The
Realism of Shaw in the play
In Bluntschli, Shaw has
presented a realistic portrait of an average soldier, who is ready to fight
when he must and is gland to escape when he can. Shaw has shown that a soldier
is an ordinary
creature of flesh and
blood, who suffers from hunger and fatigue, and who is roused to action only by
danger. In short, as Sergius puts it, war is a trade like any other trade; it
is the coward's art of attacking the enemy when one gets him at a disadvantage,
and of avoiding to fight him on equal terms.
Of course, war is to be
fought when absolutely necessary, but there should be no glorification of war.
War is a brutal affair, and we should not sing songs of it. The cruelty and
horror of war one highlighted through the relation of the horrible death of the
twelve soldiers burnt alive in a farmhouse. In this way idealistic notions of
war are punctured.
Both Sergius and Raina
are disillusioned in their romantic or idealistic notions of war; they are also
disillusioned in their romantic attitude to love. Raina had glorified Segius as
a hero, and tales of his heroism had fed her love for him. On his return from
the war, we get a scene of, 'higher love,"
between the two. He
calls her his "Queen" and she calls him her "King", and her
hero. Such romantic love, is a sham; it has no basis in fact and reality. As
soon as Raina's back is turned, Sergius flirts with Louka. Raina also, is
already in love with Bluntschili.
Shaw's views on love
and war are characterized by strict realism. Shaw tells men that romantic war
is only butchery and that romantic love is only lust. Shaw's objects not so
much to war as to the attractiveness of war. He does not so much dislike love
as the love of love. Shaw murmurs “ Wars if you must, but for God’s sake, not
war-songs.
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