num_pages: 73
description: Raina, a young woman with romantic notions of war and an idealized view of her soldier fiancé, is surprised one night by a Swiss mercenary soldier seeking refuge in her bedchamber. The pragmatic Captain Bluntschli proceeds, in the course of one of Shaw's most delightful comedies, to puncture all of Raina's illusions about love, heroism, and class. Optimistic, farcical, absurd, and teeming with sexual energy, Arms and the Man has Shaw inverting the devices of melodrama to glorious effect.
language: English
title: Arms and the Man
titlecomplete: Arms and the Man
characters: Major Paul Petkoff, Raina Petkoff, Catherine Petkoff, Nicola (Arms and the Man), Captain Bluntschli, Sergius Saranoff, Louka (Arms and the Man)
genres: Literature, Classics, Drama, Plays, Comedy, 19th Century, Fiction, Romance, Humor, Theatre
ratings_count: 10608
places: Bulgaria
publisher: Penguin Classics