Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man’ As an anti-romantic comedy
Shaw
always wages a war against romantic and idealistic motion of life, against the
shams and hypocrisy and his war begins with ‘Arms and the Man’. Shaw calls
‘Arms and the Man’ ‘an anti-romantic comedy’ as here he exposes the hollowness
of the high idealistic romantic motion of love and war. In a witty and thought
provoking way shaw makes his readers to see the actual truth about love and
war.
‘Arms
and the Man’ opens with a note of romance and heroism. Raina is a romantic girl
who is engaged with sergins, a ‘Byronic hero’ who has gone to the battlefield
like a knight. He makes a heroic charge and wins a victory and becomes the hero
of the hour. Both Raina and sergius live in a world of romance and unreality.
Their romantic ideals are the outcome of reading Byron and Puskins. It is for
this reason their romance is easily shattered coming contact with reality.
Blutschli slowly makes Raina aware of her foolish motion about war. He tells
her that sergins is a fool and block head and he and his regiment neary
committed suicide only the pistol missed fire. He further said that ‘nine soldiers out of ten
are born fools.’ Gradually both Raina and Sergins understand their hollowness
and sergins said that war is nothing but the ‘coward’s art’.
Raina
and Sergins become disillusioned in their romantic ideals of love. Sergins
finds it very tiring and seeks relief in Louka, the maid and when he gets the
chance he flirts with her. Raina finally discovers her ‘hero’ as nothing but a
day. On the otherhand Sergins discovers Raina’s new real love for Bluntschli.
She turns to Bluntschli not because he faces bullets, but because he faces
facts. Raina becomes educated by the realist Bluntschli and fully understands
herself and the reality. The cobweb of romantic net is broken and the
searchlight of reality ridicules the false romanticism.
Shaw
is not merely a realist rather an anti-romantic. He never presents realism in a photographic
manner. In under to achieve his anti-romantic purpose the dramatist resorts to
exaggeration of reality. A fugitive soldier must demand food when he is
famished but what Bluntschli demands is heard to believe—echocolates. Sex may
be an impersonal instinct but in real life sergiuses are usually found to marry
Rainas not the Loukas. Soldiers are fools but how can we believe that the
pistol remains on the front but the officers overlook it.
It
will be unjust to say that the play in devoid of romance. The opening of the
drama is melodramatic one. The beautiful dreamy heroine, the heroic exploits,
the war cry, the running away of the soldiers, the fugitives, the narrow save,
the love at first sight between Raina and Bluntschli—everything bears the note
of romanticism. Bluntschli inspite of his realistic attitude describes himself
as a man of romantic disposition. Inspite of his father’s well established
hotel business he joins in the army. He could have sent the coat of Major
Petkoff but brings it himself as he wants to have a second look to Raina.
The
drama is anti-romantic and shaw exposes the romantic motion of life specially
the foolish motions regarding love and war. Here he places before the readers
the facts of life—the truth that lies behind the romantic illusion of life. It
is, therefore aptly said by chestenton ‘ a play built not on pathos, but on
bathos or anti-climax.
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