payment page
While Arms and the Man has its humorous elements, the inclusion of bleaker themes and social critiques throughout prevents it from coming across as a straight comedy. Many scholars consider the play to belong to the anti-romantic comedy genre, a term which reflects the way in which Shaw aims to challenge idealized perceptions of love and war through humor. This approach not only allows him to respond to the social and political contexts of the Serbo-Bulgarian War, it also reflects a broader move away from the conventions of the Romantic era in favor of realism. Throughout the play, the characters’ commitment to ideas of glory, heroism, and “higher love” gradually falls apart until they recognize that they were merely performing their beliefs instead of authentically living them. Raina suppresses her doubt and dramatizes her love for her heroic Sergius, for example, until Bluntschli confronts her and sees through her façade. This tension between the idealized worldviews that the characters’ feel pressured to uphold and the harsh realities of the world they live in ultimately serves as the play’s central conflict.
The first act of the play, which precedes the other two acts by approximately three months, works to establish the Petkoffs’ romantic ideals and introduces Bluntschli as an opposing force. Between the lengthy stage directions that come before the first lines of dialogue and Raina’s early references to doubt, Shaw hints at the falseness of the Petkoffs’ ideal world right from the beginning. The combination of luxurious and simple elements in the set design serves as a visual signal of their performative nature, particularly when it comes to their social status, and Raina’s surprised reaction to Sergius’s success in battle foreshadows her eventual rejection of an idealized worldview. Despite these clues that Shaw gives to the audience, Raina and Catherine seem completely convinced of the glory that their men have achieved by fighting in the war. Raina even goes so far as to reference Byron and Pushkin, two famous Romantic-era poets, in discussing how noble Sergius has proved himself to be. This overwhelmingly joyous tone, however, disappears when fighting emerges on the streets outside the Petkoff home and a strange man climbs in through Raina’s window. The stranger’s arrival serves as the play’s inciting incident as both his presence and attitude challenge Raina’s perception of war. As a professional soldier, he takes a rather blasé approach toward fighting, keeping chocolates with him instead of ammunition. He also compares Sergius’s charge to Don Quixote’s whimsical attack on windmills, and this literary allusion works to mock both his foolish actions in battle and Raina’s false belief in them.
Despite the eye-opening experience that Raina has with the soldier in Act I, Act II features a continuation of the Petkoffs’ romanticized view of love and war. The rising action of the play begins as both Sergius and Major Petkoff return home, receiving a joyous welcome from Raina and Catherine. Much like in the first act, the language the characters use to describe the men’s experiences oversimplifies the fighting itself and places greater emphasis on the status it has afforded them. The idyllic romance between Raina and Sergius comes across in a similarly superficial way. As the rising action develops, these artificial pretenses begin to fall away and allow the audience to learn secrets about various groupings of characters. Sergius’s infidelity becomes apparent as he flirts with Louka, for example, and Catherine and Raina panic when they learn that their men heard a story about two Bulgarian women sheltering a rebel soldier. Shaw’s use of dramatic irony throughout this act works to add humor to the play while also highlighting just how inauthentic the characters’ outward attitudes are. Bluntschli’s arrival further complicates the Petkoffs’ ability to maintain their lies as he is both Raina’s chocolate cream soldier and a friend of Sergius and Major Petkoff’s from the war.
With Bluntschli once again serving as a voice of reason, the events of Act III force the characters to let go of their romanticized ideals and allow them to find happiness in reality. The act begins with a scene in which Major Petkoff laments his missing coat, an item which Bluntschli has just secretly returned. This moment increases the strain on Catherine and Raina as they attempt to hide the fact that they once sheltered Bluntschli, and the dramatic irony calls attention to Major Petkoff’s oblivious nature. Once the coat appears and Major Petkoff is satisfied, Bluntschli and Raina have a private exchange in which he calls out her inauthentic attitude. Raina’s admission of her lies serves as the first major break from the idealized worldviews that dominate the first acts of the play. Shaw follows this conversation with a private meeting between Sergius and Louka in which she reveals to him that Raina is in love with Bluntschli, a move which creates even more tension surrounding the secrets that the characters are trying so hard to keep. The play ultimately reaches its climax when Raina, Bluntschli, Sergius, and Louka confront each other about their lies. They finally learn all of the information that the audience already knows about their relationships and their true perceptions of each other. With all of these details out in the open, the romanticized worldviews the characters once tried to uphold fall away and allow reality to become clear. The falling action occurs as Major Petkoff, the most oblivious of them all, discovers the truth about Raina, Bluntschli, Sergius, and Louka. Once he finally sees the reality of their situation, each couple can openly pursue the happiness they desire.
