Arcadia

Consider the role of the gardens and the idea of “Arcadia.” What is the significance of the play’s title? What do the gardens represent?

Characters are often searching for truth and knowledge. Are these the same thing? How do Thomasina, Hannah, and Bernard differ in their own searches? What might the play be saying about the search for truth more generally?

How does the play handle the conflict between reason and emotion? How do different characters reflect this conflict and tension? Does the play resolve the conflict? Why or why not?

How does the mirroring of characters across the two time periods inform the play’s themes? Why does Stoppard use pairing? What effect do the differences in the paired characters have?

What role does the hermit and hermitage play? Why do you think Septimus ends up as the hermit?

How does Stoppard use mathematical concepts in the play? What are the different relationships the characters have to math? How is math used to pursue knowledge and truth?

How does Hannah embody the conflict between Romanticism and Classical ideals? As Hannah changes over the course of the play, how does her relationship to logic and emotion and to knowledge and truth evolve?

How does the blending of time in the last scene support the play’s themes? How do the costuming and set contribute? How does the mirroring of characters contribute?