My Fair Lady Comparative Essay

My Fair Lady, directed by George Cukor, is a musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, and Pygmalion is an adaptation of Ovid’s story Pygmalion and the Statue. Both the book and the film have similarities in their characters and plot; however, they differ in terms of the take on the Archetypes within Ovid’s story. While both deal with the same archetypes, Cukor’s musical fits better in terms of Archetypal Criticism.

In Ovid’s story, Pygmalion has a strong dislike for the women where he lives, except the women he creates. Just like Pygmalion, HIggins has a strong disdain for women. During the end of the play, Higgins shows a dislike for his creation - Liza in both the play and the film - calling her an “impudent slut” (Act V). Ovid’s Pygmalion would never do such a thing as he absolutely adores his creation; his creation is the love of his life. While Higgins is upset with Liza at the end of My Fair Lady, he quickly realizes that he misses her. He recognizes that he enjoys having her around and he begins to regret his actions. When Liza returns, he jokingly tells her to fetch his slippers; the tone in his voice suggest that he is glad to have her back. The Liza

His creation shows no signs of free thinking and blindly follows Pygmalion. While neither Liza’s are blind followers to Higgins, the Liza in the play is more defiant than the one in the musical. Throughout the play, we are shown Liza’s defiance as she becomes more and more self-reliant. As the final act closes, Liza tells Higgins she “shall not see him again” (Act 5), suggesting that she is fed up with him. While the Liza has the same idea in the film, she ultimately returns to Higgins, showing that there is some part of here not ready to let go of Higgins. While neither portrayals of Liza are spot on, the Liza in the musical fits better into the created archetype in Ovid’s Pygmalion and the