By Mohammed Ibrahim Abd

Arms And The Man

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish author, playwright, music critic

and activist as well as a founder of the London School of Economics.
Shaw was born and educated in Dublin. As a young adult he became
interested in socialism and activism and began to foster a lifelong
interest in what he considered to be the reprehensible cultural
exploitation of the working class. He began writing plays in the
1890s, and his writing always contained some elements of socio-
cultural critique. Shaw was a very prolific writer, writing over 50
plays in addition to articles, reviews, essays, and pamphlets. His
popularity rose in the early 1900s and he started to become a
famous, well-respected playwright. In 1925, he was recognized for
his work with the Nobel Prize in Literature. He married an Irish
political activist named Charlotte Payne-Townshend, and they lived
happily together until her death in 1943. Shaw dies seven years
later, at the old age of 94, in his home in England.

The play is a romantic comedy of a young, beautiful and sentimental

girl, Raina as well as her clever and over smart maid Louka. The play
takes place in the family of major Petkoff. The mannerisms and
excessive stress on the stupid pride of nationalism and resultant
jingoism come under mockery by the playwright. Where Raina day
dreams and idealizes the heroism of her Fiance. The play opens with
the news of war between Servians and the Bulgarians. Major Petkoff
has been on the front fighting for his nation, the Bulgarians. At
midnight, a Swiss fugitive soldier runs up the balcony of major
Petkoff's house; he enters the room of Raina. On gun point, Raina is
forced to remain silent and she cooperates. A little later, the lady
realizes the soldier is in a rather bad condition. She comes to know
that the soldier has no bullet in his pistol and the bag he carries has
no ammunition. This shocks her. She offers him some chocolates to
eat. The soldier thanks her and tries to explain the state of a fugitive
soldier as well as why he does not keep ammunition with him. He
tells that soldiers are always alike. They are afraid of death. They are
to save their life at all costs. She makes fun of him for being coward
because she believes that "our soldiers are not like that" and he
replies her with painful realism. The soldier stays there all night and
before dawn Raina tells her mother about the soldier and they let
him escape with an old coat of major Petkoff. Next day the major
and Raina's Fiance, Sergius, return from the front because war is
over. A treaty of peace has been signed. Raina appears very happy
to meet Sergius. She is so proud of his bravery. She amuses him by
praising him and they are very romantic. The moment Sergius is
alone, we find him flirting with Louka. He never misses any chance
of being romantic with Louka while she is always trapping him to
marry her. While Sergius and Petkoff are inside the house planning
the transit of the regiment, the Swiss comes to return the coat and
to utter the words of thanks. Catherine, Raina's mother, takes the
bag and asks him to leave before somebody notices him. But before
he can leave Petkoff and Sergius come running to stop him. They are
acquainted with him. They stop him as a guest. They even ask him
to help them settle the transit of regiments.
forced to remain silent and she cooperates. A little later, the lady
realizes the soldier is in a rather bad condition. She comes to know
that the soldier has no bullet in his pistol and the bag he carries has
no ammunition. This shocks her. She offers him some chocolates to
eat. The soldier thanks her and tries to explain the state of a fugitive
soldier as well as why he does not keep ammunition with him. He
tells that soldiers are always alike. They are afraid of death. They are
to save their life at all costs. She makes fun of him for being coward
because she believes that "our soldiers are not like that" and he
replies her with painful realism. The soldier stays there all night and
before dawn Raina tells her mother about the soldier and they let
him escape with an old coat of major Petkoff. Next day the major
and Raina's Fiance, Sergius, return from the front because war is
over. A treaty of peace has been signed. Raina appears very happy
to meet Sergius. She is so proud of his bravery. She amuses him by
praising him and they are very romantic. The moment Sergius is
alone, we find him flirting with Louka. He never misses any chance
of being romantic with Louka while she is always trapping him to
marry her. While Sergius and Petkoff are inside the house planning
the transit of the regiment, the Swiss comes to return the coat and
to utter the words of thanks. Catherine, Raina's mother, takes the
bag and asks him to leave before somebody notices him. But before
he can leave Petkoff and Sergius come running to stop him. They are
acquainted with him. They stop him as a guest. They even ask him
to help them settle the transit of regiments. The Swiss stays. Petkoff
and Sergius are not aware of the refuge given to the Swiss by Raina.
Petkoff seeks the very coat which was given to the Swiss. The coat is
brought but Petkoff asks his wife to mend it because it seems quite
loose. On the other hand, Louka prevails upon Sergius and tells him
that Raina is unfaithful to him behind his back. Petkoff puts his hand
in the pocket of the coat and shouts surprisingly: "Your photograph,
with the inscription: "Raina, to her Chocolate Cream Soldier-a
souvenir" was in the coat pocket but is now missing. Petkoff smells
something is wrong. He asks Nicola if he dropped Raina's pastry that
morning. Then he asks Sergius if he were the chocolate cream
soldier and he returns with no. Here Raina reveals that Sergius is
interested in Louka while the Swiss is already married; she gave that
picture to the Swiss thinking he was not married. The Swiss agitates
that he is not married. Petkoff is confused but Nicola, the Fiance of
Louka, disowns Louka stating her above his dignity. Louka, offers her
hand to Sergius and he kisses it. She declares that he is to marry her
now. And Sergius remembers that Louka offered her hand on the
condition that she must be married. Sergius agrees to marry her.
Catherine accuses Louka of giving false information to Sergius and
she replies: "I told Major Saranoff she would never marry him if the
Swiss gentleman came back." This startles them all. The Swiss is the
most amazed one. He proclaims: "Do you suppose I am the sort of
fellow a young girl falls in love with? Why, look at our ages! I'm
thirty-four: I don't suppose the young lady is much over seventeen".
Raina declares him "a romantic idiot" that cannot judge between 17
and 23. The story takes another turn and the Swiss proposes Raina
saying: "If you were twenty-three when you said those things to me
this afternoon, I shall take them seriously." Major Petkoff gives the
hand of his daughter to the Swiss and he leaves with the promise to
return.