Arms and the Man Summary

The play unfolds in Bulgaria in 1885, towards the end of the Serbo-Bulgarian War. Raina Petkoff and her mother Catherine have received news that Raina’s fiancé Sergius led a victorious cavalry charge against Serbian forces. Louka, the household maid, enters to announce that the windows must be locked, as fleeing Serbian troops are being hunted down in the streets. Later that night a Serbian officer climbs the drainpipe outside Raina’s balcony and breaks into her room. Bulgarian soldiers arrive, asking to inspect the room, and Raina, overwhelmed by a moment of compassion, hides the enemy soldier behind her curtains. Louka is the only one who sees through the deception, but she only smirks and leaves in silence.

Once safe, the soldier comes out from hiding and explains he is a Swiss mercenary for the Serbian army. He admits to Raina that he does not carry cartridges for his gun, only chocolates, as these are more practical for a starving soldier. Thinking him childish, Raina offers the soldier some chocolate creams, which he devours hungrily. He explains that the cavalry charge led by Raina’s fiancé Sergius was only successful as a result of dumb luck. Angered, Raina finally demands he leave, yet the Swiss mercenary claims to be too exhausted to move. Feeling pity, Raina agrees to shelter him and runs to find her mother. When the two women return, the chocolate cream soldier, as Raina calls him, has fallen asleep in her bed.

The second act begins with Nicola, an older servant, lecturing his fiancée Louka on appropriate conduct toward their employers. As they speak, Major Petkoff, Raina’s father, returns from the front. He announces that the war has ended with a peace treaty, upsetting his wife Catherine who believes Bulgaria should have annexed Serbia. Shortly afterward, Raina’s fiancé Sergius arrives. The once idealistic man has grown cynical, resigning from the military and complaining about the lack of honor and bravery among professional soldiers. He recounts an anecdote about a fleeing Swiss mercenary escaping into the bedroom of a fascinated Bulgarian woman, alarming Raina and Catherine. Once alone, Raina and Sergius speak of their love for each other in reverential and somewhat ridiculous tones.

As soon as Raina leaves to get her hat, Sergius embraces Louka and complains about how exhausting his relationship with his fiancée is. Louka claims not to understand the hypocrisy of the upper class, saying that both Sergius and Raina pretend to love each other while flirting with other people. Demanding to know whom Raina has been seeing, Sergius grabs Louka and bruises her arm. Louka asks that he kiss it in apology but Sergius refuses just as Raina enters the garden. As the couple prepares to leave for a walk, Catherine calls Sergius to the library to help Major Petkoff arrange some troop movements.

Catherine and Raina discuss the significance of Sergius telling the anecdote about the escaping mercenary. To her mother’s chagrin, Raina expresses a desire for Sergius to learn of her part in the story, wishing to shock his faux propriety. As Raina exits, Louka enters and announces that a Swiss officer is at the door. Captain Bluntschli, the chocolate cream soldier, has come to return the coat that was used to smuggle him out of the house. As Catherine attempts to send him away, Major Petkoff recognizes him from the peace negotiations, greets him warmly, and asks him to help coordinate Bulgarian troop movements. Raina sees him in the hallway and gasps that it is the chocolate cream soldier. Thinking quickly, she explains to her father and fiancée that she made a chocolate cream decoration in the shape of a soldier, but that Nicola has clumsily crushed it.

Later that afternoon, Captain Bluntschli makes short work of the administrative tasks. Major Petkoff wonders about the fate of his old lost coat. At Catherine’s request, Nicola fetches the coat that had previously disappeared, astounding the Major. The Major, Sergius and Catherine leave to implement Bluntschli’s orders, leaving the Captain alone with Raina. Raina begins posturing, complaining how morally wounded she is by having to lie for him. The Captain sees through her act and confronts her; he is the first person to see her pretentious behavior for what it is. Raina admits to behaving theatrically and suspects Bluntschli must despise her. On the contrary, Bluntschli is charmed by her posturing but cannot take it seriously. Suddenly, Bluntschli receives a telegram informing him of his father’s death and his large inheritance.

Raina and Bluntschli exit as Louka and then Sergius enter. Sergius inspects Louka’s arm and offers to kiss her bruise but is rejected. Louka questions his notions of bravery, arguing that anyone may be brave in battle but few are able to stand up to social expectations. She asks Sergius if he would marry someone below his station for love. Sergius claims he would but uses his engagement to Raina as an excuse. Hurt, Louka teases him with the knowledge that Bluntschli is Raina’s true love.

Sergius challenges Bluntschli to a duel. Raina enters and argues with Sergius, announcing that she saw him embracing Louka. Bluntschli explains to Sergius that Raina only let him remain in her room at gunpoint. Somewhat deflated, Sergius withdraws from the duel. When Bluntschli suggests that Louka join the conversation, Sergius leaves to look for her, only to find her eavesdropping in the hallway. Having understood that something is awry, Major Petkoff enters and demands to know who the chocolate cream soldier is. Bluntschli admits that it is he. Raina explains that she is no longer engaged to Sergius, as he loves Louka. Sergius kisses Louka’s hand, committing himself to marry her. Louka’s original fiancé Nicola gracefully bows out. Bluntschli follows Sergius’ lead and asks for Raina’s hand. The Captain’s new inheritance - a successful chain of hotels - persuades Major Petkoff to agree to the marriage. Bluntschli leaves to take care of his father’s estate with promises to return in a fortnight.

The Frogs

ANCIENT GREECE - ARISTOPHANES - THE FROGS Introduction: (Comedy, Greek, 405 BCE, 1,533 lines) “The Frogs” (Gr: “Batrachoi”) is a comedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won first prize at the Lenaia dramatic festival in 405 BCE, and was so successful that it was staged a second time later that same year at the Dionysia festival. It tells the story of the god Dionysus who, despairing of the current state of Athens' tragedians, travels to Hades with his slave Xanthias to bring Euripides back from the dead. Synopsis Dramatis Personae XANTHIAS, servant of Dionysus DIONYSUS HERACLES A CORPSE CHARON AEACUS A MAID SERVANT OF PERSEPHONE HOSTESS, keeper of cook-shop PLATHANE, her partner EURIPIDES AESCHYLUS PLUTO CHORUS OF FROGS CHORUS OF BLESSED MYSTICS The play opens as Dionysus and Xanthias (technically his slave, but clearly smarter, stronger, more rational, more prudent, and braver than Dionysus) argue over what kind of complaints Xanthias can use to open the play comically. Depressed by the state of contemporary Athenian tragedy, Dionysus plans to travel to Hades to bring the great tragedic dramatist Euripides back from the dead. Dressed in a Heracles-style lion-hide and carrying aHeracles-style club, he goes to consult with his half-brother Heracles himself (who had visited Hades when he went to retrieve Cerberus) as to the best way to get there. Bemused at the spectacle of the effeminate Dionysus, Heracles can only suggest the options of hanging himself, drinking poison or jumping off a tower. In the end, Dionysus opts for the longer journey across a lake, the same routeHeracles himself once took. They arrive at the Acheron and the ferryman Charon ferries Dionysus across, although Dionysus is obliged to help with the rowing (Xanthias, being a slave, has to walk around). On the crossing, a Chorus of croaking frogs (the frogs of the play’s title) joins them, and Dionysus chants along with them. He meets up with Xanthias again at the far shore, and almost immediately they are confronted by Aeacus, one of the judges of the dead, who is still angry over Heracles' theft of Cerberus. Mistaking Dionysus for Heracles due to his attire, Aeacus threatens to unleash several monsters on him in revenge, and the cowardly Dionysus quickly trades clothes with Xanthias. A beautiful maid of Persephone then arrives, happy to see Heracles (actually Xanthius), and she invites him to a feast with virgin dancing girls, in which Xanthias is more than happy to oblige.Dionysus, though, now wants to trade back the clothes, but as soon as he changes back into theHeracles lion-skin, he encounters more people angry at Heracles, and quickly forces Xanthias to trade a third time. When Aeacus returns once more, Xanthias suggests that he torture Dionysus to obtain the truth, suggesting several brutal options. The terrified Dionysus immediately reveals the truth that he is a god, and is allowed to proceed after a good whipping. When Dionysus finally finds Euripides (who has only just recently died), he is challenging the greatAeschylus to the seat of “Best Tragic Poet” at the dinner table of Hades, and Dionysus is appointed to judge a contest between them. The two playwrights take turns quoting verses from their plays and making fun of the other. Euripides argues the characters in his plays are better because they are more true to life and logical, whereas Aeschylus believes his idealized characters are better as they are heroic and models for virtue. Aeschylus shows that Euripides' verse is predictable and formulaic, while Euripides counters by setting Aeschylus' iambic tetrameter lyric verse to flute music. Finally, in an attempt to end the stalemated debate, a balance is brought in and the two tragedians are told to put a few of their weightiest lines onto it, to see in whose favour the balance will tip.Aeschylus easily wins, but Dionysus is still unable to decide whom he will revive. He finally decides to take the poet who gives the best advice about how to save the city of Athens.Euripides gives cleverly worded but essentially meaningless answers while Aeschylus provides more practical advice, and Dionysus decides to take Aeschylus back instead of Euripides. Before leaving, Aeschylus proclaims that the recently deceased Sophocles should have his chair at the dinner table while he is gone, not Euripides. Analysis The underlying theme of “The Frogs” is essentially “old ways good, new ways bad”, and that Athens should turn back to men of known integrity who were brought up in the style of noble and wealthy families, a common refrain in Aristophanes’ plays. In terms of politics, “The Frogs” is not usually considered one of Aristophanes’ “peace plays” (several of his earlier plays call for an end to the Peloponnesian War, almost at any cost), and indeed the advice of Aeschylus’ character towards the end of the play lays out a plan to win and not a proposition of capitulation. The parabasis to the play also advises returning the rights of citizenship back to those who had participated in the oligarchic revolution in 411 BCE, arguing they were misled by Phrynichos' tricks (Phrynichos was a leader of the oligarchic revolution, assassinated to general satisfaction in 411 BCE), an idea which was actually later put into effect by the Athenian government. Certain passages in the play also seem to stir memories of the returned Athenian general Alcibiades after his earlier defection. However, despite Aristophanes’ concerns for the delicate state of Athenian politics at that time (which do surface from time to time), the play is not strongly political in nature, and its main theme is essentially literary, namely the poor state of contemporary tragedic drama in Athens. Aristophanes began composing “The Frogs” not long after Euripides' death, around 406 BCE, at which time Sophocles was still alive, which is probably the main reason why Sophocles was not involved in the competition of poets which comprises the agon or main debate of the play. As it happens, however, Sophocles also died during that year, and that may have forced Aristophanes to revise and adjust some details of the play (which was probably already in the late stages of development), and this may well account for the mention of Sophocles late in the surviving version of the work. Aristophanes does not scruple to attack and mock Dionysus, the guardian god of his own art and in honour of whom the play itself was exhibited, secure in the belief that the gods understood fun as well, if not better, than men. Thus, Dionysus is portrayed as a cowardly, effeminate dilettante, farcically dressed up in a hero’s lion-skin and club, and reduced to rowing himself over the lake to Hades. His half-brother, the hero Heracles, is likewise treated somewhat irreverently, depicted as a boorish brute. Xanthias, Dionysus’ slave, is depicted as smarter and more reasonable than either of them.