Explore the Significance of the Destruction of Objects in Arcadia, with Particular Reference to the Recurring Motif Fire, and Its Destructive Force.

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Throughout Arcadia, many objects are destroyed. The usual effect of this destruction is shown in the future scenes where confusion is brought about, and misguided or plain wrong ideas and conclusions about the past are consequently made. This is exemplified through the burning of Lord Byron’s unread letter by Septimus, or to an extent the modification, and effectual ruining of the garden by Noakes, and how these things humorously caused misconceptions about Byron’s presence, and the role of the hermitage. The driving force behind most of this destruction in Arcadia is fire. The fire burnt Byrons letter, it fuelled Noakes’ steam engine, and caused the great fire at the denouement that both destroyed the house and Thomasina. Stoppard uses this idea of fire as a destructive force to link in another key theme of the play. Regular references and allusions are made to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which states that the universe is constantly losing heat, and that this will eventually lead to the destruction of everything. This idea is illustrated again when Thomasina mentions the burning of the Lighthouse at Alexandria, where centuries of mathematical proofs and academic works were destroyed in a blaze. The fire at the lighthouse draws a parallel to the fire in the house which killed Thomasina, in that it represents the loss of academic ideas at different points in history. This is particularly significant, because as the in the present day characters such as Bernard, Helena and Valentine are halted in their search to discoved past events. Thomasina fumes at how the destruction of the Lighthouse hindered the intellectual progress of science, maths and literature in her time. Septimus explains how the ideas that were lost will be found again in the future, using the metaphor of a path representing time. This ties in with another key theme of the play, chaos and the

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