NON — AFRICAN DRAMA
BERNARD SHAW: ARMS AND THE MAN
How is the conflict between Bluntschli and Sergius resolved in the play?
Sergius and Bluntschli are soldiers fighting on either side of two warring countries. Bulgaria and Serbia respectively. Bluntschli is, however, a Swiss mercenary on the side of the Serbs Running away from the battlefield after an unprofessional chivalry charge led by Sergius which destabilizes the Serbian army, Bluntschli takes refuge in Raina's chamber. Even though Sergius acknowledges Bluntschli's professional qualities while recalling the last battle before the end of the war, he never realizes until later, that his lover, Raina, Major Petkoff's, daughter is the one who shelters him and helps him to escape. The grounds for a conflict between the two soldiers are being established through Raina's amorous feeling for Bluntschli, in spite of her romantic idealization of Sergius.
However, Rains, in the early part of the play, expresses her scepticism about Sergius' heroism. She tells Catherine, her mother, "Our ideals of what Sergius would do - our partiotism - our heroic ideals. I sometimes used to doubt whether they were anything but dreams". Thus, it seems this scepticism is proved right when she meets Bluntschli. Bluntschli demonstrates the reality about war and warring to her as she shields the "chocolate-cream soldier". She later rebukes Sergius' "coarse" retelling of Bluntschli's escape story in her presence. Bluntschli has apparently related his escape to the Bulgarian army during the exchange of soldiers after the ceasefire.
Louka's revelations about Raina's secret love escapades to Sergius provides the necessary reasons for his later challenge to Bluntschli. In the third Act, the stage direction portrays Sergius as admirably envious of B Iuntschli as the latter works to map out the disengagement of three cavalry regiments to Philippopolis. Sergius contemplates "Bluntschli's quick, sure, business-like progress with a mixture of envious imitation at his own incapacity". The impression given in this regard is that in spite of the initial lack of kinowledge about the identity of his rival, Sergius is already nursing a grudge against Bluntsehii. The revelation of Bluntschli as the man who has won over Raina's love, which Sergius uses as excuses for challenging him is only being underscored by the growing envy which Sergius has already nursed against Bluntschli. The conflict bewtween these two is not, therefore, rooted in Raina's switch over to Bluntschli but on the personality crisis Sergius has.
The path to the resolution of the conflict begins to emerge as Bluntschli reappears to return Major Petkoff's coat given to him by Raina to prevent himself from being identified as the tensions and apprehensions that the audience has been put to begin to reach the climax. This also shows how the story of the two men forms a sub plot in the play and the conflict between them a sub confilict of the overall conflict in the play. Bluntschli appears on the scene only to be challenged to a duel by Sergious even though he (Sergius) does not state the grounds for the challenge. Yet, Bluntschli accepts the challenge to fight him without any demand for his offence. As Rains comes in, the truth about Bluntschli's identity as the escaped soldier and the secret romantic advances of Sergius to Louka are all revealed. The Whole business of fighting to resolve the conflict is no longer necessary as bot men have now discovered where their true love belongs and so they become happy people.
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