Arcadia

One major topic of the play is the limited knowledge we can have of history. The accounts we make of history are comparable to the mathematical and scientific theories that Thomasina and Valentine...

Although Thomasina evinces elements of both of these eras, primarily her scientific knowledge and her quest for scientific proof demonstrates that she is primarily a character demonstrating...

One of the lessons about life's realities that can be understood from this play concerns nature of knowledge and what it is to be a genius. Both time settings in this play possess one character who...

In England, titles often do not mean that you have to change your last name. The position of the Earl of Croom meant that you retained your name and were referred to as Lord and Lady Croom whilst...

From Thomasina's opening question about carnal knowledge and Septimus's clever answer considering the question we are interested. Who is that young girl? Who is that handsome young man? Thomasina...

As with any major text of literary import, characterisation in this play is one key way in which Stoppard chooses to develop the central themes and messages that he wishes to convey to his...

You may be on to something regarding the urge to dance coming from a female, and not the male tutor. Only MR. Stoppard could tell us for sure though. The truth is, however, that it is essential...

Septimus is a romantic. He believes in the existence of genius and finds beauty in that belief. He sees life as an adventure to discover and experience all the secrets of the universe -- secrets...

Science is a definite theme in this excellent play, as Thomasina struggles to understand the world around her using the science and mathematical thought of her day and ends up finding that there...

A fascinating play that bears many similarities to Stoppard's Arcadia is David Auburn's Proof, which likewise looks at the topic of mathematical genius in a literary form and debates the nature of...

What is interesting about the presentation of home in this excellent play is the way that the Croom residents acts as an arena for two opposing schools of thought, symbolised in Lady Croom and the...

As Tom Stoppard’s play mixes up past and present, the playwright also shows how Romantic and Classical views clashed not only in the early 1800s but more than a century later. The Romantic view,...

You might like to think about how Hermione, a character who never appears on stage and is only refered to in terms of the affair that Bernard has with her, actually fits into a principal theme of...

The table gradually accumlating papers and objects is an interesting link between past and present in the play. As various anachronistic items gather there, such as a mug, the handsome quarto...

Tom Stoppard's plays often focus on re-interpreting literary history and on using past literary characters or symbols in order to discover modern meanings. Of the two Byron poems cited, the first...