Character sketch of Raina Petkoff.
In this character sketch we will not only consider the character of Raina, but the evolution of her character in the play and we will also note the strategic role Raina plays in Arms and the Man.
Raina under her parent's influence
Raina seems to be the only child of Major Paul Petkoff and Catherine, Raina tells us that her family is the richest and best known family in Bulgaria and that her father holds the highest position assigned to a Bulgarian in their national army. Her parents underscore "Raina's position" as a member of "the richest and most important families in the country" and that she is "accustomed to a very comfortable establishment". Paul is amazed when he returns from the war to hear from Raina that she has been cooking. The mantle of furs that Raina has is "worth, on a moderate estimate, about three times of the furniture of her room" which tells us that Raina is doted upon by her parents. Catherine in her interaction with Raina still treats her as a child, in fact she even uses that word for her on one occasion - wondering why Raina is not in bed; directing that she will not keep the windows open for fear that she will fall of to sleep and leave them open ! Paul loves the way her daughter always appears at the most appropriate moment and poses for them - like when Sergius arrives. Catherine has chosen the man (Sergius Saranoff) Raina will get married to and she has been betrothed to him even though she has doubts about him !
Raina's romantic nature
Under Catherine's tutelage, Raina has read the poems of the romantic poets Byron and Pushkin and has been taken to the opera at Bucharest. Raina notes the influence these have had on her when she says "perhaps we only had our heroic ideas" because of the listed influences.
Raina confesses to Bluntschli when he has "found her out" - that that "noble attitude" and "thrilling voice" which she with which she has "gone on" since childhood and with which she duped everyone - her nurse, parents and Sergius. We see that most vividly in her put on of "higher love" to Sergius, which Sergius is honest enough to admit is "very tiring to keep up for any length of time" - and that one needs some "relief" from such artificial behavior.
Catherine has chosen Sergius as the future husband for her daughter because they both come from the same class in society; Sergius is an "extremely handsome" man and he is an officer in the Bulgarian army. Raina's imagination has been fired by the obviously exaggerated version of events at Slivnitza as narrated to her by Catherine and Sergius immediately becomes Raina's "soul's hero".
When Sergius and Raina meet they use such words as "hero", "king", "queen" and "saint" to describe each other.
Raina is initially as fanatically patriotic as Catherine is. She argues and defends Sergius from 'the Man' who calls him a fool and compares his action to Don Quixote slashing at the windmills. She claims to only have given refuge to 'The Man' because she and her mother have the "notion" that a guest is sacred" and to that end she narrates an incident of the noble in the opera of Ernani.
She is a compassionate person and is genuinely troubled with the reports of suffering and slaughter which accompany war - she notes "I wish our people were not so cruel. What glory is there in killing wretched fugitives?"
Raina's shrewd, daring and practical nature
However, Shaw has portrayed Raina in a very rounder manner - revealing the contradictions that exist in the personality of any real person.
Even though she can be romantic, she is also innately very down to earth , perceptive and realistic. Her sixth sense has cautioned her not to follow her mother's direction in immediately agreeing to the arrangement for marriage with Sergius. Her knowledge of life is revealed when she says "Real life is seldom like that ! Indeed never as far as I knew it then" She is referring to the reservation she felt even when in the romantic embrace of Sergius, warning her that infatuation is only the first step in a relationship and that one must be realistic to note that the one is infatuated by is not a perfect human being.
She also mentions that "Our heroic ideals. I sometimes used to doubt whether they anything but dreams". Obviously, Raina has been viewing life and has the good sense to note that the fiction of romances either in literary form or on the stage need to be tempered with the experience of reality.
Even the "noble attitude" and "thrilling voice" which she has put on, has been a conscious action - she is surprised when Bluntschli dares to challenge her. She has shrewdly learnt how to charm all those around her - especially the significant men in her life - her father and Sergius and puts on a show in front of them which sweeps them off their feet. However, she shows her disdain for them - for such men who are not intelligent enough to see through her disguise - she says of her father "poor father - as if he could help himself". Of Sergius she says "I always feel a longing to do or say something dreadful to him - to shock his propriety - to scandalise the five senses out of him" and she boldly tells her mother that she is so enamoured with Segius that she should marry him !!!!! She is attracted to Bluntschli because he knows her for who she is and matches her intelligence with his wit - witnessed in their exchange especially in the first two acts.
She is also very self aware. Early in the play we are told that she is fully aware that "her own youth and beauty are part of" the wonderful natural view she beholds. It is this self awareness which is the root of her strength of character.- - her ability to engage the world on her terms, while lesser mortals (all the characters except Bluntschli and maybe Nicola) believe that they are manipulating her !
She is bold and brave, standing up to the intruder even before she is told that that the gun he holds to her has no bullets. She dares 'The Man' "You will shoot me. How do you know that I am afraid to die?' She does not flinch as she stands guard in front of the curtain concealing 'The Man' and a bullet shatters the window pane next to her. In Act 3 she boldly confronts Sergius with his duplicity and unfaithfulness. Even when at the very end of the play when her father and mother are more than willing to have her married to Bluntschli when they realise that he is so wealthy - she days "I am not here to be sold to the highest bidder." She proves that she is truly the modern woman who chooses to marry for the sake of love alone - not a love dripping with emotion, but the a love grounded on a true knowledge of herself and her prospective husband.
About Raina, Shaw himself remarked in the essay "A Dramatic realist to his critics" about Raina "....she does good : that she generously saves a mans life and wisely extricates herself from a false position with another man......brave generous and affectionate....."
Raina's romantic nature
Under Catherine's tutelage, Raina has read the poems of the romantic poets Byron and Pushkin and has been taken to the opera at Bucharest. Raina notes the influence these have had on her when she says "perhaps we only had our heroic ideas" because of the listed influences.
Raina confesses to Bluntschli when he has "found her out" - that that "noble attitude" and "thrilling voice" which she with which she has "gone on" since childhood and with which she duped everyone - her nurse, parents and Sergius. We see that most vividly in her put on of "higher love" to Sergius, which Sergius is honest enough to admit is "very tiring to keep up for any length of time" - and that one needs some "relief" from such artificial behavior.
Catherine has chosen Sergius as the future husband for her daughter because they both come from the same class in society; Sergius is an "extremely handsome" man and he is an officer in the Bulgarian army. Raina's imagination has been fired by the obviously exaggerated version of events at Slivnitza as narrated to her by Catherine and Sergius immediately becomes Raina's "soul's hero".
When Sergius and Raina meet they use such words as "hero", "king", "queen" and "saint" to describe each other.
Raina is initially as fanatically patriotic as Catherine is. She argues and defends Sergius from 'the Man' who calls him a fool and compares his action to Don Quixote slashing at the windmills. She claims to only have given refuge to 'The Man' because she and her mother have the "notion" that a guest is sacred" and to that end she narrates an incident of the noble in the opera of Ernani.
She is a compassionate person and is genuinely troubled with the reports of suffering and slaughter which accompany war - she notes "I wish our people were not so cruel. What glory is there in killing wretched fugitives?"
Raina's shrewd, daring and practical nature
However, Shaw has portrayed Raina in a very rounder manner - revealing the contradictions that exist in the personality of any real person.
Even though she can be romantic, she is also innately very down to earth , perceptive and realistic. Her sixth sense has cautioned her not to follow her mother's direction in immediately agreeing to the arrangement for marriage with Sergius. Her knowledge of life is revealed when she says "Real life is seldom like that ! Indeed never as far as I knew it then" She is referring to the reservation she felt even when in the romantic embrace of Sergius, warning her that infatuation is only the first step in a relationship and that one must be realistic to note that the one is infatuated by is not a perfect human being.
She also mentions that "Our heroic ideals. I sometimes used to doubt whether they anything but dreams". Obviously, Raina has been viewing life and has the good sense to note that the fiction of romances either in literary form or on the stage need to be tempered with the experience of reality.
Even the "noble attitude" and "thrilling voice" which she has put on, has been a conscious action - she is surprised when Bluntschli dares to challenge her. She has shrewdly learnt how to charm all those around her - especially the significant men in her life - her father and Sergius and puts on a show in front of them which sweeps them off their feet. However, she shows her disdain for them - for such men who are not intelligent enough to see through her disguise - she says of her father "poor father - as if he could help himself". Of Sergius she says "I always feel a longing to do or say something dreadful to him - to shock his propriety - to scandalise the five senses out of him" and she boldly tells her mother that she is so enamoured with Segius that she should marry him !!!!! She is attracted to Bluntschli because he knows her for who she is and matches her intelligence with his wit - witnessed in their exchange especially in the first two acts.
She is also very self aware. Early in the play we are told that she is fully aware that "her own youth and beauty are part of" the wonderful natural view she beholds. It is this self awareness which is the root of her strength of character.- - her ability to engage the world on her terms, while lesser mortals (all the characters except Bluntschli and maybe Nicola) believe that they are manipulating her !
She is bold and brave, standing up to the intruder even before she is told that that the gun he holds to her has no bullets. She dares 'The Man' "You will shoot me. How do you know that I am afraid to die?' She does not flinch as she stands guard in front of the curtain concealing 'The Man' and a bullet shatters the window pane next to her. In Act 3 she boldly confronts Sergius with his duplicity and unfaithfulness. Even when at the very end of the play when her father and mother are more than willing to have her married to Bluntschli when they realise that he is so wealthy - she days "I am not here to be sold to the highest bidder." She proves that she is truly the modern woman who chooses to marry for the sake of love alone - not a love dripping with emotion, but the a love grounded on a true knowledge of herself and her prospective husband.
About Raina, Shaw himself remarked in the essay "A Dramatic realist to his critics" about Raina "....she does good : that she generously saves a mans life and wisely extricates herself from a false position with another man......brave generous and affectionate....."
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