Epistemological Implications of ‘Chaos’ Aesthetics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia

Document Type : Research Paper

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University Lecturer Commercial Manager

Abstract

The present research attempts to provide a possibility of bridging the gap between science and art by bringing to light the recent manifestations of science-art interaction in theatre and dramatizing the world of science thematically and formally.The purpose of the present thesis is to excavate the epistemological implications of ‘chaos’ in one of the plays by Tom Stoppard,Arcadia(1993) meticulously through the mediums of language, form, structure and content. Stoppard,by applying the very implications of ‘chaos’ and ‘entropy’in the science play,Arcadia, and by the depiction of reality as a game or spectacle, the destabilization of identity and the inability of language to offer security of meaning, and questioning and dismantling of the individual self, which leaves the text as an epistemological inquiry into how meaning is constructed.Yet, Stoppard sees ‘chaos’ aesthetically,hence he adjusts his vision to see ‘chaos’ as a place of opportunities,a location of interactive disorder generating new orders- then not necessarily be synonymous with randomness, rather it is a source of energy out of which change,creativity,and hope have sprung.

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References

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Research in Contemporary World Literature
Volume 24, Issue 1
July 2019
Pages 5-22

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