The Act 2 summary is longer than the Act 1 summary - this is so because the play now rises to a CRISIS ! Do remember that a story only occurs when there has been some upset to one plans !
Please read this summary well and write the same in your Literature note book. Think about what you're writing !
Act II
Summary
Some four months have passed since
the first act, and a peace treaty has just been signed. The setting for this
act is in Major Petkoff's garden. Louka is standing onstage in a disrespectful
attitude, smoking a cigarette and talking to Nicola, a middle-aged servant who
has "the complacency of the servant who values himself on his rank in
servitude." The opening dialogue informs us that Nicola is engaged to
Louka, but that he has reservations about her deportment. He refuses to marry a
person who is "disrespectful" to her superiors; he plans to open a
shop in Sofia, and he thinks that the success of the shop will depend on the
goodwill of his employees, and he knows that if they spread bad reports about
him, his shop will never be successful. When Louka maintains that she knows
secret things about the mistress and the master, Nicola reminds her that all
servants know secrets about their employers, but the secret of being a good
servant is to keep these things secret and to always be discreet; if servants
begin telling secrets, then no one will ever employ them again. Louka is
furious and says that Nicola has "the soul of a servant"; Nicola
agrees — "That is," he says, "the secret of success in
service."
Their discussion is interrupted by
the entrance of Major Petkoff, an "insignificant, unpolished man" who
has just returned from the war. He sends Louka into the house to get his wife
and to also bring him some coffee. Catherine comes out and welcomes her
husband, and he tells her that the war is over, the peace treaty is signed, and
all is now peaceful. When he inquires about his wife's health, she tells him
that she has a sore throat. The Major maintains that the soreness comes
"from washing [her] neck every day." He himself does not believe in
these silly modern notions of washing. "It can't be good for the health;
it's not natural. There was an Englishman at Philippopolis who used to wet
himself all over with cold water every morning when he got up." He
maintains that the English climate is so dirty that the English have to wash,
but others don't; his father, for example, lived to be ninety-eight years old
and never had a bath in his entire life.
As Catherine is explaining to her
husband about the installation of an electric bell in the library, the Major is
confused over its use because — in his opinion — if he wants someone, he will
shout for them. At this time, Major Sergius Saranoff arrives; he is "a
tall romantically handsome man" and is the original of the portrait in
Raina's room in the first act. He is roundly congratulated for his famous
charge against the Serbs. Sergius, however, does not appreciate the compliment,
because even though he was successful, he participated in a maneuver where the
Russian consultants failed; thus, he did not accomplish his great success by
the rule book. "Two Cossack colonels had their regiments routed on the most
correct principles of scientific warfare. [Furthermore,] Two major-generals got
killed strictly according to military etiquette," and now the two colonels
who failed are promoted to generals and he (Sergius) who succeeded is still a
major; therefore, he has resigned.
As Catherine is protesting that
Sergius should not resign — the women, she says, are for him — Sergius suddenly
asks, "Where is Raina?" At that very moment, Raina enters sweepingly,
announcing, "Raina is here." Sergius drops chivalrously on one knee
to kiss her hand. While Raina's father is impressed with the fact that Raina
"always appears at the right moment," her mother is annoyed because
she knows that Raina always listens at doorways in order to make her entrance
at exactly the right moment. Catherine pronounces it to be "an abominable
habit."
Raina then welcomes
her father home, and again they discuss Sergius' military career. Sergius now
views war in a very cynical manner; according to him, there is nothing heroic
nor romantic about it. "Soldiering is the coward's art of attacking
mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harm's way when you are
weak. . . . Never fight [your enemy] on equal terms." Furthermore, he now
views soldiering as having too much of the taint of being a trade business, and
he despises trade; this is, of course, an allusion to Captain
Blutschli, who, of course, is in trade, and it is also a reference to Louka's
fiancé, Nicola, who wants to go into trade. To prove his point, Sergius asks
them all to consider the case of the Swiss officer (Bluntschli) who was able to
deal very shrewdly and to make clever bargains concerning prisoners. As a
result, soldiering has been "reduced to a matter of trading and
bartering." He adds that the man was merely "a commercial traveler in
uniform."
Since the subject has come up, Major
Petkoff encourages Sergius to tell the story about the Swiss officer who
climbed into a Bulgarian lady's bedroom in order to escape capture. Raina,
recognizing herself as the woman of the story, pretends to be offended. Major
Petkoff therefore tries to get Sergius to help him with some army details, and
Catherine instructs Sergius to remain with Raina while Catherine discusses some
business with her husband. By this ruse, she is able to leave the two young
people alone.
Alone together, Raina looks upon
Sergius with admiration and worship: "My hero! My king!" — to which
he responds, "My queen!" Raina sees Sergius only in terms of the
knight of olden times who goes forth to fight heroically, guided only by his
lady's love. She believes that the two of them have truly found what she calls
the perfect "higher love." When Louka is heard entering the house, Raina
leaves to get her hat so that they can go for a walk and be alone. In Louka's
presence, Sergius swaggers a bit and then asks Louka if she knows what
"higher love" is. Whatever it is, he says, he finds it
"fatiguing" to keep it up: "one feels the need of some relief
after it." He then embraces Louka, who warns him to be careful, or, at
least, if he won't let her go, he should step back where they cannot be seen.
After she makes a sly comment about the possibility of Raina's spying on them,
Sergius defends Raina and their "higher love," and Louka maintains
that she will never understand "gentlefolk" because while Sergius is
professing love for Raina, he is flirting with her behind Raina's back, and,
furthermore, Raina is doing the same thing. Sergius tries to reprimand Louka
for gossiping so about her mistress, but he is visibly upset and dramatically
strikes his forehead. He insists that Louka tell him who his rival is, but she
will not do so, especially since he has just reprimanded her for talking about
her mistress. She tells him that she never actually saw the man; she only heard
his voice outside Miss Raina's bedroom. But she knows that if the man ever
comes here again, Raina will marry him. Sergius is furious, and he grips her so
tightly that he bruises her arm; he reminds her that because of her gossiping,
she has the "soul of a servant," the same accusation which she made
earlier about Nicola. Louka retaliates by pointing out that Sergius himself is
a liar, and, furthermore, she maintains that she is worth "six of her
[Raina]." As Louka begins to leave, Sergius wants to apologize for hurting
a woman, no matter what the status of that woman is, but Louka will not accept
an apology; she wants more. When Sergius wants to pay her for the injury, Louka
says that she wants him to kiss her bruised arm. Surprised, Sergius refuses,
and Louka majestically picks up the serving pieces and leaves, just as Raina
enters, dressed in the latest fashion of Vienna — of the previous year.
Immediately, Catherine calls down that her husband needs Sergius for a few
minutes to discuss a business matter.
When Sergius is gone, Catherine
enters, and she and Raina express their irritation that "that Swiss"
told the entire story of his night in Raina's bedroom. Raina maintains that if
she had him here now she would "cram him with chocolate creams."
Catherine is frightened that if Sergius finds out the truth about what
happened, the engagement will be broken off. Suddenly, however, Raina reveals
that she would not care, and that, furthermore, she has always wanted to say
something dreadful so as to shock Sergius' propriety, "to scandalize the
five senses out of him." She half-hopes that he will find out about her
"chocolate cream soldier." She then leaves her mother in a state of
shock.
Louka enters and announces the
presence of a Serbian soldier at the door, a soldier who is asking for the lady
of the house; he has sent his card bearing his name, "Captain
Bluntschli," thus giving us for the first time the name of the
"chocolate cream soldier." When Catherine reads the name and hears
that the caller is Swiss, she realizes that he is the "chocolate cream
soldier" and that he is returning the old coat of Major Petkoff's which
they gave him when he left. Catherine gives Louka strict instructions to make
sure that the library door is shut; then, Louka is to send in the captain and
have Nicola bring the visitor's bag to her. When Louka returns with the
captain, Catherine frantically explains that her husband and future son-in-law
are here and that he must leave immediately. Captain Bluntschli agrees
reluctantly and explains that he only wants to take the coat out of his bag,
but Catherine urges him to leave it; she will have his bag sent to him later.
As Bluntschli is writing out his address, Major Petkoff comes in and greets the
captain warmly and enthusiastically. Immediately, Major Petkoff tells the
captain that they are in desperate need of help in working out the details of
sending troops and horses to Philippopolis. Captain Bluntschli immediately pinpoints
the problem, and as they are about to go into the library to explain the
details, Raina enters and bumps into the captain and surprisedly exclaims
loudly: "Oh! the chocolate cream soldier." She immediately regains
her composure and explains that she was cooking a kind of dessert and had made
a chocolate cream soldier for its decoration and that Nicola sat a pile of
plates on it. At that moment, Nicola brings in the captain's bag, saying that
Catherine told him to do so; when Catherine denies it, Major Petkoff thinks
that Nicola must be losing his mind. He reprimands Nicola (for doing what
Nicola has been commanded to do), and at this point Nicola is so confused that
he drops the bag, almost hitting the Major's foot. As the women try to placate
the Major, he, in turn, urges Captain Bluntschli to remain as their house guest
until he has to return to Switzerland. Even though Catherine has been subtly
suggesting that Captain Bluntschli leave, Bluntschli agrees to remain.
No comments:
Post a Comment