Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
The theme of appearance and reality Arms and the Man are considered as one of the most important plays written by George Bernard Show. Through out of his play, show attacks and satirized the hypocritical society in which the appearance of people differs from their reality. The petcock family is an example of the hypocritical people in society. They pretend to be more civilized that what they really are. Petcock always proud that he was a library which is full of books though he was never read any Of them.
Petcock is a flat character who stands for the newly rich class which has money and social position but lacks manner and good behavior. Petcock mocks Catherine for having a daily bath and says that his father had it once in his life. Besides, he pretends to be courageous in all situations. But in reality, he has no control over his wife and daughter. Thus, he may be brave in war but he’s a puppet hand of his wife. Lady Catherine is another superficial character who cares only for appearances.
She is infatuated by the handsome appearance of her daughter’s fiance and she dreams of being younger 1 0 years. Besides, at first she treats Blumenthal badly thinking he is a poor soldier but when she discovers his fortune and his social position, she accepts him as her son in law. Thus, appearances count for more than a true moral character. Another character which represents the idea of appearance versus reality is Rain. She is a beautiful romantic character girl who believes in romanticism in both love and war; and so she doesn’t live in a world of reality.
What brings her back to the world o reality is the appearance of serious in her life she begins to discover her self and so she abandons the world of illusion. Comparison and contrast bet. Characters Through his play Arms and the Man, George Bernard show manages to fleet his theme through the contrast between characters such as opposition between characters of Blumenthal and serious as well as the opposition between the characters of both Rain and Lookup. Blumenthal is the protagonist in the play because his role is essential to the development of the plot.
He is an ambitious person who is practical, realistic and brave. However, he’s not a noble man because he doesn’t fight because of his patriotism but rather he fights because fighting for him is a trade like any other one. Blumenthal is the real representative of true and real love. He’s the chocolate ream soldier. He refuses to marry rain at first assuming that she’s only seventeen years old. Immediately after proposing to her, he starts talking about peace treaty between the Bulgarian army and the Seers.
This sudden change from love to war emphasizes the practically of Blumenthal. As for serious, he’s a false lover and a hypocrite. He pretends to be faithful to his fiance Rain while at the same time he plays love Lack; Rain’s maid. Thus, unlike Blumenthal whose love is true and honest, serious doesn’t understand the true meaning of love because it’s only limited to the physical did. UN like Blumenthal who is quite brave in war, serious is very coward and he’s indecisive. This is quite clear when he admits to lack that he is not as brave as people think him to be.
Serious suffers from an inner conflict and what explodes this conflict inside him is the news he receives from lack that a stranger has spent a night with his fiance Rain. He finally turns back into the world of reality and decides to marry the servant simply because he’s in love with her. ARMS AND THE MAN Discuss Shows views Of women. Through out of his play Arms and the Man, George Bernard Show fleets his view of women with the complexity of their nature through three major characters: Lady Catherine, Lookup and Rain.
Lady Catherine is represented by show as atypical superficial Bulgarian wife. She acts according to appearances not reality. This is clear when she infatuated by the external handsome appearance of her daughter’s fiance serious. She becomes so fascinated by him to the extent that she dreams of being ten years younger. Besides, she treats Blumenthal badly thinking him to be a poor soldier; but when she discovers his fortune and his social position, she accepts him as her son in law. Thus, she doesn’t care for his age or nationality as much as she cares for his appearance in society.
She is flat character because she never changes or develops. As for Rain, she is heroine of the play. At the beginning of the play, she emerges as a very romantic lady who is dreaming a lot. And this is clear when she always looks at the moon and the star light. She is also very humane and this is quite obvious when she thinks that there’s no glory at all in killing the fugitives. It’s also clear when she saves the life of Blumenthal after getting into her room. Rain is a lady who was living in the world of antsy and illusion.
The one who brings her to the world of reality is Blushingly. He tells her about the truth of her fiance showing her how coward he is. By the end of ACTA , an inner conflict within her erupts between loving Blumenthal and her romantic ideal of being a wife to serious. This conflict ends by the triumph of reality to romanticism; and so she accepts the proposal of Blumenthal. Concerning Lookup, she is the maid of the rich family of general petcock. She is very practical and ambitious. Comment no 4 “My dear young lady, don’t pet this worry you. Remember I’m a soldier…… .
This context is derived from George Bernard shows play Arms and the Man which is regarded as one of his most popular plays. These words are mentioned by Blushingly to Rain. After he has spent his night at Rain’s house. Blushingly arrives suddenly at general Petcocks house to sign a peace treaty between the Seers and the Bulgarians. petcock knows Blushingly and he knows that this fugitive has spent a nights in lady chamber but he doesn’t know that this lady is his own daughter. Immediately before this context, Rain has been talking to Blushingly about the night which he has spent in her room.
She threatens that if serious knows the fact that he has spent his night at her room, he will challenge him into a duel and so he will be killed she also tells him that she always desired to be perfect with serious to keep their noble and beautiful relation. She also tells him that it’s because of him that she has lied twice. In this context, Blushingly proves himself to be a quite brave and honest soldier. He tells her that soldiers are always accustomed to lies and so she should never worry for her lies. Besides, Blushingly hints at the fact that serious is not quite brave and that he’s a coward who always lies.
Thus, this context sheds light on the main theme behind the play which is that of love and war. Comment no 2 “l want to be quite perfect with serious: no meanness, no smallness This context is derived from George Bernard shows play Arms and the Man which is considered as one of his most popular plays. The words of this context are said by Rain, THE heroine of the play, to Blumenthal in Actual after he has already taken refuge in her room for one night. She is conscience sticker because she feels that she has betrayed her fiance by allowing Blumenthal to spend his night at her house and by hiding this secret from him.
This context sheds light on the character of Rain. She is a romantic dreamer who is living in the world of illusion. She lives in the illusion that serious is as noble and true to her as she is to him. She believes that he never lies to her and never betrays her and so she should Context no 1 “l have no ammunition. What use are cartridges In battle?….. The Man which is regarded as one of his most popular plays. These words are mentioned by Blumenthal and are addressed to Rain. Rain has saved Bluntness’s life by allowing him to stay in her bed chamber till the following day and also by lying to the officers who searched ere room.
