before humans appeared on Earth. There is no common sense in the play. When Mrs. Antrobus asks Sabina if the mammoth was milked, Sabina responds, “I don’t understand a word of this play.-Yes I’ve milked the mammoth”. Mammoth’s cannot be milked and were also extinct before human existence. If Sabina, an actress of the play, cannot understand the script, how is the audience supposed to understand the play?
Before the play begins, the announcer tells the audience the end of the world is postponed for twenty four hours. The end of the world would occur because of mother nature, not because a human said it would. It is not humanly possible to prevent the end of the world. If a block of ice was moving South, as described in the play, it would not stop moving because a person told it to.
The final reason I cannot take this play seriously, is because of the amount of time discussed. The reader finds out Henry is four thousand years old. We also find out Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus have been married for five thousand years. This statement in the play is more ridiculous than the talking dinosaur and mammoth. It is not humanly possible to live that amount of time.
What I think is important to remember Anna is there is a difference between our actress (Who was played by Tallulah Bankhead) - Miss Fairfax (the "actress") and Sabina (the character). I think it is important to point out that the story is ridiculous and that under normal circumstances it shouldn't be taken seriously. But what if the story is trying to say something bigger. What if all these insane ideas are exploring bigger ideas and questions about life and our purpose here on Earth.
ReplyDeleteWe have something very insane (But not as insane as some of the other stuff we are to read this semester) and I'm just curious to see your thoughts on thinking about how this story is saying something deeper.
You are right Mr. V. My opinion has changed now that I have finished reading The Skin of Our Teeth. I realize there is a deeper meaning to the book. In Act Three, Antrobus says, “Oh, I’ve never forgotten for long at a time that living is a struggle” (Wilder 119). I believe this quote represents the meaning of the book. In my opinion, the book was written to describe reality. Some of the events which occur are common occurrences; however, they are highly exaggerated to give the book a comedic tone. The comedic tone may have one think the book cannot be taken seriously. Although events are exaggerated, they are an everyday worry for mankind.
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