[[quoteright:273:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/armsprogram2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:273:Original 1894 production]]

''Arms and the Man'' is a comedic play first performed in 1894, written by Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw.

It tells the tale of a young Bulgarian lady named Raina Petkoff, whose fiance is an officer in the Serbo-Bulgarian War. One night, a Swiss officer working for the Serbs takes refuge from the battle in her bedroom. HilarityEnsues. And that's just the first act. Things get even crazier when, after the war, Raina's fiance Sergius returns from the war and begins a kinda-sorta love affair with her maid, Louka, and Captain Bluntschli returns in peacetime, welcomed as an honored guest by Raina's father, even though he has no idea the two already know each other.

Actors who have appeared in productions include Creator/LaurenceOlivier in 1944 (as Sergius) and Creator/MarlonBrando in his last stage production (also as Sergius). It has received several screen adaptations, including a 1989 BBC television version with Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter as Rania and a 1958 German film, ''Film/ArmsAndTheMan''.

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!!This show includes examples of:

* BetaCouple: Sergius and Louka
* CommediaDellArte:
** Raina is the ''Innamorata''
** Sergius is [[MilesGloriosus the Captain]] who initially seems like the ''Innamorato''; Bluntschli is basically the opposite
** Nicola is a Brighella
** Louka bears resemblance to the Colombina
* DeadpanSnarker: Nicola
* DefeatByModesty: When Bluntschli escapes into Raina's bedroom at the beginning of the play, he offers the fact that she will be seen in her nightgown as a reason she shouldn't call out to the soldiers outside and give him up for capture.
* DirtyCoward: Examined through the behavior of both Bluntschli and Sergius
* DuelToTheDeath: Also deconstructed. Sergius challenges Bluntschli to one. As Bluntschli is the one in the position to choose the weapon used for the duel, he suggests [[MoreDakka machine guns]], frightening Sergius out of his challenge.
* DeconstructorFleet: The play was written to debunk any and all romantic notions of love and war for its audience.
* FakeUltimateHero: Sergius has a moment of stupidity and cowardice in battle whose lucky result makes people think of him as a hero.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Lots of uses of the term "making love".
* HollywoodTactics: Used to examine why the obsession with chivalry was so damaging. Sorry, Sergius, charging straight toward a machine gun nest is not a good tactic. [[RuleOfFunny Not even if it works]].
* TheIngenue: Raina plays with this trope.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sergius is immature, arrogant, and none too bright, but he's got a chivalrous side.
* LargeHam: Sergius, as a character. Whether or not the actor playing him is this way, however, varies.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The title alludes to the first two words of the ''[[Literature/TheAeneid Aeneid]]''.[[note]]Arma virumque...[[/note]]
* LoveTriangle: Two, as a matter of fact - Bluntschli/Raina/Sergius and Raina/Sergius/Louka.
* MilitaryBrat: Raina's father Paul is also a major in the Bulgarian army.
* NonIdleRich: Bluntschli is the scion of an extremely wealthy hotel owning family in Switzerland, although as a boy, ran away into military service.
** Of course, that's only if being a mercenary counts as military service. (You don't have to run away to join the military in Switzerland; there, [[strike:[[RussianReversal the military joins YOU!]]]] all adult men are conscripted anyway).
* OfficerAndAGentleman: Captain Bluntschli
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Bluntschli is a mercenary
* {{Ruritania}}: Although the play is set in an actual country during the backdrop of a real war, this trope is definitely in use, particularly in the scene where Raina brags about how advanced her family is by noting that they have the only library in Bulgaria and wash their hands on a somewhat frequent basis.
* SacredHospitality: Raina gives this as the reason why she assists Bluntschli.
* WarIsGlorious: Deconstructed
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