Arms and the Man (Annotated)

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-Arms and man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw. The play was first produced on April 21, 1894 at the Theater Avenue and published in 1898 as part of Shaw plays nice volume, which also included Candida, you never know, and the man of destiny. Arms and the Man was one of Shaw's first commercial successes. He was called to the stage after the curtain, where he received enthusiastic applause. Amid the cheers, a member of the audience booed. Shaw responded, characteristically: "My dear friend, I quite agree with you, but what are we both against so many?" Arms and the Man is a humorous work that shows the futility of war and comically treats the hypocrisies of human nature. The work takes place during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. Her heroine, Raina Petkoff, is a young Bulgarian committed to Sergius Saranoff, one of the heroes of that war, whom she idolizes.The night after the Battle of Slivnitza, a Swiss mercenary soldier In the Serbian army, Captain Bluntschli, climbs through the window of the balcony of his room and threatens to shoot Raina if he gives her the alarm. When Russian and Bulgarian troops stormed to look for him in the house, Raina hides him so that they don't kill him. He asks her to remember that "nine out of ten soldiers are born as fools."In a conversation after the soldiers left, Bluntschli's pragmatic and cynical attitude toward war and the soldiers shocked the idealist Raina, especially after he admits that he uses his bags of ammunition to carry chocolates instead of cartridges for his gun . When the search goes out, Raina and her mother Catherine sneak out of Bluntschli's house, disguised with one of Raina's father's old coats.