We have closely studied two plays, Fences by August Wilson and Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. These plays, as you have noticed, are completely different from each other. One grows out of the American tradition of serious, tragic drama, which stretches back to the theatre of Eugene O’Neil, whereas the other springs from the British tradition of intellectual comedy that includes such playwrights as Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and William Congreve.

Despite their differences, both plays are fascinated (even obsessed) by the ways in which the past impinges on the present and the present rewrites the past. Certain characters, such as Troy Maxon, carry the burden of history within themselves, while other characters, such as Thomasina Coverley, see their brief but intense lives rekindled long after they died.

I want you to write a five-page critical essay that examines some of the ways in which each play juxtaposes past and present. What is the point and purpose of such juxtapositions? What lessons can we take away from these collisions of past and present? How are Wilson and Stoppard different in this regard? By the same token, what also makes them similar? These and other questions you should consider in writing your paper.

Sample Solution