Tortoise & Hare/Rabbit & Grouse: life-span, symbolism, etc. (p. 23)

      As creatures of the natural world, the presence of the tortoise and grouse in Tom Stoppard's profound play Arcadia is complex, for comparisons between the tortoise and hare and the rabbit and grouse allow us to examine the symbolic and thematic messages hidden within the play.
     With a lifespan of over 100 years, the tortoise is frequently depicted in popular culture as an emblem of longevity and stability, for its aged, slow-moving exterior appearance and character exude a sense of sturdiness, patience, and wisdom. With this, the tortoise holds a prominent position in mythologies as a symbol of fertility and immortality; in creation myths, this sense of strength is believed to carry the world upon its back and support the heavens. Conversely, the hare is a short-lived creature, regarded as a symbol of speed; in mythologies, it was sacred to Aphrodite and Eros because of its high libido, symbolic of love and sexuality. The Aesop fable The Tortoise and the Hare further represents the two animals, for it is indeed a story of morality; specifically, the slow and steady tortoise wins the race over his foolish opponent, yet in broader terms one could interpret it as a lesson of perseverance over haste.

Illustration of The Tortoise and the Hare

The appearance of the rabbit and the grouse hold somewhat similar meanings. In accordance with the hare, the rabbit has a short lifespan, yet across cultures it symbolizes a strong sense of reproduction and fertility, for the celebration of the bunny during Easter is testament to a sort of restoration and rebirth. In some cultures, however—such as most Native American tribes—rabbits are seen as tricksters. In comparison, the grouse remains somewhat of a mysterious creature, for it is a bird species whose population fluctuates unknowingly through the year; perhaps due to weather and food resources the grouse lives less than a year, but there is still mystery surrounding its unstable life cycle. With this, the grouse symbolizes a sense of personal power and the perpetual cycle of life and death; in Native American tribes as well, the grouse represents vision and enlightenment, with "grouse medicine" the medicine of power and universal wisdom.

Grouse

     With this abundance of symbolic meaning, it is imperative to note how such representations help one to understand why such animals make appearances in Arcadia, particularly on page 23 in the play. To first speculate in modern terms (since scene two takes place in the present), there is an algorithm in computer science called Floyd's cycle-finding algorithm, also known as "the tortoise and the hare" algorithm, which uses two pointers that moves through the sequence at different speeds; though I focused mainly on the mythological nature of the animals, this finding could suggest a "cycle" that occurs in the play between the two intertwining stories: the past (Coverly family circa 1809) and the present. The stories are separate settings and worlds, yet there is still the persisting question of identity for all the characters—in this particular scene, the modern tale of Hannah and Bernard reveals a broken aristocratic family that must look to the past for prestige, whereas the old tale of Thomasina and Septimus is the past aristocracy; so, with the specific tortoise and hare algorithm alone, this could represent something much larger, for it could display this cycle of people, this parallel between them.
      Further, the intertwining of objects and characters are seen in Septimus's character, who works with science and theorems, and has a pet tortoise named Plautus, where in the contemporary scene two it is Valentine who keeps a tortoise named, ironically, Lightning; further, he is a mathematician doing "computer grouse," perhaps suggesting this mystery of technology or its ability to persist through decades and centuries, just as the grouse does. These observations, though small, could suggest this sense of interconnection (seen through the tortoise/hare, rabbit/grouse) between people and their identities, between the past and the present; all, perhaps, on a quest for knowledge or truth.

Research: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_turtles
                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grouse
                http://alltotems.com/rabbit-bunny-and-hare-symbolism-totem-and-meaning/
                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_detection#Tortoise_and_hare
             
Images: http://joyfulpublicspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/01/hopping-through-sixty-speeches-shauna.html
            http://guardianangelreadings.net/2013/01/grouse/grouse/