Write the explanation of the play "Arms And The Man". (Part-2)

Write the explanation of the play “Arms And The Man”. (Part-2)

Ans.

EXPLANATIONS

(6) A narrow shave; but a miss is as good as a mile. Dear young lady: your servant to the death. I wish for your sake I had joined the Bulgarian army instead of the other one. I am not a native Serb.

(Act I)

Reference: These lines have been spoken by the Man, Bluntschli.

Context: Bluntschli climbs the pipe of Raina’s room; the enemies follow him and try to search him in Raina’s room. But they could not find him because he was hiding behind the curtain. When officers go out, Bluntschli comes out of the curtain, and says to Raina that he was about to be searched but he had a narrow escape.

Explanation: Bluntschli escaped narrowly from the hands of the Bulgarian officers. Now he comes out of the curtain and tells Raina that he had a very narrow escape from the enemies. But he has escaped, and it does not matter whether it has been a narrow escape or as wide as a mile. His life has been saved and this is an important thing. He gives his thanks to Raina for helping him in saving his life and says that he will remain a devoted servant to her till his death. Bluntschli is grateful to her. Smit

He feels that although Raina has saved his life, she cannot sympathize with him as he happens to belong to the hostile camp. He wishes that he had not joined the Serbian army, but the Bulgarian army so that he may have been in better position to serve her. In fact he is not a Serbian by birth, he is a foreigner to both Serbia and Bulgaria, he is free to join whatever side he liked. So, now when his life has been saved by Raina, he wants to serve and stand for it, he is thinking that it would be better if he had joined the Bulgarian army.

Note: (i) A Narrow shave- an escape by the narrowest margin.

(ii) A miss is as good as a mile! An English proverb meaning that if the object aimed at, or the result desired, is not reached there is no consolation in knowing that it has nearly reached.

(7) You can always tell an told soldier by the inside of his holsters and cartridge boxes. The young ones carry pistols and cartridges: the old ones, grub.

(Act 1)

Reference: These words have been spoken by Bluntschli while talking with Raina in Act I Of Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man“.

Context: When Bluntschli, the fugitive hiding in Raina’s room he was searched by the Bulgarian officers. But he had a narrow escape. When he feels hungry Raina offers him chocolate creams. He finishes them and thanks Raina for the hospitality.

Explanation: Bluntschli observed that food is more important for a soldier than ammunition. This is well known and appreciated by the old soldiers as they carry food with them. He says that the difference between the old soldiers and new soldiers can very easily be found out by looking into their hostlers and the cartridge boxes. The cases and boxes of the old ones will be found to contain something eatable to help them in times of emergency. On the other hand, the cases and the boxes of new recruits will be found to contain only arms and ammunition.

He wants to say that in the battle field food is as important as the ammunition because without food one cannot survive.

Note: Grub- an English slang word for food.

(8) There are only two sorts of soldiers: old ones and young ones. I’ve served fourteen years: half of your fellows never smelt powder before. Why how is it that you’ve just beaten us? Sheer ignorance of the art of war, nothing else. [Indignantly] I never saw anything so unprofessional.

(Act I)

Reference: These words have been communicated by Bluntschli to Raina.

Context: Bluntschli and Raina are discussing about the soldiers and warfares. Bluntschli tells Raina that he is as nervous as a mouse. Hearing this Raina replies that their soldiers are not so nervous and coward.

Explanation: Bluntschli tells Raina that there are two types of soldiers-old ones and young ones. He says that he himself has served in the army for fourteen years and he has not come across any third category of the soldiers. Half of the Bulgarian soldiers must not have known about the gunpowder till then. They have no experience of war and once they have passed through the ordeal of a war, all their heroism shatters. Then he talks about the recent battle of Slivnitza that Bulgarians could defeat Serbs. because they were entirely ignorant about the art of war. Bulgarians attacked their artillery and the attack was against the rules of war. But they won because the Serbian guns were not properly charged. He contempt this act and says that he has never seen this kind of unprofessional attitude in war.

Note: Never smelt gunpowder before- an English idiom still used, although it goes back to the days when the smell of gunpowder hung about a battle field; the present-day equivalent is ‘never been under fire before.”

(9) You can tell the young ones by their wildness and their slashing. The old ones come bunched up under the number one guard: they know that they’re mere projectiles, and that it’s no use trying to flight. The wounds are mostly broken knees, from the horses: cannoning together.

(Act I)

Reference: These lines have been taken from the speech of Bluntschli.

Context: Bluntschli describes to Raina what the cavalry charge is ? On hearing the description Raina says that the first horseman must be the bravest of all. But Bluntschli tells him the reality that he is not the bravest because he does not do so of his own accord; it is the horse which runs with him.

Explanation: Bluntschli gives a description of a cavalry charge. He says that the old soldiers and the young soldiers can also be distinguished by the way they behave on the battlefield. The young ones are wild with the heat of the moment. they waste their energy in brandishing swords in all directions. While the old ones try to save their energy and try to avoid death as long as possible. They are more experienced and they know what they should do in the battle. They are massed together under their commanding officer. They know the fact that to try to be heroic is to commit suicide. They know that they are thrown into battle by force, just like the bullets discharged from the machineguns. They do not like to fight unnecessarily. The wounds which they get are thought to be by the blows of their enemies on the battlefield. But as a matter of fact they result from the disorder in their own ranks before the commencement of the real fight. The fact is that the riders come into collision with each other and in this way their knees are broken. People wrongly think that they are broken in war.

Note: (1) These lines show the realistic and precise attitude of Bluntschli towards war.

(ii) Cannoning together- coming the violent collision.

(10) And there was Don Quixote flourishing like a drum major. thinking he’d done the cleverest thing ever known; whereas he ought to be court martialed 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: that’s all.

(Act I)

Reference: This extract has been taken from the Act I, and these are the words of Bluntschli.

Context: Bluntschli, grows more and more critical of Sergius’s cavalry charge. He compares his heroic charge to the romantically chivalrous act of Don Quixote. And he tells all this to Raina.

Explanation: Referring indirectly to Sergius. Bluntschli ridiculously says that there was one like Don Quixote showing and waving about his sword in the air as a drum major waves his stick while conducting the play on his band. And all the while Sergius thought that he was doing something the like of which could not be found in the appals of military operation. While the fact was that his action was most unwise. He ought to be punished for it by the military court. This man was the greatest fool of all those who have ever gone to war and have been allowed to fight. He acted like a man out of his senses. It was as if the regiment wanted to commit suicide. The catastrophe overted only because the enemy had no ammunition. He could not even guess the gravity of this suicidal action.

Note: (1) This is a fine example of dramatic irony. Because readers and Raina know that the leader of the cavalry charge was Sergius, who is the fiance of Raina but Bluntschli does not know it and he is criticizing Sergius.

(ii) Court Martialed- tried by a military court for having violated the rules of the profession.