Questions for Students to Prepare for Discussion of Arcadia 

(Questions suggested by Ruth Barton, CC English Department)

1. Discuss the use of two different time periods. How are these staged? How do they relate to the structure of the play? To the themes of the play? What appears in both time periods? Discuss stage props and their effect.
2. What parallel characters appear in different periods? In what ways are they parallel? What dramatic or thematic functions do they serve?
3. Discuss the attraction that Newton forgot.
4. What role do academic politics play in Arcadia? What role does gardening and landscape architecture have? How do all the various plots, subplots, themes and images fit together?
5. Does the butterfly effect appear in the play?
6. How do you interpret the dance that ends the play?