Enam's Note

The Idea of love, marriage and war are the recurring themes of “Arms and the Man”, a fantastic romantic comedyby George Bernard Shaw, a great modern playwright.   Shaw has shown that it is the romance of war that leads to the romance of love. He satirizes idealized notions of love and war in the comedy.  The play opens with highly romantic views of love and war of Raina. She standing on the balcony of her bedroom, admiring the beauty of the night dreams of her fiancée, Sergius. Soon she learns that ignoring the orders of his Russian commander, he made a heroic charge on the artillery of the Serbs and put them to flight. Raina, in ecstasy, raptures kisses on the photo of her lover and her knight. She feels that she has been a ‘prosaic little coward’ in her doubts about Sergius’ heroism and is unworthy of him. Sergius’ heroism in war feeds her romantic love of him.   Raina’s heroic ideals of war receives a violent shakewhen she is told the truth about Sergius...

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 ...

Catherine is one of the important female characters of the play “Arms and the Man” by George Bernard Shaw, a great British playwright. She, in the play, rules over all the characters. She is an affectionate mother, at the same time, she is also a careful guardian and ideal house wife. Now we are going discuss his character. First of all, we see, Catherine is a very careful mother about her daughter’s safety. As, at the very beginning of the play, Catherine says: “Raina! Raina! Why, where-?  Heavens child! Are you out in the night air instead of in your bed? You will catch your death. Louka told me you are asleep.”  Again, she shows her concern about the house when she comes to know that some enemy solders have run away from the battle field and are being pursued by Bulgarian cavalrymen. She orders Louka to shut all the doors and the windows against any possible intruders. Riana seems to be very jubilant even more than Raina, when she comes to know that the Bulgarian have wo...