Candida is a story of eternal triangle that Shaw deals with in an unconventional way.

1. Submitted to Complied by
Dr.Naveen K Mehta Soumya Tiwari
Associate Professor Research Scholar
Department of English Department of English
Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies (SUBIS)

2. George Bernard Shaw
 George Bernard Shaw was born July 26,
1856, in Dublin,
 Shaw's first plays were published in volumes
titled "Plays Unpleasant"
(containing Widowers' Houses, The
Philanderer and Mrs. Warren's Profession)
and "Plays Pleasant" (which had Arms and the
Man, Candida, The Man of Destiny and You
Never Can Tell).

3. INTRODUCTION
Written in 1895, George Bernard Shaw’s play “Candida” comes second in the collection “Plays
Pleasant” and is sub-titled “A Mystery”. The play is often categorized as a comedy, an anti-romantic play and
a drama of ideas. It is the story of eternal triangle that Shaw deals with in an unconventional way.
Candida is subtitled A Mystery, and, though Shaw is treating a dramatic convention with humor, there is
perhaps a more serious sense in which he uses the subtitle: There is some mystery involved in the ties that
bind people together in marriage. In the climactic scene, in which Candida is made to choose between the two
men, a traditional dramatist might have demonstrated the lover to be a cad and have thrown him out. A more
romantic dramatist would have shown the husband to be a tyrant and had the wife and lover elope. Shaw
chooses neither solution. He has the wife remain with the husband, but not because the lover is a cad or
because she owes it to her husband contractually or for any of the standard reasons Morell offers, but because
he needs her and she loves him. In this mystery about what binds partners in marriage, Shaw seems to suggest
that it is not the contract, still less any ideal of purity, but simply mutual love and need.
.

4. Candida examines marriage and the relationship between husband and wife in the late Victorian era. It centers
around Candida Morell, a beautiful and charming woman who is married to Reverend James Morell, a dedicated
Christian socialist. The couple have taken in Eugene Marchbanks, a young, idealistic poet, who Morell found
sleeping on the Embankment in London. Candida finds herself the subject of a tug-of-war between the two men
as Marchbanks declares his passionate love for Morell’s wife. The crisis reaches its peak when Marchbanks
challenges Morell to question Candida’s love for him and the true state of his marriage. Marchbanks believes that
Candida deserves his eternal love and devotion, observing that household chores and domestic expectations are
far beneath her. Alternatively, Morell believes that his wife needs his care and protection. However, neither man’s
expectations of Candida are correct. Ultimately, she declares that she loves and must be with the “weaker of the
two”--her husband. Morell is the man that needs her care and protection, who is selfless enough to step down
when he believes she may love another, and the man to whom Candida wishes to be “the sum of all loving care”.

5. Characters in the play Candida
Miss Proserpine Garnett: The Reverend Morell’s secretary, Miss Garnett isn’t always civil in her manner; however, she is sensitive,
affectionate, and devoted to Morell. Efficiency is her strong suit.
The Reverend James Morell: A Christian Socialist clergyman, Morell is a popular lecturer and an able clergyman and is able to say
what he likes to whom he likes, although always with tact. He is enthusiastic, self confident and generally pleased with himself. He
feels he has the perfect relationship with his wife, Candida.
The Reverend Alexander Mill: Morell’s curate, Mill is a conceited, well-intentioned, immature young novice.
Mr. Burgess: Candida’s father, Burgess is a businessman whose practices tend to be determined by economic necessity. He and
Morell do not get along well, and he seems unaware of his own coarseness.
Candida: Morell’s wife, Candida is able to manage people quite nicely by engaging their affection. She does so frankly and
instinctively, almost without scruple. She is well aware of her sexual attractiveness and is clever enough to make the most of it for
her own ends. Her actions also suggest a largeness of mind and dignity of character.
Eugene Marchbanks: A painfully shy youth, Marchbanks is miserably irresolute and hardly knows where to stand or what to do.
Sensitive in the extreme, his confidence seems to be found only in the poetry he writes, although he can sometimes be petulant and
willful.

6. Reverend James Morell
The Reverend Morell is a socialist, a clergyman of the Church of England, and Candida’s husband. He is “robust and
good-looking, full of energy, with pleasant, hearty, considerate manners, and a sound, unaffected voice.” He is an
extremely busy man, and his lecturing skills are in high demand. As a child, Morell was spoiled by his family, and he is
ignorant of the fact that his wife has allowed for his current success through her constant support and care.
When Morell observes Candida’s affection for Marchbanks, he fears that he is losing his wife. Marchbanks puts
Candida’s affections to the test: he leaves her and Marchbanks at home alone while he gives a lecture. When this test
proves inconclusive and Candida has not shown a clear preference, Morell and Marchbanks demand that Candida
choose between them. Candida asks the two men to “bid” on her, and Morell offers Candida his strength and provision;
however, Candida ultimately chooses Morell because she knows he is weak and needs her help more than Marchbanks.
Morell discovers at this point how dependent he is on Candida and how vital she has been to his success. When he
finally realizes this, Morell exclaims, “It’s all true, every word. What I am you have made me with the labor of your
hands and the love of your heart!”

7. Eugene Marchbanks
Eugene Marchbanks is an eighteen-year-old poet whom Morell once found sleeping outside
and brought home. He is the nephew of an earl and very timid: he fears meeting strangers,
open conversation, and tipping cab drivers. He has fallen passionately in love with Candida,
idolizes her, and seeks to amuse her with flights of fancy. Marchbanks declares that Morell is
not worthy of her, and Morell grows angry and fearful.
Marchbanks offers his “weakness,” “desolation,” and “heart’s need” to Candida as his “bid”
for her love. Despite this petition for Candida’s love and pity, Candida chooses Morell,
revealing that though Marchbanks is in need of love, Morell needs her more. Marchbanks
willingly accepts Candida’s choice and leaves.

8. Candida(protagonist)
 Candida is the main protagonist in the play Candida. She is a mature woman. In this play, however, Shaw
uses the character of Candida to illustrate the strength of women. Although the men in the play appear to
demonstrate conventional male "strength" in the sense of success in business, the church, and the arts, it is
Candida's strength and that of women in general who are the power behind this success.
 Candida herself is an anti-romantic character who sees marriage as grounded in partnership. She is intelligent
and competent and has a level of wisdom and insight that enables her to make good choices. She has few
social prejudices and is equally competent at cooking and managing her husband. She is fundamentally kind
and clever and is an example of a true partner in a relationship. She is also a person who has a great amount of
practical common sense.

9.  Her very name, Candida, suggests openness/frankness of her mind. She is a middle aged home-maker, the wife of a socialist
clergyman, James Morell. Morell enjoys popularity and fame as a public speaker and a social reformist, but he is absolutely
dependent on Candida who has to protect and help her husband out. There comes a young poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who
informs Candida about another world, a world of poetry and imagination beyond the routine of domesticity. Morell becomes
suspect of a 'calf love' between the poet and his devoted wife. He feels scared because his stable status of a successful
husband depends a lot on Candida's self-sacrifice in the role of a wife. Morell has always believed himself as strong, though
his strength is a false impression born of a patriarchal mindset. The climax is reached in the 'auction scene' at the end of the
play. Candida places herself at an auction before her husband and her young lover. Morell offers her all that relates to the so-
called social-domestic status of a woman, whereas Marchbanks offers her all that relates to passion and imagination.
Candida chooses 'the weaker of the two', her husband.
 Shaw’s characterization of Candida is complicated. She takes the conventional role of a woman as a homemaker, but she
also embraces feminist ideals about marriage and liberated sexuality. The character of Candida focuses on ideals that
women need to emancipate from the oppressions disguised in forms of love and marriage. Shaw questions the assumption of
conventional women roles of a good daughter, wife and mother for the family presumed as the ultimate goal for women in
return of love and protection from their husbands. The devotion and sacrifice of women to their domestic lives are
considered inferior compared to the power of husband as a provider of social status and economic support for the family.
In Candida, the audience sees the assumption of women trapped in domesticity presented differently by the heroine’s
reversed standpoint. Candida, an embodiment of Shaw’s feminism, undermines the Christian socialist and Romantic ideals
of women to introduce a new ideal of womanliness..

10.  Women are no longer considered as inferior or trapped in domestic lives, but a wife who takes the role of
true provider of affection and support for her husband.
 Morell idealizes Candida to the traditional female role of an “angel in the house”. His appreciation of
Candida’s “goodness” and “purity” as a good wife and mother uncovers his false assumption that she happy
with domestic life because he provides her a home and protection. A different notion about ideal woman is
presented by Eugene Marchbanks, Candida’s young admirer who stands for Romanticism. Marchbanks
misunderstands Candida’s mothering for him as her liberated passion for romance. Despite their difference,
both Morell and Marchbanks illustrate the same notion of woman as a weaker sex. But, Candida turns out to
be an active Shavian female character who is capable to speak her thoughts against convention.
 Shaw uses a trite love-triangle only to turn it upside down in his characteristic iconoclastic (criticizing or
attacking cherished beliefs or institutions) manner. The woman in this three-some relationship comes out
triumphant: she neither leaves her husband to go with her lover; nor does she apologies for her mistake to
stay back; nor is she driven out by her husband. A radical feminist shall never be happy with this Shavian
resolution, for Candida is still not liberated from domestic servility. But Shaw's Candida must be a very
different woman who has realized and registered her clear control and supremacy over her husband. Now
on, Morell has to live as 'the weaker' of the two

11. Themes
Candida is one of the most popular of Shaw‟s plays. It deals with the themes like the institution of marriage and family,
exploitation of workers by employers, Christian socialism and the university education. The theme of love triangle – two
men in love with the same woman – has been treated in number of European plays for centuries. In the conventional love
triangles, the woman repents for her immoral behaviour and gives up her lover or her husband rejects her completely. In either
of these possibilities, she is always at the receiving end. This love triangle is turned upside down by Shaw in Candida. Candida
is the strongest character in the play.

12.  Conclusion
 Shaw combines the controversial with the comic in order to raise awareness for social reforms. Candida provides us with
entertainment and also makes us aware of the problems in the society. Shaw tried to bring about social reform through the
dramatic portrayals of the ills of his time.
 Among the early comedies, in Candida Shaw follows Ibsen in championing woman‟s freedom. He won the Nobel Prize in
1925. His plays combine comedy with political, philosophical, and polemic aspects, aiming to make an impact on his
audience's social conscience as well as their emotions.
 The chief purpose in writing a play for Shaw was to discuss some burning problems. The institution of marriage and family,
the exploitation of workers by employers like Burgess, the university education etc. are discussed in detail in this play. Shaw
analyses the theme of eternal triangle Morel and Marchbanks striving for the love of Candida.
 This theme is one of the most common themes in drama from earlier times. Shaw differs from the other dramatist in
his treatment of this theme. Candida is different from the heroines of the other plays dealing with the same theme. She
is not a sentimental woman. Being a new woman, she is Shaw‟s mouthpiece and will not allow morel of Marchbanks to
settle her fate. As soon as she comes to know about the situation she takes full control of it and makes up her mind to
solve the matter herself.
 When Marchbanks says that Candida belongs to neither of them but to herself. She notes: I mean that and a good deal more,
master Eugene, as you will both find out presently. Shaw also discuss Christian socialism in the play deals with the exploit ion
of workers by the employers like Burgess . Shaw suggests that industrialism and capitalism will prove fatal to the lower class
people.

13. Thank you
 The presenter greatly acknowledge all the material from reliable sources.