The play is set in Bulgaria and set during the brief Bulgarian-Serbian war in the 1880s. It opens with the young romantic Raina Petkoff and her mother Catherine talking excitedly about a successful cavalry charge led by the handsome and heroic Sergius, to whom Raina is betrothed. They are thrilled at his success. Their defiant young servant Louka comes in and tells them that there will be fighting in the streets soon, and that they should lock all of their windows.

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Raina’s shutters do not lock, and shortly after the gunshots start that night, she hears a man climb onto her balcony and into her room. He is a Swiss professional soldier fighting for Servia.

Though he fights for the enemy and is not in the least heroic (he fears for his life, threatens to cry, and carries chocolates instead of ammo) Raina is touched by his plight. He angers her when he tells her that the man who led the cavalry charge against them only succeeded because he got extremely lucky—the Servians were not equipped with the right ammo.

Raina indignantly says that that commander is her betrothed, and the man apologizes, holding back laughter. Raina nevertheless agrees to keep the man safe, saying that her family is one of the most powerful and wealthy in Bulgaria, and that his safety will be ensured as their guest. She goes to get her mother and when they return he has fallen asleep on Raina’s bed. In the next act the war has ended, and Major Petkoff (Raina’s father) arrives home, and Sergius and Raina are reunited. They speak lovingly to one another about how perfect their romance is. But when Raina goes inside, Sergius holds Louka in his arms, clearly lusting after her. Louka believes he is taking advantage of her because she is a servant, and tells him she does not believe she and he are any different simply because he is rich and she is poor.

They part just as Raina returns. Then, to make things more complicated, the man from Raina’s balcony, announcing himself as Captain Bluntschli, arrives, to return a coat he was loaned the morning after he rested at the house.

Catherine tries to keep him from being seen, but Major Petkoff recognizes him, and invites him inside to help with some of the last remaining military orders. In the final act, in the library, it comes out that Louka, though she had been assumed to be engaged to the head servant Nicola, is in love with Sergius, and he is in love with her. Raina eventually admits she has fallen for Bluntschli, who is at first hesitant, believing her to be much younger than she is. When he finds out her real age (23 rather than the 17 he had thought she was), he declares his affection for her. Bosch Pst 52a Manual High School. The play ends happily, with two new couples.

Louka and Nicola are the foils to Raina and Sergius. A foil is a character that contrasts with others in order to illustrate certain characteristics. For example, despite being a servant, Louka takes charge of herself and doesn't rely on ideas of chivalry or servitude to dictate how she thinks she should be treated. Likewise, Nicola doesn't allow feelings of entitlement to mandate what he thinks his love deserves; therefore, he's given up the claim of engagement he had to Louka to ensure her happiness and advancement in the world over his own, asserting that they were only ever 'together' to keep Louka in a favorable light with the family. Themes in 'Arms and the Man' Let's take a look at some of the themes of Arms and the Man.

Romanticized Views on Love and War The title of this comedy recalls the opening line of Vergil's epic poem, Aeneid, which reads 'Arms and the man I sing... ' At different times, authors have latched onto a romanticized view of the world, particularly regarding war and love and how they're conducted. Shaw traces this view all the way back to the ancient heroic epics of those like Vergil and criticizes this perspective - for instance, by having Bluntschli describe Sergius as charging like Don Quixote at the windmills. Growing Up Another theme of the play is growing up. Many times, growing up means we're hit in the face with some tough realizations. For Raina, that means coming to terms with the fact that the persona she's adopted of a noble, supremely virtuous lady is nothing more than a sham.

Bluntschli helps her see that Sergius is living the same lie, which only confirms her suspicions about him as well as herself. She realizes that Bluntschli is actually the first person to have taken her seriously as a person. Everybody Lies In this play, we also see a theme that everybody lies. During their heart-to-heart in Act III, Bluntschli tells Raina that there are two things every soldier gets used to, and one is hearing people tell lies. In fact, every person in this play has lied at least once - whether it's to protect a fugitive, to hide a love affair or to delude themselves into believing they're something that they aren't. Of course, Bluntschli lets Raina know that it doesn't make her terrible, just human.

And let's not forget that it's Nicola's selfless lie concerning his engagement to Louka that ironically makes him perhaps the most heroic figure in the entire play. Lesson Summary George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man tells the comedic story of Raina Petkoff's coming of age during the Serbo-Bulgarian War.

With its title taken from the first line of Vergil's Aeneid, the criticism of romanticized views on war and love is a prevalent theme, along with the crises of growing up and dealing with the fact that everybody lies. Throughout the play, Raina and Sergius are accompanied by their foils, or characters that contrast with others in order to illustrate certain characteristics, in the forms of the servants, Louka and Nicola. Adam Solaris Glass Panel Heater Instruction Manual - Download Free Apps there.