Arcardia
Bernard is a main character who is not a scientist and has basically no scientific background. From the moment he is introduced, he is portrayed as eccentric and odd. Here Bernard is described for the first time: "Bernard, the visitor, wears a suit and tie. His tendency is to dress flamboyantly but he has damped it down for the occasion, slightly. A peacock-colored display handkerchief boils over is his breast pocket." (73) The term flamboyant refers to his ornate and rather bold outfit and personality. As one of the most irrational characters of the play, he behaves and acts much differently from the others. Bernard and his constant need to be successful and famous lead him to disaster as he acts with little regard to the truth. Rarely looking for proof when coming up with ideas and theories, he feels that if there is the slightest proof that he is correct then he is able to tell everyone it is the truth. He completely disregards the logical way of thinking that theories can be proven wrong. He never takes the time to see if his theories can be proven wrong. Here Hannah shows her dismay with Bernard's irrational behavior: "You haven't established it was fought. You haven't established it was Byron. For God's sake, Bernar
d, you haven't established Byron was even there," (50). Hannah tries to tell Bernard that he has not discovered enough evidence to publish his theory,yet Bernard believes she is incorrect. He feels that all you need are your own instincts to lead you to the truth. "By which I mean belief in yourself. Gut instinct. The part of you which doesn't reason. The certainty for which there is no back-reference." (50) Bernard is responding the quote by Hannah above. Here Bernard is exemplifying perfectly his idea about how his theories are founded. He uses the words "gut instinct" and "certainty for which there is not back" which shows how he doesn't need hard evidence to prove things (48, 50). He feels his own personal view is enough to make something real. He has no concept of the regular, logical format of backing up theories with evidence; instead he relies on nothing but himself. No matter how irrational his ideas are, his feeling is that if your gut tells you it is the truth then you should follow it. He also refers to his way of thinking as "the part of you which doesn't reason" showing how irrational he really is. He's admitting that sometimes no reasoning is needed in proving something. To most this seems completely foreign and quite illogical. Bernard, although, finds this to be the normal way of thinking. Later in the play Bernard is shown once again to be completely irrational. After Bernard makes his argument that Mr. Chater was killed in a duel with Lord Byron and this was the reason Byron left. Hannah reacts to this theory by saying, "Bernard, I don't know why I'm bothering-you're arrogant, greedy, and reckless. You've gone from a glint in your eye to a sure thing in a hop, skip, and a jump." (59) Hannah reveals her disapproval of Bernard's attitude and aggressive approach to everything. His attitude is described as " arrogant and reckless," proving how little regard for logic he has. She also says, "You've left out everything which doesn't fit." (59) Hannah describes how Bernard has chosen only information
Some common words found in the essay are:
Thomasina Septimus, , Lord Byron, Hannah Bernard, Actually Bernard, Byron God's, Septimus Thomasina, Martinique Bernard's, Septimus Hodge, Tom Stoppard, proven wrong, irrational behavior, haven't established, scientific background, act rationally, haven't established byron, gut instinct, feels own, tell bernard, tries tell, established byron, theories proven wrong, tries tell bernard,
Approximate Word count = 1368
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
