In Pygmalion, Shaw presents the classical story of a professor who transforms a girl of the lower class into an elegant creature, who then falls in love with him—unfortunately in love, that is.

Set in Bulgaria, Arms and the Man satirizes romantic attitudes about love and war. Raina, the heroine, falls in love with a cowardly, chocolate-loving enemy soldier during an unnamed war. After the war, her fiance challenges her new admirer to a duel, loses heart, and proposes to the maid instead.