Arms and the Man

Kareem Ahmed

Class 6

ID 14106270

Submitted To
Professor: Hala

Outline
1-Definition of comedy
2-Types of comedy
3-Characters
4-Playwright
5-Theme
6-Act I
7-Act II
8-Act III
9-References

Definition of Comedy
A Comedy is a work in which the materials is selected carefully in
order to interest and amuse us and we sure know that there’s no
disaster will happen or something will go wrong and usually the drama
end with happy ending to all characters and the term “Comedy”
applied only to dramas

Types of Comedy
1-Romantic Comedy: “Arms and the Man” developed by Shakespeare
and some other writers and it’s concerned with love issues that
involves a beautiful and idealized heroine and love in this type doesn’t
run smooth but in the end it overcomes all difficulties and people
marry and engage at the end
2-Satiric Comedy:attacks the disorders of society by satirizing it’s
morals and manners in a comic way
3-The Comedy of manners:deal with people manners and criticize the
manner of high people
4-Farce:it’s type of comedy that make people laugh very loudly and it
introduce the character with a comic way

Characters
Male characters
1-Major Petkoff :Raina father’s and he achieved high rank in Army
because he was rich man and he depends on captain bluntschli plans
in the war then attribute these plans for himself
2-Bluntschli:he was swiss solider and he have a strange idea and the
strange idea is that he prefer’s to carry chocolates in the war instead
of weapons
3-Sergius:Handsome and romantic hero and he achieved a high rank
in the army and he is brave man and he suppose to love Raina but he
flirt with the servant Louka
4-Nicola:he was servant at major petkoff house and he love Louka
but she didn’t care for him

Female characters
1-Raina:she is the heroine of the play and the daughter of Major
Petkoff and she was so romantic lady and have a romantic look to the
war and love
2-Catherine Petkoff: Raina’s mother and she is beautiful lady
3-Louka: she was a servant at Petkoff house and always try to
achieve many goals in life and Nicola the other servant love her
but she didn’t care for him and for his love

Playwright
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright , who was born on 26 July

1856 and died on 2 November 1950 . although he was very good at music

and literary criticism , his main talent was for drama . he wrote more than

60 plays. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a

vein of comedy . comedy is a play, movie, etc., of light and humorous

character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the

central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a

successful or happy conclusion.

Themes
Theme of war,love and marriage:thinking in wars with romantic

way maybe lead us to many disasters and in the same time the

romantic ideas about love and marriage maybe lead us to

unhappy marriage
 Act I

Raina Petkoff is one of Shaw's most delightful heroines from his early

plays. In the opening scenes of the play, she is presented as being a

romantically idealistic person in love with the noble ideal of war and love .

Catherine Petkoff , the mother of Raina and wife of Major Petkoff. As the

play opens, Catherine rushes into Raina’s bedroom in the late evening to

tell her the news that Raina’s fiancé, Sergius Saranoff, led a victory in

battle in the Russian-Austrian War, with the Bulgarians on the side of the

Russians. Both women are thrilled, and both are very romantic in their

attitudes. Louka, a servant in the household who is engaged to another

servant, Nicola. She comes in to tell Catherine and Raina that the windows

and shutters are to be closed and fastened because the enemy is being

chased through the town by Bulgarian soldiers. Captain Bluntschli A

professional soldier from Switzerland who is serving in the Serbian army.

He is thirty-four years old. He startles and threatens to kill Raina if she

makes a sound when she hears him climbing up to her balcony and coming

into her room . Raina decides to hide him. And she gives him chocolate

creams.
Act I starts in the bedroom of Raina Petkoff in a Bulgarian town in 1885,

during the Serbo-Bulgarian War. when the play opens , Catherine Petkoff

and her daughter, Raina, have just heard that the Bulgarians have scored a

tremendous victory in a cavalry charge led by Raina's fiancé, Major Sergius

Saranoff, who is in the same regiment as Raina's father, Major Paul

Petkoff. Raina is so impressed with the noble deeds of her fiancé that she

fears that she might never be able to live up to his nobility. At this very

moment, a pretty servant girl , Louka , comes in to announce that the

windows must be shut and fastened; there is fighting in the street. The

Serbs are running away and could be dangerous. Raina promises to do so

later, But she didn’t shut the windows . while Raina is reading in bed, shots

are heard, there is a noise at the balcony window, and a bedraggled enemy

soldier with a gun appears and threatens to kill her if she makes a sound.

The soldier explains he is not a Serb; he is a Swiss mercenary, and now he

wishes he had joined her side instead. He calls himself a professional

soldier . he asked her about some chocolates , Raina gives him the last of

her chocolate creams, which he devours, maintaining that she has indeed

saved his life . Raina wants the "chocolate cream soldier" (as she calls him)

to climb back down the drainpipe, but he refuses to; whereas he could

climb up, he hasn't the strength to climb down. When Raina goes after her
mother to help, the "chocolate cream soldier" crawls into Raina's bed and

falls instantly asleep.

Act II

Act II begins four months later in the garden of Major Petkoff's house.

The middle-aged servant Nicola is lecturing Louka on the importance of

having proper respect for the upper class. Louka has higher plans for

herself than to marry someone like Nicola . Major Petkoff arrives home
from the war, and his wife Catherine greets him . Major Sergius Saranoff,

Raina's fiancé and leader of the successful cavalry charge, arrives, and in

the course of discussing the end of the war. When the Petkoffs go into the

house, Raina and Sergius discuss their love for one anotherand Raina

romantically declares that the two of them have found a "higher love.",

when Raina goes in to get her hat. Sergius asks Louka if she knows what

“the higher love” is. She says, no. He comments that it is fatiguing to keep

up. He needs relief. He begins flirting with Louka. He claims that he is half

a dozen Sergius, and Sergius the hero has been replaced by another

personality now. Louka said the upper classes are hypocrites; both he and

Raina are cheating behind the other’s back. Sergius asks who his rival is,

but Louka says she will lose her place if she tells, but she knows if the man

ever comes back, Raina will marry him. Louka announces the presence of

a Swiss officer with a carpetbag, calling for the lady of the house. His name

is Captain Bluntschli. Major Petkoff hails Bluntschli and greets him warmly

as the person who aided them in the final negotiations of the war; the old

Major insists that Bluntschli must their houseguest until he has to return to

Switzerland.

Act II was filled with themes of hypocrisy and deception . Major Sergius Saranoff,

Raina's fiancé love louka but he can’t leave Raina In order to marry Louka ,
because Louka is a servant in the household , And Raina is a daughter of Major

Paul Petkoff, a commander of the Bulgarian army .Raina believes herself to be in

love with Sergius, to whom she is engaged. As the play develops, a series of shocks

and learning experiences, such as seeing Sergius with his arm around Louka, move

her away from idealism and toward realism. Raina and Sergius discuss their love

for one another, and Raina romantically declares that the two of them have found

a "higher love." . . Sergius asks Louka if she knows what “the higher love” is. She

says, no. He comments that it is fatiguing to keep up. He needs relief. He begins

flirting with Louka. He claims that he is half a dozen Sergius, and Sergius the hero

has been replaced by another personality now. Louka said the upper classes are

hypocrites; both he and Raina are cheating behind the other’s back. Sergius asks

who his rival is, but Louka says she will lose her place if she tells, but she knows if

the man ever comes back, Raina will marry him. Louka refers to Captain Bluntschli

.
 Act III

Act III begins shortly after lunch and takes place in the library. When Raina

and Bluntschli are left alone, she compliments him on his looking so

handsome now that he is washed and brushed . Sergius and Louka

become engaged . Bluntschli asks permission to become a suitor for

Raina's hand, and when he lists all of the possessions which he has (200

horses, 9600 pairs of sheets, ten thousand knives and forks, etc.),

permission for the marriage is granted, and Bluntschli says that he will

return in two weeks to marry Raina. Succumbing with pleasure, Raina

gives a loving smile to her "chocolate cream soldier.”

Act III was filled with the theme of love . It turns out that Sergius will marry

Louka and that Bluntschli will marry Raina (with the approval of her

parents, once they learn of his wealth); both couples feel genuine love, not

false romanticism. Sergius asks asks if he can cure it now with a kiss.

Louka questions his true bravery; she wonders if he has the courage to

marry a woman who is socially beneath him, even if he loved the woman.

Sergius asserts that he would, but he is now engaged to a girl so noble that

all such talk is absurd. Louka then lets him know that Bluntschli is his rival

and that Raina will marry the Swiss soldier. Sergius is incensed. He sees

Bluntschli and immediately challenges him to a duel; then he retracts when

Raina comes in and accuses him of making love to Louka merely to spy on

her and Bluntschli. As they are arguing, Bluntschli asks for Louka, who has

been eavesdropping at the door. She is brought in, Sergius apologizes to

her, kisses her hand, and thus they become engaged. Bluntschli asks

permission to become a suitor for Raina's hand, and when he lists all of the
possessions which he has (200 horses, 9600 pairs of sheets, ten thousand

knives and forks, etc.), permission for the marriage is granted, and

Bluntschli says that he will return in two weeks to marry Raina.

Succumbing with pleasure, Raina gives a loving smile to her "chocolate

cream soldier."

References

Introduction : George Bernard Shaw : cliffsnotes

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/arms-and-the-
man/george-bernard-shaw-biography
:Comedy: dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comedy?s=t
Act I + Act II + Act III : plot summary : cliffsnotes :
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/arms-and-the-man/play-
summary
Act I + Act II + Act III : Character Analysis : enote :
http://www.enotes.com/topics/arms-man/characters
Act I + Act II + Act III : Theme : novelguide :
http://www.novelguide.com/arms-and-the-man/theme-analysis