shaw's arms and the man

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G. B. ShawsArms and the Manas a Realistic Play

and Humorous Play

George Bernard Shaw is the greatest British dramatist, secondonly to Shakespeare. Shaw has been recognized for his genius and is

now considered one of the most important British playwrights of

modern drama. He was the playwright whose most profound gift

was his ability to make his audiences think by provoking them to

laughter. Bernard Shaw is the author of numerous timeless plays,

Arms and the Manis one of them.Arms and the Manhelped Shaw

to establish his reputation as a great dramatist, and to be recognized

as a great wit all over the world. !lice B. "ort admitted that Shaw#s$first success came when, on September %&, %'(),Arms and the

Man, a strictly realistic comedy was presented by *ichard +ansfield

at the Herald Suare -heater, ew /ork$ (Fort, 1935). -he play

was first published in %'('as part of a volumetitledPlays

Pleasant. -ill the present day,Arms and the manis seen as one of

Shaw#s most popular plays.

-he play takes place in %''0 during the war between the Serbs

and the Bulgarians. -he play opens with *aina, a young bulgarian

woman, in her room. Her mother, 1atherine, enters to announce that

*aina#s fianc2, +a3or Sergius Saranoff, was the hero of a cavalry

charge. *aina is re3oicing as Sergius has proven to be as heroic as

they e4pected. But they soon hear sounds of fighting and shooting in

the street. -hey secure the house, and 1atherine leaves *aina to

sleep. Suddenly, a Swissvoluntary soldier in the Serbian army,1aptain Bluntschli, who is fleeing from the outside fighting,

surprises *aina by entering herbedroomfor shelter. He begs her to

hide him, so that he is not killed. *aina decides to hide him and she

denies having seen anyone when she is uestioned by a *ussian

officer. !fter the *ussian officer#s departure, *aina accuses

Bluntschli of being coward, especially when Bluntschli informs her

that he is a soldier who prefers a supply of chocolatesto bullets

when he goes to the front. *aina informs him of the bravery of her
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fianc2, Sergius, who led the Bulgarian victory. He gives an account

to *aina about the Bulgarian victory, which according to him, was

3ust a stroke of luck as someone had forgotten to supply the Serbian

army with ammunition, and also informs her of the foolish nature ofSergius charge in the battle. He shocks her even more when she

reveals that he is afraid and unwilling to die. !fterwards, when the

battle dies down, *aina and her mother sneak Bluntschli out of the

house, disguised in an old overcoat belongs to +a3or 5etkoff.

!1-66 takes place four months later, after the war is over.

*aina#s father and fianc2 have returned after the war. -he two men

talk about a young Swiss officer who had impressed them with hispractical approach to the e4change of soldiers. -he men also laugh

about the tale of the officers escape and how a young girl had given

him shelter in her bedroom. +eanwhile, Sergius is attracted to

7ouka, *aina#s servant girl, and when alone, flirts with her.

8ne4pectedly, 1aptain Bluntschli shows up to return the overcoat

that he had borrowed for his escape, and *aina and her mother

become afraid especially when +a3or 5etkoff and Sergius reveal

that they have met Bluntschli. -hen, *aina#s father invites him tostay for lunch. !fterwards, in !1- 666, *aina is alone with

Bluntschli, and she realizes that he loves her. She tells him that she

had left a portrait of herself in the pocket of the coat, inscribed $-o

my chocolate9cream soldier$, but Bluntschli says that he didn#t find

it and that it must still be in the coat pocket. *aina is worried that

her father will find the photo. 7ouka then tells Sergius that

Bluntschli is the man whom *aina protected, and that *aina is reallyin love with him. So, Sergius challenges him to a duel, but *aina

interrupts and e4presses her real feelings for Bluntschli. !fter

Bluntschli reveals the whole story to +a3or 5etkoff, Sergius

proposes marriage to 7ouka. -hus, 7ouka succeeds in securing

Sergius for herself and +a3or 5etkoff and his wife give consent to

Bluntschli to marry *aina.

Being the first of Shaw:s pleasant plays,Arms and the Manwas labeled as an anti9romantic comedy. 6t is also considered a
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serious comedy because it deals with serious issue; war and its

effects 9 in a funny manner. G.


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so unoriginal that he takes all his #dramatic material either from real

life at the first hand, or from authentic documents$ =ukore, p.%(C@.

Arms and the Manis a good e4ample of the realist trend Shaw

adopted in his plays. 5hilip George Hilladmitted that $Shaw

personally supported a realistic theatre in the manner of 6bsen, and

!rms and the +an is essentially realistic in the broader sense of the

term$ =Hill, p.%)@. "irst of all, Shaw takes his issues from his society.

6nspired by the backdrop of the %''0 Serbo9Bulgarian war, Shaw

presents a realistic depiction of war. Shaw says, $6 have stuck to the

routine of war, as described by real warriors, and avoided such

farcical real incidents as Sir Filliam Gordon defending his batteryby throwing stones, or General 5orter#s story of the two generals who,

though brave and capable men, always got sick under fire$=!dams,

p.&D@. +oreover, Shaw realized that people of his time were

convinced that soldiers go in a war obsessed with sense of patriotism

and heroism. So, he aimed at e4pressing the dangers of war. !nother

sub3ect taken from Shaw#s society is the struggle between the upper9

class and the low9class. !t the time George Bernard Shaw wrote

Arms and the Manthere were a number of class struggles takingplace in Britain. uring that period, workers in Britain were often

paid low wages and offered little security. 6n response there were

several workers movements that rose up across the nation and this

drew the attention of artists and writers such as Shaw. !s a realist,

Shaw reflects his society with its class distinctions and in3usticesI

there are two contrasting particular classes represented inArms and

the Man. -his issues are dealt with through a number of themesJ thefalse romantic idea about war, class discrimination, and hypocracy.

-he first theme to be dealt with inArms and te Manis the false

romantic idea about war. !t Shaw:s time, Far was reputed by

people to be as a splendid venture and the one who is able to 3oin the

army of his country, fights bravely and gets back victorious will be

warmly welcomed, promoted and becomes of high nobility. Shaw

wants people to change this ideaI he wants to make the heralds ofwar see its horrors. -hus, he e4presses his ideas on the mouth of
http://books.google.com.eg/books?q=+inauthor:%22Philip+George+Hill%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=9http://www.articlemyriad.com/51.htmhttp://books.google.com.eg/books?q=+inauthor:%22Philip+George+Hill%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=9http://www.articlemyriad.com/51.htm


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1aptain Bluntschli when the latter confesses to *aina that he, like

most of the soldiers, does not want to die in the war. Kn the other

hand, 1atherine and *aina 5etkoff see Sergius to be a true hero. But

in fact, Sergius is not a good fighter in the battles. 1aptainBluntschli shocks *ains when he tells her the news about Sergius #

foolish charge in the war. By the end of the play, *aina understands

that a man like Bluntschli is more of a real hero than Sergius.

-he second theme of the play is class discrimination. -he

theme is taken from life with its numerous problems, and presented

in a realistic manner. Shaw used to e4press his thoughts and

concerns in a play with $social problems as its primary reason forbeing$=Lggenberger, p. )&(@. !s a socialist, many of Shaw#s plays

dealt with social problems. !s a socialist, Shaw upheld social

euality of all people and he hated discrimination based on gender

or social class. -hese beliefs are evident in the relationships

portrayed inArms and the Man. Shaw allows a maid to succeed in

her ambitions to better herself by marrying Sergius, an officer and a

gentleman. -his match also means that Sergius abandons most of his

empty heroic attitude and has developed the courage to free himselffrom the e4pectations of his class. He breaks his engagement to

*iana and instead marries the housemaid, 7ouka, the woman he

loves. Bluntschli is also able to convince the 5etkoffs that through

an inheritance from his father he has more than sufficient means to

take care of *iana and the 5etkoffs are glad to settle for a son9in9law

less socially prominent than Sergius.

Hypocrisy is the third theme Shaw discusses in his play. H. F.evinson, writing in %(>( for theNew Leader, sums up Shaw#s

drama by noting that Shaw#s $plays have laid bare the falsities and

hypocrisies and boastful pretensions of our time. 6 can think of no

modern prophet who has swept away so much accepted rubbish and

cleared the air of so much cant.$ !lso, the German playwright and

critic Bertolt Brecht notes that $probably all of his characters, in all

of their traits, are the result of Shaw#s delight in upsetting ourhabitual pre3udices$=Brecht, pp. %') ; '&@. Must like in real life, in


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Arms and the Manhypocrisy found in society, is caused by the

attitudes of the characters which show in what kind of society they

live. Being married to an aristocrat, 1atherine 5etkoff tries to be # a

Niennese lady#, but she cannot hide her true identity as a member ofa lower class. She $wears a fashionable tea gown on all occasions$.

She does not realize that by wearing tea9gowns all the time people

are probably laughing at her because she does not know the

occasion appropriate for the dress. *aina#s attitude is another

e4ample of hypocrisy. She is afraid to admit her love for Bluntschli

because she thinks that he is not suitable for her according to

society:s value. Sergius is better for her because he is handsome and

rich and he comes from a respected family ; 3ust like her. -heEhigher love: that she mentions in the play is the definition of this

kind of love, a love the purpose of which is only to fulfill the family

honor in the eyes of society. 7ikewise, Sergius#s attitude is

hypocritical. !s a child of a respectable family, Sergius#s marriage

of *aina will be Eperfect: in the view of society. Sergius pretends

love to *aina, although Sergius is in love with 7ouka, *aina:s maid.

But he does not want to admit his feelings.

!s for style, it is evident that !rms and the +an is realist in

style. !rms and the +an is realistic in tone. -he setting is familiarI

it is a real depiction of the war9 torn Bulgaria in %''0 during the war

between the Serbs and the Bulgarians. -he plot is simple built upon

a chain of life9like incidents. !s a realist play, the dialogue of !rms

and the +an is void of poetic beauty and charm. 6t resembles that of

real life, with believable conversations. Shaw used to creat life9likeconversations which the audience can speak in their real lives. -he

realist dialogue is one of the powers of Shaw#s dramatic pieces.

!s for charcacterization, realist plays move away from the

focus on a central heroic figure. !s any realistic play, Shaw#sArms

and the Mancontains no heroic charactersI it focuses on a number

of charactes which resemble the real people. -here is no protagonist

inArms and the ManI the characters simply e4ist. !s a realist, Shawwants to give faithful picture of real human e4istence. So, he creates


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life9like people, who are a mi4ture of good and evil. He portrays

characters so realistically without e4aggerating their flaws. -hey are

believable human beings. *aina 5etkoff is a high9spirited idealistic

young girl. +uch like Lnglish audiences of the time, *aina issucked into the idea of the war hero and finds it difficult to think

that war is anything e4cept not glamorous. But as the play proceeds,

she changes her opinionsI she re3ects her romantic ideas to live in

the real world. 1aptain Bluntschli is a Swiss professional soldier

who has been appointed 1aptain in the Serbian army. Fhen his line

was broking and his forces scattered by a Bulgarian cavalry charge,

he took refuge in *aina:s room. He is a realist who believes in

adapting to a situation in order to survive. !s a professional soldier,he knows that he is only a tool and he has no illusions about war and

the practical actions one must take to win battles and stay alive. His

most famous feature is that he keeps chocolates in his cartridge belt

rather than bullets.

1atherine 5etkoff is *aina#s mother. She is a good looking,

smart and capable fourty years old woman who tries to pass herself

off as a lady. 7ike her daughter, she is fascinated with the idea ofwar. +a3or 5etkoff, *aina:s father, is a rich, e4citable, insignificant,

unpolished man about fifty. His main interests is his income and his

importance in local society. His rank in the Bulgarian army is more

of his family:s wealth than his ability as a military strategist or

leader. +a3or Sergius Saranoff is *aina#s fianc2. He is handsome

man filled with idealistic morals. He, like *aina#s father, has gained

his high military rank in the Bulgarian army through his charm andfamily position rather than through common sense of training.

!lthough he is engaged with *aina, he flirts with 7ouka, *aina#s

maid. 7ouka is an ambitious maid whose only hope is to rise above

her state in society. She is attracted to Sergius, and finds him the

suitable man to give her the new life ahe dreams of. icola is an

unambitious servant. He believes that class division is an

indisputable system, and he advises 7ouka to accept her place. But


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he changes his mind at the end of the play. He wants to establish his

own business.

!long with being a realist play, Bernard Shaw#sArms and the

Manis a delightful comedy. 7ike all of Shaw#s dramatic works,

Arms and the Manoffers social criticism tempered by fine comedy.

Arms and the Manis a comedy because it gives the audience a

familiar happy resolutionI at the end of the play the main characters

overcome the obstacles to their happiness. -he play ends as captain

Bluntschli and *iana 5etkoff are looking forward to getting married

and 7auka and Sergius are going to marry. wivedi said that the

play $is an anti9romantic comedy and in it Shaw opposes andcriticizes the romantic ideas about love and war$ =p.>&@. 6ndeed,

Shaw:sArms and the Manis decidedly comical in its satire of the

ills of war and the romanticism of love.

-he central purpose of the play is Shaw:s attack on the false

ideals of war and the soldier:s profession, which were prevalent in the

nineteenth century. British society, especially the upper classes,

tended to see war as a noble pursuit and the men who engaged in it ascourageous heroes, eager to die for their country. Shaw presents his

thoughts through the notions of his characters. -he false ideas of war

are embodied in the notions of *aina and 1atherine 5etkoff. *aina, as

her mother, believes that her fianc2, +a3or Sergius, is a war hero.

But, in fact, he is uite the opposite. Fhen 1aptain Bluntschli enters

*aina#s room for shelter, he reveals to her the right picture of war,

e4pressing that the Bulgarian victory was by chance. He also tells her

about the foolish charge of her unprofessional fianc2 in the battle."urthurmore, Bluntschli shocks *aina when he reveals that he is

afraid and unwilling to die. He defines himself as a soldier who prefer

chocalates to bullets in the battles. Bluntschli confesses that he carries

no ammunition in the battle, but he carries chocolate insteadJ

RAINA:7oad it by all means.

THE ANJ 6#ve no ammunition. Fhat use are cartridges in

battleO 6


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always carry chocolate insteadI and 6 finished the last cake

of that hours ago.

RAINA=outraged in her most cherished ideals of manhood@.

1hocolateP o you stuff your pockets with sweets99like a

schoolboy99even in the fieldO

THE AN=grinning@J /es. 6sn#t it contemptibleO

=Hungrily@ 6 wish 6 had some now.

-hus, *aina#s romantic notions are faced by the realistic picture of

war drawn by Bluntschli.

1atherine is the other carrier of false conventions about war.

She e4presses the notions of the British people in the era of Shaw.

Shaw uses her to be his voice. 6n ignorance of the horrors of war,

1atherine is disappointed when the war ends in a peace treaty,

because she wanted a glorious victory over a soundly defeated

enemy. 6n a conversation between 1atherine and her husband, she

announces her anger because of the peace with the SerbsJ

!ATHERINE =springing erect, with flashing eyes@J 5aul, have

you let the !ustrians force you to make peaceO

PET"#$$=submissively@J +y dear, they didn#t consult me.

Fhat

could 6 doO =She sits down and turns away from him.@ But of

course we saw to it that the treaty was an honorable one. 6t

declares peace99

!ATHERINE=outraged@J 5eacePPET"#$$:=appeasing her@ 99 but not friendly relations,

remember

that. -hey wanted to put that inI but 6 insisted on its being

struck out. Fhat more could 6 doO

!ATHERINE:/ou could have anne4ed Serbia and made

5rince

!le4ander Lmperor of the Balkans. -hat#s what 6 would have

done.


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PET"#$$:6 don#t doubt it in the least, my dear. But 6 should

have had to subdue the whole !ustrian Lmpire firstI and that

would have kept me too long away from you. 6 missed you

greatly.

Shaw also criticizes the romanticism of love. *aina and Sergius

have engaged because of the suitability of their social statusI and

because Sergius is the type of hero that *aina has been taught to

admire. -heir love is false, based only on outward appearances.

-hroughut the course of the play, *aina falls in love with 1aptain

Bluntschli, and Sergius is attracted to 7auka, the housemaid.

6n all of his dramatic works, Shaw resorts to use humour in

order to deal with serious issues. !ccording to Brecht, $Shaw#s

terror is an unusual one, and he employs an unusual weapon Q that

of humor$ =Brecht, pp. %') ; '&@. 6n general, Shaw $used humor

and satire because it allows people to tolerate facts without feeling

hurt$ =wivedi, p. 0@. 6nArms and the Man, Shaw uses humor as a

vehicle of thought thus tending to obscure his subtle satire on war

and the genteel classes and his e4ploration of the romantic9realistspectrum in human disposition =avis, p. >&)@. !ccordingly, !rms

and theManis a pleasant and humourous attack on war and love.

-he tone is humourous and the dialogue is amusing. 6n the play,

there is there is a cynical sense of humour that prevails the play. -he

ridicule of human folly and the vanities of the characters, the

contrasts of the characters, the triangular relatioships among the

characters, and the une4pected turns of events are Shaw#s tools to

evoke humour throughout the course of the play. Bertolt Brechtannounced that Shaw creats characters with sense of humour, he

believed that Shaw insisted $on the prerogative of every man to act

decently, logically, and with a sense of humor$ =Brecht, pp. %') ;

'&@. "or e4ample, when *aina is trying to show Bluntschli that she

is not an ignorant country girl, but a civilized personJ

Raina:/ou shewed great ignorance in thinking that it was

necessary to climb up the balcony...-here is a flight of


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stairs inside to get up and down by.

The an:StairsP How grandP /ou live in great lu4ury

indeed, dear young lady.

!nother e4ample is the characters of +a3or 5etkoff and 1atherine.

-hey are typical secondary characters, with funny occasional

opinions and repetitive comments, such as those of the electric

bell or the so famous uniue library in all Bulgaria. -heir roles

adds more humour to the play, especially in those dull scenes where

humour is e4pected to be used in order to break down the

monologues.

6n conclusion, !rms and the +an is one of Bernard Shaw#s

masterpieces. 6t is a realistic play as well as a humourous one. 6t is

evident that throughout his dramatic career, Shaw wrote a kind of

drama that deal with real human beings with real emotions and who

e4perience real situations. He uses believable life9like characters

who are caught in situations which resemble that of real life. -helangauge is realistic. 6n addition, inArms and theMan, Shaw

demonstrates his genius for satire by e4posing the opposition of life

and criticizing the contradictions in human character. He e4presses

his thoughts against the romanticism of war and love. His cleverity

of using humour in the play is unuestionable.


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%or&s !ited

!dams, Llsie Bonita. $!rt and *eality$ in Bernard Shaw and the

!esthetes. 1olumbusJ Khio State 8niversity 5ress, %(&%.

Brecht, Bertolt. $Kvation for Shaw,$ translated by Gerhard H. F.

Ruther, inModern Drama, Nol. >, o. >, September %(0(, pp.

%') ; '&.

1hesterton, G. ???.

wivedi !. +. ??>.Lggenberger, ed. Lncyclopedia of Forld rama. Nol. 696N. ew

/orkJ +cGraw9Hill, 6nc., %(&>.

"ort, !lice Buchanan and

shaw's arms and the man

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