Two Themes of George Bernard Shaw’ s Plays “Arms and the Man”

Arms and the humankind is wholeness of George Bernard Shaws winningly written roleplays that have move around prevalent and glob helper renowned. Shaws play leads itself to two themes that people goat touch on to, which ar the importance of contend and the essentials to true love and marriage. These themes argon interwoven, for Shaw believed that spell contendfare is evil and stupid, and marriage desirable and good, both had be grow masked in romantic illusions which led to disastrous wars and also to unhappy marriages. 1 The theme of war applies itself into the plot within the first few pages of the melodrama, when the Bulgarians are at war with the Serbs.Romance is portrayed by the humorous and humourous relationships of Raina, Sergius and Bluntschli. Unfortunately, due to societys lack of comprehension and failing to envision from our past errors, we are destined to repeat the majority of them. A nonher come of ignorance found in this play is the attitude of the Pe tkoffs towards their square advantages and their possessions of wealthiness, bringing them individualised superiority. Arms and the domain is as fresh and up-to-date today as when Shaw first produced his play in 1894. 2War is an unfortunate bod that exists when a group sprightlinesss its vital interests are at stake and seeks to chit-chat its beliefs or control on a rival group by the use of overt force. Shaw was a socialist and an ardent pacifist. 3 He did non agree to the idea of war, and he wrote about it to warn us, forthcoming generations, not to commit the same crime. The romantic watch over of war (he held) is found on the idealistic notation that men fight because they are heroes, and that the soldier who takes the biggest risks wins the greatest glory and is the greatest hero.Raina had imagined war as an exciting looseness after talking with overlord Bluntschli, one of the defeated, she now sees it as a dreadful worldly concern. 5 Sergius, too, has learned s omething of the realities of war, and is so disgusted by them that he has sent in his resignation, saying Soldiering is the cowards art of attack mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harms government agency when you are week. 6 This theme of war helps Shaws Arms and the world to continue as a fresh and current play, as it was in 1894.The battle of Slivnica was remarkable mainly for its surprise ending wherein the Bulgarians defeated the invade Serbians much more by good luck than good management, and went to ally themselves with Austrian Hungary thereby bringing World War I one small step closer. 7 M both other wars have taken place since then, and yet man has still to learn that war is not the answer. The romance in the play is portrayed by the humorous and teetotal relationships of Raina, Sergius and Bluntschli. In Arms and the Man Raina Petkoff intends, at the time the play opens, to bend the wife of Major Sergius Saranoff, who is then away fighting the Serbs .News has come home to Raina and her mother that Sergius has ridden bravely at the head of a fetching cavalry charge, and Raina rejoices because she can now believe that her af fianced is just as splendiferous and noble as he looks That the world is really a glorious world for woman who can see its glory and men who can twist its romance In the opening scene of the play, after warm Sergius portrait, Raina goes to bed murmuring My hero My hero This is a romantic view of career, but then reality suddenly breaks in upon her.An enemy solider, Captain Bluntschli the chocolate-cream soldier, escaping from gunfire in the Bulgarian countryside, scales the balcony of a mountain farming and lands in the bedroom of a young woman whose father and fiance are fighting on the front. He is desperate through exhaustion and fear, and Raina sneers at him. Nevertheless, when the pursuers come to search the house, Raina hides the fugitive and denies having seen him. She also feeds him chocolates , they are his irritation he carries them like all professional soldiers, he says into war preferably of bullets.Bluntschli is Shaws affectionate parody of a Swiss pragmatist, level-headed and unemotional. It amuses Shaw to discombobulate him by placing him, initially, in a situation where his reasonableness cannot help him much. Raina no nightlong gauges of war as a romantic game, nor does she any longer think of marriage as the mating of a beautiful heroine and a cosmetic and fickle Sergius. She takes as her husband the plain Bluntschli, whose common sense and half dozen hotels in Switzerland will give her st capability and comfort.The realities of love and marriage manuf operateure one of the most frequent themes in Shaws plays throughout the respite of his long life. 9 The complexities of love and marriage has not changed much over the years. For example, love and relationships were just as obscure in 1894 as they are in 1998. This makes Shaws play recent and the issues it deals with are understandable. Shaw believed that it was foolish to act as though the possession of wealth, or any other corporal advantages, is a sign of personal superiority.People may not any longer think it impressive to have an electric bell in the house, but there are countries nowadays where families with television sets and motor cars feel just as stupidly proud as the Petkoffs did with their bell and library. 10 Many people world-wide today consider themselves above others and look refine on those with less temporal possessions, as if they were inferior. Having more materialistic possessions and wealth does not necessarily mean it will bring you happiness, this is not the reality of life at all.As a mater of fact, those with less materialistic treasures tend to live a happier and peaceful life. This is because their efforts are not turn on wealth but rather on family and friends who support to each one other. Money and wealth can control a person to become greedy a nd require more. It is much better(p) to live a life of harmony and peace, blessed for what to have, than to live worrying about the things that you do not have. That is a lesson Shaw is trying to teach us. We should learn from the Petkoffs and acquire a better attitude towards life and its materialistic treasures.If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how unequal to(p) must Man be of learning from experience? George Bernard Shaw. Furthermore, Arms and the Man is as fresh and up-to-date today as when Shaw first produced his play in 1894. Shaws play leads itself to two themes that people can uphold to, which are the importance of war and the essentials to true love and marriage. The theme of war applies itself into the plot within the first few pages of the play, when the Bulgarians are at war with the Serbs.Romance is portrayed by the humorous and ironic relationships of Raina, Sergius and Bluntschli. Shaw believed that it was foolish to act as though the possession of wealth, or any other material advantages, is a sign of personal superiority. Moreover, Arms and the Man is a successful play and will continue to prosper due to the nature of its themes, war and romance being contemporary with todays society. Perhaps Shaws outperform ability might have been his ability to attract attention to himself, his ideas, and his works. This ability never failed him.