Sergius is romantic and sentimental in his attitude to life. By his pose and romantic attitude he produces an impression wherever he goes. Like the romantic poet Byron, the Byronic hero Sergius is selfconscious, full of absurdly romantic ideas, self-critical and moody.
Character of Sergius in “Arms and the Man”:
Sergius is a young
Bulgarian military officer. He is proud of his victory by cavalry charge at the
battle of Slivnitza. Catherine and Raina appreciate his heroism. But Bluntschli
calls him "the very maddest of all the fools let loose on a field of battle".
His cavalry charge goes unrecognized. Sergius is completely disillusioned as a
soldier. He tells Catherine, "Soldiering, my dear madam, is the coward's
art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong and keeping out of harm's way
when you are weak. That is the whole secret of successful fighting." At
last Sergius has discovered that his great victory with his cavalry charge
"was the cradle and the grave" of his military reputation.
Shaw illustrates
through Sergius the conflict of romance and reality in the field of love and
ultimate triumph of reality over romance. At tha beginning of the drama Sergius
plays his part of a romantic lover ac efficiently as Raina. After the battle
Sergius comes to Raina's house Raina then addresses him as "My hero!" My
king!" Sergius addresses her as his queen and his saint. Sergius
tells Raina that it is her love that has inspired him to go through the war
like a knight in a tournament with his lady looking down on him. He has 'higher
love' for Raina. But this utterance of Sergius is only lip deep and vanishes at
the touch of reality. The handsome maid Louka inspires Sergius at the first
sight of her, with real earthly love. Sergius does not hesitate to flirt with
Louka. He forgets his higher love and surrenders himself to her. His illusion
about higher love is gone. Louka finally captures him. Sergius marries Louka
and that cures him of his heroic ideal.
Sergius admires the
practical wisdom and strong commonsense of Bluntschli. He holds a very high
opinion about Bluntschli and remarks in this way: "What a man. Is he a
man!" We must give credit to Sergius for speaking so highly of Bluntschli.
No comments:
Post a Comment