Monday, October 3, 2011

Pygmalion

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is a play about a young woman learning to speak proper English to create new openings in her life and the two men who teach her. Eliza Doolittle is a poor flower girl who catches the attention of Professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering. She becomes the source of a bet between the two, and they attempt to educate and refine her to the point that they can pass her off as a duchess.

There are some debates over who is the main character of the play: Eliza or Higgins. I, personally, view Eliza as the main character. She is the person who took began play by coming into Higgins' home and demanding that he make good of his claim to be able to teach her proper English. She is also the person who ended the play by choosing to leave Higgins and once again obtain some form of independence. It seemed to me that she was the main character because so much of the plot revolved her actions. It also followed her story from her humble, yet independent, beginning in the streets, to learning from Higgins and Pickering, to leaving them because they viewed her as a bet, not a person. The focus of the story seemed to revolve much more around her than around Higgins who went through no changes whatsoever.

The social point that Shaw seems to be making with Pygmalion is that people in higher social classes have less freedom. Eliza begins the play by being a totally independent flower girl. By the end of the play, she has been educated to the rank of a noble. This leaves her with no where to go because she has been educated for the higher life and can't go back to the lowly lifestyle that she used to have. Eliza struggles with her lack of options and tries to regain some independence by leaving Higgins and using what he taught her to make a living. This restraining social class is also shown in Eliza's father. Doolittle is happy at the beginning of the play when he only has a little money and can lead a simple life. At the end of the play, he is a member of the middle class and is miserable. Shaw was trying to show how unsatisfying life is in high social classes because of their lack of independence.

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