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    Themes in The Play

    Uploaded by

    Dalia Elshamy

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Themes in The Play

    Uploaded by

    Dalia Elshamy
    11 views2 pages

    Original Title

    Themes in the play

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pdf or txt
    11 views2 pages

    Themes in The Play

    Uploaded by

    Dalia Elshamy

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Themes in the play:

    Romanticism- idealism- attack against romanticism and idealism- the romantic


    idea of war- the ugliness of war- war is destructive- satire against war social
    status/ ladder. Appearance versus reality.

    Arms and the Man is most obviously an attack on the false ideals of warfare and
    the soldier’s profession. Late nineteenth century British society, especially the
    aristocratic element, tended to see war as noble and soldiers as brave,
    courageous, fearing nothing—resolved to conquer or die. Soldiers themselves did
    not think this way, as Shaw has Bluntschli make clear. Shaw is not opposed to war
    when necessary, but he does demand that it be seen for what it is—war makes
    men tired and hungry, afraid and nervous. In the person of Bluntschli and in his
    comments about battle, Shaw establishes the opposition with Raina and Sergius,
    the arch romantics of the play. The satire of the play is aimed at the romantic
    view of war. From this point of view, Arms and the Man is a classic statement of
    the anti-romantic view of life. Life is serious for Shaw and Bluntschli, and romantic
    idealism makes folly of life because of its unreality.

    In the beginning of the play, all characters have a romantic and idealist idea about
    war. When Serigus foolishly wins the battle against the Serbs disobeying his
    leaders, he was doing that just to show Raina that he is brave and achieve
    recognition from everyone. Catherine says that he is “the hero of the hour”, and
    Raina decides to worship him. However, this love is based on false ideas. She does
    not really love him; she only loves his winning the battle. Bluntschli also destroys
    Raina’s romantic idea of war and heroism when he proves that the best soldiers
    carry food and not ammunition. For Shaw, war is simply a way for men to occupy
    themselves. The characters slowly get rid of the false ideas of romantic love. For
    example, Raina does appear to love Sergius in the beginning of the play, but when
    she falls in love with Blunstshcli, she realizes her love for Sergius was superficial.

    By contrast, Louka, though engaged to her fellow servant Nicola, does not appear
    to have ever been in love with him, and is willing to work hard to marry into a
    higher rank. Romantic love does not seem to be a factor in her decisions.

    Raina is the play’s most obvious romantic. Her relationship with Sergius shows
    almost all of the romantic ideals: they are both beautiful, refined, and appear to
    be infatuated with each other. However this romantic, idealistic vision of love is
    false. The idealistic Sergius lustfully falls in love with a maid, Louka. and Raina is in
    love with the anti-romantic Bluntschli.

    It turns out Sergius’s cavalry charge was bad, and the charge only succeeded
    because the Serbs had no ammunition. Sergius is not the perfect soldier. And
    the real soldier, Bluntschli, runs away from battle and carries sweets instead of a
    gun. He also speaks honestly about the violence of war. Shaw shows us that war is
    ugly

    The Nature of Social Status


    The social ladder of the characters in the play is one of the most important
    themes. Louka wants to be more than a servant, whereas Nicola seems content
    with his job as a servant. Bluntschli appears to be middle class, but reveals later
    that he is even richers than the Petkoffs. Petkoff and Catherine want Raina to
    strengthem the family’s position by marrying the rich Sergius, but later agree that
    she marry Blunschili, though he fought with the Serbs, just because he is rich.
    Characters want to unite noble families and improve financial situations.

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