What changes appear in Marchbanks’ attitude towards love from Act I to Act III?

In Act I of the play, Marchbanks has been portrayed as a romantic poet and lover. However, he is attracted to the physical beauty of Candida and his relationship is more of physical infatuation. Even in Act II, he criticizes Morell for letting Candida do dirty work and getting her hands and fingers soiled which shows that he cares about physical goodness of hers rather than fulfillment of duties as a wife and as the lady of the house.

However, in Act III, his physical love gets replaced by spiritual love. He diverts his attention to avoid physical intimacy with Candida. He recites his poems to her and looks for an excuse to go out to park in night just to avoid being near her. When she asks him to say anything to her, he is able to say only ‘Candida’ as a prayer and he has no other words. While leaving in the end, he gave his happiness to Morell with both hands by saying that he loves Morell because latter has filled the heart of woman he loved. This emotional maturity of Marchbanks has played an important role in the climax as it happened.

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