Arms and the Man. Review on Arms and the Man - George Shaw

One of Shaw’s extremely famous plays was ‘Arms and the Man’ (1894). GBS uses his natural disposition to comedy & his humour as a vehicle to criticize the obsolete ideals of society in this play. This play is a comedy of disparity between ideals and reality. Archibald Henderson calls it a ‘collision of illusion with prosaic reality’.

Sergius and Raina are betrothed to each other & are rather ‘in love with the idea of love’ itself. Raina always hero-worships Sergius who had disobeyed his seniors & led a charge against enemy fire in the war. During the war, Raina encounters a fleeing soldier from the defeated camp in her bedroom – Bluntschli – who shatters all her ideals of heroism, war & love. He is a mercenary – fights for money. Instead of ammunition he carries chocolates in his holster (hence the tag of ‘Chocolate Soldier’) and isn’t ashamed to display his fright and cries without inhibitions. For him, “Nine out of ten soldiers are born fools”. We can take this as an allusion to Sergius for his blind heroism. Bluntschli feels that all wars are fought for money (how true even in our times! – e.g. the Gulf Wars) and isn’t ashamed to admit that he too does the same. Thus, we find a subtle cynicism of warfare through Bluntschli – removal of war from its noble abstractions through the humanising element of one who is a walking negation of it.

The play is also a satire on the class system & gentility. Nikola & Louka, two servants in the Petkoff house, are also engaged. Nikola tries to teach the rustic Louka to behave as befits a ‘lady’ (indoctrinating Louka with the patriarchal ideology of how a woman should be like or rather ‘taming the Shrew’ in Louka). GBS shows how money matters in society. Bluntschli is extremely clever in transactions & paperwork (which Major Petkoff & Sergius are unable to do). Bluntschli is also allowed to marry Raina when the Petkoffs come to know that he has inherited a fortune from his father. Even Nikola is an opportunist. He relinquishes his engagement to Louka on condition that after her marriage to Sergius she should be a regular customer at his shop. Even Louka marries Sergius to improve her class and position.

GBS also laughs at the ‘ideals of love’. Raina’s image of Sergius is shattered when she sees him flirting with Louka. In these modern times money & not love, bring couples together. GBS portrays Raina and Bluntschli’s love as unconventional. It’s not love-at-first-sight. He does not pursue her in the ‘ideal’ manner nor is he the ‘epitome’ of manliness. But still they bond.

Thus, the illusions of war, gentility & love are given their true perspective by Shaw in a very irreverential manner. This play is a must-read for everyone! I’m a great fan of Shaw because he does not deal with the social ills in a melodramatic manner. He works like a dentist. Before dealing with a sensitive issue, he uses the ‘Laughing gas’ of his ready wit & humour to cushion the readers against the hard realities of life. The issues he deals with are applicable even today after over a century. Even Tolstoy commended Shaw’s ‘originality of thought’.