Scene 6 - Arcadia

LOOK AGAIN AT THE SECOND SCENE OF ACT 2, WHICH STARTS WITH THE STAGE DIRECTION “THE ROOM IS EMPTY”. WRITE ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS SCENE, PAYING ATTENTION TO STOPPARD’S PRESENTATION OF CHARACTER AS WELL AS HIS DEVELOPMENT OF PLOT. Throughout the entire course of the play Arcadia, Tom Stoppard carefully advances and unravels details of both character and plot in each scene, letting information out a bit at a time so that as we …showed first 75 words of 1709 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1709 total…play. With the appearance of just three characters and a length of just five pages this scene would, at first glance, appear to be pretty unsubstantial. However, when you look below the surface to see what emerges in the detail, then you find a whole host of character and plot developments. This is something that, in my opinion, sums up the entire play, and shows very well the way that Stoppard works as a playwright.