Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw's father, George Carr Shaw, was an alcoholic which

meant not much money was spent on Shaw's education, therefore he was

mainly self-taught, since he was self-taught he never had ideas forced

upon him, this caused him to turn into a strong minded individual who

expressed his opinions. He was a socialist and a critic who believed

strongly in equality. Shaw wrote many plays, which expressed his

opinions, one of the most famous being Pygmalion. Shaw uses Pygmalion

to show the superficial basis of the class system.

Pygmalion is set in London, in the early 1900's when the distinction

between classes was more defined. I believe Shaw choose to set the

play in London because it has the widest range of classes and would

make it easier for him to show how false the class system really is.

There is the queen who is considered to be of the highest class and

people living on the streets who are considered to be of the lowest

class.

Shaw uses Pygmalion to show how false the class system is and how it

is based on superficial ideas. Shaw shows that people can't be put

into categorise when he makes the characters exceed the boundaries of

the groups they have placed in. One of the characters to do this is

Eliza, who exceeds the boundaries of lower class. " I'm a good girl I

am." She shows that she is well mannered, and has more morals than

Higgins. She also shows herself to have a lot of pride and

self-respect.

Through Higgins and Pickering's perceptions of Eliza, we are shown

that the class system is all in the mind of the beholder and how it is

perceived differently in each person. Higgins sees Eliza as lower

class; "I treat a duchess as if she were a flowe...

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...Shaw shows how people are judged when we first meet Doolittle. "He'll

make bad use of it I'm afraid!" because of his poverty-stricken

appearance, Pickering assumes that Doolittle will waste the money.

Shaw also uses Doolittle to show that happiness can't be bought with

money, when we first meet Doolittle he is happy but when he comes into

money he doesn't like his new lifestyle and isn't happy with his new

found finances.

Shaw successfully criticises the British class system through

Pygmalion. He shows how people can't be fitted into categorise as he

makes many of the characters exceed the boundaries that they have been

confined within. Through Pygmalion he picks up on the class system's

many flaws and how easily it can be proved wrong. Pygmalion is

successful in getting the message across about the class system and

how it is based on superficial ideas.