Arms and the Man: Themes

The themes of “Arms and the Man” are love and war and these two themes have been welded into a single whole with great skill. Shaw has shown that it is the romance of war that leads to the romance of love. His treatment of these two themes is characterized by realism. The contrast between realism and idealism is constantly stressed, and this results in a number of entertaining situations.

As the play opens, we are introduced to Raina, a pretty, young lady with romantic views of love and war, the result of her reading Byron and Pushkin. She stands on the balcony of her bedroom admiring the beauty of the night, and dreaming of her fiancée, Sergius, who is out on the front fighting the Serbs. Soon her mother enters the room to inform her that Sergius has become the hero as a result of his splendid victory in the battle. On his own initiative ignoring the orders of his Russian commander, he made a heroic charge on the artillery of the Serbs and put them to flight. Raina, in ecstasy, raptures kisses on the photo of her lover and her knight. She feels that she has been a ‘prosaic little coward’ in her doubts about Sergius’ heroism and is unworthy of him. Sergius’ heroism in war feeds her romantic love of him.

Shaw’s views on war are uttered through the mouth of fugitive Bluntschli. He is blunt in everything he says, as is suggested by his name itself. First she is told the truth about Sergius’ cavalry charge. It was something foolish and rash, and Sergius ought to be court-martialed for it. He and his regiment nearly committed suicide, only the pistol missed fire. Her heroic ideals of war, thus receive a rude shock.

“And there was Con Quixote flourishing like a drum major, thinking he’d done the cleverest thing ever known,
whereas he ought to be courtmartialled for it. Of all the fools ever let loose on a field of battle, that man must
be the very maddest. He and his regiment simply committed suicide – only the pistol missed fire.”

She is told that the horseman did not really want to attack; they pulled hard at the horses, but the horses ran away with them. The conclusion is that most soldiers are born fools and are cowards at heart.

“Nine soldiers out of ten are born fools.”

Further, we are told that it is the duty of a soldier to live as long as he can, and that he must run away to save his life. He bluntly tells her that all soldiers are afraid to die:

“Some soldiers, I know, are afraid of death.”

And further that is it their duty to live as long as they can.

“All of them, dear lady, all of them, believe me. It is our duty to live as long as we can.” 

Bluntschli himself runs away and enters the bedroom of Raina. He uses Raina’s cloak as a shield to save himself and thus directs a rude shock to her. He demands chocolate to eat and says that he carries chocolates to the front instead of cartridges. In other words, food is more important than ammunition in war, and the truth of this view has been amply proved by the experiences of the two World Wars.

“What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead.”

In Bluntschli, Shaw has presented a realistic portrait of an average soldier who is ready to fight when he must and is glad to escape when he can. Also, that a solder is an ordinary creature of flesh and blood, who suffers from hunger and fatigue and is roused to action only by danger. As Sergius puts it, war is a trade like any other trade; it is the coward’s art of attacking the enemy.

“Soldering, my dear madam, is the cowards’ art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong,
and keeping out of harm’s way when you are weak. That is the whole secret of successful fighting.
Get your enemy at a disadvantage; and never, on any account, fight him on equal terms.”

War is to be fought when necessary, but there should be no praise of war. War is a brutal affair and we should not sing songs of it. The cruelty and horror of war are highlighted through the horrible death of the twelve soldiers burnt alive in a farm-house. In this way idealistic notions of war are punctured.

Both Sergius and Raina are disillusioned in their romantic ideas of war and love. Raina glorified Sergius as a hero and his heroism fed her love for him. On his return from the war, there is “higher love” between them. Sergius calls her his “Queen” and “goddess” and she calls him her “King” and “hero”. He is the medieval knight, and she is the source of his inspiration and heroism. They glorify each other and are blind to the faults of each other. They forget that the other is an ordinary creature of flesh and blood with common human perfections. This is the fault of all romantic love and Shaw has focused the searchlight of truth and reason on this fallacy. He has shown the imperfections of both Sergius and Raina.

Such romantic love is a sham lacking reality. Once Raina’s back is turned, Sergius flirts with Louka. He cannot believe that Raina can spy or she can love another. But Raina does spy upon them and she is already in love with Bluntschli. Her words that she would like to scandalize Sergius, and would cram with chocolates the mouth of her chocolate-cream soldier, if she met him again, reveals the state of her heart. Love can be lasting only when based on the understanding of reality. Higheror Spiritual love is a hoax; sexual pleasure is necessary. Sergius fails to get this pleasure from Raina and turns to Louka. Raina turns to Bluntschli for he is intellectually superior to Sergius and apt to be a better father to her children. The urge of the Life Force is for procreation. Love and marriage are essential to achieve this end. Sex must be subordinated to the Life Force instead of pleasure. The futility of romantic love is further stressed when Nicola gives up Louka for profit. She would make a better customer than a wife.

Shaw’s views on love and war are characterized by strict realism and are clearly brought out if we compare them with that of Tolstoy. Like Tolstoy he tells men that romantic war is only butchery and romantic love is only lust. Shaw only objects to them in so far as they are ideal. He objects not so much to war as to the praise of war. He does not so much dislike love as the love of love. Shaw only murmurs:

“Wars if you must, but for God’s sake, not war-songs.”

Shaw is quite content to say:

“Do not be taken in by it.”

Tolstoy seems really to propose that high passion and patriotic valour should be destroyed. Shaw is more moderate and only asks that they should not be desecrated.