Character sketch of Louka
Louka is a maidservant in the household of the Petkoffs. Her special duty is to look after the comforts of Miss Raina. She is not only a clever and intelligent girl, she is also quite pretty. This we infer especially from Petkoff's joke to her when he returns from war. "Well, the Serbs haven't run away with you, have they?" Early in the second Act of the play we learn that she is engaged to the manservant Nicola.
But we are never in doubt that she is not meant to be a servant forever. She always looks above her station and feels somewhat uncomfortable in her role as a servant. Nevertheless, she discharges her duties with a sense of responsibility.
A Gignified Woman
Louka is always conscious of her dignity as a woman, even though she is a mere maidservant. She does not suffer from a sense of inferiority on that account. Right from the start of the play, we feel that there is a kind of rivalry and a secret mistrust between Raina and her maid Louka.
Louka does not lose a chance of being patronizing to Raina whenever such an occasion comes. She is always consciously polite to the Petkoffs. In Louka, we feel, Shaw has tried to uphold his concept of social equality between the upper and the lower classes. As A.C. Ward remarks, "As an upholder of social equality Shaw was opposed to any idea that servants are an inferior class. He held that all necessary work, however menial, is valuable as a service in the community." Louka's attitude is a confirmation of this ideal.
An intelligent woman
Louka is a very intelligent girl. Excepting Bluntschli, she is perhaps the most intelligent character in the play. She is a shrewd observer. It is she who secretly marks Bluntschli's revolver lying on the ottoman in Raina's bedroom, the revolver which was so unexpectedly missed by the Russian officer Searching the room.
It is also a mark of her shrewdness to guess that the relationship between Raina and Sergius is not likely to materialize in marriage. Bluntschli's coming on the scene is truly judged by Louka as a turning point in the relationship between Sergius and Raina. As a woman, she instinctively understands where her true interest lies.
She does not try to tempt Sergius away from Raina, however. But she does not object to his love-making and, in fact, tries to exploit his weakness in her self-interest. There is nothing objectionable in this behaviour of Louka. And if Sergius at last chooses to marry Louka instead of Raina, he is by no means a loser.
Louka is likely to be a better life companion to him than Raina. The clearest and most striking instance of Louka's intelligence is in her first encounter with Sergius. The whole scene is filled with her clever conversations, but the following may be noted with particular attention.
Sergius asks her, "If you were in love with me, would you spy out of windows on me?" She replies. "Since you say you are half a dozen different gentlemen all at once I should have a great deal to look after." And we cannot but exclaim with Sergius, "Witty as well as pretty."
An Ambitious Woman
Louka is an ambitious girl. She is not content with her situation as a maidservant. She is impatient with Nicola for preaching to her to be a clever but obedient servant girl. She is almost always in a defiant mood.
Nicola tells her to be more respectful to her employers. She retorts. "You have no spirit. I should like to catch them saying a word against me." Nicola is more painstaking and elaborate in his attempt to teach Louka in Act III. Louka impatiently replies. "You were born to be a servant. Again, "I believe you would rather be my servant than my husband."
This streak of ambition becomes stronger and stronger in her as time passes. Ultimate.v she finds that the moment is ripe for her and she takes full advantage of it. She binds, Sergius with a promise and a vow. And true to his nature, Sergius keeps his promise, more of course out of bravado than as a result of sincere love for her.
A Determined Realist
Louka is from the start a realist. She most surely represents Bernard Shaw's own attitude to life. She Louka on everything from the practical point of view. Early in the play, we see her advising Raina as to how to open the shutters of her bedroom window if she wants to open them.
There is a slight remark there which shows how practical she is. She tells Raina, "One of them (i.e., the shutters) ought to be bolted at the bottom but the bolt's gone." Again, when Sergius tries to make love to her on the open lawn behind the house of the Petkoffs, she warns him, "Then stand back where we can't be seen.
Have you no common sense?" Louka is no romantic dreamer or idealist. She always keeps her common sense awake. It is on account of this that she makes a correct guess at Raina's love for Bluntschli. Working on the basis of her judgment in that regard, she proceeds to win the heart of Sergius and ultimately succeeds in her aim.
Conclusion
Thus we can say, by way of conclusion, that Louka in this play is the only female character who truly represents Shaw. She is intelligent, practical, witty, and quite shrewd. On account of these qualities, she rises from the humble situation of a servant girl to become the wife of Sergius who belongs to one of the richest families in Bulgaria.
In the process, she also dislodges Raina from the heart of Sergius. She is ambitious and she works in a determined way for the fulfilment of her ambition. Her success is truly deserved.
