BRO MIRANDA SIGNING OUT FROM ARMS & THE MAN NOTES

Dear students, especially from Goethals Memorial School, Kurseong.

I hope you have found the notes I have put up on this blog for "Aras and The Man" helpful.

Over the last two months, I have completing the answers to the reference to context questions from the workbook for Acts 1 and 2. I leave the rest to your present teachers.

The purpose of me writing these answers was to help you to express yourself - I hoe you found it useful.

God bless and all the best.

You will always have a special place in my heart.

Bro Miranda

ACT 2 WK BK NO 10 PGS 133 TO 135

ACT 2 WK BK NO 10 PGS 133 TO 135

(i)                  Catherine tells Sergius that everyone is mad about him because Sergius was the hero of the battle at Slivnitza, having led his country too victory over their enemies – the Serbians. In that battle Sergius had personally led the charge and shown the mettle of Bulgarian soldiers by defying their Russian officers.

(ii)                Sergius had seen that the Bulgarians at Slivntza seemed to be no challenge to the Serbians, as the Bulgarians had cavalry regiments while the Serbians had artillery regiments ranged against them. Seeing the unequal status, the Russian officers had held back the Bulgarian forces. Sergius, however, took matters into his own hands and defying the Russian officers personally led his regiment into an attack against the Serbian artillery positions. The tactic seemed to have paid off as the Bulgarian cavalry regiment defeated the Serbian artillery regiment. The Serbian artillery regiment was not able to fire even a single shot at the cavalry regiment. The Bulgarian cavalry regiment had routed the Serbian regiment and sent them fleeing. The victory of the Bulgarians in that battle brought the Serbians to negotiating table.

(iii)               By saying that “it was the cradle and grave of my military reputation”, Sergius means that his role in the Bulgarian victory at Slivnitza brought him fame for having brought his country to victory, but since he had won the battle in an unconventional manner, his fellow soldiers far from thinking him great thought he was unfit as an officer and thus he was not rewarded with promotion in rank.

(iv)              Sergius says that he won the battle the wrong way because strategy in war means ensuring that before taking on the enemy one’s forces have a reasonable chance of victory. In the battle at Slivnitza, Sergius action seemed suicidal as normally a cavalry regiment would have been blown into pieces long before they even reached the artillery regiment lines. Thus it seemed that Sergius had taken a wrong military decision even though his action won h battle.

(v)                We have only Catherine’s and Raina’s accounts of Sergius earlier in the play. In those accounts, it seems that Sergius had an heroic and romantic view of war and battle, very similar to the sentiments expressed by Catherine. Such views would include that fighting and putting one’s life on the line for one’s country was the patriotic thing to do.

       However, here, it seems that Sergius’ romantic view of soldership and battle have been dashed and that he is disillusioned about army life. In his opinion people are promoted in the army because of favouritism – e.g. colonels who lost their battles being promoted and he having won a battle not being promoted.

(vi)              This extract highlights the theme of idealisation of war particularly from the expressed opinions of Catherine especially in her praise of Sergius in the opening lines of the quotation.

       However, the reality and disillusionment is expressed by Sergius.

ACT 2 WK BK NO 8 PGS 129 TO 131

ACT 2 WK BK NO 8 PGS 129 TO 131

(i)                  Catherine calls Paul “a barbarian at heart” because Paul was telling Catherine that he didn’t believe in washing too much. He had blamed her sore throats for her washing her neck too much. For himself, Paul said he didn’t mind washing once a week “to keep up my position” but he thought that washing daily was taking washing too “a ridiculous extreme”. Thus, Paul’s lack of faith in more frequent washing makes Catherine make that statement.

(ii)                Major Petkoff had tried to impress the Russian officers my mentioning to them that that his house had a library. We have heard from Raina that their’s was the only household in Bulgaria to have a library.

         This tells us that Paul Petkoff is boastful and tries to show others that he is in the same league of better than them.

(iii)               The reason Catherine gives for installing an electric bell into the house is that truly “civilised” people do not shout to call their servants. By “civilised”, Catherine refers to people in their strata in society. To Catherine and Paul holding one’s social position is important – thus the reason for the conversation.

(iv)              Paul tells Catherine that civilised people do not hang out the washed for clothes drying in the full view of everyone as Catherine has had allowed for them to be hung on the bushes in the garden.

(v)                The Petkoff’s do belong to the upper strata of Bulgarian society, but Shaw is poking fun at the upper classes of society by showing that their airs are just pretentions and put ons. Thus they are ordinary people who would like to better their position in society by being more socially conscientious of their behaviour in society. We know this from the examples they have given. Paul only washes because he wants to keep up his social position and not because of true concern for his personal hygiene. Catherine only has a bell to impress others about her sophistication – she does not care for the way in which such a behaviour demeans the person called.

ACT 2 WK BK NO 6 PGS 125 TO 126,

ACT 2 WK BK NO 6 PGS 125 TO 126,

(i)                  Catherine wants the Bulgarian army and its allies the Russians to Annex Serbia. However, we know that she has no love lost for the Russians and wants to see the dominance of her own country over the Balkans.

         She wants her country to annex Serbia as she is deeply patriotic and wants Bulgaria to dominate the Balkans – the symbol of this dominance and the rise of Bulgarian power would be the declaration of Prince Alexander of Bulgaria, Emperor of the Balkans.

         Catherine’s strong and passionate patriotism is seen from this statement.

(ii)                By saying “I don’t doubt it in the least”, Paul emphasises that if the roles were reserved between him and his wife, she would have pushed for the Bulgarian army to carry forward the momentum of their victory in Slivnitza. Paul emphasises his faith in Catherine’s patriotism.

(iii)               The reason Paul Petkoff gives for not annexing Serbia is that military action would have required that the Bulgarians would have to fight not only the Serbians but their allies the Austrians who had dominance over the Balkans – having created an Austrian Empire and such military action would have taken a very long time, even if the Bulgarians could have managed it, and have kept him far too long away from Catherine whom he loved and missed. Thus Paul’s reason was both correct and just as the Bulgarian’s present advantage might easily be reversed when they would take on a stronger enemy.

(iv)              Major Paul Petkoff has been kept away from his wife whom he says he has missed greatly by the war the Bulgarians were waging against the Serbians.

(v)                This extract tells us that while Catherine and Paul have a very caring and loving relationship, the two of them are very different personalities. Catherine is the stronger personality and Paul knows that he would do well do placate his wife and side track any confrontation.

ACT 2 WK BK NO 5 PGS 123 TO 125

ACT 2 WK BK NO 5 PGS 123 TO 125

(i)                  Catherine is talking about the surprise of seeing her husband Paul who is a major in the Bulgarian army back home from the war. She is both surprised that he has returned home so soon after the war ended and that he is home so early in the day – she has had to shorten her morning toilet and rush oout to meet him.

(ii)                That Catherine asks whether her husband has been served some fresh coffee tells us that she is a caring wife – as we have been told before in the play – her “house keeping iinstincts” are very strong.

(iii)               The war Major Petkoff is talking about is the recent war the Bulgarians have been fighting against the Serbians, which ended with the Serbians being defeated at the Battle at Slivnitza. Major Petkoff was fighting on the Bulgarian side and he was the Bulgarian with the highest rank in the army – the higher officers being Russians as the officers on the Serbian side were Austrian.

(iv)              The treaty being referred to was the treaty signed by the Bulgarians and Serbians through their officers the Russians and Austrians respectively at Bucharest, following the defeat of the Serbian army at Sivnitza. The treaty had been signed three days previous to Paul sharing the information with Catherine.

      According to Paul Petkoff the war between the two countries was thus over and a decree fot the Bulgarian army to demobilise had been issues.

       Under pressure from his wife, Paul states that the treaty was an honourable one and that while the treaty declared “peace” it did not mean that the two countries would have “friendly relations”.

(v)                Instead of signing a peace treaty Catherine would have hoped that following on their victory, the Bulgarians had capitalised on their advantage and annexed Serbia and made Prince Alexander of Bulgaria, Emperor of the Balkans.

         This tells us that Catherine is a strong and passionate personality. She is strongly patriotic. She does not give up her enmity easily. 

ACT 2 WK BK NO 4 PGS 121 TO 123

ACT 2 WK BK NO 4 PGS 121 TO 123

(i)                  The secret that Nicola is talking about is the fact that Raina had hidden a Serbian soldier in her room to protect him from the Bulgarian soldiers who were searching for him. Raina’s mother, Catherine, was a part of the conspiracy as she had assisted her daughter in disguising the soldier in the coat of the master of the house, so that he would not be detected when he was sent off the following morning.

(ii)                Nicola had been advising Louka t be respectful to the members of the household for whom they worked. He was explaining to her that as they worked in positions of trust in the house, they were sure to privy to secrets f the family. They were expected as faithful servants to keep the confidences of the household. Both Louka and Nicola needed the positions they had in the Petkoff household and thus he advised Louka she was expected to keep secrets confidential and to be depended upon.

(iii)               Louka tells Nicola that he has the “soul of a servant” because she believes that being a servant is only a job and she is an equal as a human being to any other person, even the persons she worked for and she wanted to be treated as such. She was not willing to humble herself in a manner which would take away her dignity as a human being. Nicola on the other hand, believed that he could in no way change the ways things were. He believed that it was unrealistic that they would be allowed to rise above their social class.

         Louka is partly correct in her assessment of Nicola, because he wants her to be respectful to Raina and Catherine, just as he is. He will accept, as we shall see later in the play being accused wrongly, but he will never let down the people he works for.

(iv)              According to Nicola, the secret of success in service is to so prove that one is good and dependable servant that the person one works for has absolute in the servant – the servant can then expect advantages of that relationship – as he hopes to have – he wants open a shop in Sofia and he would like that venture to be a success by having the Petkoffs and all the people of their class, whom the Petkoff will direct to him, as his customers.

(v)                Both Nicola and Louka makes the “most out of” the higher classes in the play. In the end Louka marries Sergius. Nicola, however, gains the favour of Bluntschli who notes that he is “the ablest man” he’s met in Bulgaria and that he would be willing to make him the manager of one of his six hotels. Thus, both Louka dn Nicola get what they want – Louka rises in social class and Nicola gets a position in which he could earn a lot more money. Both are appreciated for who they are.

ACT 2 WK BK NO 3 PGS 119 TO 121

ACT 2 WK BK NO 3 PGS 119 TO 121

(i)                  Nicola has just remarked that Louka was “young” – he was emphasising her inexperience, but Louka reminds him that he finds her youthfulness attractive.

(ii)                One example of the secrets Luka knows is that Raina had hidden a fugitive Serbian soldier from a Russian officer and the soldiers of the Bulgarian army when they had come to search the house. She also knows that Raina is in love with that man.

(iii)               Louka thinks that the family dare not offend her because she would then threaten them about revealing the unpatriotic behaviour of Raina and her mother in giving refuge to an enemy soldier and hiding him from the Bulgarian army officer and soldiers. She believes that she can blackmail them into keeping her because they would not allow this secret to be let out as they would be seen as traitors to the nation.

(iv)              According to Nicola, far from being afraid of Louka, the family would say that she was a liar and dismiss her from service. Because of the status of the family everyone would believe the family and no one would believe Louka and she would never be employed again and her poor father would lose his land due to their destitution.

(v)                The impact of Louka’s dismissal from the Petkoff household would be that she would not be able to secure another job and thus she would not have any income and she would not be able to support her father who would then have to sell his property in order to care for themselves. In other words Louka dn her family would be reduced to destitution.

(vi)              The extract points out the theme of social discrimination because Nicola ends off his speech to Louka with the line “you don’t know the power such high people have over the like of you and me when we try to rise out of our poverty against them.” In this statement Nicola states that when a poor person tries to flaunt his or her social equality, the higher classes use all their power to suppress them. Thus if Louka tried to expose the unpatriotic behaviour of Raina and Catherine, it would be used against Louka and she would be driven to destitution with her family. The others in the Petkoff social class would close ranks and support their own and ensure that the lower classes do not come up.

ACT 2 WK BK NO 2 PGS 118 TO 119

ACT 2 WK BK NO 2 PGS 118 TO 119

(i)                  Nicola is talking about the family of the Petkoffs in whose house he is a servant.

Nicola wants to be dependent on the goodwill of the family because he hopes that by faithful service he will be able to save enough money to set up his own shop in Sofia. If through his faithfulness he has the goodwill of the family, they will encourage and bless him in this endeavour. Further, they will be customers at his shop and since they are a rich and respected family in Bulgaria, they will have many influential and rich friends to whom they will recommend the shop and thus Nicola would have good clients and his venture would be successful.

(ii)                Nicola hopes to get the money for the shop from his savings as a servant in the Petkoff home. He will probably hope that the Petkoff family would assist him if necessary.

Nicola intends to be a faithful servant and win the appreciation and good will of the Petkoff family in order to remain in service and so get money from his job and also the probably help from the Petkoff family who would b indebted to him for so faithfully serving them for the years.

(iii)               Louka tells Nicola that he has no spirit meaning that he does not have the human pride to stand up independently. She accuses him of having the spirit of a servant.

Later she tells Nicola that he will never put the spirit of a servant into her. She wishes to emphasise that she has an independent and free spirit.

(iv)              When Nicola repeats the word “young” in reference to Louka he means to emphasise that she is inexperienced and has far-fetched dreams of greatness which through experience she will learn can only remain dreams.

(v)                This extract tells us that Nicola s a practical, down to earth man. He is ambitious but with an ambition which is based on practical good sense. He is also the traditional faithful servant who does ot only give of his service but also does his work with heart.

Louka on the other hand is a modern girl. Her spirit will not let her limit her ambition to what her class in society have been used to. She drams big beyond her class in society. She demands that everyone treat her with the deference which needs to be given to every human being because they are human beings. She resents the attitude of the higher classes when they think they are superior human beings to those of the lower classes.

ACT 2 WK BK NO 1 PGS 116 TO 118

ACT 2 WK BK NO 1 PGS 116 TO 118

(i)                  Nicola warns Louka about the way she behaves with her mistresses : Catherine and her daughter Raina. Nicola feels that Louka is disrespectful to them. We had been told in the introduction to Louka in Act 1 that she is “so defiant that her servility to Raina is almost insolent. She is afraid of Catherine, but even with her goes as far as she dares”. Nicola as the senior servant has seen this and is warning her of such behaviour.

(ii)                Louka is insolent to Raina. For example when Raia had told her in Act 1 that they must obey Catherine and leave the windows closed, when Louka shows her how to keep the window opened, Louka makes a “grimace” at Raina and goes out swaggering showing her disrespect to her. In showing Raina how to keep to keep the window opened she was actually encouraging Raina to be disobedient to her mother.

(iii)               The “mistress” Nicola is talking about in this extract is the mistress of the house – Catherine Petkoff, the wife of Paul Petkoff and the mother of Raina.

       Nicola says that Catherine is very “grand”, that means large hearted and trusting and is not a person who is suspicious of her servants. But Catherine is very decisive if she suspects that any servants is defying her and will immediately dismiss such a servant.

(iv)              According to Nicola, if Catherine would suspect that Louka was defying her she would immediately dismiss her.

(v)                Louka says that she will continue to defy her mistress because she says that she does not “care for her”. Even though Louka is a servant Shaw has portrayed her as a more modern working class girl for whom class has no meaning. She believes in her own self worth – what the then upper classes might term “proud” and “defiant”. Louka will continue to act in ways which emphasise her equality with especially Raina.

This tells us that some people might think of Louka as proud and defiant, but others might consider her as a strong modern girl challenging the traditional hierarchical structure.

(vi)               Nicola is a man who lives by the traditional conventions of society. He is a servant and he plans on being a trustworthy and faithful servant. He believes that his master and mistress are above his stature in society and he accepts it as such without any resentment.

         Louka, on the other hand, does not accept the conventional norms of society. She strongly believes that she is only doing a job and that job does not make her less of a person than the people for whom she works. She is thus a modern girl.

ACT 1 WK BK NO 30 PGS 102 TO 104

ACT 1 WK BK NO 30 PGS 102 TO 104

(i)                  : ‘The Man’ says that he would not trust his father to accept to give an enemy soldier refuge in his home against the soldiers of his own country and against his own people.

The irony of the statement about his father is that it will be the inheritance he receives from his father which would give him the wealth which will convince the parents of Raina to permit her to marry him – she now (in Act 1) being ‘The Man’’s (who is Swiss) enemy, as they are on opposing sides of the present war.

(ii)                : Raina’s father has gone to Slivnitza because in the war the Bulgarians are having with the Serbs, the latest battle is being fought at Slivnitza and as Raina’s father Paul Petkoff is a Major in the Bulgarian army he is there – at Slivnitza

Raina’s father Paul Petkoff would not approve of his daughter giving refuge to an enemy soldier. We know this when in Act 3, Paul Petkoff realises that it is his daughter and wife who gave refuge to enemy soldier, we are told that he “confronts Raina severely and says to her sarcastically “You’re a nice young woman aren’t you ?”

(iii)               : Raina takes the pledge to ensure the safety of the man whom she has just agreed to give refuge to.

Raina offers her hand to “the Man’ as a sign that her pledge has been sealed and that she can be trusted to fulfil her pledge of offering him security and safety.

(iv)              : The Man tells Raina not to touch his hands because his hands are dirty. We were told when he was described when he entered Raina’s room that his clothes were bespattered with mud and so we can expect that his hands were dirty and not fir for him to shake a lady’s hand with.

       This tells us that ‘The Man’ is chivalrous and considerate and would like in some way to respond to the kindness that Raina has shown him. It even shows that he trusts Raina to keep t her pledge even though they might not have shaken hands to seal their agreement.

(v)                : Raina calls him a gentleman because she is surprised by his act of consideration in not taking her hand as his hands were not clean – that action of his showed ‘The Man’s’ consideration of Raina’s position and this impressed her.

(vi)              ‘The Man’ proves to be a true gentlemen in the play because later in Act 2 when he comes to return the coat we see that he is well washed and cleaned. We also learn that he has made fast friends with Sergius and Paul and is thus as much of a gentleman as any of them. In addition in Act 1 itself, just before this quotation, he had asked Raina to inform her mother about his presence in her room – if the man were not a gentleman he would not have required Raina to inform her mother of his presence.

ACT 1 WK BK NO 29 PGS 100 TO 102

ACT 1 WK BK NO 29 PGS 100 TO 102

(i)                  : Raina has seen the scene she refers to when she saw the opera of Ernani which she had either seen at Bucharest where she mentions she used to spend a month during the opera season. But she also mentions Vienna – so she might have seen the opera in that city.

        Raina tells ‘The Man’ about her seeing this scene and that she used to frequent Bucharest and Vienna each year, to impress upon ‘The Man’ that she and her mother and her family were more cultured than the rest of the Bulgarian population. She wants to impress upon ‘The Man’ that she is not the type of person like the ordinary blood thirsty Bulagrians who would kill him when they saw his Serbian uniform.

(ii ) : According to Raina, Ernani was trying to escape from his enemies like ‘The Man’ was doing. Ernani had sought refuge in the castle of his bitterest enemy a Castilian noble. Even though Ernani and the Castilian nobleman were the bitterest of enemies the old Castilian nobleman gave Ernani refuge and safety because it didn’t matter to the old Castilian nobleman who asked him refuge, once someone came for refuge to his home, the person whoseoever it might be would be give protection and safety. Thus Raina is comparing ‘The Man’ to Ernani and the old Castilian nobleman to herself.

(iii)               : The notion that ‘The Man’ is talking about is the notion acted out by the old Castilian nobleman in the opera of Ernani. The notion that one is expected to welcome anyone in need and especially one who is danger of losing one’s life. The noble notion is that the person who gives refuge guarantees the person’s safety.

         Raina has this notion. Her mother, Catherine, goes along with Raina, though I would think, less willingly and they disguise ‘The Man’ hiding his Serbian uniform under the coat of the master of the house and so ensuring ‘The Man’s’ safety from those who might want to kill him.

(iv)              : Raina suggests to ‘The Man’ that rather threatening her with his pistol, he had only to beg for their hospitality and her mother and herself would have given it to him. She says that he would have been as safe as if he had been in his own father’s house.

(v)                : I believe that Raina saves the man more because she is attracted to him rather than because of her hospitality because ‘The Man’, who is a very perceptive person told the story of his escape to Sergius and Paul and in Sergius account of the story he had mentioned that the two women who had given him refuge were both “enchanted” by ‘The Man’. But Raina has been so educated in Romantic ways that she probably feels some obligation to save this soldier who is in such “deplorable plight”

(vi)              Later ‘The Man’ informs Raina and her parents that he is so rich that they comare his circumstances to that of a King – they humourously refer to him as the “king of Switzerland”. He also tells them that he has the rank of an officer and the “standing of a gentleman”, besides having won four medals for outstanding service.

ACT 1 WK BK NO 28 PGS 98 TO 100

ACT 1 WK BK NO 28 PGS 98 TO 100

(i)                  : In the extract Raina brags about the fact that her house that has two sets of windows, meaning they have a ground floor and a first floor. She also boasts that this house the stairs leading to the first floor from within the house. She also informs ‘The Man’ that the house boasts of a family library – the only home in Bulgaria which has such.

(ii)                ‘The Man’ says that Raina and the household live in great luxury because their hoe has a staircase within the home to go from the ground floor to the first floor.

The Man might be sincere in his awe at the grandeur of the house. But I feel that he just says it rather sarcastically and to make Raina feel good about herself and her home. He would not like to offend her anymore and risk being thrown out of the house.

(iii)               The library is not really a library – room full of books because in the introduction to Act 3, Shaw himself notes that that “It is not much of a library” , he notes that there is only one fixed shelf of old paper backed novels and a  couple of little hanging shelves with a few gift books on them. It’s more like a drawing room than a library.

(iv)              Earlier Riana’s mother, Catherine, had boasted about being part of the heroic Bulgarian nation. In Act 2, she will tell her husband, Paul that she has installed an electric bell in the library to call Nicola up as “civilised” people do not shout to call their servants.

(v)                An opera is a dramatic performance done to song and music. Raina is talking about the romantic operas her mother and herself would see during their visits to Vienna. She is particularly talking about the Opera of “Ernani”.

Taking inspiration from this opera, raina, in imitation of the scene where Ernani fleeing from his foes takes refuge in the castle of his bitterest enemy, an old Castilian noble. The noble refuses to give Ernani up because his guest is sacred to him. In the same way, Raina gives refuge to ‘The Man’ who is a soldier of the enemy Serbs and does not give him up to the Russian officer, Bulgarian soldiers and the Bulgarian mob, but rather hides him in her room because she too believes that the person who seeks refuge is to be given this and protected.

(vi)              : The scene highlights the theme of social snobbery because Raina emphasises that she does not belong to the group of “ignorant country folk” who would kill him for being an enemy soldier. She stresses that she is civilised and thus better than such poorer people. This shows her snobbery and snobbery  of that class which think that they are better human beings than others just because they have better opportunities.

ACT 1 WK BK NO 27 PGS 95 TO 97

ACT 1 WK BK NO 27 PG 95 TO 97

(i)                  : In this extract, Raina tells ‘The Man’ her family name : they are the Petkoff’s. She adds that her family are the richest and the best known family in Bulgaria. She also informs him at the end of the quote that her father is a Major in the Bulgarian army  - the highest position given too any Bulgarian in their national army.

It suggests that Raina is proud of who she is and to which family she belongs to. It also shows that Raina is using her family name and status to try and impress upon the stranger that she is someone extraordinary.

(ii)                : Raina says that ‘The Man’ is pretending to know the Petkoff’s because when she mentioned the name – he was taken completely by surprise and had said (before this quotation) ; “A pet what?” – showing that as he was a foreigner he did not know the name and fame of the family to which she belonged.

(iii)               ‘The Man’ asks forgiveness from Raina because he did not want to hurt her feelings – she had just decided to save him for the second time and he did not want to annoy her as he had done previously when he had spoken negatively of Sergius. In saying “A et what?” he had even unwittingly, made a joke about her family name. He thus asks forgiveness.

(iv)              According to Raina, if she scolded ‘The Man’ he would cry. ‘The Man’ and Raina had had a similar conversation before and the man had told Raina that he was easily moved to tears, telling her that his regiment used to make fun of him.

This tells us that man in spite of being a soldier is a very sensitive person. It may also mean that he is pretending to be so in order to gain the sympathy of Raina – in which case he is very clever and knows how to win a lady’s heart.

(v)                : Her father : Paul Petkoff has achieved his position of Major in the Bulgarian army because he is the head of the richest and most famous family in the country and not for his skills as a soldier. Later in Act 2 in the introduction given to him by Bernard Shaw it is mentioned he is greatly pleased with the military rank “which the war has thrust upon him as a man of consequence in the town”. This means that probably in the recent war with the Serbs he was raised to that military rank because he was a respected Bulgarian citizen. The higher military ranks were given to Russian officers who apparently knew more about soldering.

(vi)              From what we know of ‘The Man’ up to this part of the play, the man is a poor soldier fleeing for his life from his enemy soldier, he is trapped in enemy territory and needs to fear the blood thirsty mobs who hate him. Thus he he is in a desperate predicament as Shaw pointed out to us when he introduced ‘The Man’ when he entered Raina’s room. Later however, we find that he is a person of great wealth and Paul Petkoff is keen that his daughter is given to a person of such outstanding wealth. However, at this moment of the play, the Petkoff’s are incomparably in a more fortuitous position than ‘The Man’.

When Raina decides to marry Bluntschli, she clearly states that she fell in love with her chocolate cream soldier and not with the “Emperor of Switzerland”. In addition when it comes to practical matters of organisation and military matters Shaw shows Bluntschli to be an extremely able man even when Sergius and Paul have no idea of his wealth. That Shaw shows that ability and social status have no connection.

ACT 1 WK BK NO 26 PGS 93 TO 95

ACT 1 WK BK NO 26 PGS 93 TO 95

(i)                  : ‘The Man’ says that he must do something because Raina “at her wits end” has asked what she is to do with him. ‘The Man’ has been in her room and she faces the possibility that his presence will be discovered and that she will be taken for a traitor. Thus she wants him to get on his way.

What ‘The Man’ intends to do is not certain – apparently he needs to get out through the window in Raina’s room and get down the pipe outside the house and be off to wherever he was trying to escape to. But we also know that he realises that he has found a sympathetic person in Raina and may be pretending to leave – he might expect that like the previous time she will save him again.

(ii)                : In order to rouse himself from the sleep and exhausted state he shakes himself and pulls himself together – meaning straightens his clothes and stands more upright and tries and get more energy into his voice. This is to give the impression or to try and get into the physical and mental state to do something rather than give into his sleep and fear.

(iii)               Just earlier before this passage when Raina had demanded that he leave the safety of her room because she had spoken badly about her fiancé, ‘The Man’ had said that heights made him “giddy”; he had said that he was “beaten” and he had asked Raina to give the alarm – that is, tell those searching for him about his presence, saying that he gave up trying to save himself.

(iv)              ‘The Man’ called himself a “chocolate cream soldier” because Raina had just given him that name saying that he was “a very poor soldier : a chocolate cream soldier”. He repeats her words both to prove that he is not such a disappointment as a soldier. He also says that to elicit her compassion for him with the view of her changing her mind and continuing to give him refuge.

(v)                Raina had expressed her fear that because of his sleepiness and giddiness because of his fear of heights, ‘The Man’ might fall off the pipe onto the stones below the house and hurt himself. ‘The Man’ tries to prove a brave face to the possible danger of that happening by saying that if he should fall he would sleep using the stones as his pillow as he was so sleepy.

(vi)              Raina seizes and pulls ‘The Man’ inside because as ‘The Man’ was attempting to open the shutters of the window to leave, there was a terrible burst of gun fire in the street below – which signalled that the pursuing Bulgarian soldiers and the blood thirsty mob was very close and that there was a far greater possibility of ‘The Man’ being captured if her were to leave at that moment of time. The imminent danger in which ’The Man’ was in makes Raina pull him back inside.

This action reveals that Raina is a very compassionate person. It also reveals that most probably Raina never had any intention of sending ‘The Man’ away as she had already taken more than a fancy to him. Thus she could also be seen as very courageous and grasping the opportunities of life when they presented themselves, especially the significant opportunity of not losing a person whom she loves.

WK BK ACT 1 NO 25 PG 81 TO 93

Act 1 No 25

(i)                  : ‘The Man’ was disheartened because he has been told by Raina that he has to leave the refuge of her room. ‘The Man’ has explained to Raina that he had got the courage to climb up the pipe to her room in fear but that he cannot go down as heights make him “giddy” ! He prefers that that Raina give out the word that he is in her room – he seems to be more willing to give up than try and escape for his life again.

Raina tells him not be to be disheartened as she is trying to raise his spirits and get him out of her room. She tries to reason with him that going down a pipe is easier than climbing up it. She tries to appeal is self-respect as a soldier.

(ii)                : Raina calls ‘The Man’ “a very poor soldier” as he once again has revealed that he is afraid. The previous time he had told her that he was afraid of dying, but this time he has told her that he is afraid of heights. Raina finds such sentiments in a soldier as pathetic.

Raina calls him a “chocolate cream soldier”, referring to his love for a previous conversation with him in which he revealed his love for chocolates and told her that he took chocolates into war rather than ammunition. He had also wolfed down her three last chocolate creams.

(iii)               : ‘The Man’ if he were to leave the safety of Raina’s room would face capture by the pursuing Bulgarian soldiers and the bold thirsty Bulgarian mob, seeking to kill the fleeing Serbian soldiers in the aftermath of the Bulgarian victory over the Serbs in the battle at Slivnitza.

Raina feels that it takes less courage to climb down a pipe than to face capture as climbing down the pipe would give ‘The Man’ some opportunity to flee from his pursuers but if his pursuers were informed that he was holed up in her room, he would have to defend his life in that confined space and he had said before, he had practically no chance of coming out of that encounter alive.

(iv)              : The Man says that he prefers capture than climbing down the pipe as he says that heights make him “giddy” – that he afraid of heights ! He seems to prefer keeping his mind and defending himself against possible capture.

It suggests that the man has a phobia for heights which would hardly expect in a soldier as soldiers need to be prepared to face the enemy and cover all sorts of terrain in the pursuit of their duties. Thus, this statement makes the man an even more pathetic soldier.

(v)                : The change in the man’s attitude has probably come about because of his extreme fatigue. Slightly later we will be told by him that he has not slept for forty eight hours and so his fatigue and his need for sleep probably prevails on him. However, we need to remember that for all his fatigue ‘The Man’ is playing on Raina’s sympathy for him and hoping to get her to change her mind about sending him away.

(vi)              : When ‘The Man’ drops his head on his hands in the sign of deepest dejection – meaning he seems to have totally given up; his spirit are at the lowest possible point – this sorry sight of this desperate soldier brings out the maternal instinct in Raina.

No, Raina does not have the same instincts for Sergius. Sergius, thus far, has shown himself a hero, bravely challenging his enemy even when the odds are stacked heavily against him. Sergius, thus does not evoke feelings of pity in Raina, but feelings off awe.

WK BK PGS 62 TO 64

9 (i) : The "idea" the Man is talking about is the idea as to how to ensure that made so scared that she will not reveal his position to either the people in the house or to the Bulgarian people and soldiers who are after the Serb fugitives. He decides that the best idea is not to threaten Raina with being killed but by working on her sense of modesty that she will not wish to see strange and bloodthirsty men see her in her "undress" in only her night gown - he realises that Raina is most vulnerable in this way.
         He calls the idea "good" because Raina may be patriotic enough to risk being shot and killed but she would surely fear seeing drunken and bloodthirsty men in the vulnerable position of being dressed only in her night gown.

(ii) : The man considers the cloak a better weapon than the revolver because Raina would surely feel more vulnerable in her being not suitably dressed to have strange, drunken and bloodthirsty men enter her room. It would probably work more effectively on Raina from keeping her from revealing his presence in her room.
         Just after he makes this decision 'The Man' reveals that anyhow his revolver had no bullets so in reality it was no deterrent. Later Louka enters and describes the crowd at the door as "so wild and drunk and furious" and even Catherine, ensures that only the Russian officer who knew Sergius would enter her daughter's bedroom when she was in such a state of undress.

(iii) : Raina says that "it is not the weapon of a gentleman" because she believes in the romantic notion of the chivalry men who rely on recognised weapons of defense against an enemy and would never exploit the vulnerability of a woman to secure their safety. This is what the  man seems to be doing by making her his defence.

(iv) : Raina thinks very poorly of the man in this extract. She believes that he is ungentlemanly.
         Raina has the romantic notion of how men should relate to women. Raina expects a higher degree of chivalry from a soldier. But 'The Man' is everything she thinks a soldier should not be : he is scared of dying; he threatens a woman with a gun and now he uses her vulnerability as his defence.

(v) : The reason for the "sharp fusillade in the street" was that the Bulgarian soldiers had probably seen a fleeing Serb soldier and had fired at him with the purpose of killing him.
        The effect this has on the man is that he realises that death for him could come very soon as his pursuers are very close ("the chill of immanent death"), and he lowers his tone of voice and he becomes even more concerned for his safety and thus wishes to ensure that he is not handed over by Raina, and so he attempts to make her save him having her fear for her own safety.

(vi) : Only the the Russian officer leading the :blackguards" is allowed into Raina's room by Raina's mother and she and Louka are only allowed in after "the man' hands Raina her cloak back as the "blackguards" had come to the house and were in danger of breaking into her room if Riana did not open up. Raina had, however, by that time hidden 'The Man' and had thrown the cloak on the ottoman in an act to convince those who had entered that she had been roused from her sleep.

ACT 1 NO 22 PGS 86 TO 88

22 (i) : ‘The Man’ apologises to Raina as all this time he had been making a joke of the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment who had charged his artillery regiment. He had compared that leader to Don Quixote, he had said that “of all the fools let loose on a field of battle, that man must be the very maddest”. He had said this not knowing that that cavalry regiment leader was Raina’s fiancé. He had not meant to offend her after she had been so kind to him and thus is really sad and offered his apology with true remorse.

                     

(ii) : ‘The Man’ comically tries to take back what he had said about the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment. He tries to say that his perception of the events must have been wrong and that that leader, since he must have been obviously greater than he seemed to have shown himself to be – as such a wonderful person like Raina would surely be marrying someone as wonderful as she was.

(iii) : :”get wind of” is a phrase means to have heard an unconfirmed report – a rumour.

          ‘The Man’ tries to explain Sergius’ behaviour by saying that having found out what no one else had, that the artillery regiment before them could not fire on them because they did not have the right ammunition (- the “cartridge business’ – the artillery regiment had been supplied with the wrong cartridges and could not be resupplied for at least another ten minutes). He was thus not leading his cavalry regiment on a suicidal mission but striking the enemy when they were in a weak position.

(iv) : ‘The Man’ is referring to the cavalry charge against the Serbian artillery regiment, which to everyone seemed a suicidal mission.

           “it” would have been a “safe job” if Sergius had known that the Serbian artillery regiment did not have the right ammunition and thus could not fire a shot in defence. If Sergius had known this he would have known that his regiment would not be destroyed before they reached their enemy.

(v) : To Raina, if the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment which defeated ‘The Man’s’ artillery regiment (Sergius) had only attacked because he knew there would be no resistance and no chance of defeat, he would be a “pretender” because it made it seem that he was doing the daring thing whereas he knew it was “a safe job”. She calls him (the leader of the cavalry regiment) a “coward” because cowards only attack a weaker enemy and never take up an equal fight or a challenge.  

        In so saying the above, Raina shows that ‘The Man’ has only made his description of her fiancé more offensive to her.

(vi) : Raina accuses ‘The Man’ of not daring having offended her before she saved him from the Bulgarian soldiers and the blood thirsty Bulgarians came searching for him in her house. She says so because she means to tell him that if he had been so offensive before she would have given him up.

         The comment has no implication on the man’s character. ‘The Man’ had been very forthright I saying what he had truly thought of the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment which had attacked his artillery regiment. He also seemed to act quite chivalrously by trying to excuse the man when he knew how significant he was to Raina.

ACT 1 WK BK NO 10 PGS 64 TO 66

10. (i) : By using the phrase “find out”, ‘The Man’ means to say that he will confront the Bulgarian soldiers and crowd in pursuit of him. ‘The Man’ had previously said that he would fight “like a demon” and he promised that her pretty room would be spoilt with the blood of war. Thus he wishes to say that the first person who comes will find that he is not going to be an easy victim he will fight until he dies as he will not be taken as their prisoner to be humiliated by them.

(ii) : ‘The Man’ Tells Raina to keep out of the way because he does not wish to have her hurt when it comes to a confrontation involving guns and swords between him the Bulgarian soldiers and others who come into the room.

(iii) : According to ‘The Man’ his defence against the pursuing Bulgarian soldiers and bloodthirsty pursuing crowd as he is only one person and he believes that even though he will put up a resistance, because he is only one, he will be easily defeated.

         It will not be “nice” because they will be fighting with swords (“sabres”). He had told Raina that “they” will “slaughter” him “like a pig”, he has warned her that her nice room will be spoilt.

(iv) : Raina wants to save ‘The Man’ for two reasons, firstly, she has been educated and brought up in the romantic ways of doing things and as she will explain later to ‘The Man’, to her, her guest is sacred, even if the guest is an enemy soldier.

        Another reason is that Raina has already been “enchanted” by ‘The Man’ , though she does not say as much now, but later in the report we hear from Sergius we come to know this. Also at the end of this first Act, Raina will call ‘The Man’, “the poor darling” revealing her affection for him. In addition Louka tells Sergius that she knows the real way eople act when they truly love each other and that Raina will marry ‘The Man’ when he return “whether he likes it or not !”

(v) : ‘The Man’ feels that “there is just half a chance” of his being saved if Raina “keeps her mind” meaning that if she does not get nervous when the soldiers enter the room and unwittingly give up the place where she has hidden him.

(vi) : Before Raina decides that she will save him, ‘The Man’ believes that he has been found out and defeated, because just before this passage ‘The Man’ has said that there was no use of his trying to force her to give him refuge as Louka was outside the door pleading with Raina to open the door or the soldiers would break it down. He also knew that being only one against so many he would be slaughtered like a pig because he would die defending himself. Thus he knows that his whereabouts have been located and that this will be his last but fateful stand.

WK BK PGS 196 TO 198

9 (i) : Bluntschli tells Raina that he admires her when she puts on that noble and attitude and thrilling voice and would have everyone believe that she is perfect. He admires her attempt to try and convince him and others that she is a very perfect person.

(ii) : Bluntschli says that he finds it impossible to believe any single word which Raina says because instinctually, he feels that she is putting on a show and not speaking the truth about herself. He also feels that she is not  telling the truth because he cannot believe, from his own experience, that she could have told so few lies in her life.

(iii): Raina couldn't believe Bluntschli's remarks about her because everyone else - from her nurse to her parents to Sergius, were totally taken in by her "noble attitude" and "thrilling voice". She was not used to someone not being bluffed by her pretense.

(iv) : Raina pretends to be offended at the remark made by Bluntschli that he finds it impossible to believe a single word she says. She is not so offended because in this extract itself, she suddenly changes her manner and asks him how he found her out, which means she knew what she was doing and was only trying her luck.

(v) : Bluntschli finds about Raina that she puts on a behaviour before people which is not her true self. She does this because she believes that she has to impress people and pretend that she is a perfect person. She believes that she must actually try and be the romantic, perfect person.
        Bluntschli finds her out by his instinct - his gut feeling that she is putting on a show and his "experience of the world" - his experience of people and how they behave.

(vi) : This extracts highlights the contract between romance an realism because Raina has been putting on a show all her life, pretending to be a perfect person (as only true in the romance stories). All those who had been around her had been letting her carry on with such a charade and they might even have been cultivating such behaviour in her. However, Bluntschli is Shaw's modern man who cuts through the farce of romance and believes that people should be straightforward and honest about themselves. Bluntschli has rubbished Raina's ideals of war and now he rubbishes her pretence to be a perfect lady.

XII WK BK PGS 194 TO 196

8. (i) : Bluntschli and Raina are talking about the claim that Raina had only two lies in her entire life. Raina had pretended offence that Bluntschli should have forgotten how she had told those two lies only for his sake. Bluntschli had explained that how as a soldier his forgetfulness should be understood. Raina had relied that if what Bluntschli had said was true, soldiers would become incapable of faith and gratitude.
          Bluntschli had then responded asking Raina whether she liked gratitude. He had remarked that "If pity is akin to love, gratitude is akin to the other thing".

   (ii) : Raina says that Bluntschli is incapable of any noble sentiment because Bluntschli had compared gratitude as being "akin" to "the other thing" - that is the opposite of love - hate. He had expressed a dislike of gratitude. He had said that soldiers take for granted that their lives will be saved in all sorts of ways by all sorts of people and thus don't necessarily express gratitude. He had been explaining his own forgetfulness of Raina having saved him twice,

(iii) : By telling Bluntschli that "even animals are grateful", Raina wishes to tell him that gratitude is intrinsic to every living creature. She was expressing her disgust at him claiming and seeming to be so ungrateful.

(iv) : According to Raina, Bluntschli has a very poor opinion of women because she claimed that he was not surprised to hear her lie. She presumed that Bluntschli thought it was an act she did without hurt to her conscience every day. She had wanted to note that in the matter of honesty women were more honest than men and that it was wrong for him to presume that women told lies at will.

(v) : Bluntschli does not believe Raina's words regarding lies because because he  knows that it is not possible for Raina to have only told two lies in her whole life and by saying so she is only pretending to be be a very proper person. He also does not believe her because he has told many more lies in his life.

(vi) : Yes, I agree with Bluntschli's statement that he is quite a straight-forward person because he readily admits that he tells a lot of lies. He also openly challenges Raina about her having told only two lies in her whole life.

WK BK PGS 84 TO 86

21.(i) Don Quixote is the name chosen by the character (Alonso Quixano) in the Spanish novel by Cervantes who decides to revive chivalry, undo wrongs and bring justice to the world. The name is associated with a person who has lost touch with the reality of the world and lives in a disillusioned manner.
          The speaker is 'The Man' - the Serbian soldier who was fleeing from the Bulgarian army and people and who had sought refuge in Raina's room. He was actually a Swiss mercenary, fighting for the Serbs. Later we learn that his name is Bluntschli. He is referring to the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment who led his regiment in their charge against the Serbian artillery regiment at the battle at Slivnitza. He is referring to Sergius Saranoff.
          'The Man' calls Sergius, Don Quixote as he considers, Sergius' action of leading his cavalry regiment against an artillery regiment suicidal and mad, as the odds in the cavalry regiment succeeding in their attack were absolutely zero.

(ii) : The so-called Don Quixote had in a rush of patriotic zeal and national pride risked his won life and life of his entire regiment in the attack against the Serbian artillery regiment. The risk and daring paid off and the Serbian guns did not fire and the Serbian positions were overcome, their army routed and the Bulgarians won the battle and the war. Thus, the Don Quixote thought he had done the cleverest thing in the world because his foolhardy act surprisingly paid off.
        The action tells us that either the leader who is called Don Quixote was actually very daring and patriotic or he was a fool or a madman.

(iii) : The speaker thinks that the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment which attacked the Serbian artillery regiment should be court-martialled because he had risked the certain death of his entire regiment in an attack which normally should have resulted in all their deaths. An army commander is not expected in normal situations to lead his troops in a suicidal mission.
          The speaker calls the leader of the Bulgarian cavalry regiment the maddest because it was nonsensical to pit a cavalry regiment against an artillery regiment as the artillery regiment would blast them to pieces before they had came any where near to being able to harm the members of the artillery regiment.

(iv) : 'he' and his regiment had defied the orders of their superiors, the leader had led his regiment himself into the charge against an artillery regiment which would certainly kill them much befoe they reached the artillery enemy positions. Thus, as death was certain for them it is called a suicidal mission.
         No actual pistol missed fire. The man who is narrating the events means to say that the Serbian artillery regiment couldn't, as expected, against the advancing cavalry regiment as they had the wrong ammunition for their guns. Thus they could not fire their guns.

(v) : Later on in the play Sergius, the so-called Don Quixote, says that he defeated the Serbs the wrong way, that is not according to military etiquette, when his army commanders were losing the battle by using all the right tactics of war.

(vi): The speaker seems to be a person with the traditional military person's mind. He does not understand that patriotism and daring can win the day. The so-called Don Quixote was daring and patriotic and lucky but if the artillery had fired his regiment would have been wiped out and he would have been proved to be the very maddest person ever set into battle.

WK BK PGS 82 TO 84

20.(i) : 'The Man', the soldier who was being the blue uniform of the Serbian army, who had been in the Serbian artillery regiment which had been defeated by Sergius' cavalry regiment at the battle at Slivnitza. He had sought refuge by climbing a pipe into Raina's room. Raina had just kept him hidden when the Russian officer and the Bulgarian crowd had come in search for him. This is the man who is speaking. Later we come to know that this man is a Swiss mercenary and that his name is Bluntschli.
            He is describing the reason why his artillery regiment had been defeated by the Bulgarian cavalry regiment when the cavalry regiment should have been blown to pieces long before they came anywhere near the artillery regiment.
            He is describing it to Raina, and is trying to explain to her that the leader of the regiment was not a hero but a fool.

(ii) : The sergeant is described to have been "white as a sheet" to try and convey how scared the sergeant was with the knowledge that the artillery regiment which he led was totally defenseless against the artillery regiment and that their death was near.

(iii) : The speaker says that he never felt so sick in all his life because having heard that his artillery regiment had the wrong ammunition and that they were totally defenseless against the approaching cavalry regiment the thought of his near death made him feel sick, like he had never felt in his life before, as he probably had never come so near to his own death.

(iv) : That the speaker had carried only chocolates and no cartridges tells us that the speaker was not very keen on soldiership and more keen in keeping himself well fed. Raina had said previously that such action proved that he was childish, like a school boy. However, it may also show that the man was practical enough to know that in battle one has to be prepared for the unexpected and to take care to live as long as one could.

(v) : By saying "they just cut us to bits", the speaker means to say that they (the Serbian artillery regiment at Slivnitza) was completely defeated "routed" and "scattered".

(vi) : The speaker is called "the chocolate cream soldier" later in play by Raina. He is called a "chocolate cream soldier" because he only carried chocolates into war and not cartridges and he loved chocolates very much, which is proved when he told Raina that he would love to have some and he had greedily eaten the last three chocolate creams which Raina had offered him.

FCT CONTEXT ANSWERS

1 (a) (i) : Raina exclaimed “ugh” because ‘The Man’ had just given Raina a description of how cowardly the more experienced soldiers were when engaging in a cavalry charge. He had mentioned that the wounds these soldiers received were not the wounds of engagement with the enemy but because their knees were banging together in their effort to get into the centre of the group so that they would be protected. Raina is disgusted to hear this account of unheroic soldiers.

         (ii) : The “first man” whom Raina and ‘The Man’ are referring to is the leader of Bulgarian cavalry regiment which had attacked the Serb artillery regiment at the battle at Slivnitza. Raina knows that man to be Sergius Saranoff, her fiancé.

        (iii) : Raina does not call the first man a coward. Neither does ‘The Man’ in his account call the first man a coward. The first Man had narrated how like Don Quixote that man led his regiment into the attack of the artillery regiment. However, the man’s horse was attempting to run away. Raina wishes to note that “the first man” was not like the cowardly experienced soldiers whose cowardly behavior ‘The Man’ had just described.

        (iv) : Raina has been convinced after she had been told the account of the battle of Slivnitza by her mother that “the first man” – Sergius, her fiancé was a “hero”. She has heard how Sergius showed great daring in personally leading his regiment in the attack. She also knows that it was because of his daring action that his country gained victory in the battle and in the war.

        (v) : ‘The Man’ had informed Raina that “the first man” had shown himself to be the maddest of all men in leading his cavalry regiment on the suicidal mission against the Serbian artillery regiment. For that action ‘The Man’ had said that “the first man” should be court martialled. He compared the first man to Don Quixote attacking the windmills.

        (vi) : ‘The Man’ compares “the first man” to an operatic tenor, as like a solo singer in an opera, “the first man” led the charge of his regiment from the front, while the rest lagged behind. “the first man” seemed filled with confidence (which ‘The Man’ felt was misplaced) like an operatic tenor singing his piece in an opera.

1 (b) (i) : Nicola likes Louka better because she is “young”. Nicola had just remarked that Louka was Young meaning that she was inexperienced. Luka immediately reminds him of how her youthfulness attracts him.

           (ii) : The “they” Raina refers to are the members of the Petkoff family. She refers to Catherine, Raina and Paul Petkoff in whose home she is a maid.

          (iii) : The family secret we learn later that Raina is referring to is the secret that Raina had hid a Serbian fugitive in her room; not revealed his presence to the Bulgarian forces who had come to the house following a lead that there had been a fugitive who had been seen climbing into the house and that Raina and Catherine and allowed the fugitive to escape from the house.

        (iv) : Nicola tells Louka that he knows some very significant family secrets – he knows secrets of Catherine  which she would be willing to pay him a considerable sum of money to keep them secret from her husband; he knows secrets of Paul Petkoff which if his wife were told of them he would not be left in peace and that he knew secrets about Raina that would break off her engagement with Sergius.

       (v) : Nicola would like Louka to be a totally trusted servant of the family who could be counted upon never to let out the family secrets. This tells us that he is a faithful person who is willing to focus on his job and not use the weaknesses of others to his advantage. However, to Raina this shows he has no spirit and that he has the soul of a servant.

       (vi) : Louka would like to assert herself – in her words, she would like to “defy” the members of the family. It tells us that she is a bold person. It also tells us that she is a modern woman who does not believe that because she does a work of service in this home, she is less equal to the members of the family. However, Nicola thinks that she is foolish and inexperienced to behave in this manner.

'THE MAN' : "THE BRUTE" OR "THE POOR DARLING"

Catherine refers to ‘The Man’ as a “brute” and Raina refers to him as “the poor darling” Explain why each calls him so and explain why they have such different opinions of him.   

Catherine refers to 'The Man' whom she sees sleeping soundly on Raina's bed as "the brute". She calls him a brute for many reasons. 

She calls him a brute because he is dressed in the uniform of a Serbian officer and Catherine is a very patriotic Bulgarian citizen. We know that Catherine is strongly patriotic from her description of Serbs as "wretched" when she was describing their defeat in the battle at Slivnitza. She had also proclaimed the Bulgarians superior to the Serbs, Austrians and Russians when she declared to Raina "The Serbs have Austrian officers who are just as clever as the Russians; but we have beaten them in every battle for all that".

She also calls him a brute as he is filthy and he has even slept with his boots on Raina's lovely bed. We had been given a description of how soiled 'The man' and his uniform were by Shaw. He notes that 'The man' is "in a deplorable plight, bespattered with mud and blood and snow". We have also been told in the stage directions that 'The Man' had laid down on the bed "at full length; lifts his boots into the bed".Catherine, who definitely cared about her daughter so much - giving her a mantle which on a "moderate estimate" was worth "about three times the furniture of the room" would take great exception to her beloved daughter's bed been so dirtied.

Catherine would also have called 'The Man' a "brute" because she was scandalized that a strange man should be sleeping in her unmarried  daughter's bed. Catherine, was not only as scandalized as any mother would have been in the circumstances, but Catherine was also very keen than the arrangement for Raina to be married to Sergius would take place and she did not want any scandal to break that arrangement. She was thus even more enraged on seeing 'The Man' lying on the bed.

Raina, on the other hand had begun to pity 'The Man' more and more and thus she had called him "the poor darling". She calls him "poor" because she pitied him.

She had seen how hungry 'The man' had been as he had "ravenously" "gobbled" up the last three chocolate creams which she had.

He was so nervous that he was easily scared - when Raina cried out in shock at having sat on a revolver, 'The Man' had "shied away like a frightened horse" and he had asked her not to make any sudden movements like snatching the empty box of chocolate creams from him as he was "all nerves" beacuse he had not slept in three days. 

The experience of being on the battle front had so emotionally weakened him that he had told her that she would see him cry if she only scolded him !

She had seen that he was so exhausted that he could hardly stand and keep his eyes open, even when she commanded him to do before calling for her mother to inform her of his presence.

We have thus seen that she feels very sorry for his pathetic condition.

However, Raina also uses the word "darling:" which reveals that her affections for him has also grown. We have already noted that Raina's affections had been obvious when she first said "I'll help you. I'll save you" and she "drags him" towards the window to save him from the first mob who came to the house. But later she expresses her affections even more strongly to him when firing signals another group of pursuers and she says "I'll save you. Oh, how can you be so indifferent! You want me to save you, don't you?".