Write the explanation of the play "Arms And The Man". (Part-3)

Write the explanation of the play “Arms And The Man”. (Part-3)

Ans.

EXPLANATIONS

(11) I won the battle the wrong way when our worthy Russian generals were losing it the right way. In short, I upset their plans, and wounded their self-esteem. Two Cossack colonel’s had their regiments routed on the most correct principles of scientific warfare. Two major-generals got killed according to military etiquete. The two colonels are now Major generals and I am been simple major.

(Act II)

Reference: This dialogue between Sergius and Catherine has taken from Act II of the play.

Context: Catherine tells Sergius that everyone was enthusiastic about his cavalry charge in the battle of Slivnitza, because due to this charge Bulgarians got the victory over Serbs. But Sergius explains the whole position that cavalry charge was the beginning and the end of his military reputation.

Explanation: The way Sergius led the cavalry charge was wrong from the viewpoint of military strategy. He acted against the orders of the Russian officers and violated the military rules. There were the Russian officers, who followed the rules correctly, and so they got the credit even though they lost the battle. They found themselves unable to vanquish the Serbs. They were taken by the surprise and they were routed rank and file. Their prestige suffered a severe blow. Their self importance was badly insulted and injured. There were two colonels of the back Cossack tribe of Russia. They acted exactly according to the principles of warfare, and even though their regiment was badly defeated, they have been promoted to the rank of Major which posts fell vacant owing to the death of two Russian Major generals. He himself did not follow these rules and he did not receive the promotion even though he won a decisive victory. He is still what he was a simple Major.

Notes: (i) Cradle and the Grave-the beginning and the end.

(ii) Cossack- A Turkish tribe of Russia, known for its bravery.

(12) Soldiering, my dear Madan, is the coward’s 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 on equal terms.

(Act II)

Reference : This is what Sergius says in Act II of Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man.’

Context: Sergius has returned from the battlefield and he is talking to Mr. and Mrs. Petkoff. He is disillusioned of the warfare, and fighting because he could not get the promotion, inspite of the victory in battle. He has decided to send his resignation and return from soldiership.

Explanation: When Catherine, Raina’s mother asks Sergius why he resigned, he tells her that the profession of a soldier is the profession of a coward, and it is not for a man like him. Because a soldier will attack his enemy very powerfully and strongly, when he is strong and his enemy is very weak. But if the enemy is strong, he should not come in his way, but keep himself at a safe distance from him so that no harm may be done to him. This is the secret of successful fighting. This brings laurels to the principal actors on the battle field. A soldier should drive his enemy in the most disadvantageous position. He should never fight his enemy, if he is equally strong, for in that case the chance of war might turn against him. He should be attacked only when the odds are nearly against him.

(13) Which of the six is the real man? that’s the question that torments me. One of them is a hero, another a buffoon, another a humbug, another perhaps a bit of a blackguard. [He pauses, and looks furtively at Louka as he adds, with deep bitterness] And one, at least is a coward: jealous, like all cowards.

(Act II)

Reference: These words have been spoken by Sergius.

Context: After coming from the war front Sergius plays his role of the romantic lover. In the absence of Raina he makes love to Louka, who says that these gentle people are unfaithful. Because when he was away Raina made love to a man and here Sergius was paying attentions to Louka. She remarks that at least one of the six different aspects of her personality is greater than she who is merely a maid servant.

Explanation: Sergius is not able to understand why he has allowed himself to make love to a maid-servant. He, therefore, looks within himself and subjects himself to a searching process of self examination. He tries to understand his own self. He realizes that his personality is complex and many sided. He is, in fact six different persons in one. He behaves like six different Sergius at different times. He is extremely worried on this account. Sometimes, his actions are heroic as in the battlefield, while at other times he acts like a jester. At still other times he behaves like a hypocrite. At least it is certain that he is a coward, who shrinks from facing boldly the facts of Raina’s unfaithfulness and his own attachment with Louka. He is jealous of Raina as she made love to someone else in his absence, and so he is anxious to know the name of his rival.

(14) You know how to hurt with your tongue as well as with your hands. But I don’t care, now I’ve found out that whatever clay I’m made of, you’re made of the same. As for her, she’s a liar; and her fine airs are a cheat; and I’m worth six of her.

(Act II)

Context: Sergius flirts with Louka but when she drops a hint about Raina’s clandestine affair with somebody he becomes angry and starts calling her names. He calls her “an abominable little clod of common clay”. i.e. a disgusting little mass of mud with no soul or nobility but only animal instincts. Louka the independent minded girl pays him back in the same coin and says-

Explanation: You hurt my arms when you grabbed me by the elbow. very tightly. Not I have come to realize that you have the capacity of hurting not only with your hands but also with your tongue i.e. your biting sarcastic abusive comments. But this does not perturb me at all because with this one more realization has also come to me and that is the fact that there is no real difference between you and me. If I am a contemptible mass of clay with no nobility you are also no better than I am. And as far as Raina is concerned. I know her worth quite well. She indulges in falsehood, makes a show of being noble though in reality she is mean and deceitful. I know that I am six times better than she. You may go on hurling insults at me but I shall not be disturbed by them.

Notes: The passage throws a lot of light on Louka’s insolent nature. After reading it one feels forced to agree with Nicola that she has a “soul above her station.”

(15) I want to be quite perfect with Sergius: no meanness, no smallness, no deceit. My relation to him is the one really beautiful and noble part of my life. I hope you can understand that.

(Act III)

Reference : Raina is the speaker of the given passage.

Context: Raina assumes the posture of a really noble and faithful girl and talks in a very artificial way about her relationship with Sergius to Captain Bluntschli.

Explanation: When they are alone in the library Raina accosts the Swiss soldier and pretends as if she as feeling really tortured from inside because of giving shelter to Bluntschli in her house and because of hiding this secret from Sergius. She says that she wants her relationship with Sergius to be absolutely without blemishes. She does not want any baseness or graceless thing to enter it and does not want even to think of her fiance. She is absolutely and faithfully in love with him and considers her relationship with her betrothed to be a very charming and virtuous part of her life. Still she deceived him for the sake of Bluntschli. She wants Bluntschli to have a sense of gratitude towards herself because she saved his life. However, the hollowness and artificiality of her noble attitude becomes clearly apparent when one recalls the fact that she not only gave protection to him but also called him poor darling. She already had doubts about Sergius’s heroism and a little later the one will come to know that she also gave a token of love to him i.e. a photograph of herself with the inscription Raina, to her Chocolate-Cream-Soldier, a souvenir. Bluntschli, the shrewd man of the world as he is, sees through her artificiality and refuses to believe in any of her sayings.