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.