Louka, one of the main figures of the
play “Arms and the Man” by great British playwright George Bernard Shaw,
is an exceptional character. She is good looking in her appearance, sharp in
her observation, and confident in her mentality. She, at times, seems to be
afraid of her master Catherine, but even with her she goes as far as she dares.
Let us now cast a look at Louka’s character.
Louka is very intelligent and sharp
minded girl. We find her sharpness at the very beginning of the play, when, for
example, she secretly tells Raina that one of the shutters has not been bolted
at the bottom and that it can be opened with a little push if need to do. As
Louka says:
“If you would like the shutter open, just give them a push like this.”
Again,
Louka is highly observant person. When she leaves Raina’s room, she casts a
look at first at Raina, then at the sofa, at last at the curtain; and then
gives an insolent laugh indicating that she has detected the presence of
another person in the room.
Yet again, she is very attacking and rough
in behaviour towards Nicola, to whom she is engaged. She always talks to him as
like as his superior though she owes a lot to him. She also hates him for his
slavish mentality. So says Louka:
“You have a soul of servant Nicola”
Moreover,
she is disrespectful to her master. When Nicola advises her to meld her
character and to be respectful to her master, she says:
“I do defy her, I will defy her, what do I care her”
Louka is also prudent and intelligent enough
to understand Sergious character and how she should deal with him. As soon as
she discovers his interest in her, she exploits all possible situations in
order to hook him as her husband. She makes Nicola her tool, Raina her victim,
and Sergious her target. She talks to Sergious in a manner and display her
physical charm in a way which create upon him a favourable impression about
her, as she says:
“Let me go sir, I shall be disgraced, oh will you let go?”
Thus she hints that she is willing to make love
to him, but they should be a little more careful. As says she:
“Then stand back where we can’t be seen. Have you no common sense?”
Then she takes the opportunity and tries to
blacken Raina’s character in the eye of Sergious telling him a lie:
“Gentlefolk are all alike: you making love to me behind miss Raina’s back; and she is doing same behind yours.”
Thus she creates a suspicion in his mind about
Raina. It is notable she always responds to Sergious advances but keeps him a
wide distance. When he wants to embrace her, she refuses and says:
“Don’t trifles with me, an officer should not trifle with a servant.”
Moreover, she reveals unwillingness to him and
says:
“She will never marry you; the man I told you has come back; she will marry the Swiss.”
She also excites his jealousy by saying
that the Swiss is worth ten of him. Then, she tells him that, having been
rejected he can come to her but she will refuse him as she is not good enough
for her. Hearing this Sergious become very agitated and about to kill Bluntschli;
but Louka reminds him-
“He has beaten you in love; he may beat you in war.”
And thus she stimulates Sergious such a
way; he becomes compelled to give his final decision of marring her. As he
says:
“If these hands ever touch you again, they shall touch you my affianced bride”
Thus she wins Sergious as her husband.
When
Sergious accepts her as his wife, she starts talking to Raina and Catherine as
if she were their equal. She gives up even ordinary decency of addressing Raina
as miss Raina, and Catharine as madam.
Last
of all, we can say that, Louka stands for the
G.B Shaw’s idea of social equality. Being a made servant, she has no sense of
inferiority rather has a high ambition and amazing confidence in herself. Finally,
she comes very near to Raina’s rival for the position of the heroine of the
play.
This paper is
prepared for you by Talim Enam, BA (Hons), MA in English.
If you have any
query, suggestion or complain regarding the article, please feel free to
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Outstanding.
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