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.