George Bernard Shaw takes the title for this play from the opening life of Virgil's epic poem the 'Aeneid,' which begins 'Of arms and the man I sing.' Virgil glorified war and the heroic feats of Aeneas on the battlefield. She is most disconcerted to find an enemy soldier hiding in her bedroom following a decisive battle-but fancying herself in the role of romantic heroine, she elects to help him escape. The story concerns Raina Petkoff, a young woman given to melodramatic displays of emotion who has recently seen both her husband and her would-be husband off to war. He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion.įirst produced in 1894, 'Arms and the Man' might best be described as a comic opera without music. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of productive land, and promoting healthy lifestyles. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. He was most angered by what he perceived as the exploitation of the working class, and most of his writings censure that abuse.

Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care and class privilege. Nearly all his works deal sternly with prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy to make their stark themes more palatable. His main talent, however, was for writing scripts and he wrote more than 60 plays during his lifetime. Shaw first earned a literary living as a critic.

AuthorGeorge Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Arms and the man by george bernard shaw