Stone 1
Chelsea Stone
Vanessa Ruccolo
ENGL 2604
9 November 2011
Arcadia on Fire: the Significance of Fire in Stoppard’s Arcadia
How does fire relate to a scholar’s search for the truth? Seemingly, the overall plot of
Arcadia concerns current day scholars’ search for truth about a time period already passed, and
the antics of a family in the nineteenth century. However, the underlying ideas of the play
greatly outweigh the obvious ones, and fire appears throughout. In Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia,
fire and heat play essential roles in the story, manifesting itself both through the characters and
through direct mentioning.
An indirect way that fire plays an important role in the play concerns the characters in
the story. Hannah, Bernard, and Thomasina, all display incredible passion as characters and the
fire in their personalities is seen in many different instances. Hannah is quite possibly one of
the fieriest characters in the whole play. Her fire is a straightforward kind, and she is incredibly
outspoken as a person. Though she has an indifferent manner at the beginning of the play, her
attitude quickly changes about the man she recently met. When Bernard comes to Hannah to
discuss scholarly matters that she would know more about than he would, she gets frustrated
and tells him that she intends to put on her shoes. He questions as to the reason why and she
says, “I’m going to kick you in the balls” (21). That statement reveals nothing if not the fire in
Hannah’s character. The previous quote sums up Hannah’s entire personality in one short
sentence. Hannah’s passion can be seen often during arguments with Bernard, such as when
they are discussing the hermit of Sidley Park that she is doing research on. Hannah states that
the hermit is the perfect symbol. When Bernard does not understand the point Hannah makes,
Stone 2
she screams, “The whole Romantic sham, Bernard!” clearly frustrated with his incompetence in
the matter (27). She has now not only threatened Bernard’s manhood, but also yelled at him
for not understanding her. The fire repeatedly manifests itself in her character.
Bernard, however, has some energy of his own in the play. His fire is one of fury, mostly
fury at his own folly. During the latter half of the play, he comes to find that all of his research
led him in the wrong direction, and that the theory he published is actually proven false. He,
enraged, screams, “Fucked by a dahlia!” because the dahlia links the man he thought was
murdered to a date where he was supposedly already dead (88). He finds his research and
reputation to be ruined, and shouts out the aforementioned exclamation in fury. Another
example of Bernard’s fervor is shown when he is caught red-handed sleeping with Chloe at the
end of the play. He apologizes to everyone in the room (and to some people not in the room)
in an effort to escape the uncomfortable situation. He says, “Sorry one and all. Sorry,
Hannah—sorry, Hermione—sorry, Byron—sorry, sorry, sorry, now can I go?” (95). The quote
makes it obvious that Bernard is not actually giving out heartfelt apologies to anyone he
mentions, but rather attempts to flee an embarrassing and awkward situation. He becomes
ardent when he focuses entirely on some happening.
Thomasina is another incredibly fierce and passionate character in the play, and is a
representative from the earlier of the two time periods. Her particular type of fire is one of
frustration, particularly frustration with her elders. During one of many conversations with
Septimus, he frustrates her by faking a translation of a Latin text. She becomes enraged at
Septimus, and shouts, “Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!” when she realizes that he bluffs the translation
(39). Her shouts then turn to, “I hope you die!” when Septimus does not acknowledge her
Stone 3
anger (39). She shows her powerful personality to someone she is very close friends with, and
one can only assume what she would be capable of with a family member. Thomasina’s
frustration with her elders changes to a different type of frustration as she matures, though.
Her fire is then seen through frustration yet again, but this time it is a romantic frustration with
Septimus. Thomasina shows her ardor again at the end of the play, when she and Septimus are
waltzing across the study room. She tells Septimus, “I will wait for you to come [to me]” and he
replies, “I cannot” (96). Thomasina will not give up easily though, and this shows the fire in her
character yet again. She firmly tells Septimus, “You must” (96). Her blunt statement to an
elder is both surprising for the time period and fiery overall.
Fourier’s Heat Equation is touched on repeatedly throughout the play, even if it is not
directly mentioned. The equation simply describes the way that heat behaves. Everything
always goes from hot to cold; therefore heat will always transfer to cold (Herod and Harrel II).
Valentines says to Hannah, “Your tea will end up at room temperature. What’s happening to
your tea is happening to everything everywhere. The sun and the stars. It’ll take a while but
we’re all going to end up at room temperature” when he tries to explain Thomasina’s genius to
her (Stoppard 78). Valentine unknowingly explains Fourier’s Heat Equation to Hannah, and
Hannah has difficulty understanding. Thomasina unwittingly explains the heat equation again
when Septimus asks her to explicate her diagram. She says that, “the heat equation cares very
much, it only goes one way” (87). She has found that while all other mathematical equations
can be solved either forwards or backwards, the heat equation is solvable in only one direction.
Later, Valentine explains to Hannah the ideas that Thomasina figured out. He says, “that you
can’t run the film backwards. Heat was the first thing which didn’t work that way. Not like
Stone 4
Newton . . . It won’t work backwards” (93). This is a genius revelation, considering the time
period in which Thomasina has figured this out.
Fourier’s Heat Equation gives the reason Mr. Noakes’s steam engine will never become
one hundred percent efficient, and Thomasina points out this fact in a nonchalant manner,
even though others believe the steam engine to be a revolutionary device. Septimus says , “I
have no doubt that the improved steam-driven heat-engine which puts Mr. Noakes in to an
ecstasy that he and it and the modern age should all coincide,” (38). He, like everyone else who
knows Mr. Noakes, believes that the steam engine will revolutionize England. Thomasina,
however, declares that she has important news for Mr. Noakes regarding his steam engine,
information that is contrary to popular belief of people of the time period. She says, “It
concerns your steam engine. Improve it as you will, you can never get out of it what you put in.
It repays eleven pence in the shilling at the most” (86). Her bold statement baffles Noakes, and
he merely stutters, “thank you, my lady,” in response (86).
Another direct role that fire serves in the play surfaces in the flame of the candlestick
that Thomasina holds during the last scene, when she and Septimus are waltzing. Septimus
hands both her essay and the candlestick to Thomasina, telling her to, “Be careful with the
flame” (96). This simple quote is loaded to the brim with meaning and insinuations. First, there
is the literal meaning of actually being careful with the flame. The second meaning of the quote
foreshadows Thomasina’s death that will occur later that evening in a house fire. The third
meaning of the quote refers to Thomasina and Septimus’s new relationship. He is saying to be
careful of the fire they are just beginning to allow to burn, because new love is always delicate.
Stone 5
The flame from the candle also brings warmth and illumination into the room where the two
are waltzing, for the last time.
Fire appears again when Hannah reveals how Thomasina died to Valentine. He praises
Thomasina’s work, saying that it is, “Interesting. Publishable.” when Hannah points out that,
“[Thomasina] was dead before she had time to be famous” (76). Valentine questions Hannah
about Thomasina’s death and Hannah reveals that she “burned to death” (76). The entity that
once served as a beacon of warmth and light to Thomasina becomes the very article that would
eventually take her life. This dual role of fire is no coincidence because it shows the reader how
something seemingly only beneficial can also be destructive. In all reality, fire was a fitting way
for Thomasina to die. She had fire in her personality, and it eventually took her life.
The significance of fire is evident throughout Arcadia, both literally and symbolically in
the characters. Each character portrays a different type of fiery personality, and the literal
mentions of fire and heat have obvious meaning for the reader. Arcadia would not come across
as near as interesting and complex of a play as it is without the hidden uses of fire.
Stone 6
Works Cited
Herod, James V., and Evans M. Harrel II. "Linear Methods of Applied Mathematics." Copyright
1994,1995,1996 by Evans M. Harrell II and James V. Herod, 1996. Web. 9 Nov 2011.
<http://www.mathphysics.com/pde/HEderiv.html>.
Stoppard, Tom. Arcadia. Rev. ed. Union Square West, NY: Faber and Faber, Inc., 1993. Print.