Sunday, November 22, 2009

Please summarize the first act of Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw.

Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw is set just after the Battle of Slivnitsa in the Serb-Bulgarian war during November 1885. The first act is set in the bedroom of Raina, a young Bulgarian woman from a wealthy family.


As the play begins, Raina and her mother are talking about Sergius, a young man to whom Raina is engaged, who is one of the heroes of the victorious Bulgarian army. In this discussion, Raina introduces the main theme of the play, the issue of the romantic visions of love and war versus the realities thereof.


After Catherine, Raina's mother, and the servant Louka leave the room, Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss mercenary who had been fighting on the Serbian side, appears on the balcony, having climbed up there to escape his pursuers. Raina agrees to shelter him, and they have some extended conversations about the reality of war versus the romantic portraits of it. In this discussion, Captain Blunstchli reveals that Sergius' glorious charge was actually tactically stupid and only succeeded because the opposing machine gunners had been issued the wrong ammunition. Hungry and exhausted, Captain Bluntschli falls asleep in Raina's bed, and leaves the next morning.

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