Arms and the Man

Exclusive to Penguin Classics: the definitive text of one of Shaw’s most delightful comedies—part of the official Bernard Shaw Library

A Penguin Classic

Raina, a young woman with romantic notions of war and an idealized view of her soldier fiancé, is surprised one night by a Swiss mercenary soldier seeking refuge in her bedchamber. The pragmatic Captain Bluntschli proceeds to puncture all of Raina’s illusions about love, heroism, and class. In a second duel of sex, Louka, Raina’s maid, uses...