Arms and the man:An Anti-Romantic Play in three Acts by George Bernard Shaw.

The play 'Arms and the Man' begins in the bedroom of Raina Petkoff in a Bulgarian town in 1885.it was the time of Serbo-Bulgarian War. As the play opens, Catherine Petkoff and her daughter, Raina, have just heard that the Bulgarians have scored a tremendous victory in a cavalry charge led by Raina's fiancé, Major Sergius Saranoff, who is in the same regiment as Raina's father, Major Paul Petkoff. Raina is so impressed with the noble deeds of her fiancé that she fears that she might never be able to live up to his nobility..-----------

1. By George Bernard Shaw

2. Key facts about the play:- Full Title: Arms and the Man: An anti-romantic comedy in three acts. The title comes from the opening words of Virgil’s Aeneid , in Latin: Arma virumque cano meaning "Of arms and the man I sing". Written during the early 1890s. Shaw was at that time in Ireland and England. Published in: 1898 as part of Shaw's Plays Pleasant volume; It had included Candida, You Never Can Tell, and The Man of Destiny. First Performed in: 21 April 1894 at the Avenue Theatre. Literary Period: Transitional: End of Romanticism, Beginning of Modernism; rise of socialism, Marxism, and worsening class divisions. Genre: Comedy Setting: Bulgaria Background: Serbo -Bulgarian War in 1885 where the Bulgarians won in a historic Battle of Slivnitza . Point of View: A humorous play that shows the futility of war and deals comedically with the hypocrisies of human nature.

3. About the playwright:- George Bernard Shaw was an iconoclast. He was an Irish born in Dublin in July 26, 1856. Similar to the epithet ‘Shakespearean plays’, we use ‘Shavian Plays’ for his plays. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays but Bernard Shaw wrote altogether 62 plays. Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. He won the academy award in 1938 for writing the screenplay of his famous play  Pygmalion for the Big Screen. Till date he is the only person to win both a Nobel and an Oscar. Shaw was one of the most well-read persons of his time though he had no formal institutional degrees. He said ‘School was to me a penal servitude’. George Bernard Shaw died in 1950 at the ripe old age of 94.

4. Plot of the play in brief:- A fleeing member of the Serbian army desperately climbs through Raina Petkoff’s bedroom window to escape capture, but he turns out to be a Swiss mercenary officer by the name of Captain Bluntschli . Raina scolds him for being cowardly and informs him of the bravery of her fiancé, Sergius, a cavalry officer who led the Bulgarian victory. Bluntschli informs her of the foolish nature of Sergius’ charge in the battle and then explains that chocolates are more valuable in a war than bullets, a statement that outrages Raina. He shocks her even more when he reveals that he is afraid and unwilling to die. However, when soldiers come seeking out the run-away, Raina hides the fugitive, and only her maid, Louka, is aware of her actions. Act II takes place four months later, when Raina’s father and fiancé have returned after the war. The two men talk about a young Swiss officer who had impressed them with his practical approach to the exchange of soldiers. The men also laugh about the tale of the officer’s escape and how a young girl had given him shelter in her bedroom, little suspecting that it happened in Major Petkoff’s own house. Meanwhile in secret, Sergius has been flirting with Louka. Unexpectedly, Captain Bluntschli shows up to return an overcoat that Raina had lent him for his escape, and she panics when her father invites him to stay for lunch. In Act III, while Bluntschli is helping the men plan for the transport of troops, Raina is worried that her father will find the photo she had secretly left in the coat pocket for her “Chocolate Cream Soldier”. When Sergius discovers the bond between Raina and Bluntschli he challenges him to a duel, but Raina interrupts and expresses her real feelings for Bluntschli . Louka succeeds in securing Sergius for herself and Major Petkoff and his wife give consent to Bluntschli to marry Raina.

5. Brief summary of the Play:- The play is set in Bulgaria and set during the brief Bulgarian-Serbian war in the 1880s. It opens with the young romantic Raina Petkoff and her mother Catherine talking excitedly about a successful cavalry charge led by the handsome and heroic Sergius , to whom Raina is betrothed. They are thrilled at his success. Their defiant young servant Louka comes in and tells them that there will be fighting in the streets soon, and that they should lock all of their windows. Raina’s shutters do not lock, and shortly after the gunshots start that night, she hears a man climb onto her balcony and into her room. He is a Swiss professional soldier fighting for Servia . Though he fights for the enemy and is not in the least heroic (he fears for his life, threatens to cry, and carries chocolates instead of ammo) Raina is touched by his plight. He angers her when he tells her that the man who led the cavalry charge against them only succeeded because he got extremely lucky—the Servians were not equipped with the right ammo. Raina indignantly says that that commander is her betrothed, and the man apologizes, holding back laughter. Raina nevertheless agrees to keep the man safe, saying that her family is one of the most powerful and wealthy in Bulgaria, and that his safety will be ensured as their guest. She goes to get her mother and when they return he has fallen asleep on Raina’s bed.

6. Summary(cont.) In the next act the war has ended, and Major Petkoff ( Raina’s father) arrives home, and Sergius and Raina are reunited. They speak lovingly to one another about how perfect their romance is. But when Raina goes inside, Sergius holds Louka in his arms, clearly lusting after her. Louka believes he is taking advantage of her because she is a servant, and tells him she does not believe she and he are any different simply because he is rich and she is poor. They part just as Raina returns. Then, to make things more complicated, the man from Raina’s balcony, announcing himself as Captain Bluntschli , arrives, to return a coat he was loaned the morning after he rested at the house. Catherine tries to keep him from being seen, but Major Petkoff recognizes him, and invites him inside to help with some of the last remaining military orders. In the final act, in the library , it comes out that Louka, though she had been assumed to be engaged to the head servant Nicola , is in love with Sergius, and he is in love with her. Raina eventually admits she has fallen for Bluntschli , who is at first hesitant, believing her to be much younger than she is. When he finds out her real age (23 rather than the 17 he had thought she was), he declares his affection for her. The play ends happily, with two new couples. Copied from www.Litcharts.com

7. Characters:- Captain Bluntschli : A professional soldier from Switzerland who is serving in the Serbian army. He is thirty-four years old, and he is totally realistic about the stupidity of war. Raina Petkoff :The romantic idealist of twenty-three who views war in terms of noble and heroic deeds. Sergius Saranoff : The extremely handsome young Bulgarian officer who leads an attack against the Serbs which was an overwhelming success. Major Petkoff: The inept, fifty-year-old father of Raina; he is wealthy by Bulgarian standards, but he is also unread, uncouth, and incompetent. Catherine Petkoff: Raina's mother; she looks like and acts like a peasant, but she wears fashionable dressing gowns and tea gowns all the time in an effort to appear to be a Viennese lady. Louka: The Petkoffs ' female servant; she is young and physically attractive, and she uses her appearance for ambitious preferment. Nicola: A realistic, middle-aged servant who is very practical. [www.cliffnotes.con]

8. Themes:- Shaw was a propagandist playwright. Following the tradition of Ibsen’s ‘Drama of Ideas’, Shaw propagated his iconoclastic Ideas in his plays. For this reason we find a number of themes highlighting his ‘Time and Age’ in the witty play ‘Arms and the Man’. Broadly speaking ,we find the following themes in ‘Arms and the Man’--- 1. Ignorance vs. Knowledge or, Realism vs.Romanticism 2. The Realities of War or, Hollowness of heroism in War. 3. The Realities of Love or, There is no ‘Higher Love’; all love are ‘Vegetable Love’. 4. Incompetent Authority 5. Class consciousness and pretentions attached to it. 6.Mockary of the idea of Bravery and Heroism. 7.Personal honesty

9. I gnorance vs. K nowledge or, R ealism vs. R omanticism Bernard Shaw’s plays lack traditional actions. His action derives from conceptual ‘conflicts’ or Clashes between Ideas . Arms and the Man is concerned foremost with the clash between knowledge and ignorance, or, otherwise stated, between realism and romanticism. Raina and her fiancé Sergius are steeped in the romanticism of operettas and paperback novels. Bluntschli uses his superior knowledge to disabuse Raina of her military delusions, while the experience of war itself strips Sergius of the grand ideals he held. The couple’s idealized vision of warfare deflates in the face of additional information. In the realm of love, the couple’s pretensions are defeated by the thoroughgoing pragmatism of their respective new matches:Bluntschli and Louka . Both the Swiss Captain and Bulgarian maid confront their lovers about the gap between their words and their true selves, exposing their hypocrisy. When faced with reality, both Raina and Sergius are able to abandon their romantic delusions and embrace their honest desires. So,the main theme of the play is ‘Realism vs.Romanticism . www.gradesaver.com

10. The Realities of War or, Hollowness of heroism in War. Next, is the theme of ‘Futility of Romantic notion about War’. Initially Catherine and Raina imagine war, they picture brave and dashing officers fighting honorable battles. The reality of war falls far from this romanticized vision. In the play’s opening scene Bulgarian soldiers hunt and kill fleeing Serbians in the streets of a quiet mountain town.The moment Captain Bluntschli , a mercenery soldier of the defeated Serbian army, appears, he becomes an eloquent messenger for the horrors of war. He describes conditions of starvation and exhaustion at the front lines. Moreover, having been under fire for three days, he seems to be suffering from some form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, jumping nervously when Raina squeals. What first appears to be the most glorious moment in the war, Sergius’ cavalry charge, is revealed to be an absurd case of dumb luck. Later in the play Captain Bluntschli helps Major Petkoffand Sergius coordinate the return routes of surviving troops so as to prevent starvation. Since the play begins in the aftermath of the Serbo -Bulgarian War, the reader doesn’t experience any titillating battles, only a grinding post-war reality where hunger and death loom in the background. This picture successfully deflates any romantic notions the characters or audience may hold. [www.gradesaver.com] ]

11. No ‘Higher Love’, only ‘Vegetable Love’ or ‘Calf-Love’. Raina and Sergius are as delusional about love as they are about war, seeming to have derived their understanding of romance primarily from Byronic poetry. They celebrate each other with formal and pretentious declarations of “higher love”, yet clearly feel uncomfortable in one another’s presence. The couple, with their good looks, noble blood and idealistic outlook, seem to be a perfect match, but in George Bernard Shaw ’s world love does not function as it does in fairy tales. Instead Raina falls for the practical and competent Swiss mercenary that crawls through her bedroom window and Sergius for the pragmatic and clever household maid. Love does not adhere to conventions regarding class or nationality. Moreover, love is not some abstract expression of poetic purity. Love in Arms and the Man is ultimately directed at those who understand the characters best and who ground them in reality. Shaw’s message in this regard is: No ‘Higher Love’, only ‘Vegetable Love’ or ‘Calf-Love’. [www.gradesaver.com]

12. Incompetent Authority Throughout the play competence and power do not align with established authority. Louka, the insolent but charming maid, repeatedly flouts social rules. By violating traditional ideas of authority and power, she is able to win marriage to a handsome and wealthy war hero. Her manipulation of Sergius, who is privileged both in terms of wealth and gender, demonstrates that control does not necessarily derive from social authority. Likewise, Catherine manipulates her husband Major Petkoff, withholding information and shepherding him about. Major Petkoff, as the oldest wealthy male, should be the most powerful character according to contemporary social hierarchy. Yet Petkoff proves to be a buffoon; he is, in fact, the character least able to control outcomes, as he rarely understands what is unfolding before him. Sergius is incompetent as a Major so his promotion was denied. The incompetency of the Serbian war-management caused their defeat and dishonour.

13. Class consciousness and pretentions attached to it. Class has a large and continuous presence in Arms and the Man . The Petkoffs ’ upper-class pretensions are portrayed as ridiculous and consistently played for laughs. The family’s pride in their so-called Library (a sitting room with a single bookshelf) becomes a running joke throughout the play. Shaw praises the family’s more local and humble roots: admiring the oriental decorations in Raina’s bedroom and describing Catherine’s earthy local beauty. In contrast he condemns and mocks their attempts to conform to romantic notions of what nobility means.Raina’s outdated Viennese fashions and Catherine’s tea gowns are treated as ridiculous. Louka’s struggle demonstrates many of the effects of class in Bulgarian society. She feels restricted by her station, which condemns her to a life where reading books is considered presumptuous. Using her wit, Louka manages to escape these boundaries, achieving equality with the wealthy Sergius

14. Mockary of the idea of Bravery and Heroism. At the beginning of the play Sergius, like both Catherine and Raina, imagines bravery as the will to undertake glorious and theatrical actions. This belief leads the young Bulgarian Major to lead a regiment of cavalry against a line of machine guns. Despite his dumb luck, the action identifies him as an incompetent and somewhat ludicrous figure, halting his advancement in the ranks. When he returns at the end of the war Louka challenges his romantic notions of bravery. Sergius admits that “carnage is cheap”: anyone can have the will to inflict violence. Louka submits that the subtle bravery required to live outside social rules and constraints is more worthy of praise. At the play’s end Sergius demonstrates this particular kind of bravery when he embraces Louka in front of the others and agrees to marry her. Like Sergius, Captain Bluntschli also undermines traditional understandings of bravery. He tells Raina that there are two types of soldiers - young and old - not brave and cowardly. The young are too inexperienced to know true fear, and the old have reached their age by championing survivalism over heroics. The Swiss mercenary is willing to face danger when necessary but he does not act in ways that court death and is always relieved to avoid combat.[www.gradesaver.com]

15. Personal Honesty It is through personal honesty that all the play’s major conflicts are resolved. Raina abandons her indignant posturing and admits that Sergius exasperates her, allowing her to pair up with Bluntschli . Likewise, Sergius overcomes his overly romantic understanding of the meaning of love and bravery, opening himself to an engagement with Louka. It is only when the couple confronts and accepts their true desires and feelings that they find happiness with their ideal partners. Pretending to share noble love makes both Raina and Sergius miserable; Raina fantasizes about shocking her fiancé’s propriety and Sergius cannot wait for Raina’s departure so he can complain about their tiring relationship to a pretty young maid. In the end, even Bluntschli embraces his inner romantic self, asking for the hand of the girl he is smitten with. Each character gives in to his honest desires and is rewarded with an optimal outcome. The last sentence of the play was Sergius’s exclamation about Bluntcili:‘What a Man’! And this Justifies the theme of ‘personal honesty’ in the play.

16. Study Question-1 1. How are women portrayed in the play? The play’s portrayal of women is complex. Both Raina and Catherine are often presented as frivolous or foolish, particularly when exhibiting class pretentions. Yet Shaw makes Sergius and Major Petkoff just as - if not more - ridiculous. Multiple times throughout the play, women are shown to be powerful: Raina and Louka using their wit to control the men around them; Catherine shepherding the bumbling Petkoff through life; Louka successfully pushing Sergius into marrying her. Regardless of any social limits they may face, women in Arms and the Man wield informal power and shape the events of the play.

17. Study question-2 2 . What older work does the title Arms and the Man reference? Why is this allusion made? The play’s title is a reference to Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid , which documents the heroic travels and adventures of Aeneas. Shaw borrows much of the structure of the first act from the Aeneid in order to better satirize the glorification of both warriors and war. By reflecting the conventions of Virgil’s poetry and distorting them, Shaw brings attention to the unrealistic ideals of the original. Bluntschli serves as a diminished version of Aeneas, highlighting the unbelievable aspects of the warrior’s story, effectively satirizing heroic retellings of wars.

18. STUDY question-3 3 . Discuss the different conceptions of bravery presented by the play. Arms and the Man presents two competing conceptions of bravery: the romantic and the realistic. The first belongs to Sergius at the beginning of the play and focuses on theatrical and dramatic actions taken during battle; this understanding pushes Sergius to lead a suicidal charge against a row of machine guns. The second is first articulated by Louka and focuses on personal integrity in the face of social pressure. Sergius demonstrates this second form of bravery when he agrees to marry Louka, a servant well below his social station with whom he has fallen in love.

19. study question-4 4 . Explain the symbolic value of Bluntschli’s chocolate rations and Raina’s chocolate creams. Chocolate serves as a dual symbol in Arms and the Man . When in the form of Bluntschli’s gritty rations it represents pragmatism; chocolate with low dairy content was often used by soldiers in wartime, who prized its durability and caloric density. When in the form of Raina’s chocolate creams, it represents romanticism; chocolate creams were an expensive, fragile treat enjoyed primarily by the upper classes. Raina misunderstands the meaning of Bluntschli’s decision to carry chocolates; such a choice was not childish, but eminently reasonable given chocolate’s value as a ration and the fact that the Captain was issued the wrong cartridges.

20. study question-5 5 . How does George Bernard Shaw use farcical elements to further the play’s theme? The play’s primary theme revolves around the confrontation between knowledge and ignorance. Shaw uses farcical elements to highlight and dramatize this confrontation. Most farcical moments in the play revolve around a character’s lack of information. The Major does not know his coat has been returned; Nicola does not know why he is being reprimanded for bringing in the captain's bags; the Major does not know who or what the chocolate cream soldier is. Ultimately all these farcical scenarios are resolved when knowledge is brought to bear.

21. study question-6 6 . According to the play, what characteristics make a person a good soldier? Captain Bluntschli represents Shaw’s ideal soldier. The Swiss mercenary is dispassionate, competent and, above all, pragmatic. Bluntschli harbours no romantic ideals; he views war as business to be efficiently dispatched. If Bluntschli demonstrates what a soldier should be, Sergius and Major Petkoff demonstrate what they shouldn’t be. Sergius is filled with Byronic ideas about bravery and honor; worse, he acts on those ideas without regard for effectiveness or safety. Major Petkoff is the picture of incompetence, unable to coordinate troop movements or even run his own household.

22. study question-7 7 . How does George Bernard Shaw view romanticism? Romanticism serves as the play’s theoretical villain . It is romantic ideals that lead Sergius to naively charge a line of machine guns and that trap him and Raina in an exhausting relationship. In Arms and the Man romanticism is always a reflection of ignorance; once a character gains knowledge, they abandon their poetic ideas. Sergius returns from the war a cynic and both he and Raina abandon their engagement after being made aware of their hypocrisy, pairing up with more practical partners. It can be assumed that Shaw had a low opinion of romanticism.

23. study question-8 8 . Discuss the different views of war presented by the play. Sergius, Raina and Catherine all, at least initially, view war as a kind of stage where an honorable man can, through bravery and purity, achieve glory. Bluntschli presents a much less dramatic and more practical understanding. For the Swiss captain, being a soldier is just a profession and war is just a business. In his view, the ultimate goal of war is not to win glory or prestige, but to survive. Eventually both Sergius and Raina adopt Bluntschili’s views: the actual experience of war destroys Sergius’ ideals and the captain educates Raina.

24. study question-9 9 . Why do Sergius and Raina find “higher love” tiring? Inspired by their romantic ideals, the couple pretends to share an all-consuming and pure “higher love” . Unfortunately this love belongs in the theoretical domain of poetry, not in reality, and it proves an impossible standard to follow. Raina and Sergius are forced to constantly perform in order to conform to their ideas of what love should be like. This continuous piece of domestic theater leaves them both exhausted and ultimately unhappy. Falling short of their romantic ideals grinds them down and ultimately leads to their canceled engagement. [www.gradesaver.com]

25. study question-10 10 . What function does Major Petkoff play in Arms and the Man ? Major Petkoff functions as a figure of fun in the play; he is the fool in a play filled with foolishness. He is a Major who cannot coordinate simple troop movements. He is equally incompetent on the domestic front, bumbling from scene to scene confused and manipulated. Many of the play’s jokes are partially or entirely at his expense. He is astounded to find his old coat; he pompously chastises Nicola for smashing a non-existent pastry; he discovers that the portrait of Raina has vanished under his nose. He serves as a form of comic relief , leaving speeches about love, war and idealism to the more serious characters.

26. The End Although subtitled ‘An Anti-Romantic Play’, Arms and thr Man ends with two happy marriages. and a repair in the relationship between Major Petkoff and Catherine. Sergius is happily married with Louka and Raina got real love in marrying her ‘Chocolate cream soldier Blunticili’. Even Nicola, the epitome of ‘servitude’ got consolation with a promise to fulfill his dream of becoming an independent ‘shop-owner’. As such when we leave the theatre or close the book, we smile remembering the medieval concept a Romance : “----And they lived happily thereafter’. FINIS

27. Performance Pictures of ‘Arms and the Man’ from public domain web academic resources at- https://www.concordplayers.org/00productions/ArmsAndMan/Pictures.html

28. The fugitive Serbian Captain is threatening Raina in her bed-room.[Opening scene from Arms and the Man]

29. Performance Pictures from ‘Arms and the Man’ Captain Bluntschli , (John McAuliffe) a mercenary soldier in the Serb army, escapes from the Bulgarians by climbing to the balcony and then slipping into the bedroom of the Bulgarian lady Raina (Carol Anderson). Six panels in the Act I bedroom set are replaced with panels for the courtyard in Act II panels were also changed for the Act III drawing room. Exceptionally beautiful design with authentic Bulgarian details by Ron Placzek

30. Performance Pictures from ‘Arms and the Man’ Major (Donald MacMaster ) and Mrs.Catherine Petkoff (Betsy Connolly) at breakfast on the morning of his return from war with Serbia Raina and Sergius , her hero, until she finds out he thinks he conquered a regiment, which, in fact, had no ammunition.

31. Performance Pictures from ‘Arms and the Man’ Bluntschli returns with Petkoff's coat, loaned to him by the Petkoff ladies as a disguise. Catherine must convince him to leave before her husband finds out. The servant Nicola (Bill Fallon), once betrothed to the flirtatious maid Louka (Jodi Lauer), finds he's been cut out by Sergius , the 'Hero", supposedly engaged to Raina .

32. John McAuliffe as Captain Bluntschli , the pragmatic "soldier for hire." Raina has dubbed Captain Bluntschli the "Chocolate Cream Soldier" because he carries chocolates for survival instead of ammunition.

33. The sets of lovers are at last sorted out.

34. The curtain call to the tune of “Light Cavalry Overture”.

35. Presenter:- Indranil Sarkar A ssociate Professor Department of English Sapatgram College, Sapatgram, Assam, India Contact e-mail: indranil49@ hotmail.com Cell phone: [phone]