Question

In what ways does shaw ridicule the medieval concept of chivalry in arms and the man

Answer 1

G. B. Shaw has labeled his play Arms and the Man as an "anti-romantic comedy". To Shaw romance stands for untruth. He wrote this play at a time when people in England were fond of an exaggerated form of romanticism in comedies. Shaw's term 'anti-romantic comedy' succeeds in registering a protest against the much exalted notion of love and war that people have cherished for long. In Arms and the Man, Shaw has represented love and war from an anti-romantic point of view so as to mow down the romantic conceptions of love and war. For centuries, gallantry in war was considered to be one of the greatest distinctions that a man can achieve. People thought that soldiers go in a war obsessed with sense of patriotism and heroism. But Shaw unfolds with cruel disposition of war.