UNIT- 5 Arms and the Man - Summary

SEMESTER - II

For BBA, BCom (Gen, CA & A&F) Students Only.

UNIT - V 

ARMS AND THE MAN

                                                                      -    George Bernard Shaw

Introduction:

            George Bernard Shaw was an Irish author, playwright and activist as well as a founder of the London School of Economics. Shaw was born and educated in Dublin. As a young man, he became interested in socialism and activism. He began writing plays in the 1890s, and his writing always contained some elements of socio-cultural critique. In 1925, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Arms and the Man (1894) aims to disprove the romantic heroes of War. It’s not however an anti-war play, it’s a satire on the glorifications of war. The play is written in three acts.

Celebrating the Bulgarian Victory:

            The play takes place during the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War. Its heroine, Raina Petkoff, is a young Bulgarian woman engaged to Sergius Saranoff, one of the heroes of that war, whom she idolizes. On the November night after the Battle, Raina and her mother are happy about the Bulgarian victory. Raina is very happy about the courage of her fiancé Sergius.

Hideout of the Serbian Soldier:

            When Raina retires to the bed, a fugitive officer from the Serbian Army, chased by the Bulgarians, enters through the window of her bed chamber. The soldier seeks her help at pistol point. Raina is moved. She conceals him and feeds him with chocolate creams. He is Captain Bluntschli, a professional Swiss soldier employed by the Serbian army. Raina asks her mother Catherine to send away Bluntschli safely with an old overcoat.

The Return of Captain Bluntschli:

            In the second act, the war is over. Major Petkoff and Capt. Sergius return from the battlefield.  Though Sergius is engaged to Raina, he flirts with the servant girl Louka, who is engaged to Nicola, the Petkoffs' manservant. Raina also feels tiresome with Sergius, but she hides it. Bluntschli unexpectedly returns so that he can give back the old housecoat, but also so that he can see her. Raina and her mother are shocked, especially when her father and Sergius speak on the escape of a Serbian soldier. Bluntschli manages the situation.

Conclusion:

            In the last act, Sergius comes to know about Raina – Bluntschli episode through Louka. He challenges Bluntschli, but he evades it. Sergius expresses his wish to marry Louka and Bluntschli proposes to Raina. The parents hesitate at first, but when he reveals that he is the son of a Swiss rich man, they happily agree to their daughter’s marriage to her chocolate cream soldier. Thus G.B. Shaw attacks the false romantic ideas and sentiments of war.