Topic > Science and the Progress of Life in Stoppard's Arcadia

The parallel and comprehensive relationship of time is a phenomenon that has been explored from both creative and philosophical perspectives. By creating a connection between the impacts of action, along with the various possible outcomes, Tom Stoppard creates a dramatic work that challenges the very foundations of human life itself. Stoppard's stirring drama, Arcadia, serves primarily to discuss the relationship between science and the progress of life... proposing that the past is significant, but only to move us forward. The story exemplifies that time must still move forward from what is already tangible, and civilization must persist to expand the limits of knowledge, otherwise time will be doomed to repeat itself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Arcadia, Stoppard accentuates the concept of ambiguity within human knowledge, promoting the idea that a good deal of what is known is still questioned. By incorporating the dichotomy between past and present into the play, this ambiguity is able to initially blossom into a conjectural nightmare for the play's characters. Drawing on the theory of determinism, Stoppard demonstrates the chaos that can arise from attempting to know what can never truly be known, which in turn formulates an ingenious incorporation of irony into the work allowing the audience to fall for the same thing. trap like the characters. The audience must accept that the ambiguity is present, just like the characters… otherwise they will fall victim to the conflict that those of Septimus and Thomasina, or Valentine and Hannah, faced during the intervals of their desperate search for an expanded intellect. As Septimus realizes at the end of the work, “the improved Newtonian universe must cease and cool. Poor me” (Stoppard 98). Entering the realm of acceptance that knowing everything is useless, because everything will end... that everything must come to a final destiny in life, expresses Septimus and Thomasina's acceptance that time must move forward and that all knowledge simply simply cannot be completely known. Septimus embraces ideas similar to the concept of Stoicism, learning to painfully accept ambiguity, arguing how “When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore” (Stoppard 98). Time must inevitably make a full circle, so that everyone comes to accept this unfortunate fate and learn to deal with an incomplete intellectual satisfaction... the two parallels, each from different eras, come to divide the stage, while the curtain closes; this essentially gave Stoppard the last laugh, as the audience is left to deal with the actuality of the situation also due to the fact that as the waltz approaches, the curtain closes... which in itself expresses ambiguity. Stoppard's genius in this move allows his incorporation of ambiguity to flourish, furthering the concept of time and how it is destined to continue. The attempt to grasp the intangible generates another key element in Arcadia, one that Stoppard uses to expand the notion that time is meant to persist forward. This is the theory of determinism, which states that all life is predestined and that for life to happen this way no deviation can occur. The whole idea of ​​this, however, opens up various dichotomies that Stoppard clarifies throughout the work. One of these dichotomies that is particularly highlighted is the contrast between order and chaos, with its relationship to the Law of Thermodynamics. In particular, through reference to the concepts theorized by both Newton and Clausiuson the topic. Septimus first connects to this idea in response to Thomasina's observation of the rice pudding mixed with jam, where he states how “time must necessarily flow backwards, and since this does not happen, we must move forward by mixing while we go, disorder from disorder into disorder until the pink is complete, unchanging and unchanging, and we are done with it forever. This is known as free will or self-determination” (Stoppard 9). As a result of the assimilation of this theorized conclusion, the theme of the work is embodied in scientific explanation; since time is impossible to manipulate and turn backwards, Septimus is telling Thomasina Newton's entire theory of thermodynamics... that time must flow in a circle from order to chaos and back again. 'order. The whole idea is illustrated through Stoppard's complete inclusion of the parallel between the different time periods depicted in the play, alone... and conveys this later in the play, when Valentine comes to make the same discovery, only through a different theoretical approach. take.Valentine's conclusion comes when he makes the observation about the tea with Hannah and how “the tea will end up at room temperature. What's happening to your tea is happening to everything, everywhere. The sun and the stars. It'll take a while, but we'll all end up at room temperature. When your hermit opened shop, no one understood” (Stoppard 82). The whole idea that this Valentine's Day proposal embodies is connected to the 19th. German scientist of the century, Rudolf Clausius's theory of thermodynamics which states that heat can never transform from colder to hotter without some kind of other external deviation or alteration. Overall, the notions reached by both Septimus and Valentine contribute to the fact that time will continue to move without change and continue along its path of determinism unless, of course, an anomaly occurs; this is where the whole concept and almost comical effect on the theme of sex and attraction in Arcadia is incorporated. Chloe articulates this hypothesis by stating that "the universe is deterministic, okay, just like Newton said, I mean it's trying to be, but the only thing that goes wrong is that people imagine themselves as people who shouldn't be in that part of the plan." ” (Stoppard 78). Stoppard urges another point of the play within this scene, where as a reader or audience member it would be established that the answers have finally been reached by concluding that all life is deterministic and Stoppard could have easily simply draw the curtain there and say “The end”…but instead another curveball is thrown and he includes sexual attraction in the picture…everyday, ordinary circumstances amidst profound scientific propositions, to assert that no matter how people come to think they know something, is that ever really true... as all components of the equation must be taken into account. Stoppard is simply describing human nature here, pointing out that to know, one must still discover… and that spectrum goes on and on. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Ultimately, Stoppard shapes the underlying theme of Arcadia by incorporating more conceptual and theoretical ideas into the story, so that they combine to create more questions for the reader or audience member to think about. This comes from the ambiguity that Stoppard includes from the opening page of the book to the final closing of the waltz. But much of the story is also rooted in the theory of determinism and whether or not life is predestined for everyone... 51).