The Stag by Archibald is believed to be one of his chief works. Owing to the fact that he was an advocate of feminism, painting deer made it easy for him to showcase his suppressed ideas. Stag in itself represents beautiful art, majestic scenery, and pastoral life, however, its hidden subject matter can only be understood by knowing the idea behind a sad deer.
Archibald painted this in natural scenery to show the duality of this world. Not only it depicts the oppressed deer but shows how the world has made this beautiful scenery a prison for such animals. Deer are believed to have long been part of human art and culture, from coins and stamps to artwork and poetry. Archibald, thus drawing such portraits, ensured that dreaming of killing a deer is said to represent an attempt to suppress these feminine qualities.
Apart from that despotic theme, one can also view it as a tribute to rural and natural beauties. When once asked about nature in Archibald paintings and particularly the Stage, he asserted: Art mentioning nature can be done simply to exhibit the appeal, magnificence, and winsomeness of the natural world around us, and to make scientific observations in an environment, or to unlock our minds to philosophical ideas pertaining to our own connection to nature and beyond.
More or less, this art Stag has been phenomenal in capturing art and philosophy, scenery and sadism, nature and materialistic life. While few of that era's writers have described this art as a divine inspiration, for they hold firm belief in mountains and the symbolism of divine signification. The scattered clouds, and colossal hills in the background may add to what the critics had reckoned, the divine notice over the world.