16. (i) : Earlier in the play Raina had doubted whether Sergius could, on the field of battle, actually live up to the wonderful image of a soldier he presented - as when she "buckled on Sergius' sword he looked so noble". She shares this doubt with her mother, Catherine. She wondered "whether all his qualities and soldiership might not prove mere imagination when he went into a real battle." She "had an uneasy fear that he might cut a poor figure" in comparison with the Russian officers who led the Bulgarian army.
(ii) : She now calls him her "hero" and "king" because he had indeed proved that he was as good if not better than the wonderful figure he presented. He had courageously taken matters into his own hands, throwing the caution of his Russian superiors to the wind, and made a daring charge with his cavalry regiment against enemy cannon positions and had made the impossible possible and had gained victory over the Serbs at the battle of Slivnitza. In so doing he had proved himself even better than all the Russian army commanders.
(iii) : Raina rather than comparing herself contrasts herself with Sergius in this extract. While Sergius has been "active", she has been "inactive", "dreaming", "useless" doing nothing". She means to say that Sergius had done deeds which proved himself, while she had nothing to prove to him what qualities she had. in envying him, she states that she would have hoped to have had an opportunity where here true nature could be proved to him.
(iv) : Sergius praises and admires Raina by giving her the credit for being his inspiration in doing what he had done (his valiant action in the battle at Slivnitza - leading the Bulgarians to victory over the Serbs). He states that he has done all that he did for her sake - to win her over - like a knight competing in a tournament with other contestants proving and winning over the admiration of his lady love. He says that she has always been in his mind as his inspiration. He says that she is not only his lady but she is his 'Saint' - the one passing on her blessings to him and ensuring his good fortune.
(v) : The irony in the statement is that Raina did forget her love and affection for Sergius or at least acted if he and his concerns did not affect her, and that she was engaged to be married to him when she entertained and protected the very enemy Sergius risked his life to defeat.
(vi) : Shaw has satirised "higher love" in the plays being an artificial kind of love based on the romance stories of the middle ages - stories which romanticized love and whose behaviour became the codes for love acted out in courtship. Shortly after this scene, however, Sergius admits that the acting of this higher love is a "very fatiguing thing to keep up for any length of time' and he notes that after the stress of the pretense "one feels the need of some relief after it". Shaw, speaking through the down to earth Louka notes "I know the difference between the sort of manner you and she put on before one another ad the real manner."
(ii) : She now calls him her "hero" and "king" because he had indeed proved that he was as good if not better than the wonderful figure he presented. He had courageously taken matters into his own hands, throwing the caution of his Russian superiors to the wind, and made a daring charge with his cavalry regiment against enemy cannon positions and had made the impossible possible and had gained victory over the Serbs at the battle of Slivnitza. In so doing he had proved himself even better than all the Russian army commanders.
(iii) : Raina rather than comparing herself contrasts herself with Sergius in this extract. While Sergius has been "active", she has been "inactive", "dreaming", "useless" doing nothing". She means to say that Sergius had done deeds which proved himself, while she had nothing to prove to him what qualities she had. in envying him, she states that she would have hoped to have had an opportunity where here true nature could be proved to him.
(iv) : Sergius praises and admires Raina by giving her the credit for being his inspiration in doing what he had done (his valiant action in the battle at Slivnitza - leading the Bulgarians to victory over the Serbs). He states that he has done all that he did for her sake - to win her over - like a knight competing in a tournament with other contestants proving and winning over the admiration of his lady love. He says that she has always been in his mind as his inspiration. He says that she is not only his lady but she is his 'Saint' - the one passing on her blessings to him and ensuring his good fortune.
(v) : The irony in the statement is that Raina did forget her love and affection for Sergius or at least acted if he and his concerns did not affect her, and that she was engaged to be married to him when she entertained and protected the very enemy Sergius risked his life to defeat.
(vi) : Shaw has satirised "higher love" in the plays being an artificial kind of love based on the romance stories of the middle ages - stories which romanticized love and whose behaviour became the codes for love acted out in courtship. Shortly after this scene, however, Sergius admits that the acting of this higher love is a "very fatiguing thing to keep up for any length of time' and he notes that after the stress of the pretense "one feels the need of some relief after it". Shaw, speaking through the down to earth Louka notes "I know the difference between the sort of manner you and she put on before one another ad the real manner."
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