Arms and the Man story
The play takes place during the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War. Its heroine, Raina Petkoff, is a young Bulgarian woman engaged to Sergius Saranoff, one of the heroes of that war, whom she idolizes. On the night after the Battle of Slivnitza, a Swiss mercenary soldier in the Serbian army, Captain Bluntschli, climbs in through her bedroom balcony window and threatens to shoot Raina if she gives the alarm. When Russian and Bulgarian troops burst in to search the house for him, Raina hides him so that he won't be killed. He asks her to remember that "nine soldiers out of ten are born fools." In a conversation after the soldiers have left, Bluntschli's pragmatic and cynical attitude towards war and soldiering shocks the idealistic Raina, especially after he admits that he uses his ammunition pouches to carry chocolates rather than cartridges for his pistol. When the search dies down, Raina and her mother Catherine sneak Bluntschli out of the house, disguised in one of Raina's father's old coats.
9 total · 5 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| engaged couple | major | Sergius and Raina |
| infatuation | major | Raina and Bluntschli |
| love triangle | major | Sergius challenged Bluntschli to a duel to settled the matter of who would be with Raina. |
| the horrors of war | major | we are told several times about how terrible it is to be a soldier |
| the senselessness of war | major | we are shown various soldiers who are foolish, cowardly, or vainglorious buffons |
| father and daughter | minor | Major Petkoff and Raina |
| husband and wife | minor | Major Petkoff and Catherine |
| mother and daughter | minor | Catherine and Raina |
| rivalry | minor | Sergius challanges Bluntschili to a duel briefly |