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.