Arms and the Man characteristics and Themes
 |
| Arms and the Man characteristics and Themes |
Arms and the Man Character List
Raina
Raina,a young woman from an upper-class Bulgarian family, begins the play by clinging to romantic fantasies about war and love, adoring the war achievements of her fiancé Sergius, and appreciating the pure love they share. She consciously tries to live up to these romantic ideals; Catherine reveals that she's still listening outside, waiting for the most dramatic moment to come in. However, Raina has doubts about the realism of the concepts she and Serge share. She also shows great compassion for fear of the rigors of persecuting fleeing troops and ultimately saving Blonchley's life. At the end of the work Raina gives up her romantic stance under Bluntschli's nudge and takes a more realistic point of view. The piece ends with her practical examination of Bluntschli.
Blondley
Blunchley, a Swiss mercenary who climbed into Raina's widow's room on the run from Bulgarian troops, exemplifies the best qualities that the play promotes: realism and pragmatism. Blunchley is not interested in romantic ideas of heroism or war; It's about professional behavior, efficiency and survival. However, Bluntschli has a romantic heart and returns to Raina, with whom he fell in love. During his visit he learns of his father's death, which brings him a great inheritance. In the end, Bluntschli overcomes Raina's position and proposes marriage, using her newly inherited fortune to get Major Petkoff's approval.
Serge
Sergius is Raina's rather silly fiance. Sergius believes in the romantic ideals of poetry and opera and leads a doomed accolade that can only be saved by stupid luck. His ignorance of the science of war makes him an incompetent officer. He had trouble coordinating troop movements and had to call Bluntschli for help. Despite his lavish declaration of love to Raina, he finds their relationship stressful. He often flirts with Luca, Raina's most practical maid, with whom he feels comfortable. In the end, Sergius shows courage, accepts his true feelings and asks Luca for his hand.
Lukas
Luke, Petkov's beautiful and somewhat rude maid, has a hard time accepting her place in the house. Luca hates her social and economic situation through her engagement to Nicola, an old maid who teaches her about her inappropriate behavior. Although initially shocked by his flirtatious behavior, Louka approaches Sergius, teases him, and confronts him with the gap between his ideals and behavior. She declares her love for Sergius and is not shy about the difference in social status. At the end of the play Sergius proposes marriage to her and they get engaged.
Catherine
Raina's mother Catherine shares many of her daughter's fantasies about love and war, as well as her own class claims. Catherine feels the urge to disguise herself in Viennese clothes and to emulate western customs. She installs an electric bell in the library when she learns that Western Europeans do not shout for their servants. Despite her delusions, she is competent and realistic, securing the house after the battle, and even helping Major Petkov instill discipline in his troops. It represents a more realistic counterbalance to the clumsy great aging.
Major Petkov
Raina's father, Major Petkov, looks ridiculous. Like Sergius, Major Petkov is unable to coordinate the movements of the core forces and relies on Bluntelli to do his job for him. He is the owner of many of the play's most unusual jokes that serve as comic relief. It is the opposite of efficiency; In one scene, he asks his wife to come with him to inspect his troops, as she will prove to be more intimidating than him.
Nicholas
Nikola serves the Petkov family and is engaged to Luca at the beginning of the play. He is a very practical man who understands Nicolas and accepts his social situation. He dreams of opening a store and approaches his goal in a practical way. Concerned that Luke does not understand how to be a good servant, he holds him up on several occasions. When Louka and Sergius' relationship is revealed, he gently pulls back his engagement to Louka, claiming that she would be better off as a new customer of the store than as a wife. Towards the end of the play, Blonchley announces his intention to hire Nicola to run one of his old hotels.
Arms and the Man Themes
Ignorance vs. Knowledge
Arms and the Man is primarily concerned with the conflict of knowledge and ignorance, or in other words, between realism and romanticism. Raina and her fiance Sergius are known for their opera novels and pocket novels. Bluntschli uses his superior knowledge to free Raina from his military illusions, while the experience of war robs Sergius of his great ideals. The idealistic warlike vision of the couple empties in the face of additional information.
In the world of love, the couple's pretensions are overcome by the ubiquitous pragmatism in their new matches: Blonchley and Luca. A Swiss captain and a Bulgarian maid confront their lovers on the gap between their words and their real selves, revealing their hypocrisy. Faced with reality, Raina and Sergius can give up their romantic fantasies and accept their sincere desires.
acts of war
When Catherine and Rayna imagined war, they imagined courageous and logical officers fighting honorable battles. The reality of war is far from this romantic view. In the opening scene of the play, Bulgarian soldiers pursue and kill fleeing Serbs in the streets of a peaceful mountain town. When Captain Bluntley, a professional soldier, appears, he becomes an eloquent messenger of the horrors of war. Describes hunger and exhaustion on the front line. Additionally, after being under fire for three days, he appears to be suffering from some form of PTSD and swings nervously when Raina screams. What at first glance appears to be the most glorious moment in the war, Serge's cavalry assault, turns out to be a ridiculous case of stupid luck. Later in the play, Captain Blonchley helps Major Petkov and Sergius coordinate the return of surviving troops to avoid famine. Since the play began after the Serbian-Bulgarian War, the reader does not experience needle-stick battles, but only a grueling post-war reality, in which hunger and death are at hand. background. This image successfully drains any romantic notions that the characters or the audience might have.
Love facts
Raina and Sergius deceive each other in love as well as in war and seem to have drawn their understanding of romance from Biruni's poetry. They celebrate one another with solemn and integral declarations of "higher love", but are visibly uncomfortable in the presence of the other (25). The couple with their beauty, noble blood and perfect looks seem to be completely identical, but in the world of George Bernard Shaw love does not work as well as in fairy tales. Instead, Raina falls in love with a practical and knowledgeable Swiss mercenary crawling through her bedroom window, and Sergius with the pragmatic and clever housekeeper. Love does not adhere to class or nationality conventions. In addition, love is not an abstract expression of poetic purity. Love in Arms and the Man is the ultimate for those who understand the characters better and bring them to life.
incompetent authority
Throughout the game, skill and strength do not correspond to any established authority. Luke, the rude but charming maid, repeatedly disregards social norms. She goes against traditional notions of power and strength and is able to marry a handsome and wealthy war hero. Her manipulation of Sergius, privileged in wealth and sexuality, shows that control does not necessarily come from social power. Similarly, Catherine manipulates her husband Major Petkov by withholding and relaying information from him. Major Petkov, as the richest man, is expected to be the most powerful figure in the contemporary social hierarchy. However, Petkov turns out to be a clown; In fact, he is the least capable of controlling the results, as he seldom understands what is going on in front of him.
classification
The class has a large and continuous presence at Arms and the Man. The claims of the upper class of the Petkoffs are portrayed as absurd and always played for fun. The family pride in their so-called library (sitting room with a shelf) becomes a constant joke throughout the room. Shaw praises the family's local and humble roots: admiring oriental motifs in Raina's bedroom and describing Catherine's earthy, local beauty. Instead, he condemns and mocks their attempts to conform to the romantic notions of nobility. Old Viennese Raina costumes and Catherine's tea dresses are treated as ridiculous.
Lukas Kampf shows many class influences in Bulgarian society. She feels constrained by her rank, condemning her to a life where reading books is considered rude. With her mind, Louka succeeds in escaping these limits and catching up with the rich Sergius.
courage
At the start of the play, Sergius, like Catherine and Raina, envisioned courage as the will to perform glorious and theatrical acts. This conviction led the young Bulgarian major to lead a cavalry regiment against a series of machine guns. Despite his stupid luck, the company identifies him as an inept and somewhat funny character, halting his rise through the ranks. Upon his return at the end of the war, Luke questions his romantic notions of bravery. Sergius admits that "slaughter is cheap": anyone can be willing to resort to violence (45). Luke thinks the hidden courage it takes to live outside social rules and restrictions is commendable. At the end of the play, Sergius proves his own bravery when he kisses Louka in front of the others and agrees to marry her.
Like Sergius, Captain Bluntley undermines the traditional understanding of bravery. He tells Raina that there are two types of soldiers - young and old - who are neither courageous nor cowardly. Young people do not have the experience to know real fear, and the older ones have come of age calling for survival in the championship. The Swiss mercenary is ready to face danger if necessary, but does not act in a way that results in death and is always comfortable avoiding a fight.
personal honesty
All major workplace conflicts are resolved through personal honesty. Raina gives up her disgruntled behavior and admits that Sergius is upset, which allows him to ally with Bluntschli. Likewise, Sergius overcomes his overly romantic understanding of the meanings of love and courage and opens up to association with Louka. It is only when a couple confronts and accepts their true desires and feelings that they find happiness with their ideal partner. Pretending to share a noble love makes Raina and Sergius miserable; Raina panics, shocked at her fiancé's decency, and Sergius can't wait to leave Raina so he can complain about his torturous relationship with a beautiful young maid. In the end, even Blonchley kisses his inner romantic self and asks for the hand of the girl he loves. Each character surrenders to their sincere wishes and is rewarded with the optimal outcome.
No comments: