Overview
In this topic, we have discussed two popular plays of the older periods: John Galsworthy’s “Justice” (1910) and George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” (1894). Both these plays are written around the same period. Despite being written in the same period, the Play Justice by John Galsworthy and the Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw have taken different approaches to talking and criticizing societal norms. Let us dig deeper and find the about both these plays in detail.
Summary of Play ‘Justice’ by John Galsworthy
The play ‘Justice’ by Galsworthy is mainly centered on the flaws present within the British legal system. In this play, a man Willian Falder commits a crime to save a woman from an abusive and torturous marriage. Even the cause of the crime was right and sympathetic despite this, the court punishes Falder quite harshly for the act. The play highlights that a legal system does not work on the root cause of the crime instead it only sees the act and then punishes it accordingly. In the play, Falder’s whole life is destroyed due to the court’s irresponsible decision.
This play also highlights that the legal system has also been affected by class discrimination. As in the play, the lower class man Falder has been sentenced to harsh punishment while on the other hand, his employer who is a wealthy man gets easy and even no repercussions for its unethical business practices.
With the help of this play, the author suggested that several reforms must be taken in the British legal system. The author Galsworthy advocates that the legal system must include a more human approach while giving punishment, the individual circumstances and situation in which the crime has been conducted must be considered while giving the same.
Summary of ‘Arms and the Man’ by George Bernard Shaw
The play Arms and the Man by Shaw uses wittiness and satire to depict the romanticized notions of war and heroism. In the play, a young woman Raina Petkoff falls for Captain Bluntschli, a soldier who seems to be brave. But as soon as she sees the pragmatic and cynical personality of the Captain her romanticized view of war gets shattered and she gets to know the harsh reality of the war.
It also depicts the brutality and absurdity of war. It depicts that some soldiers are not fighting for their heroism toward the country, instead they are doing this for money and career growth. It also exposes that Bluntschli, the soldier is more focused on their life instead on achieving glory for his nation. prioritizes self-preservation over glory, revealing the hypocrisy inherent in wartime heroism. This play challenges the hypocritical notion of wartime heroism of the soldiers.
The play also criticizes the superficiality of social classes, which means all the classes are not the same as what they depict in reality. Like in the play Raina was initially attracted by Bluntschli’s uniform but as soon as she realizes his original character, her attractiveness towards him vanishes.
Conclusion
Analyzing both plays themes suggests that both of them raise a question about the typical societal norms that persists for a long time in the society. The play Justice exposes the norms within the legal system while the play Arms and the Man exposes the notion of the glorification of war and the soldier’s actual thought process about the same.