Tom Stoppard's Arcadia

[@flyingscotsman5617]

I studied Arcadia years ago at school and remember really enjoying and being intrigued by the themes at play. It's been a long time since then and I found myself looking back recently trying to remember exactly why I enjoyed it so much... fast forward to finding this after a cursory KZbin search and this video was a wonderful, succinct and astute summary that has fired me straight back into the world of literary anlysis I enjoyed so much. As an engineer, but also a student of literature, the themes in this always had particular resonance. Great work, look forward to watching more or your videos.

[@TheatreofPhil]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. It definitely makes sense that Stoppard would be particularly interesting for someone with a STEM background, because various types of sciences are fundamental to so many of Stoppard's plays.

[@f6jk]

a really articulated response to what's probably my favourite play, thankyou and I'll be sure to watch more of your videos 👍

[@f6jk]

also I'm currently studying English at a level and will need to choose two pieces of literature for my coursework which will compare them, I was planning on doing this and the catcher in the rye but one will need to be pre-1900. Do you have any recommendations?

[@TheatreofPhil]

I'm glad you liked the video and found it useful. If the only criterion is pre-1900, that obviously opens up a massive number of possibilities for what you could compare. If you tell me a bit more about what you're interested in I could try to make a better recommendation. Just off the top of my head, however, you could pair Arcadia with a Restoration comedy, like William Wycherly's The Country Wife or The Plain Dealer or William Congreve's The Way of the World. Arcadia kind of moves in similar ways to these plays, with shared concerns about sexual (im)propriety, characters' puffed up self-image, and interest in the role and function of art.

[@garrettsauer5080]

Doing a reading of this over zoom soon and this video really helped in my research! I am playing Chater

[@TheatreofPhil]

That sounds really cool. Break a leg.

[@georgea3970]

This was amazing thank you

[@TheatreofPhil]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@sibyjoseph9989]

Thank you ...nicely explained sir👍

[@TheatreofPhil]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

[@sumangyawali6047]

Please do it in detail again

[@TheatreofPhil]

I'm not really sure what you mean by this.

[@sandychu4245]

helped my eesay