Anti Romantic Elements in Arms and the Man

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Arms and the Man as an Anti-romantic Comedy Discuss Arms and the Man as an anti-romantic play. Or, Discuss how Shaw ridicules romantic love and war in Arms and the Man. George Bernard Shaw’s play Arms and the Man is a thought provoking play. The play definitely has an anti-romantic tone. The romantic notion of various sectors of life—love, soldiering and war—is criticized strongly in this play. Again in this play, Shaw has exposed and ridiculed the hollowness of romantic love and the heroic ideals of war with a view to making his readers see the truth about love, war and soldiering. In the very beginning of the play, a romantic picture is set. Raina, a romantic girl, stands on her balcony to enjoy the beauty of the Bulgarian night. When Raina is told by her mother Catherine that Raina’s fiancee Sergius who has gone in the battle-field has made a heroic cavalry charge and has won a splendid victory against the Serbians, Raina becomes very excited and tells her mother that her romantic ideas about war have proved true. Afterwards, when Sergius returns from the battlefield, Raina adoringly calls him her ‘hero’ and ‘king. Sergius also addresses Raina as his ‘queen’ and his ‘inspiration’. So, both Raina and Sergius are living in a world of higher love. Their idea about war is also romantic. However, Raina’s romantic outlook of life changes with the appearance of Bluntschli. After winning the battle, Bulgarian cavalry are now in search of the Serbian fugitives. Bluntschli, a Serbian fugitive, enters into Raina’s bedchamber in order to take shelter there. In the conversation with Raina, Bluntschli exposes the real fact about Surgius’scavalry charge. Bluntschli tells Raina that the charge ordered by Sergius could be suicidal for them if the Serbian army had right kind of ammunition in their machine-guns. So, Sergius should not be awarded for the charge,
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