3 Review(s)

Arms & The Man is a humorous play by George Bernard Shaw. It satirises war, class distinction, and conventional notions of heroism. Summary Of The Book Arms & The Man is set in Bulgaria during the Serbo-Bulgarian War. Raina Petkoff is an idealistic young woman who has rather romantic visions of gallantry and courage. She thinks her fiance Sergius Saranoff personifies all her ideals and she idolizes him. Her visions seem to receive confirmation when the news from a nearby battlefield reaches the Petkoff household. Sergius is said to have lead a bold charge against the enemy in a confrontation and defeated them. When Raina prepares to go to bed that night, she sees a man in the enemy uniform enter through the windows. He tells her that he wants to hide from Bulgarian soldiers who are looking for him. Raina hides him, but is rather contemptuous of his conduct, thinking how different he is from her beloved heroic Sergius. Her maid Louka sees her helping the Serbian soldier. Meanwhile, the soldier introduces himself as a Swiss mercenary serving in the Serbian army. When he describes the battle, Raina learns, to her shock, that the charge led by Sergius was an accident. His horse bolted. Moreover, the reason the Serbians were defeated was because their inexperienced soldiers did not have the correct ammunition for their guns. When Sergius comes back, he has adopted the attitude of a cynical battle-weary soldier. Raina still keeps up her pretence of being in love with him. She claims that they have together found the higher love. But, both are actually getting disillusioned with each other. Sergius says he finds it rather hard to live up to the higher love. Raina is herself attracted to the Swiss mercenary and his realistic attitude towards war and life. Sergius begins to flirt with Louka. Louka is a rebel who refuses to be slotted into the role of a humble and docile servant. She challenges and encourages Sergius. But, each character keeps their true intentions hidden, except for the straightforward Louka. In the midst of all this, the Swiss mercenary comes back to return the cloak he had borrowed on the night the Petkoff women helped him escape. His return creates a situation in which all the characters are forced to confront and reveal their true feelings and drop their posturing. Arms & The Man takes every conventional notion that had a strong hold on the society in that era. It then turns them all upside down, highlighting the absurdities of romantic and outdated ideals. About George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright. He wrote many novels short stories and plays including The Irrational Knot, An Unsocial Socialist, Widowers' Houses, You Never Can Tell, and Major Barbara. George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1856. He was part of the Fabian society. At the age of twenty five, he became a vegetarian and remained one throughout his life. His works were known for their satire, targeting many of the social and political issues of his time. He was an enthusiastic amateur photographer. He is the only person to have received both a Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar. He received the Oscar for his work in adapting his play Pygmalion for a film of the same name.