Dramaturgical Analysis - Tom Stoppard's Arcadia
Dramaturgical Analysis - Refined Eight Questions:
Here are the eight questions for your ready reference.
1. What do scientists claim theoretically to be the nature of the universe?
2. What are the theories discussed in the play that are most congruent with the way the universe (and society) works?
3. How does the play artfully and playfully juggle diverse and often conflicting theories into the air for the audience to consider?
4. How do the characters, as individuals, interact with one another throughout the play…representing practically and symbolically the various strains of philosophical and scientific thought about the universe, life and discussions of free will?
5. Does Stoppard illuminate the dance of life as a part of the human condition? If so, how does he do it?
6. Is the play a transformative experience for the audience?
7. How does each era resolve the characters’ conflicts?
8. Possible conclusions:
Are the lives of the characters improved or destroyed by another or by circumstance?
Are their conflicts resolved, through a process of restoration…or are they replaced with other conflicts?
Are they separated by time and space, life or death?
Eliminated by fate?
Is there a transcendence of character in the play through the dramatic action of another?
Cite in-text and end source (APA).
Paragraph Template
Introduction - Paper Structure (P 1):
Sentence Zero (P 1) = Key statement about Arcadia.
This is a macro statement about the play’s ethos. It becomes the point of focus for the entire paper and leads your discussion of the play, which is distilled and mirrored in the conclusion paragraph.
Sentence One (P 2) = Universal definition of Arcadia’s ultimate scientific theory/theme. Can be a reiteration of one (or two) scientific theory/ies or provide a deeper assessment of the ultimate thought endeavor of the play - a ‘play of ideas’.
Answer: 1. What do scientists claim theoretically to be the nature of the universe?
Sentence Two (P 3) = Single out one particular example of a scientific theory and then fully explicate it through select characters’ dramatic actions. Provide a parallel discourse on idea(s) and symbolic representation(s) as evidenced in the play’s juxtaposition of two centuries of thought and conventionalized social actions.
Answer: 2. What are the theories discussed in the play that are most congruent with the way the universe (and society) works?
Sentence Three (P 4) = Contrast and compare three illustrated examples from each era (six all together) that interact, coalesce and propel the plot structure as each one conveys (through a conflation or contradiction of) the theories presented in the play script as expressed by the characters in dynamic theatrical motion and interaction.
Answer: 3. How does the play artfully and playfully juggle diverse and often conflicting theories into the air for the audience to consider?
Sentence Four (P 5) = Discuss how the characters portray the scientific theories in real time and space in the play’s performance through their language, dramatic actions and conflicts. What is communicated through words and what is communicated through the non-verbal (the subtext of the play’s dramatic action)?
Answer: 4. How do the characters, as individuals, interact with one another throughout the play…representing practically and symbolically the various strains of philosophical and scientific thought about the universe, life and discussions of free will?
Sentence Five (P 6) = Explore how Stoppard sets up and delivers his final coda on the ‘dance of life’. How is this dance conveyed in the title of the play? What is the relationship of death to the dance of life? How does it manifest in the dual representations of the eras?
Answer: 5. Does Stoppard illuminate the dance of life as a part of the human condition? If so, how does he do it?
Sentence Six (P 7) = Does the play satisfy the audience through its dual structural display of time and space? Explain why and how it delivers a unique experience to the audience and reader. This is your studied opinion and need to be fresh impressions after you have seen and digested the play – although keep it still in third person.
Answer: 6. Is the play a transformative experience for the audience?
Sentence Seven (P 8) =
This should be the discovery paragraph that explicates how the play provides solutions to the conflicts in the play. If the play does not resolve the conflicts of each era, especially in the interweaving of time and space through the philosophical tensions and emergent scientific ideas, then how does the play reconcile the characters’ predicaments successfully? Analyze how Stoppard handles the tensions he had devised. Does he elect to end his play with historical accuracy, theatrical engagement, mystery, and/or ambiguity?
Answer: 7. How does each era resolve the characters’ conflicts?
Sentence Eight (P 9) = Identify the overall affect of the characters on the lives of the others. Ultimately, consider if the dance of theory and practice in the lives of the characters portrayed in the play coalesce into a greater meaning of life for the audience (praxis)? Essentially, explicate how praxis is achieved and if radical reflection is invoked.
Answer: 8. Possible conclusions for you to consider — Select one.
a. Are the lives of the characters improved or destroyed by another or by circumstance?
b. Are their conflicts resolved, through a process of restoration…or are they replaced with other conflicts?
c. Are they separated by time and space, life or death?
d. Eliminated by fate?
f. Is there a transcendence of character in the play through the dramatic action of another?
Decide if the play transcends time and place and delivers a deeper understanding of what it means to be human in a material world.
Conclusion – Sentence 9 (P 10) = Conclusion & Resolution. Provide the solution(s) of the two time signatures through the dual resolution of dance. The conclusion paragraph also sums up and distills the essence of the play’s ethos (deepening sentence one). Glean these developed ideas from your introduction’s ten sentences and the subsequent (in order) body paragraphs. Deepen and refine your own organic and original thought explicated in each sentence/paragraph (in order). Do not repeat the same wording of any single idea throughout the paper unless it is for a purposeful repetition and/or added emphasis. Select a final quote from the play or scientific theory as an intellectual or emotional punctuation to conclude your analysis. This is a micro statement that mirrors and deepens your macro analysis of the ethos of the play in the Introduction.
Here are the eight questions for your ready reference.
1. What do scientists claim theoretically to be the nature of the universe?
2. What are the theories discussed in the play that are most congruent with the way the universe (and society) works?
3. How does the play artfully and playfully juggle diverse and often conflicting theories into the air for the audience to consider?
4. How do the characters, as individuals, interact with one another throughout the play…representing practically and symbolically the various strains of philosophical and scientific thought about the universe, life and discussions of free will?
5. Does Stoppard illuminate the dance of life as a part of the human condition? If so, how does he do it?
6. Is the play a transformative experience for the audience?
7. How does each era resolve the characters’ conflicts?
8. Possible conclusions:
Are the lives of the characters improved or destroyed by another or by circumstance?
Are their conflicts resolved, through a process of restoration…or are they replaced with other conflicts?
Are they separated by time and space, life or death?
Eliminated by fate?
Is there a transcendence of character in the play through the dramatic action of another?
Cite in-text and end source (APA).
Paragraph Template
Introduction - Paper Structure (P 1):
Sentence Zero (P 1) = Key statement about Arcadia.
This is a macro statement about the play’s ethos. It becomes the point of focus for the entire paper and leads your discussion of the play, which is distilled and mirrored in the conclusion paragraph.
Sentence One (P 2) = Universal definition of Arcadia’s ultimate scientific theory/theme. Can be a reiteration of one (or two) scientific theory/ies or provide a deeper assessment of the ultimate thought endeavor of the play - a ‘play of ideas’.
Answer: 1. What do scientists claim theoretically to be the nature of the universe?
Sentence Two (P 3) = Single out one particular example of a scientific theory and then fully explicate it through select characters’ dramatic actions. Provide a parallel discourse on idea(s) and symbolic representation(s) as evidenced in the play’s juxtaposition of two centuries of thought and conventionalized social actions.
Answer: 2. What are the theories discussed in the play that are most congruent with the way the universe (and society) works?
Sentence Three (P 4) = Contrast and compare three illustrated examples from each era (six all together) that interact, coalesce and propel the plot structure as each one conveys (through a conflation or contradiction of) the theories presented in the play script as expressed by the characters in dynamic theatrical motion and interaction.
Answer: 3. How does the play artfully and playfully juggle diverse and often conflicting theories into the air for the audience to consider?
Sentence Four (P 5) = Discuss how the characters portray the scientific theories in real time and space in the play’s performance through their language, dramatic actions and conflicts. What is communicated through words and what is communicated through the non-verbal (the subtext of the play’s dramatic action)?
Answer: 4. How do the characters, as individuals, interact with one another throughout the play…representing practically and symbolically the various strains of philosophical and scientific thought about the universe, life and discussions of free will?
Sentence Five (P 6) = Explore how Stoppard sets up and delivers his final coda on the ‘dance of life’. How is this dance conveyed in the title of the play? What is the relationship of death to the dance of life? How does it manifest in the dual representations of the eras?
Answer: 5. Does Stoppard illuminate the dance of life as a part of the human condition? If so, how does he do it?
Sentence Six (P 7) = Does the play satisfy the audience through its dual structural display of time and space? Explain why and how it delivers a unique experience to the audience and reader. This is your studied opinion and need to be fresh impressions after you have seen and digested the play – although keep it still in third person.
Answer: 6. Is the play a transformative experience for the audience?
Sentence Seven (P 8) =
This should be the discovery paragraph that explicates how the play provides solutions to the conflicts in the play. If the play does not resolve the conflicts of each era, especially in the interweaving of time and space through the philosophical tensions and emergent scientific ideas, then how does the play reconcile the characters’ predicaments successfully? Analyze how Stoppard handles the tensions he had devised. Does he elect to end his play with historical accuracy, theatrical engagement, mystery, and/or ambiguity?
Answer: 7. How does each era resolve the characters’ conflicts?
Sentence Eight (P 9) = Identify the overall affect of the characters on the lives of the others. Ultimately, consider if the dance of theory and practice in the lives of the characters portrayed in the play coalesce into a greater meaning of life for the audience (praxis)? Essentially, explicate how praxis is achieved and if radical reflection is invoked.
Answer: 8. Possible conclusions for you to consider — Select one.
a. Are the lives of the characters improved or destroyed by another or by circumstance?
b. Are their conflicts resolved, through a process of restoration…or are they replaced with other conflicts?
c. Are they separated by time and space, life or death?
d. Eliminated by fate?
f. Is there a transcendence of character in the play through the dramatic action of another?
Decide if the play transcends time and place and delivers a deeper understanding of what it means to be human in a material world.
Conclusion – Sentence 9 (P 10) = Conclusion & Resolution. Provide the solution(s) of the two time signatures through the dual resolution of dance. The conclusion paragraph also sums up and distills the essence of the play’s ethos (deepening sentence one). Glean these developed ideas from your introduction’s ten sentences and the subsequent (in order) body paragraphs. Deepen and refine your own organic and original thought explicated in each sentence/paragraph (in order). Do not repeat the same wording of any single idea throughout the paper unless it is for a purposeful repetition and/or added emphasis. Select a final quote from the play or scientific theory as an intellectual or emotional punctuation to conclude your analysis. This is a micro statement that mirrors and deepens your macro analysis of the ethos of the play in the Introduction.