Arcadia: Act 2, Scene 7 Summary & Analysis

Chloë, Valentine and Gus lounge around the table, wearing Regency period clothing (ie, from the early 19th century, the time of Thomasina and Septimus). A pot of dwarf dahlias sits on the table. Chloë reads the title of Bernard’s paper. “Even in Arcadia—Sex, Literature and Death at Sidley Park.” She talks to Valentine about whether it’s possible to use math to predict the future. Valentine points out that Newton’s laws can’t adequately predict the future. Chloë thinks that the force Newton left out is sex.

Hannah enters, noting the group’s unusual outfits. Bernard’s theory about Byron has even made the tabloids, but she still thinks it’s silly. Chloë and Gus exit. Valentine hopes that Chloë isn’t too blinded by her feelings for Bernard. Hannah and Valentine banter about how Bernard’s theory may be wrong, and then Valentine propositions Hannah, in a teasing way.

Valentine continues work on his grouse project. Hannah in a stirring monologue about the necessity of the search for knowledge, encourages him not to give up on his project. “It’s the wanting to know that makes us matter.” She doesn’t want to believe in an afterlife, because that lessens the meaningfulness of the struggle for knowledge on earth.

Hannah looks at Valentine’s work. He shows her how he’s iterated Thomasina’s equation millions of times, producing a beautiful fractal-like pattern. He says this work, “the Coverly set,” is publishable, and that Thomasina would have been famous for it if she’d understood what she achieved. Because she’s not famous, Valentine apparently still believes that Thomasina stumbled upon the math accidentally, and didn’t really know what it meant. Hannah reveals that Thomasina died in a fire before she had time to put her work out in the world, the night before her 17th birthday.

As Hannah and Valentine continue, silently, to do work at the table, the two time periods begin to overlap, though the characters, separated by 200 years, don’t interact. Augustus, Thomasina’s brother, who’s played by the same actor as Gus, enters the room, chased by 16-year-old Thomasina. Septimus makes them settle down for the drawing lesson, at the same table where Hannah and Valentine sit.

Thomasina reviews her math notebook. Septimus didn’t give her a grade for what she calls her “rabbit equation.” She explains that it’s an iteration—“It eats its own progeny.” Septimus looks back at the book. Hannah and Valentine talk about whether the math demonstrates the end of the world, while Septimus begins to understand Thomasina’s equation. Valentine explains the second law of thermodynamics to Hannah. Tea only cools down, and never heats up by itself. The point, Valentine explains, is that certain processes only move in one direction. Valentine thinks that Septimus and Thomasina didn’t understand this major idea. Hannah quotes some lines from Byron that describe an apocalyptic vision.

Thomasina asks Septimus if she’ll marry Byron. He’s doubtful. Augustus, bored with the lesson, leaves in a huff. Thomasina brings up a kiss she shared with Septimus in the hermitage yesterday. She wants to learn how to waltz. Septimus shows Thomasina a prize-winning essay in which a French scientist explains that something about heat contradicts Newton.

Chloë and Lady Croom both enter, Chloë in search of Gus, and Lady Croom in search of Noakes. A steam pump and a piano make noise off stage—the pump pertains to Noakes, and the piano to Gus. Lady Croom complains about the pump noise to Thomasina, while Chloë and Valentine exit to have their photo taken (they’re still wearing Regency-period clothing). Lady Croom touches the pot of dahlias, while Hannah reads from Lady Croom’s garden books, which function as journals. The journal mentions Chater’s death by monkey bite. The dahlia he described had never been in England before.

Thomasina finishes with the French essay, which discusses a flaw in Newton’s theories. Determinism, the idea that the future is predictable and locked in, is not true. Thomasina is excited about her own theorizing about the forms in nature. Lady Croom shifts the conversation. Thomasina is just a week away from turning 17, and she wants to marry Byron. Septimus and Lady Croom gossip about Byron and Caroline Lamb.

Noakes enters, and Lady Croom airs her grievances about the noisy steam pump. She also complains about the hermitage, and wonders who might live there. Septimus mysteriously asks whether the hermitage might fit a piano. Thomasina mentions that the steam pump cannot ever work efficiently, because of the same forces of heat involved with her understanding of the second law of thermodynamics. Thomasina draws Septimus with his tortoise, Plautus. She exits to prepare for the dinner with a count that will take place that evening.

Augustus enters, meekly asking if Septimus will explain some “carnal things” to him. They leave to take a walk, Augustus carrying Thomasina’s drawing, as Bernard, Valentine, and Hannah enter. Hannah carries the garden book of Lady Croom. Bernard is in a fury about something, raving that he’s been “fucked by a dahlia.” Hannah reads a passage from the garden book, which clearly connects the botanist Chater, who died after describing a dahlia in Martinique, to the Ezra Chater of “The Couch of Eros.” This revelation disproves Bernard’s entire theory about Chater’s death in a duel with Byron.

Bernard scrabbles to think if any of his claims are true. He still thinks the Piccadilly reviews were Byron’s (though we know them to be Septimus’s), but the exciting part of his discovery is gutted. Bernard rather unfairly asks Hannah why she didn’t stop him. He wonders how long he has before another scholar points out his flaw, and Hannah indicates that she’ll publish a letter right away. Chloë and Valentine quickly give Bernard a Regency costume for the photograph of the family that will appear in the newspaper, and they all exit.

The lighting changes to evening. Septimus enters carrying a lamp, and Thomasina enters carrying a candle. Thomasina blows out the candle, exclaims that she’ll be 17 tomorrow, and kisses Septimus. She begs Septimus to teach her how to waltz. He reads one of her essays.

Hannah and Valentine enter. Valentine goes to the table to find Thomasina’s diagram. Septimus also finds Thomasina’s diagram. Valentine realizes that the diagram shows heat exchange, and Septimus summarizes his takeaway from Thomasina’s essay: “We are all doomed.” Valentine finally understands what Thomasina was getting at, namely that some processes only go in one direction. This goes against Newton, Septimus realizes. Septimus now offers to dance with Thomasina.

Bernard enters, removing his costume and planning to leave. Septimus and Thomasina dance slowly and kiss. Chloë enters angrily. Her mother discovered her and Bernard carrying on in the hermitage. Bernard apologizes to everyone, but tells Chloë, “It was wonderful.” Chloë and Valentine exit. Bernard gives his best wishes to Hannah for her book. She says she thinks she knows who the hermit is, but she can’t prove it. Bernard encourages her to publish. He exits.

Septimus and Thomasina continue to waltz. Then Septimus lights her candle and tells her, “Be careful with the flame.” She wants him to come visit her in the night, but he won’t agree to. Meanwhile, Gus enters, and hands Hannah a portfolio containing Thomasina’s drawing, labeled “Septimus holding Plautus,” the tortoise. Hannah thanks Gus, and Gus bows to invite her to dance. She rejects, then accepts his offer. The two of them begin to dance, alongside Thomasina and Septimus.