audience. This overdone lack of interest and use of every form of adjective in the English language makes this scene a commentary on modern society in that Stoppard is pointing out how people in society may go through the motions, but that doesn't mean that they care. Stoppard feels that as time has progressed, the very nature of people has changed. People used to take action because they were determined to control their lives and they were either able to see the patterns in the chaos or they were convinced that there were patterns. People now talk about taking action, but they rarely do it. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Hamlet is a man of action, as is Claudius because he killed the previous king to get the throne. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, on the other hand, represent modern people. They are all talk and very little action. They lack purpose and therefore sit around flipping coins all day. In Travesties, Joyce, Lenin and Tzara are all revolutionaries, while Carr, on the other hand, is your "average Joe." He represents the vain need of modern people to be famous. His purpose in life is unclear and it is even revealed at the end that he is not the British Consulate, as everyone is led to believe throughout the play. He is just an aid. Henry Carr tried desperately to be famous but failed.In Arcadia, Stoppard once again illustrated this difference between the people of the past (the "doers") and the people of the present (the "talkers"). Stoppard portrays the present day characters as shallow people who talk about doing things but never actually do them. He is once again holding a mirror up to the audience.In the 1809 cast, the two main characters are Thomasina Coverly and Septimus Hodge. Thomasina, a young 13-year old mathematical genius, is portrayed as being too smart for her innocence. At times, she plays the part of the naive little girl. Usually, she pretends to be naive in order to save her tutor, Septimus, from bei...
