What role does Burgess play in Candida? What repels you most about him in the play?

Burgess is a minor character in the play ‘Candida’ by Shaw. He is the father of Candida and father-in-law of Morell. He is an unrefined, coarse and a vulgar person. As he spoke cockney dialect, he sounds quite different from others. His very speech is a source of fun for many. Though he does not contribute to further the action in the play, his appearance at crucial moments is essential. In fact, he has been used by Shaw as a representative of the modern capitalists. Through him, Shaw is able to show what capitalism essentially is. Burgess enabled Morell to air his views on socialism.

Burgess and Morell have not met for three years because Burgess had lost a contract due to Morell. Burgess had sent a tender for the supply of clothing to the workhouse. As he would have paid the worst wages to the women workers, Morell persuaded the organisers of the workhouse not to accept his contract. This embittered Burgess and kept him away from his own daughter and son-in law.

Burgess, being a capitalist, his only aim in life is to make profit by hook or by crook. So, he makes his workers over work and pays them the lowest wages. This is contrary to the cannons of socialism so dear to Morell’s heart. Morell calls him a ‘scoundrel’. Though Burgess claims that he has changed, it becomes clear that he has not changed at all. He remains a mean and selfish contractor. When Morell ties his handkerchief around the neck of Lexy Mill, his curate, as he is going out into the cold air, Burgess objects to his human gesture by saying that he is spoiling his curates. Morell tells him “I always keep my curates in their places as my helpers and comrades”.

Through Burgess, the dramatist has also shown the other side of the picture. Burgess tells Morell that it is all very well to pay higher wages to the workers, but the more you pay them, the more they drink. According to him, higher wages make them worse, instead of better as fathers and husbands. Thus, Burgess places the opposite point of view which cannot be dismissed lightly, and has the dramatic necessity in a play of ideas like ‘Candida’.

The most important function of Burgess in the play is to provide comic relief. His remarks are full of fun and humour. His remark, “A clergyman is privileged to be a fool, you know” is quite hilarious. The way he comes to understand that Morell, Marchbanks, Candida, Proserpine are all fools is also quite amusing. As he insults and abuses those who are on the lower rung of the social ladder, he receives no respect from any of them. Proserpine calls him ‘a silly old fathead’, a remark which pleases than offends Morell. The way he cringes before Marchbanks as he is known to be an Earl’s nephew is both amusing and disgusting.

In short, Burgess plays a minor role in ‘Candida’. He enables Morell to express his views of socialism. He provides essential comic relief in an otherwise serious play.

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