Arms and the Man is one of George Bernard Shaw's most entertaining comedies. When a soldier fleeing from a battle takes shelter in the bedroom of a young lady of the enemy, the seeds of a romantic farce are sown. As the Petkoff family, their servants, and the soldier himself scramble to keep their secrets and preserve their ideals, they are forced to question their romantic notions about war, love, social class, and themselves. Shaw's delightful characters engage our sympathy even as they invite us to laugh at them, for their greatest crime is to take themselves too seriously—or not seriously enough.