Paper Topic:

`Arms and the Man` by George Bernard Shaw play analysis

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Text Analysis of Arms and the Man

This is a text analysis of George Bernard Shaw 's Arms and the Man ' This play shall be examined on the following grounds : event emotion , conflict , action , objective , need of the protagonist relationships , circumstances , and environment , and character . To be able to accomplish such a huge task , this play shall be divided into two main parts : the first part shall concentrate on the themes that pervade the play the second part shall be dedicated on the discussion of the

br conflict , climax , and the resolution of the play . In this way , this hopes to accomplish to give the reader the macro and micro picture of this play

Three Themes

George Bernard Shaw 's Arms and the Man ' is a satire-comedy play set in Bulgaria right after the Bulgarian army defeated Serbia in the very short Battle of Slivnitza . It is set in the house of Major Paul Petkoff a wealthy man whose position in the Bulgarian army is largely due to his social status . The main protagonist is Paul Petkoff 's daughter , Raina Petkoff

George Bernard Shaw meant his plays to seriously comment on social realities while making the audience laugh . Arms and the Man ' is no exception . This play , written in 1894 , has at least three themes : the foolishness of romanticizing war the idiocy of idealistic , chivalric love and the ironic relations between the lower and upper classes

The first theme , that of the foolishness of romanticizing war , could immediately be sensed in the title of the play . The title itself is satirical , adapted from the opening lines of Virgil 's Aeneid , Of arms and the man I sing ' It should be recalled that The Aeneid is an epic that relates the story of Aeneas , a Trojan hero who founds Rome by going through fantastic events and winning a battle against Turnus . Needless to say , The Aeneid has a romanticized view of war and heroes . It presented war as the worthy means to found a great city , won by the mightiest hero who ought to be known , through all generations , as the founder of Rome . Arms and the Man ' says the opposite . In fact , the male protagonist , Captain Bluntschli , is presented in Act I as a soldier who would rather carry chocolates than loaded cartridges in his pockets He is also presented as a fleeing soldier who jumped in the balcony of Raina to hide from the Bulgarians running after him . Simply put , Captain Blunschli is a man who is far from the romanticized Aeneas Nevertheless , Captain Bluntschli is no coward . He is a professional soldier who does his best to survive and who is well equipped to do his tasks , if he is asked to do so . This could very well be seen when Major Petkoff solicited Bluntschli 's help in to plan the movements of the remaining regiments to Philoppopolis . He also proved himself to be very good at making soldier and...

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