As a young girl with the name of Eliza gazes out beyond the boundaries of her beautiful flower garden, she spots a magnificently dressed woman. The woman, draped in fine jewelry and a lavish evening gown was very beautiful and incredibly well off. The young girl Eliza thought to herself about what made her so different from the woman, and why she could not ever aspire to be as prosperous as this duchess. The reasoning for this difference in power is not one of personal or physical attributes, but rather one that deals completely with the time period of this age. During the nineteenth century, social classes dominated in England; it was a constant struggle for women to gain authority in these classes; Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw helps to demonstrate as well as rebuke this idea of inherited Social Classes (Trussler 980)
The nineteenth century in England was that of a new age, the age of industrial revolution. During this time, advancement in technology and production of goods was a primary reason for expansion. New inventions such as TNT, the carpet sweeper and the first successful typewriter all helped to contribute to the leaps and bounds Britain took forward during this time(Lambert). The telephone was invented in 1876, and along with the typewriter, created more jobs for women (Lambert). In addition, the invention of the railway also helped Britain to grow and expand. According to Trussler (302), “With the railway boom of the 1850’s, most parts of the country could be reached much more easily.” This was a very important part of the industrial revolution because not only could people move from place to place, exports and trade also increased as a result. Almost instantly, towns and cities began to appear and grow in si...
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... improve oneself, and he did not believe that people were born into social classes, rather people have the ability within themselves to determine what class they belong to (Buisel). Buisel states that Shaw’s play Pygmalion established Shaw as England’s leading playwright. Pygmalion, summarized previously in this paragraph, exhibits Shaw’s theme of nature over nurture (Bonham 983).
Pygmalion was a very representative play of the time period, Shaw was well known for bringing up problematic or conflict filled topics and revealing them for all the people to see. As elucidated before in this paper, Pygmalion is very representative because it deals with the issue of both social classes and women’s rights during the industrial revolution. His idea of nurture over nature is definitely revealed in this play, and little Eliza Doolittle is the prime example of his theory.
...class. This play also reflects the beginning class structure of the early modern European society. The European society was based sex and classes (Fiero, 2011).
In the Victorian era, in New York City, men and women roles within the society were as different as night and day. A man regardless of his extra curricular activities could still maintain a very prevalent place in society. A woman’s worth was not only based family name which distinguished her class and worth, but also her profession if that was applicable.
This essay is based on the reading of two literary plays, George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and Willy Russell’s Educating Rita. Language and identity are two expressions that need to be explained. English is the official language in several countries; Chinese is the language spoken by Chinese people and Danish is how Danes speak. But languages could also be described as different ways of talking due to social background, education, profession, age and sex. A person’s language is connected to his social situation. Eliza, the cockney flower girl from the gutter does not speak the same language as professor Higgins, even if English is their common mother tongue. They speak differently because they belong to different social worlds. Identity can signify the very special characteristic of a person, something that makes him differ from others.
Certain classes in society demand certain expectations of the people to which they belong. In the lower class there is minimal pressure or convention compared to the wealthy and the nobles but maximum and criticism from the rest of society. The upper has a certain template that must be filled in order to fit in with that class. The middle class is a fusion of the two opposing classes, resulting in the “middle class morality”(75). Constructed by meshing the negative aspects of the poor and negative of the rich, leaving a character hanging somewhere in purgatory. In Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Alfred Doolittle is constrained to conform to the three classes: upper class, lower class and middle class. Mr. Doolittle adapts to the conventions that socitety has placed upon him, giving him the “middle class morality”(75) that is so disliked. Given the circumstances Mr. Doolittle is forced to go through with the trials of alternating classes throughout Pygmalion. In Pygmalion Shaw develops the idea that out of the three different classes middle class is the worst, because the rich can do whatever they want and because “the undeserving poor”(75) have nothing to live up to, no standards of life, morals.
There are many distinctions between Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, which helps the play deliver Shaw’s message, which is not to intrude in other social classes, one is the alteration of the ending in the movie. In Pygmalion, the play ends with Eliza leaving with Freddy, but in My Fair Lady, the movie ends with Eliza returning to Higgins. Although this revision may seem miniscule, they drastically altered how Shaw’s messa...
As reflected in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, one’s social status depended heavily on one’s speech and appearance. Eliza Doolittle is born into the lower class as reflected by her cockney dialect and seems to be destined to remain in said class until both her speech and dress are changed with help. The fact that her social status can be elevated with the mere change of tongue and cloth points to how obviously artificial the division between classes were and how one could change themselves with poise and ease.
In the play, Pygmalion, it shows how trying to change someone for who are not could end up being a disaster. For example, Liza was telling Higgins to just leave her where he had found her, because all he was trying to do was change her. While Higgins and Liza are arguing, she notices how all along that they were trying to change her whole lifestyle. Higgins and Pickering were trying to make Liza into a proper woman to their own standards. Throughout Pygmalion, Liza never even imagines that they are trying to transform her into a proper lady and trying to change her all together.
In this demonstration, everybody is presented in exceptionally sorted parts. In this scene, Shaw presents just about all his real characters, however alludes to them by part instead of name in his stage bearings: Note-Taker, The Flower Girl, The Daughter, The Gentleman, and so forth. Besides, his stage headings portraying where characters stand with each line, especially in connection to different characters, appear to be more than meticulous in their point of interest. This brings out a general public whose parts have inflexible relations to each other. The odd, apparently unessential scene when The Mother gives the Flower Girl cash to figure out how she knew her child's name demonstrates the Mother's expect that her child may be taking up with the wrong sort. The occurrence additionally conflates a genuine name with a typical term that can apply to anybody; Freddy is for a minute both term and character. Before the end of the demonstration, The Note-Taker, The Gentleman, and The Flower Girl have gotten to be Higgins, Pickering, and Eliza, individually. This move will proceed through the length of the play, where a less unmistakable blossoming of genuine persons out of negligible social positions happens. In the event that Higgins is one sort of Pygmalion who makes a blossom young lady a
Throughout history, people of diverse cultures and different social standings have all shared the common issue of conforming to society's standards, unable fit the mold their community provides for them. The British civilization, the oldest societies recorded in history, has evolved drastically since it’s creation and even this great empire had its own issues with classism. The playwright George Bernard Shaw publicly displays the struggles of the poverty stricken class of the late nineteenth century. Through his underprivileged character, Eliza Doolittle and her desperate attempt to escape her unfortunate stereotype as a woman and as a member of the poor, in his beloved drama Pygmalion.
Through the three versions of Pygmalion, the original Ovid’s Pygmalion, Shaw's written play and the movie My Fair Lady, each share similarities and differences that help develop the plot. In Ovid's version, the symbolism derived was falling in love with one's own creation and self-obsession. Both the movie and play have similar connections to the myth and certain forms of archetypal criticism although the movie demonstrates this more through and interactions of the characters.
Shaw’s play "Pygmalion" and the movie "Born Yesterday" both explore many of the same issues and characteristics. They are similar because they both portray that what other people think should not matter as much as what you think of yourself but, what show yourself to be is how people will think and view of you. This is shown by similarities between the characters Billie and Eliza and the combined attitudes of Harry and Paul to Henry Higgins. They also both share the plot of taking someone who does not belong and changing them to belonging.
Pygmalion is one of Shaw's most popular plays as well as one of his most straightforward ones. The form has none of the complexity that we find in Heartbreak House or Saint Joan, nor are the ideas in Pygmalion nearly as profound as the ideas in any of Shaw's other major works. It can be considerated an issue of language.
In society, we are judged by our social class. We are divided into groups depending on our wealth, influence, and status. With each social class, society has certain expectations and norms that they expect people from their catorgorie to follow. For instance, society assumes that the higher an individual is on the hierarchy, the more prosperous and content they are. These are the ideas that Bernard Shaw challenges. Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and socialist that desired to demolish the caste system in Britain. He used his play, Pygmalion to depict the contrast of social classes. He exploited his characters, Eliza and Doolittle to depict their experience with rising to the upper class in terms of realism and idealism. He shows us clearly
Bernard Shaw’s comedy Pygmalion presents the journey of an impoverished flower girl into London’s society of the early 20th century. Professor Higgins proposes a wager to his friend Colonel Pickering that he can take a common peddler and transform her into royalty. Eliza Doolittle is the pawn in the wager. But little does Higgins know the change will go far beyond his expectations: Eliza transforms from a defensive insecure girl to a fully confident,strong, and independent woman. When the audience first meets Eliza Doolittle she is a flower girl peddling at 11 PM in front of St. Paul’s Church. The audience’s first impression is one of sympathy because she is dressed in rags and pedestrians are unkind to her. Higgins calls Eliza "you squashed cabbage leaf, you disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns, you incarnate insult to the English language." (p. 21) The audience’s sympathy is intensified when we see Eliza’s wretched lodgings. These lodgings are much contrasted to those of Higgins in Wimploe S...
Through the play Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw attempts to prove that one is a slave to their own self-worthlessness until they decide to absorb all aspects of growth and truly feel that they are worth it. Shaw incorporates the theme of appearance versus reality to describe the change that Eliza undergoes. Eliza appears to have changed her image of self-worth through her facade of pleasant appearance, proper speech and sense of dignity. However, these aspects are not an accurate representation of her inner state. Eliza does not decide to change internally therefore her views on self-worth remained as she transforms from a flower girl to an "independent woman."