Knowledge in Arcadia

A detailed Summary of Knowledge in Arcadia

" Valentine:.....till there's no time left. That's what time means.

Septimus: When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore."

Discuss the importance of knowledge within Arcadia in light of the above quotation.

Knowledge is of importance to all of the characters in Arcadia, the pursuit of which lies at the root of many of their actions. Although their motives may be the same, what they seek is invariably different: the diverse range of information they search for, and the manner in which they do so, can be ordered into something of a hierarchy. But what should rightfully be at the top, and which the bottom? Whether it is Thomasina's intuitive understanding or Hannah's cautious, but well-grounded, speculation ultimately does not matter: "It's all trivial," as both Valentine and Hannah say. That's not to say that the information is unimportant as much as claiming that the process of finding out is, in itself, more significant. In an even greater sense, knowledge defines time: this has its origin at the Fall from grace, when knowledge of good and evil was brought to mankind. Defined in this way, when there is no knowledge left to be gained, there will be "no time left", and

There cannot be a "life" after the searching is over, for that is the essence of being alive. Here, the afterlife is lumped together with various other mysterious phenomena, whose existence is yet to be proven. That one cannot believe in "the great celestial get-together", but can believe in the rest, is not meant to have a scent of hypocrisy about it. It is Hannah's gut instinct that, while there is the possibility that the others may exist, an afterlife, in that sense, cannot. This is founded on her belief that life is not like working through a maths book and finding the "answers in the back" when all is done, rather that the solutions, if found at all, do not represent success, that is to say, "failure is final". To search without reaching one's goal appears almost to be a blessing: "the ultimate fear is of posterity," (74) says Valentine, because knowledge cannot prove to be true, "it can only prove not to be false yet" (74). And while Hannah leaves open the possibility!

The "exchange of views" is viewed dimly by Hannah ("what a drag"), and she feels that one should not hope for this outcome. What drive would there be in the course of a life, to seek knowledge, if we knew that our scant findings would, at the end, appear inadequate when we are bestowed with all the knowledge there is on offer? There is almost an implication that to believe in such an afterlife is a temptation, to be avoided lest we waste the lives that we are living now. In searching for meaning in our lives, we give our lives meaning.

This quote epitomises the view that knowledge is of little value in comparison with the search for it. In saying this, Valentine implies that the accumulation of centuries of human knowledge only has worth in the fact that it is wrong. This further implies not only that the "quest" of our ancestors was unsuccessful, but also that the greatest discovery was the one that proved they were wrong, for it allowed the search to start all over again. This certainly leaves us to wonder about the current direction of mankind's search for knowledge: will our quest also ultimately be seen as worthless? Is it, as Hannah says, "better to struggle on knowing that failure is final" (76)? The answer, again, is that this question misses the point. To search is to be human, and as long as we continue to search for meaning behind the mystery, we will know that we are alive, and not "alone on an empty shore."

From this analysis, it is seen that each of the characters in the play represents certain values: imagination opposing concrete knowledge, the intuitive against the rational. Returning to the original quotes, Valentine symbolises the scientific viewpoint, where reason is the key, while Septimus, in this example at least, repres

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Approximate Word count = 1850
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English