The storyline of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard centers on the scientific concept of thermodynamics. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the idea that everything in nature tends toward disorder through irreversible action. Throughout the story, the author draws attention to certain aspects of life that illustrate this phenomenon, not only expressing the scientific interest behind it, but also presenting that it holds significance with respect to the human condition as well. Among these representations of irreversible action, there is an emphasis placed on the items of heat, knowledge, and time as they pertain to the greater concept of disorder. The collection of knowledge is irreversible, as well as the passing of time. In a similar manner, the scientific ground for thermodynamics itself is heat, and the transfer thereof which cannot be undone. The author appears to use these themes to demonstrate that not only does this law hold power over nature, but over mankind as well, integrating them into the most intimate aspects of human life.
The first demonstrative moment of irreversibility is when Thomasina stirs her pudding and jam together, noting that she cannot undo the action to separate the two once more. Molecularly, the heat exchange of Thomasina’s stirring action causes the disorder to occur and the blend of two substances to irrevocably become one. Evident by Thomasina’s actions and remarks, knowledge is a very important aspect of this play. Thomasina, although she is one of the most intelligent characters of literary history, is also naive in subjects of love and human sexuality. The story tells of her enlightenment into such knowledge, which in itself is an irrevocable event. She cannot forget what she hears and learns about humanity and, the more insight she gains, the more her thoughts become like the pudding observation she made at the beginning of the play. Her new understandings permanently mix with her previous conceptions of the world, giving more color, more depth, and more substance to the interworking of her mind.
Congruently, the author presents the mixing and irreversibility of time itself. The very notion of time represents the inability to rewind and undo what has already passed. Time is irreversible. However, regardless of its nature, Stoppard portrays the all-encompassing human desire to intermingle and mix with it still. Through the entire play, he depicts two different periods of time and balances them. While, in the 19th century, Thomasina devotes herself to the discovery of an equation to predict the future, the characters in the 20th century likewise devote themselves to the uncovering of the past. Thus the past, the present, and the future all mesh together into the whole piece of Arcadia. Regardless of its irreversible nature, time acts like the pudding as well, stirring aspects of each period into one mix of human ambition and discovery.
Underlying the concepts of knowledge and time is that of heat. While heat is the center of the scientific concept of thermodynamics itself, it is also frequently used in reference to love and sexual sentiment. Concepts of sexual encounters are replete within this work, indicating that heat does not only function on the molecular level, but also within the human soul, in the depths of passion and desire. When Septimus kisses Thomasina during their dance lesson, she is forever marked by such an action, the heat of the moment never to be undone within her soul. Every indication of sexual intercourse in the text portrays the irreversibility of such action, the sentiment of which mixes with the emotion of the human heart, again streaking its colors through the substance of humanity.
November 8, 2018
References
Stoppard, Tom. “Arcadia.” Faber and Faber Limited, London, 1993.