Customer Reviews

Candida (Dodo Press)

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Like many writers at the turn of the 20th Century, Shaw was very much interested in "the woman question," for women were becoming increasingly independent and more of a challenge to men in both public and private spheres. Although he also addressed these issues in such other plays as PYGMALION and MAN AND SUPERMAN, CANDIDA is perhaps his clearest statement on the subject. Written in 1894, it is a statement that has proven timeless. It is easily among the favorite performance pieces of world theatre.

The plot is quite simple. The Rev. Morrell is a minister with a taste for reform--and he has had the good fortune to marry the perfect wife, a remarkable woman named Candida who has a talent for smoothing every path she encounters. One of the paths to which she has turned that talent is that of Marchbanks, a poetic young man who is the grip of all the emotional turmoil delayed adolescence implies. But Marchbanks has fallen in love with Candida, and when he informs her husband of this all hell breaks loose.

Throughout much of the play Morrell and Marchbanks engage in a series of brilliantly written duels over Candida, each of them espousing what Candida means to them and what they can give her, arguing through numerous philosophical issues in the process. But neither gentleman has actually troubled to consult Candida herself; when they eventually lay the issue before her and insist that she decide between them, she responds in a way that not only demonstrates how little they know of her, but how little they know about both women and the world in general.

The climax of the play has been dropping jaws in theatres for well over a hundred years and it seems likely that it will do so for at least a hundred more--and although Shaw presents his play as a comedy, it will be the rare husband who leaves it without a quick glance at his wife and the disturbed thought that like Candida, she may not be entirely what he has always believed her to be. Brilliantly written and reading as well on the page as it plays on the stage, CANDIDA is easily among the great plays of this or any other era; a personal favorite and very strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Peter Gahan's introduction to G.B. Shaw's play Candida in the new Penguin Classics edition shows an old favorite play in a very new light. Not only does Gahan read between the lines of the plot, he also draws the reader's attention to on-stage props, names, and even off-stage happenings, which might otherwise easily go unnoticed. He makes some truly amazing connections with a multitude of other works of art, such as Yeats' poetry, pre-Raphelite paintings, and Wagnerian opera. This new edition of Candida is worth buying for its introduction alone.

Comparing Shaw's Candida and Voltaire's Candide adds a dimension of understanding to both. Voltaire's Candide focuses on the enlightenment of a very naïve young boy who is influenced by his teacher, the philosopher Pangloss, who teaches him that this is "the best of all possible worlds" and therefore everything in it and everything that happens is not only good but the best that could possibly be. Voltaire was pocking fun at the philosopher Leibniz who taught this notion. Leibniz argued that God is good and all that he creates must of necessity be good. Voltaire shows that this is a ridiculous notion - according to this view, why save a man who is drowning since his death is "obviously" the best thing there is. The boy comes to understand that philosophy/thinking is not good; one should instead live life to the fullest.

Shaw's Candida focuses on a woman and what women want from men. However, the comedy in three acts also contains a very naïve young boy and it too enlightens men who have a wrong concept. The eighteen-year-old boy falls in love with the wife of an approximately forty-year-old pastor. She is fifteen years older than the boy. Both the pastor and the boy argue about who Candida should live with. Both want to give her the best of all possible worlds. Both ask Candida to decide between them. But, as in the Voltaire tale, Candida is not interested in the best of all possible worlds. She makes her choice based on an entirely different desire.

In this wonderful play, Shaw addresses the topic of what women really want in a man through the character of Candida, who is a brilliant woman responsible for her husband's success. When a handsome, young poet sets out to steal her away from her husband, whom the poet sees as too boring and complacent, Candida is forced to choose between the two men.
This is a fascinating character study that analyzes love, loyalty, and attraction in the context of a smart woman's desires. Shaw's choice of an extremely intelligent woman as the prize the two men are fighting over takes the premise and the stakes up to a much higher level and also increases my respect for the men involved. They are not battling over a dimwitted but lovely bimbo. They are vying for a very capable woman who is able to assess and address the situation intelligently.
Shaw is my favorite of the Victorian playwrights. His works were revolutionary in many ways. Use of humor was rare and exceptional for playwrights during that era, but Shaw was not afraid to make audiences laugh. He also tackled serious moral, political, and social issues in his plays at a time when sappy dramas were all the rage. He was truly bold and innovative and greatly contributed to dramatic art. He had an amazing gift, the ability to make people think while simultaneously making them laugh.

This was hilarious. I loved the way the illusion and the reality were exact opposites. Shaw is the master of the art of turning things upside down and making them humorous while also bringing up serious issues and causing us to really think about them.

Here we have a love triangle that raises the question of what good women really want and need.

This story was smart and funny. I loved it and wanted more when it was over. I'll have to buy another one of his books. I just love his style.

Shaw's feminist leanings come to light in this humorous tale of two men fighting over a woman who outranks them in intelligence. I thought the choice of characters used to engage the topic via a love triangle was perfect: a brilliant woman, a clergyman settled into his routine, and a dashing poet promising romance and excitement. I really enjoyed the story and wondered which man Candida would ultimately choose.
As usual, Shaw turns everything on its head. Candida's husband is a prominent and imposing man in public but in reality can't function without his wife. Candida herself is kind and clever and gently rules the roost. The idealistic poet is the catalyst who causes all to confront themselves, their needs, desires, and reality. It's a wonderful story with an explosive ending.
George Bernard Shaw created numerous masterpieces over the span of his writing career. He has the distinction of being the only person to ever be awarded both an Oscar and the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was a very humble and conscientious man, a political activist and a vegetarian. His conscientiousness shows in his work by his inability to write meaningless fluff at a time when fluff dominated the stage. His trademark is his classic use of ample humor in dramas with serious subject matter. It takes a special kind of genius to be able to pull that off as flawlessly as he did.
This book is excellent. It's as thought provoking as it is entertaining. There are times when you can't help laughing out loud. You'll be better for reading it. His works just have that effect - they both enrich and uplift you.