arcadia
Arcadia by Tom Stoppard is by far a masterpiece. This beautifully constructed play covers three different themes. Each theme is well thought out and Stoppard has shown his potential as an English messiah, his architect skills with words produces a pleasurable play with these themes: sexual contemplation, history, mathematics, and the one that will be the focus – love cannot be foreseen, it cannot be mathematically proven and no one knows when it happens or why, it just does. Theme is probably the biggest part of this play. The play starts in the 19th century, actually about 1809. The characters Thomasina Coverly and Septimas Hodge are the first to be introduced. Thomasina Coverly is by far the protagonist of the story along with Hannah who is almost the same character but in the future. Thomasina is probably the most important character. She is the basis of my interpretation of theme of love and that it cannot be predicted. Thomasina in the beginning of the play is thirteen years of age she is very intelligent and has a knack for mathematics. The only thing that she does not know of is lust and love, and she is very curious about it. At one point in the first scene she asks her mentor Septimas what carnal embracing is? Septimas replied with “It is like throwing your arms around a side of beef.” Septimas throughout the play tries to defer Thomasina from love and lust, yet he has his way with Mr. Charter’s wife in the Gazebo. It is very ironic that Thomasina knows nothing of love yet can understand Newton’s laws at the age of thirteen. In the first chapter she is also very intrigued that pudding and jelly when swirled together mixed well but if the process was reversed it would only mix together more. It could mean mathematically Newton’s Law of motion, but on the other hand could be considered a sexual innuendo for two people intertwined and when in love can not be mixed apart. Thomasina also is intrigued by the mathematic equations of shapes and wonders if a leaf or a flower can be mathematically broken down to figure out the internal structure. She also wonders if it possible to stop every atom in time if you could then figure out a formula for life. This not only improbable is quite impossible, but an interesting concept. I guess it would prove that everything was planned and mapped out which in turn would almost prove that there was a creator for all life though with certain things like love that Thomisina doesn’t understand, it can never be proved. In the last scene of the book when Thomisina and Septimas are dancing they kiss and it appears that they have a connection that is strongly suggested as love. Ironic as it is it never mentioned anything of that connection in the past only a teacher student relationship. Then at the end she tries to lead him to her bedroom but he denies her, but “she is content.” This unexpected kiss says to me that Thomasinia couldn’t predict this mathematically and helps to bring out this theme that love is unpredictable. The themes of Mathematics and History are very strong. In the 19th century the theme is mathematics and in the 20th century the theme is History. Though Love, and Lust is the theme in both centuries. The two era’s are juxtaposed in very interesting ways. The most important aspect of this is the table, and the apple that appears in both settings. The apple being the most important is very symbolic to lust and is probably a reference to the red fruit that appears in the story of Adam and Eve. In the 19th century the apple is untouched which represents Thomisina’s innocence and to say her sexuality is untouched and she is basically not a whore.