The ideas that Shaw brings across in the play are: anti-war ideas, realistic view of the world and the gap between the rich
and influent and the poor.
For example,
Sergius is secretly seeing Louka, but he is forbidden to do it not only because he is Raina’s fiancé but also because they are of different social class, which matters a lot at the time the play takes place.
Shaw''s anti-war ideas are brought through the characters Sergius and Bluntschli. Although Bluntschli’s ideals are more realistic, sergius also said that war is the coward’s art of attacking when you are strong and running away when you are weak. Bluntschli’s opinion is that the important
thing in war is not to fight the enemy, but to survive it.
Raina is the main character in the play, and as such, all the ideas are presented through her. Bluntschli, who came by chance to her house, broke all of her views of romance, men and war.
The plot itself contains many anti-war ideas- The story of Bluntschli’s friend who died, Bluntschli himself who takes chocolate to the battle because weapons won’t help him survive, and sergius who charged and almost got himself killed, show that war is generally a bad thing and unlike portrayed the books Raina reads.
Bluntschli is the character that “speaks for Shaw” in the play and makes the other characters understand the world better. Nicola and Louka are servants but they have a lot of influence despite their low level in society. In fact they influenced the ending of the play a lot, and Shaw had shown that every class in the society has its part and importance and can actually influence the higher classes more than they think.