The play is a farce. Farces use slapstick and physical humour to be funny. They also use absurd plots. A farce also makes serious situations funny. Fielding thought that theatre was becoming bad. He mocked theatre and theatre audiences in his play. His character Luckless states that for someone to become successful they must write nonsense. His only desire is to make money. Other characters feel that money is all that matters. They do not care about good writing. Even Harriot believes that a good lover is one who is rich. Fielding made the same claims about people when he attacked Samuel Richardson's novel, "Pamela".