Discuss the dramatic significance of the 1st act of the drama “Arms and the Man”
Answer: Like most of the Shaw’s works, “Arms and the Man” was a commentary on “the state of things” as he saw it. The playwright’s desire to use his writings as a catalyst for political discussion was natural; his stark learning’s towards socialism drove his art. To discuss the dramatic significance of the act 1, first we need to go through the short summary of act 1.
The play begins in Raina's bedroom. It is an odd mix of the expensively grand and tastelessly cheap. Raina stands out on her balcony enjoying the idea that she makes the
lovely evening even more so. She wears a fur dressing gown worth three times the room's furniture. Catherine, her mother, enters and tells Raina that there has been a
great battle. The war between Bulgaria and Servia may have been decided by this great
victory. Leading the daring charge was Raina's fiancée: Major Sergius Saranoff. The
routed forces of the enemy are being hunted through the streets of the city.
Their maid servant, Louka, enters and informs the rejoicing mother and daughter of
orders that the windows must be kept shuttered and barred, lest escaping soldiers or
errant bullets get in. Raina's window does not bolt, but she closes the shutter and hides
from the gunfire under her covers. It is then that a bedraggled-looking Servian officer
climbs in her window.
Raina is not about to be intimidated and the two talk for quite a while. An officer of the
Bulgarian army requests to search the room, as some people reported seeing a man
climb in. Raina hides the Servian officer and convinces the other soldiers that there is
nobody there.
The Servian officer reveals that his gun has no cartridges and that, in fact, he generally carries
chocolates where they should be. He is a professional soldier and knows that
chocolates and food are more important in the long run than bullets. Raina
contemptuously gives him the last of her chocolate creams and he gratefully eats them.
Rather than allowing him to take the chance of capture and execution, Raina convinces
the Officer (he isn't hard to convince) to rely upon her and her mother's good will. She
leaves to enlist the help of her mother and when Raina and Catherine return to the
room, the Officer has fallen asleep from stress and exhaustion. They wake him, dress
him in an old coat of the Major's, and sneak him out safely.
Shaw revealed some of his key characters of the play in act 1. In order of appearance they are as follows-
Raina Petkoff- She is the young heroine of the play, the only daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Bulgaria.
Her father is a major in the Bulgarian army. She is young and beautiful and intensely conscious of that fact. She is highly spirited idealistic girl who initially has romantic notion of love and war but changes her views as a result of events of the play.
Catherine Petkoff: Raina's mother, who has a powerful and commanding presence
that even her husband respects. She is smart, good looking and wishes to impress everyone with her social standing and a capable woman
over forty, who is determined to be a Viennese lady. To that end,
she wears a fashionable tea gown on all occasions.
Louka is a maidservant in the Petkoff household. She is handsome,
but proud. She is so defiant that her servility to Raina is almost
insolent. She is afraid of Catherine, but even with her goes as far as
she dares. Very ambitious, she has the greatest contempt for those
who serve willingly
Captain Bluntschli: A professional soldier from Switzerland. He is roughly 35 years
old. He is working as an officer for the Servian military fighting for
hire against the Bulgarian army. When his line was broken and his
forces scattered by a Bulgarian cavalry charge, he took refuge in
Raina's room. He is worldly, cool-headed, and pragmatic, well trained and of “undistinguished appearance” with a
sense of humor about his situation and the world. He feels that it is better to be armed with chocolates than with ammunition in the battlefield.
George Bernard Shaw’s executions of many literary devices are clearly visible to the readers at ease, which adds up to the dramatic significance of the current act.
Shaw employs irony in the title of his play, taken from the opening line of the epic poem “The Aeneid” written by roman poet Virgil- “Of arms and the man I sing….” In which Virgil glorifies war. Shaw’s purpose in this play, however, is to attack romantic idea of war. The conflict in “Arms and the Man” is between opposing beliefs and ideas; the romantic notions of war and love which are held by Raina and the realistic picture of the war drawn by Captain Bluntschli. Still “Arms and the Man” is not an anti-war drama, but rather a satirical assault on those who would glorify the horrors of war. Shaw also uses metaphor and simile throughout the act using Raina and Bluntschli as his mouthpiece and the characters seems to fit them perfectly. The comedy of the play depends on contrasts of characters, unexpected turns of events, mistaken identities, surprising opinions, irony, wit and satire. Shaw seems to utilize them at utmost level in 1st act. Although Shaw set the play in an exotic corner of southeast Europe, his characters have recognizable British traits. Like all of Shaw’s plays, “Arms and the Man” offers social criticism tempered by fine comedy. His depiction of the plot for the play was pretty much alive here in act 1.
Act 1 from “Arms and the Man” is a perfect start for the play, as Shaw draws the attention of its readers very subtly. Sublime start, decent development of the plot and dialogues from key characters clinches the full admiration of the readers thus making the plot dramatically significant enough to make the act 1 a successful one.
One of Shaw's intentions in writing Arms and the Man was to show the
foolishness of war. He intended to present audiences with the reality behind their
foolish ideas of clean, pretty, honorable war. Unfortunately, his message was largely
lost on his audience. They enjoyed the comedy, but soon after plunged into the first
World War. The message, however, remains current as ever.
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