Arms and the Man,
by George Bernard
Shaw(1894) Avenue Theatre
Book Review by
Sami Ul Haq
Lahore Leads
University Lahore
Arms and the man a drama by George Bernard Shaw(1894) Avenue
Theatre[1]
the author presented realities behind
the foolish ideas of pretty and
honorable war. The effect of his message lost immediately as his comedy was
followed soon by First World War[2]
.
Victorian age was a period of self-satisfaction whereas age
of Shaw 1890’s was a period of anxiety, disgust and frustration. With the
arrival of Marxism and Materialism- man’s attitude towards religion also underwent
change. The sway of reason was held high due to revolt against authority;
temper got anti heroic. Shaw was a rebel and iconoclast like Shelley “Arms and
the Man” is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw that took place in 1885 during the
Serb Bulgarian war. The title is taken from Dryden’s first line of Virgil’s
Aenied (Arma Virumque Cano) [3].
The play is in three acts. The theme is
that of War and Love, we can also interpret it as passion and reason or passion
and common sense.
Shaw exposes what he calls the amateurism of the glory
hunting soldier through the attitude of Swiss mercenary, a professional who is
in the business not for the sake of patriotism but as a job. (Adam, 1996).
Captain Bluntschli said about Sergius that he is to be court
martialled because:-
“Is it professional to throw a regiment of the cavalry on
the battery of machineguns? with the dead certainty that if the guns go off not
a horse or a man will ever get with in fifty yards of the fire.”
In this play romanticism and professionalism are side by
side. G B Shaw was great in style and stagecraft, he was master of natural, vigorous
and modern English, his language natural without being neither casual nor
pedantic, his prose is like ordinary direct man to man speech.
The scene of drama opens in a lady’s bed chamber in Bulgaria
in a small town near the Dragoman pass, late in November, 1985. Through an open
window a peak of the Balkans Snowy white, beautiful is visible. The room is
lighted by candle light. A young lady in a night gown on the balcony is gazing
at the snowy Balkans. Catherine enters with good news that at Silvnitza[4]
a great battle was fought, won by sergius who is the hero of the hour, they
both were happy and frantically kissed each other. Raina[5]
was deeply in love with sergius.
Actually Sergius defied the Russian commander, acted without
orders, and made the charge on his own responsibility, the Serbs and Austrians
defeated , Raina was happy about Sergius. Louka enters by saying that Serbs are
chased therefore window and shutters be
closed Raina forget to do that, resultantly a man entered in her bedroom and
started threatening her not to raise her voice and give him shelter, Raina
agrees to that . There Bluntschli spends night during which he discussed war
and soldering, Raina in turn becomes sympathetic towards him. He throws
revolver and exchange it with Raina’s clock, which he thinks better than
revolver. He revealed that he carry chocolate instead of cartridges to war. He
narrated battle scene, how chivalry was used against battery, but when he
discovered the situation he becomes apologetic.
In act two Major Sergius was talking about war in garden
with Petkoff’s family he tells Catherine that soldering:-
“Is the cowards art of attacking mercilessly when you are
strong , and keeping out of harm’s way when you are weak, this is the whole
secret of successful fighting.”
Bluntschli arrived, cleaned, brushed and uniformed to offer
thanks and to return the coat which he had taken. Bluntschli was welcomed as he
was no enemy after signing peace treaty.
In act three Bluntschli prepares draft and Sergius signed it
for sending troops somewhere. Sergius blamed Raina for making love with
Bluntschli, although he himself was flirting with Louka ,after sergius married
Louka, Blunschli become suiter for Raina and it was accepted without objection.
Theme of “Arms and the Man” is war and love but here enemy is hosted in enemy’s
house without knowing, this is full of humor and lough specially “Choclate
Cream soldier” when he was saying to Raina:-
“I’ve no ammunition, what are cartridges in battle? I always
carry Chocolate instead; and I finished the last cake of that hour’s ago.”
Bernard Shaw said,
his plays were “Sui Generis”[6]
they are neither tragedied nor comedies nor tragicomedies. The same play is
humorous and serious(Archibald Henderson, 2004). He was strong hatred of
respectability; his Marxism[7]
reading attracted him towards Socialism. G B Shaw in a Preface to Buoyant Billians[8]
says:-
“when I write a play I do not foresee nor intend a page of it from one end
to other; the play writes itself.” (Shaw, Buoyant Billions, 1946-48)
His plots are loose and realistic, his stories dwindle in to
mere situations and episodes he was the great creator of characters, in this
regard he is compared to Shakespeare and Dickens, as Scott James says about him:-
“After Shakespeare no English dramatist equals Shaw in the
variety and vividness of his characters , though he lacks almost entirely that
interest in the individual which is one of Shakespaere’s quality.” (James, 1932)
George Bernard Shaw was born at 3 upper Synge Street Dublin
on July 26,1856. He was the only son of George Carr Shaw and Lucinda Elizabeth
Gurley. Miss Caroline Hill was his private Tutor in 1879 he started working in
a telephone company, become member of Zetetical Society , fell in love with
several women and have affairs with them , married to Charlotte Francis Payne
Twnshed in 1896.in 1926he was awarded Nobel Prize , died on November 2, 1943
because of a broken leg and kidney trouble.
In “Arms and the Man” he presented to the audience realities
behind the foolish ideas of clean pretty and honorable war. A British film adaptation was
directed in 1932 by Cecil Lewis.
One can
enjoy the full humor and comedy in each of the character, in fact every sight
of this drama is worth witnessing and every word worth readable , one can really
enjoy reading of “Arms and the Man’.
References and bibliography
Frezza,Danial,2007
”About the play wright ; George Bernard Shaw”
Haus ,Robert
Tanitch, (2007),London Stage in the 20th Century.
Shaw,
George Bernard (1911), in Encyclopædia
Britannica, (11th ed).
Ruth Adam(1966 ),What
Shaw really said, Macdonald & Co
Malik, Munawar Ali (2013),George Bernard Shaw : Arms and the
Man New Kitab Mahal
[2] A global war centred in Europe
that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918
[3] Of arms and the man I sing
[4]
Slivnitsa is a town in western Bulgaria, 22 km away from Sofia, lying on the
main road connecting the capital with the Bulgarian-Serbian border.
[5] Heroine of the play
[6] a Latin
phrase, meaning "of its own kind/genus" and hence "unique in its
characteristics".
[7] Theories of Karl Marx
[8] A Comedy of No Manners in Prose
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