Tom Stoppards Arcadia is a play that contains two plots, each independent of one another by time period and

characters. The first plot takes place in Sidley Park, England, 1809. The second plot takes place in the same setting, but in 1993. In 19th century Sidley Park the place is home to Thomasina, the tutee of Septimus, and the 20th century Sidley Park is populated by Bernard, Hannah, and Valentine, who are in pursuit historical and scientific knowledge. In the final scenes of the play, Stoppard breaks the boundary of the time periods and throws all the characters into the same pit. The time period, then, is vaguely 19th century and 20th century. The play itself becomes the living manifestation of randomness, and symbolisms that held their meanings independently of the other time period suddenly become relevant across both eras. In Arcadia, Stoppard explores abstract concepts whose boundaries are vaguely traceable. He examines life, death, sex, and knowledge, and Stoppard explores their immeasurable quality. The theme of infinity and randomness weave through these topics, and Stoppard reconciles them into dense symbolisms. Then, he explicates their meaning through the voices of the characters in the play to illuminate the random and irreconcilable complexity of the human condition; the human condition is the living embodiment of infinite disorder the kind of disorder that never reorganizes itself, the kind of disorder that can be enjoyed by recognizing its infinity. The human condition, then, is about the pursuit of the infinity, the life-long quest that never ends. In the play, all the symbolisms can be traced back to the fundamental connection to randomness and endlessness. For example, Stoppard emphasizes the endlessness of mathematics, and its random, unpredictable quality. In various scenes, Stoppard uses Thomasina and Valentine to explore the potential of mathematics in its ability to capture reality and nature into formulas. For instance, Thomasina proposes an absurd possibility of predicting the future by tracking the movement of atoms under Newtons Law. Stoppard writes, If you could stop every atom in its position and direction, and if your mind could comprehend all the actions thus suspended, then if you were really, really good at algebra you could write the formula for all the future (Stoppard 10). Upon hearing this, Septimus does not respond to Thomasina, although the impossibility of this proposition is clearly conveyed through its absurdity. Later on in the play, however, Valentine attests the idea of quantifying reality into formulas by discussing the shortcomings of the Newtons Laws in his conversation with Chloe. Stoppard writes, Valentine: No. It turns out the math is different. Chloe: No its all because of sex. Valentine: Really? Chloe: Thats what I think. The universe is deterministic all right, just like Newton said, I mean its trying to be, but the only thing going wrong is people fancying people who arent supposed to be in that part of the plan. Valentine: Ah, The attraction that Newton left out. All the way back to the apple in the Garden. The Garden which Valentine speaks of refers to the Garden of Eden, where Adam

and Eve, the first man and woman, ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. In this dialogue, Stoppard brings up another symbolism, sex. Sex illuminates the symbolic overtones of Newtons Law in relevance to reality; sex symbolizes the humanistic perspective and the creativity or unscripted part of the world, while its opposite counterpart, physics or Newtons Law, represents the formulaic and unrealistic perspective. The reality, as Stoppard points out, can never be scripted because real events unfold unexpectedly against physical. Stoppard further takes on the concept unpredictability and pairs it with the concept of randomness. Through Thomasina, who suddenly realizes something curious about rice pudding she is about to eat, Stoppards brings to light the symbolic value of the rice pudding in relevance to the human condition. Stoppard writes, When you stir the rice pudding, Septimus, the spoonful of jam spreads itself round making red trails But if you stir backward, the jam will not come together again. Indeed, the pudding does not notice and continues to turn pink just as before. Do you think this is odd? Septimus responds, time must needs run backward, and since it will not, we must stir our way onward mixing as we go, disorder out of disorder into disorder until pink is complete, unchanging and unchangeable, and we are done with it forever. The rice-pudding is disordered, random and irreconcilably direct in its turning pink. The pudding turns pink and stays pink, becomes more disordered and disordered, and Septimus suggests that only demanding the impossibility of winding the clock backwards may restore the puddings original color. However, in reality time can never revert, which only then leaves the choice to move forward, to keep on stirring and stirring. However, the unchangeable cannot be changed, and one can never move forward from the monotonous pink. The pudding itself is the ultimate embodiment of repetition, randomness, and infinity. All other symbolisms discussed earlier sex, apple, mathematics, and physics are also characteristic of these qualities, just like the pudding. The qualities resonated by these symbolisms finally become relevant to ultimate , are resonant with the human condition: life is about the pursuit of the ungraspable infinity, pursuing the definite reality in the realm of infinity. Stoppard reveals this through Hannah and Valentine, the two characters who passionately pursue knowledge. However, knowledge, just like life, is a boundless space with no frontiers to conquer. The discussion of these qualities, however, does not end here. Later on in the play, randomness and disorder is resurrected in the discussion by the modern characters. Stoppard writes, To this ambitious proposition, Septimus testifies to its impossibility. Later on in the play, however, the However, Septimuss reaction is one of many ways which Stoppard However, later on in the play, Valentine exploits the technology of a computer to carry on what Thomasina could not once do to capture reality in numbers, except that Valentines goal is to analyze grouse population.