LEC052029. Meenakshi Raj. "Realism in Bernard Shaw's 'Arms And The Man'".

 

Meenakshi Raj

Dr. Joseph Koyipally

LEC 5104

4 February 2021

Is everything fair in love and war?

            G B Shaw’s Arms And The Man uses the traditional ingredients of love and war rather logically and more realistically, deconstructing the idealistic and romantic notions as “escapist, unrealistic and quixotic” (Shaw 98). Realism is thus deeply rooted in the very breath of the play as it charades the audience with a well-constructed plot, exaggerated and witty dialogues and humorous and well-differentiated characters.

            Literary realism began in the nineteenth century as a response to the melodrama and idealism of Romanticism, aiming to portray life as it is without the filter of fanciful ideals. It incorporates the concept of verisimilitude with well-developed characters who imitate real people who are the product of social factors and environment. Realism often addresses social issues through the reality of life and sensitize the audience by spreading awareness. The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen who is the pioneer of Realism in English drama was a major influence on Shaw who “wanted to bring in "reality", and reality for him was neither black, white, nor gray but all the colors of the rainbow” (Siddiqui and Raza 47).

            Arms And The Man is included in the volume Plays Pleasant which satirizes the romantic follies present in the society. Shaw juxtaposes laughter and seriousness, bringing realism to the side of war often blinded by lofty propaganda and “marriage as the mating of a beautiful heroine and a handsome hero in a lifelong romantic dream” (Ward 15). The title of the play is ironic as Shaw corrupts the honour of love and war celebrated by Virgil in his Aeneid (“Of arms and the man I sing”) and corrects it with the realism of its duplicity and savagery. The plot although anti-romantic, makes a conventional and melodramatic approach with an exotic setting, swashbuckling hero and a very romantic heroine with the echoes of battle cries and ‘higher love’. But even this approach by Shaw is very intentional as he subverts the established idea in order to convey a realistic message. The language is hyperbolical, and the dialogues are full of chivalry, romantic imagery and the rhetoric of courtly love making the characters seem silly and indirectly hinting on the puffery of the romantic genre.

            Shaw’s Arms And The Man is a play of ideas and much of the action of the play is in the dialogues between the characters. The antithetical interaction between the characters helps Shaw to develop his realistic argument and the juxtaposition and contrast helps in conveying his message. The idyllic, poetic and romantic world of Raina “is really a glorious world for women who can see its glory and men who can act its romance” (Shaw 1 pg. 13-14). But reality barges at her door in the form of the ‘chocolate cream soldier’ who gives a painful portrayal and “strips war of its spacious decorative colors and shows it for the grim business it is” (Siddiqui and Raza 47). Even when Sergius criticizes Louka for her class, she makes him realize his idealized manners and makes him realize his feelings “whatever clay I’m made of, youre made of the same” (Shaw 2 pg.43). Thus, this conflict of ideas is obliquely a conflict between romanticism and realism.

            A preachy manner employed to create reform will make an entertainment seeking audience disinclined towards drama. Shaw knew this well and tactically used the ‘sugar-coated pill’ to reform the hypocrisy and pretensions of the society. He made use of conventional comic devices as “the jam that … carried the propaganda pill down” (Shaw 107). Even these devices contributed to making the play more realistic with their hidden truths. Comic paradoxes, irony, humour, inversion, witty dialogue, intrigue and physical comedy (of the misplaced coat) all helped to retain the attention and disseminate the reality of life to the audience. G. K. Chesterton kinds the play as built on bathos and not pathos. Shaw exaggerates the pathos and makes an abrupt inversion which creates humour. Therefore, the humour of Shaw is gentle and in turn creates realism.

            Arms And The Man thus exposes the ugly, contradictory and complex side of love and war by realistically portraying everyday activities which “were not simply the temporary injustices or passing follies of his own generation but certain human characteristics which last from generation to generation” (Ward 12). The play satirizes the ideals as being impossible to live up to and the realism helps people to understand the absurdity of acting by false notions of behaviour.

Works Cited

Edman, Timuçin. (2018). Love and War from both Arms and the Man and Major Barbara. International Journal of Contemporary Research and Review. 10.15520/ijcrr/2018/9/01/392.

Romanticism / Idealism vs. Realism Theme Analysis. LitCharts, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/arms-and-the-man/themes/romanticism-idealism-vs-realism. Accessed 28 Jan., 2021.

Shaw, Bernard. Arms And The Man. Introduction by A.C. Ward. Revised ed., Orient Black Swan Private Limited,1953.

Siddiqui, Shahzad Ahmad and Syed Asad Raza. Realism in Arms and the Man: A Comparative Study – Realism and Idealism. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 2, no. 12, 2012, p. 44-49, The Special Issue on Humanities and Behavioral Science, http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_12_Special_Issue_June_2012/7.pdf. Accessed 28 Jan., 2021.