Hidden Order in the "Stoppard Set": Chaos Theory in the Content and Structure of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia

Hidden Order in the "Stoppard Set": Chaos Theory in the Content and Structure of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia SUSANNE VEES -GULANI In his play Arcadia, published and first perfonned in 1993, Tom Stoppard explores a variety of ideas and themes along different time lines, ranging from history and chaos theory to gardening and sex. Despite this range, the play does not strike the audience as a clutter of unconnected parts. Rather, Stoppard succeeds in unifying the play with an all-inclusive structure. The principles and ideas of chaos theory, which fonn one of the central topics of the content, are also applied in the organization of the playas a whole - a point largely neglected by critics to date. Just as chaos theory attempts to offer a more universal approach to the way our world is arranged, Stoppard strives to explain his characters' behavior and thoughts as aspects of an "orderly disorder," which they, however, cannot fully perceive. By covering occurrences at three different moments of history on the stage, the past (1809 and 1812) and the present (1993), Stoppard offers the audience a scenario impossible outside the imaginary world: the exact description of events happening nearly 200 years apart. The interrelation of the past and the present together with the possibilities of interpreting or predicting either one thus fann the central immediate concerns of the play. Using chaos theory in both content and structure, Stoppard also goes beyond these issues and touches on universal questions about the organization and evolution of OUf world and OUT place and role within it. CHAOS THEORY Many people see chaos theory, which is also called nonlinear dynamics, as this century's third major advancement in the physical sciences after the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.' Chaos theory has thus become a fashionable topic not only among scientists of different disciplines, but lately also among the general public. This widespread popularity can be traced back to several publications about nonlinear dynamics that are specifically aimed at Modem Drama, 42 (Fall 1999) 4" 412 SUSANNE VEES-GULANI the layperson. Largely filtered through these popular channels, chaos theory has now also entered literature.' Thus James Gleick's bestseller Chaos: Making a New Science came to be Stoppard's major source for his treatment of chaos theory in Arcadia.3 However, Stoppard has long displayed an interest in the scientific development of our age in his plays. As Richard Hornby points out, "Stoppard's interest in mathematical quirks goes back to the first scene of his first play ... [andl [mlost of Stoppard's subsequent works touch on some mathematical or scientific enigmas.'" Still, Arcadia is the first of his plays where science takes on a truly "cent[rall" role.5 . Chaos theory focuses on nonlinear systems and their characteristic behaviOT . The findings suggest that these systems have a large influence on the (dis)order of our world and their study can thus offer new explanations of the organization of the universe we live in. The mathematics of non-linear dynamics have found application in a wide array of research areas, such as the understanding of weather patterns, of turbulent flow, and of population growth patterns. It is important to avoid being misled by the tenn "chaos theory " when it is used interchangeably with nonlinear dynamics. In this specific sense, "chaos" does not reflect the everyday understanding of the word, which is equated with "randomness." On the contrary, in nonlinear dynamics. processes that can be labeled "chaotic" are not random (even if they might appear so to the onlooker). As David Peak and Michael Frame point out, "Chaos is irregular output from a deterministic source. The future of a chaotic behavior is completely determined by its past. Chaos is not chance or randomness.,,6 Unfortunately, many people, occasionally including Gleick, carelessly make the mistake of equating the everyday sense of the word with its specific scientific meaning.? Weak understanding of such concepts can lead to glaring errors that are more serious than simply the loose use of tenninology to describe phenomena. A widely known application of chaos theory is in the production of the beautiful fractal images that grace the covers of most books on the subject. Fractal...