The Arms and the Man - a Perfect Anti-Romantic Comedy

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The Arms and the Man - a Perfect Anti-romantic Comedy 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. He is witty but at the same time, he is thought provoking. No doubt, the purpose of the dramatist is to make 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 beautyof 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 are proved to be true. Afterwords, when Sergius returns from the front, he is adoringly called ‘hero’ and ‘king’ by Raina. Sergius also addresses Raina as his ‘queen’ and his ‘inspiration’ behind his heroic deed. So, both Raina and Sergius are living in a world of higher love. Their idea about war is also romantic. However, the romantic outlook of life has been changed from Raina with the appearance of Bluntschli. After winning the battle, Bulgarian cavalry are now finding 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 the cavalry charge. The real fact is 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. Even, he
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