Arcadia

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On the other hand, Noakes's vision of the garden is Gothic and mysterious, characteristic of Romanticism. He dreams of replacing the old gazebo with a hermitage, draining the lake, and putting in an obelisk. Noakes's ideas aren't practical, but like Romanticism, they are compelled by a rugged natural aesthetic and emotion. One of the play's main thematic concepts is chaos theory. Paul Edwards, in his essay "Science in Hapgood and Arcadia", notes that "chaos mathematics is about the recovery of information from apparently chaotic and random systems where entropy is high. [...] It is 'asymmetric' (unlike the equations of classical physics), yet it finds regularities that prove to be the regularities of nature itself. Strikingly, this mathematics can generate patterns of amazing complexity, but it also has the power to generate seemingly natural or organic shapes that defeat Newtonian geometry. The promise, then, (however questionable it is in reality) is that information, and by extension, nature itself, can overcome the tendency to increase in entropy". [29]

Eventually a waltz starts, and Septimus dances with Thomasina, revealing that their relationship is increasingly complicated by hints of romance. Gus (Valentine and Chloe's younger brother, who has been silent for the entire play) hands another of Thomasina's drawings to a surprised Hannah. It depicts Septimus and the tortoise, confirming her suspicion that the hermit, who had a tortoise called Plautus, was Septimus. After Thomasina's tragic death, he apparently became a hermit. Accepting her challenge to the laws of the universe as propounded by Newton, he worked for the rest of his life to apply "honest English algebra" to the question of the universe's future.Stoppard, Tom. Arcadia, L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collections, radio play (2009). Full-cast performance featuring: Kate Burton, Mark Capri, Jennifer Dundas, Gregory Itzin, David Manis, Christopher Neame, Peter Paige, Darren Richardson, Kate Steele, Serena Scott Thomas, and Douglas Weston. ISBN 978-1-5808-1596-3. (Available as e- audiobook through OverDrive.) The confusion of who did what (and, in some cases, to whom) work to great comedic and dramatic effect. Hunter, Jim (2000). "Arcadia". Tom Stoppard. Faber Critical Guides. London: Faber. p.155. ISBN 0-571-19782-5. Arcadia offers us the terrifying prospect of our most intelligent and referential dramatist finally vanishing up his own brilliance: it is in the end a play about everything and nothing, in which knowledge is all and caring is nil." - Sheridan Morley, The Spectator In one period -- 1809 to 1812 -- it is the residence of Lord and Lady Croom, young Lady Thomasina Coverly (a young teen) and her tutor, Septimus Hodge, among others.

In Scene 2, which zooms forward to the present day, Bernard, a scholar of the Romantic era, arrives at Sidley Park. He meets Hannah, another academic who is already there, studying the garden and the Sidley hermit, who she thinks symbolizes Romanticism. Bernard professes to be interested in Chater’s poetry, having found a copy of “The Couch of Eros,” but Hannah uncovers him for who he really is—a Byron obsessive who’d written a mean review of her previous book. Despite Hannah’s dislike of him, Bernard decides to stay around Sidley Park to do research. He thinks he may have found evidence that Byron was a houseguest at the same time as Chater, and that they dueled, with Byron killing Chater. We also meet the modern-day Coverly siblings, the current residents of Sidney Park, Valentine, Chloë, and Gus. Bernard gives Hannah, Valentine, and Chloe a preview of his lecture theorising that Lord Byron shot and killed Chater in a duel. When Hannah and Valentine challenge his logic, Bernard launches into a diatribe about the irrelevance of science, then departs for his lecture (and a promotional media appearance) in London. Hannah begins to suspect that the hermit of Sidley Park – who was reportedly obsessed with algebraic computations about the heat death of the universe, the theory suggested in Thomasina's diagram – could have been Septimus. In the other -- the present -- an author, Hannah Jarvis, a scholar, Bernard Nightingale, and the scientist (and one of the children of the house) Valentine are the main figures. Nonetheless, Hannah, like Thomasina, Septimus, and Gus all waltz at the conclusion of the play. Hannah cannot refuse emotion or the bashful Gus by the end of the play and is drawn into an uncomfortable and uneasy dance. The conflict between emotion and intellect is resolved because Hannah suddenly understands that the two are inseparable. Hannah is unlike Thomasina, who unconsciously understands this, driven forcefully by the mystery of both. The Mystery of Sex Emotion and reason are constantly put in conflict with one another throughout Arcadia—from Lady Croom's and Noakes's fight over the garden to Septimus's disdain for talking about carnal knowledge to Hannah's rejection of the men at Sidley Park.

Two main themes in Arcadia are emotion vs. reason and the mystery of the human heart. Emotion vs. Reason An unsuccessful poet and amateur biologist, Ezra Chater and his wife are guests at Sidley Park. Chater challenges Septimus to a duel when he learns Septimus had sex with his wife, but Chater leaves on an expedition before the duel comes to fruition. He dies from a spider bite. 20th Century Characters Cohen, J.M.; Cohen, M.J. (1960). The Penguin Dictionary of Quotations. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books. The present day. Hannah Jarvis is researching the house, the garden, and specifically the hermit, for a study of hermits and the Romantic imagination. Bernard Nightingale enters with Chloe Coverly; she conceals the professor's identity from Hannah, as Nightingale had given Hannah's last book a poor review. Chloe's brother, Valentine, is gathering data on the population biology of the grouse in the surrounding grounds, using the house's "game books". When Chloe accidentally reveals Bernard's identity, Hannah reacts angrily; but she agrees to share her research material. This enables him to propose the theory that one of the 1809 inhabitants, Ezra Chater, was killed by Lord Byron in a duel. Bernard notes that records of Chater the poet disappeared after 1809, and the only other Chater of record is a botanist. Kelly, Katherine E., ed. (2001). The Cambridge Companion to Tom Stoppard. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64592-8.

All admire Stoppard's erudition, wordplay, and clever and intricate plotting, but most voice concern about there being too much intellectual preening on Stoppard's part.

Arcadia (1993) - Key takeaways

L)ike the realization of a dream deferred in which everything we hope for from the theater is in one three-hour experience exhilaratingly made flesh." - Matt Wolf, The New York Times As a Stoppard fan attending a later performance, I had long admired him (who hadn’t?) for the intelligence and wit that deeply infused his introductory Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and then accumulating works. But after the likes of, for instance, the superb Travesties (1974) and The Real Thing (1982), Arcadia was something else again. The workings of the heart that often went unexamined by the exceptional wordsmith were suddenly revealed, their emotions newly displayed. Thomasina's tutor, Septimus Hodge stays at Sidley Park with the Coverly family and has affairs with married women (such as Mrs. Chater and Lady Croom). Hodge later falls in love with Thomasina, but she dies before their relationship can go anywhere. Septimus becomes the hermit at Sidley Park and spends the rest of his days after his protege's death trying to advance her theories. Charity Chater Below are the 20th-century characters, who spend much of the plot researching at the Coverly estate. Hannah Jarvis

In 1809, Thomasina Coverly, the daughter of the house, is a precocious teenager with ideas about mathematics, nature, and physics well ahead of her time. She studies with her tutor Septimus Hodge, a friend of Lord Byron (an unseen guest in the house). In the present, writer Hannah Jarvis and literature professor Bernard Nightingale converge on the house: she is investigating a hermit who once lived on the grounds; he is researching a mysterious chapter in the life of Byron. As their studies unfold – with the help of Valentine Coverly, a post-graduate student in mathematical biology – the truth about what happened in Thomasina's time is gradually revealed. Rush, David (2005). A Student Guide to Play Analysis. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-2609-9.As the action proceeds, much of it at a stately home called Sidley Park, Stoppard handles subjects as catchall as Caroline Lamb and Lord Byron (who was believed to be a Sidley Park visitor), Euclid and Isaac Newton, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, chaos theory, iterated algorithms, and, of course, the forever vaunted English gardens. Additional issues too numerous to mention are dexterously maneuvered. (Note: Stoppard makes certain nothing he includes is difficult to follow. Okay, even if he doesn’t quite accomplish that, he succeeds at the whole eventually overpowering the sum of its abundant parts.) For the first half, audience members face the actors and scenic designer John McDermott’s divided set – the stage left section depicting Sidley Park’s sprawling lawns, the stage right a modern study. Also at stage left is a fake tortoise that appears in both eras supposedly crawling about. (Is it another of Stoppard’s comment on time’s pace?) Gus Coverly: Valentine and Chloe's younger brother, who has been mute since the age of five. Gus helps to pass several important props from past to present, and helps connect key moments in the play. (Gus and Augustus are played by the same actor.) Fleming, John (2008). Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia". Modern Theatre Guides. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-9621-8.