Shaw has taken the title of his play from the first line of Virgil's,’ The Aeneid ', which runs as follows ‘Arma Virt que Cano.’(Arms and the Man I sing). The title of this play itself is part of Shaw's dramatic irony. Virgil's epic glorifies war and shows that man is a child of heroic adventure. Aeneas is an exalted hero, Virgil wrote his poem about the history of the Roman people in order to celebrate ideals of heroism and Roman virtue, Shaw reverses this process. This play is no where near the grandeur and greatness of ‘The Aeneid’

In this play, Shaw gives a different treatment to the phrase of Virgil. He does not glorify war. On the other hand, he exposes the hollowness of romantic glamour attached to war and the profession of a soldier. The romantic notion of war glorifies soldiers and battles. The medieval view of war was of chivalry where warriors showed courage to impress their beloveds. This notion prevailed in the 19th century and in the beginning of 20th century also. In her novel ‘The Mill on the Floss’ George Eliot wrote: "Perhaps if women ceased admiring soldiers in uniform, wars might end, and armies fade away.”

But Shaw’s views are quite different, He blasts the romantic myths attached to war.
The opening of the play is in the traditional style. There is reference to war and heroism in the beginning. When the curtain rises we find Raina, the heroine standing on the balcony and admiring the beauty of the night. There are shootings and war cries. Raina's lover Sergius is a Major in Bulgarian army. Raina's mother, Catherine comes and informs her that Sergius has worn a cavalry charge. She is all agog on account of this victory. She tells Raina excitedly:

“You can't guess how splendid it is. A cavalry charge! Think of that! He defied out Russian Commanders …. acted without orders, led a charge on his own responsibility … headed it himself … was the first man to sweep through their guns.”

Catherine rebukes Raina for keeping Sergius waiting for engagement. Raina is also very happy on receiving this news. She exclaims, “Sergius is just as splendid as he looks! … What happiness, what unspeakable fulfillment!

Sergius is the figure of traditional romantic, hero. Raina embraces his photograph. The entry of another hero on the scene is also in keeping with traditional romantic views. He is a fugitive and enters Raina’s bedroom with a pistol in his hands. But everything that follows shatters the idealist notion of war.

Bluntschli, who takes shelter in Raina’s bed chamber is a coward and un-chivalrous. He is terrified and runs for his life when Raina shrieks after sitting on his pistol. He does not nourish any heroic scruples and does not hesitate in using Raina’s night gown as weapon of his defence. His revolver is empty because he prefers chocolates to cartridges. He tells Raina: What uses are cartridges in Battle? I always carry chocolate instead and I finished the last cake of that hours ago.” Bluntschli's attitude towards war is anti romantic and down to earth . He is a professional soldier. He fights for living and doss not have any patriotic feeling. He admits: “I am a Swiss, fighting merely as a professional soldier. I joined the Serbs 'because they came first on the road from Switzerland.
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Although Raina starts hating this man, she also realizes that he has practical approach to life. He may avoid bullets but he faces facts. He believes that Sergius’. Cavalry charge was an act of foolishness. Ha tells Raina that Sergius was a fool to attack guns with a small army of horses. It was clearly a suicidal attempt by him, he tells Raina:
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“Of all the fools ever let loose on a field of battle, that man must be the very maddest. He and his regiment simply committed suicide. Only the pistol missed fire. That's all.”

Bluntschli believes that nine out of ten soldiers are born fools. Sergius did not show any bravery in attacking the guns of the Serbian army. It was his good luck that the Serbian army did not have any adequate ammunition, otherwise his regiment would have been cut down by the artillery fire. A cavalry charge is just like throwing a handful of peas against the window panes".

Bernard Shaw is a great lover of humanity. War, according to him is barbarous and inhuman. The cavalry charge for which Sergius is so much praised is unprofessional and foolish. This opinion can no-be contradicted. There are instances where the Generals of army do no-learn professional lesson that neither human nor horse flesh is any match for machine gun bullets. On 1st July, 1916 the British army suffered sixty thousand causalities in the first day's fighting of the battle of the Somme. By 1917 the French army had been driven to mutiny by such unprofessional conduct. In the play Bluntschli also calls Sergius’ conduct unprofessional:

* Is it professional to throw a regiment of Cavalry on a battery of machine guns, with the dead certainty that if the guns go off not a horse or man will ever get within fifty yards of the fire? I could not believe my eyes when I saw it.”

Contrary to the romantic notions of war and knighthood, Bluntschli that all wise soldiers are afraid to die.

Shaw has succeeded in portraying the horror of war. He brings forth the weakness of human life in the war of guns and artillery. The play ends with the words " What a man! spoken by Sergius for Bluntschli. This implies that Sergius loves Bluntschli both as a soldier and as a man. This is the climax of 8haw’s anti-war theme in the play.

Bernard Shaw has also pointed out the importance of food in the war. Food is more important then ammunition. A hungry soldier cannot eat cartridges. That is why the practical soldier Bluntschli carries chocolates in place of cartridges even in the battle field. This view is opposite to Raina's notions of romantic warriors so she calls Bluntsciili a Chocolate Cream soldier, first in derogatory terms and later fondly, after falling in love with him.

The critics in Shaw's time were very severe in their censure of this play for belittling the military virtues. Shaw defended his play in an article. He wrote:

“War, as we all know, appeals very strongly to the romantic imagination. We owe the greatest realistic novel in the world, ‘Don Quixote’ to the awakening lesson which a romantically imaginative man received from some practical experience of real soldiering”.

So, "Arms and the Man* is a mouthpiece of Shaw’s anti-war and ant-military views. Me censures the romantic notions of war that every hero Should be brave and life-risking. He calls Sergius, Don Quixote charging windmills or a ‘Drum Major’. Shaw’s critics called him cynic, but there is a lot of truth and realism in his description of the horrors of war,