A Study of the idea of "virgin mother" as reflected in George Bernard Shaw's candida

Arianti, Ira (1998) A Study of the idea of "virgin mother" as reflected in George Bernard Shaw's candida. Bachelor thesis, Petra Christian University.

Abstract

A woman often becomes an interesting topic to be talked about. The main character in Candida is also a woman. Candida is only an ordinary woman, a house wife. What makes this play interesting is that Shaw's statement in his collected letters to his friend, Ellen Terry. He stated that Candida is the Virgin Mother and nobody else. George Bernard Shaw seems to associate the main female character, Candida, with the Virgin Mother, Mary. It is quite interesting because Candida is only an ordinary woman while Mary is a saint, the mother of Jesus. Thus, this study of Shaw's Candida is aimed to find out which characteristic(s) of Candida that reflect the qualiti(es) of the Virgin Mother. In this thesis, the writer uses the theory of characterization to Analyze Candida's characteristics that reflect the qualities of the Virgin Mother. Candida's characteristics can be seen through her relationship with the two men: her husband, James Morell and an eighteen years old boy named Eugene Marchbanks. Candida's attitude towards those two men and what are the two men's attitude towards Candida shows Candida's characteristics. Candida actually has one common quality with the Virgin Mother and that is the maternal characteristic.

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