Shaw is an accomplished satirist, and Arms and
the Man is his take on the romanticizing of war and love as conquest. In Act
I, we see the send-up of the glorified version of war. Rather than the clear battle of
right against wrong for the good of the world, Shaw presents the everyday realities of
combat, which are dirty and exhausting. Bluntschli is starving and filthy when he sneaks
into Raina's room, and there is no sense that one side is right in the battle. He earns
his name "The Chocolate Cream Soldier" from the fact that he eagerly eats the sweets
Raina offers him, and states that any real soldier would rather have chocolate than
bullets in his belt.
As for love, Raina and Sergius are
determined to marry each other, because they've been told it's right. They don't love
one another, and Sergius openly makes passes at other women. Yet for Raina, Sergius
represents the romantic war hero, suitable for her to marry. Conversely, Raina
symbolizes the perfect wife: the right social status and upbringing. They are both
acting according to what society has told them they should want, rather than what they
truly want.
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