Topic > Order and Disorder in Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia"

In Arcadia, Tom Stoppard presents a dynamic interplay of order and disorder that exists "eternally and creatively" (Demastes 91). Order is generally associated with laws, structure, control and, in drama, is exemplified by the classical temperament, also corresponding to Newtonian science. Its antithesis is Romanticism, which is exemplified by disorder, emotion and intuition, as well as deterministic chaos. Through the dialectic of order and disorder, Stoppard suggests that “life can be chaotic, but also stable, and in chaos there are windows of order” (Fleming 67). Therefore, even though we may not ultimately achieve knowledge, it is still worthy of pursuing knowledge, since the pursuit of knowledge itself is justified and worthy in itself. The incompleteness and chaos of not knowing is a state we must come to embrace, as it is necessary to provide impetus for change and for life itself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The jam pudding that Thomasina mixes reflects the natural progression from order to disorder. As the jam is mixed, the traces of jam move towards a larger mess that cannot be reassembled by going in the opposite direction, since she "cannot separate them" (8). This contradicts Newtonian laws, which 'go back and forth' (119). Consequently, Thomasina intuits the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that heat 'goes in only one direction' (119), from hottest to coldest, 'like a wood stove that must burn out until ash and stove become one. thing alone, and the heat disappears from the earth" (89). His modern relative, Valentine, also believes that randomness, disorder and chaos are as much a part of reality as order, and that, far from being infinitely reversible, as Newtonian physics suggests, the system is gradually running out: the jam cannot in fact be resolved. A similar observation by Valentine also suggests the inevitable unidirectional progression of heat and, consequently, general disorder in the universe. : “Your tea cools itself, it doesn't heat itself.” (106) He goes on to explain, “What's happening to your tea is happening to everything everywhere” (106). there The geometry she has been taught is limited to simple shapes, 'as if the world of shapes were nothing more than arcs and angles' and this leads her to tackle shapes that seem random and irregular, believing that 'nature is written in numbers' (51). This subsequently leads to the creation of the 'New Geometry of Irregular Shapes' (59). In doing so, Thomasina sensed the possibility of applying classical science to nature, giving life to a new way of appreciating beauty. In response, his guardian, Septimus, is initially adamant in accepting his revolutionary idea, rationalizing that explaining nature through human geometry is impossible, a task that leads to "infinities where we cannot follow" (52). Valentine, as a modern chaos theorist expert, understands Thomasina's intentions regarding her invented Geometry, as understanding science, mathematics, the arts, nature, and chaos are by no means mutually exclusive. He refers to chaos theory as “which turns out to be the mathematics of the natural world” (61). He explains to Hannah that order and disorder coexist naturally, that "the unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything as it is" (64). Yet he also admits that “these things are full of mystery” and that “the future is disorder” (65). However, he optimistically concludes that “It's timebetter to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong" (65). This statement encapsulates the importance of knowledge, or at least the pursuit of it, that even if greater knowledge subverts and contradicts previous knowledge, it is precisely progress that we should be satisfied with and content with, Hannah has an epiphany that captures the essence of Valentino's attitude towards knowledge of chaos and order, in saying 'It is wanting to know that makes us important. ', indicating that paradoxically the attainment of knowledge is 'trivial' (102), but 'Better to struggle knowing that failure is final' (103). Therefore, accepting that things can be 'full of mysteries' (65) and that facts “cannot turn out to be true” (101), we are able to transcend beyond uncertainty and disorder, embracing them simply as part of life and the nature of knowledge itself. While Thomasina and Valentine's perspectives encourage a more vision broad of the idea of ​​order in existence, the current cultural perspective of his contemporaries holds that God is indeed Newtonian. Lady Croom's ideal of Sidley Park reflects her perspective that Nature should be orderly: "the trees are grouped amicably at intervals", "the lake peacefully contained by lawns on which just the right amount of sheep are tastefully arranged" (19). Indeed, he even goes so far as to say that Man has the moral right to order Nature, as suggested in «Nature as God intended it» (19). His idea of ​​nature is one that is "regularized to conform to a human vision of what God's creation should be: ordered, linear, geometrically symmetrical" (Demastes 88). While Lady Croom's ideal of Sidley Park is tidy and dictated through careful planning, Noakes himself is of the opinion that 'irregularity is one of the most important principles of picturesque style' (19), so his idea of beauty is the one that imitates Salvator Rosa: wild, wild, gothic. However, although the project undertaken by Noakes to rebuild Sidley Park is intended to imitate nature, true nature is that which exists without the interference of human design. As Hannah says, "the English landscape was invented by gardeners imitating foreign painters who invoked classical authors," which is hardly natural or indicative of Bernard's idea of ​​"true England" (36). Indeed, Hannah sees the Park as a metaphor for "what happened to the Enlightenment," which ultimately led to the "decline from thought to feeling," characterized by "cheap thrills and false emotions" (39). he does not accept his mother's Arcadia, instead seeking an expanded version of it and encouraging nature to reveal its order through irregular design. He admires Noakes, calling him “The Emperor of Irregularity” (116) and sees his landscape work as inspiration for his “New Geometry of Irregular Forms” (59). Sidley Park's differing ideals about subjective beauty ultimately reveal the characters' inclinations toward romanticism or classicism. The dynamics of Bernard and Hannah's relationship show the tension between romanticism and classicism. Both are characters who have fixed ideas about how to pursue knowledge. For Hannah, she sees the world in binary terms and favors thinking over emotions. For her, the Romantic movement was a "fiction," while the orderly classical gardens represented "paradise in the age of reason" (39). However, ironically, to prove her point that “The Age of Enlightenment [has been] relegated to the Romantic wilderness” (90), Hannah must rely on instinct and intuition. It embodies Stoppard's idea that classical and romantic temperaments are not mutually exclusive, but rather.