Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion The passage taken from Act 2 of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion marks a critical turning point in the plot line and character development of the novel. The characters of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, who have met earlier by mere coincidence, have now deliberately begun a relationship, due to various motives. Eliza wants to move up in the hierarchy of society and Henry wants to prove his talent to Colonel Pickering. The extract is significant because it initiates a long learning process for Eliza and because Henry changes the next six months of his life, if not the rest of it. Act 1 served as an initiation of the play and now, this passage from Act 2 presents itself as one of the fundamental turning points in the play. Shaw creates a story line where the relationships have an intriguing turning point as Eliza is deciding on whether she should leave or stay in Henry’s home. Through the use of language, character development, not to mention stage directions, Shaw makes this excerpt interesting as well as remarkable. As mentioned briefly above, this passage is about Eliza’s decision in the play concerning her potential departure. There is a lot of character development within this passage as we see the selfishness in Henry and the weakness in Eliza. It starts by Henry retaining a selfish and crude attitude towards Eliza. This is also where some of the humor within the passage comes in. Henry jokes about Eliza lacking any form of feelings and Eliza constitutes that “[she has her] feelings same as anyone else”, Henry disrupts the conversation and addresses only Pickering asking if he “see[s] the difficulty […] to get her to talk grammar”. This proclamation by Henry is extremely rude and it shows how little respect he has for Eliza and people of her standards. It is only when Eliza threatens to leave that he softens up and offers her chocolates. This is because his interest in proving himself to Pickering makes him realize that he needs to be gentler to Eliza in order of achieving anything with her. While Henry is rude, we see that Eliza is weak, most likely caused by her struggle and despair. While Eliza lives a life where she scrapes together whatever she can find, it becomes impossible for her not to accept the offers from Henry. While she might not seem to enjoy something, there is no doubt that she must accept it.
In her final letter to her mother, Eliza admits her wrong doings. She tells her mother she ignored all the things she was told. All their advice fell on her deaf ears. She explains that she had fallen victim to her own indiscretion. She had become the latest conquest of “a designing libertine,” (Foster 894). She knew about Sanford’s reputation, she knew his intentions, and she knew that he was married, yet she still started a relationship with him. And her blatant disregard for facts and common sense caused her unwed pregnancy and premature demise. Eliza Wharton had nobody to blame for her situation but herself. She ignored warnings, advice, common sense, and other options available to her. She chose her ill fated path and had to suffer the consequences.
Ellen expresses this intent in Act 1 when she states, “Does it make so much difference really? I just want to come along and listen and watch. I won’t be any bother or ask any questions” (Lawrence and Lee, pg 27). This statement from Ellen expresses that she knows the capacity and ability of Henry’s mind and desires to learn about his thinking. Ellen also makes it clear that she does not want to cause a distraction or bother Henry; Ellen does not want to interact with Henry outside of the classroom or in an environment where the intention is not to learn. By stating that she will not bother Henry with questions, Ellen also recognizes her close-mindedness which is the opposite of Henry. Therefore, Ellen’s intentions in her interactions with Henry are to improve her individuality by learning from Henry’s lifestyle. Also, Ellen desires to open her mind to transcendentalism which is embodied in Henry.
One might question if Eliza really had any choice in her situation. Early in the novel she declares, "What a pity . . . that the graces and virtues are not oftner united!" (Foster 22). While Sanford possessed all the suavity she desired and Reverend Boyer all the integrity, she could find no companion who possessed both. This lack of options seems to be what truly destroys Eliza. It may have been within Eliza's power to be a True Woman, but due to the societal constraints imposed upon her, it does not seem at all possible for her to have been a happy woman.
It was difficult for me to find many parallels between this play and the works that we studied in Canadian Literature because this play does not follow a plot line and does not include many elements that could be relatable to the works we studied. It also does not relate to the themes that were emphasized in our course. However, I found the close analysis of the final scene of a play, acted out forty- three different times to be reflective of the close analysis’ we have done many times in class with poetry and prose. It was interesting to watch these close analysis’ to understand all of the possible interactions these characters could have had. It led me to question the endings of the works that ...
Eliza Wharton has sinned. She has also seduced, deceived, loved, and been had. With The Coquette Hannah Webster Foster uses Eliza as an allegory, the archetype of a woman gone wrong. To a twentieth century reader Eliza's fate seems over-dramatized, pathetic, perhaps even silly. She loved a man but circumstance dissuaded their marriage and forced them to establish a guilt-laden, whirlwind of a tryst that destroyed both of their lives. A twentieth century reader may have championed Sanford's divorce, she may have championed the affair, she may have championed Eliza's acceptance of Boyer's proposal. She may have thrown the book angrily at the floor, disgraced by the picture of ineffectual, trapped, female characters.
Myrtle’s ambition proves to be her fatal flaw in being the tragic hero. The goal of her ambition is to lead her to a higher social status. In pursuit of her ambition she expresses that her husband, George Wilson, serves as an obstacle since he is in the opposite direction of where she wishes to be. She expresses disgust in George for committing actions that are considered lowly by her standards. She was particularly unenthused with her husband after it is revealed that “he borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married” without telling her. (35) She expresses her marriage as regretful, which illustrates her ambition to strive for better, being Tom. Essentially it illustrates that she would rather be treated with little respect to achieve status, rather than to be treated with respect without status. Myrtle not only exudes her ambition through her pompous attitude, but also in the manner in which she carries herself. She is a young woman in her “middle thirties, and faintly stout, but (carries) her surplus flesh sensuously,” and although she is not attributed with beauty she is somewhat charismatic. (25) The way in which she carries herself may be considered sexual, and her persona is alluring for men such as Tom. Her seducing persona illustrates her ambition in being a temptress in order to move up the social ladder.
My book “Robert Gould Shaw and the Black 54th Massachusetts regiment” was a great resource to learn more about the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first official African-American military units of the nation during the Civil War . Often referred as the “swamp angels”, the regiment was created in 1863 by John Albion Andrew, governor of Massachusetts at the time. Led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the unit fought for political freedom, social freedom, and equality of all citizen, including colored people. This text is great because it tells the story of the regiment through the lens of the unit’s leader, Robert Gould Shaw. The book is basically a biography of Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw was born in October 10, 1837, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. He was given birth as a white child and more importantly, wealthy-thus having a lot of privileges at the time.
In conclusion, this mid-play excerpt of a character in a Shakespearean play tells the reader much about his current thoughts, as well as exposing a small glimmer of what took place in his past. Though the text is limited, there are enough details and elements to lead the reader to a sensible conclusion of what this character is really
'I've a right to be here, same as you' (p. 27) through Act Five 'I
Eliza faced many hardships in the novel “the Coquette”. One of Eliza biggest hardship and the lead to her downfall was when her fiancé died. Eliza lost her fiancé, and this opened new doors for her it was a very sad and bad time in her life, but she did her best to bring herself out of the bad in the situation and into the good she powered herself through her fiancé death and eventually moved on. Eliza now a free woman was very eager, and she was ready to give new life and move on from her fiancé death. Eliza writes to her friend Lucy about the two men that have interest in her major Stanford and Mr., Boyer, she writes about how she enjoys both of the men but doesn't want to marry at this time, during the time Eliza is in a difficult situation
that the class system is all in the mind of the beholder and how it is
Eliza seems to have stood up for herself against Higgins and support Shaw's theory of Victorian women breaking the ideals of the housewife and child-rearer but once she is married to Freddy, or to anyone else, and starts a family she will have to go behind the scenes and keep the house and tend to her children. Pulling Eliza from the gutter and making her into a duchess revolves around a friendly bet between Higgins and Pickering. Eliza is passed off as a duchess but as the play draws to a close the bet is uncovered and Higgins and her squabble. The play ends ambiguously, we are told she is going to marry Freddy but their marriage is left up to the reader. However, it is with the understanding of Victorian ideals the reader can hypothesize what is going to happen once they are married; which is taking on the original roles of men and women in the Victorian era.
streets of London & was as clean as she could afford to be but to the
An important lesson that has been learned throughout life and the beginning of time is to respect the individual’s content and not their image. It is shown throughout George Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion, that different people can be brought together in the same circumstance, being a heavy rain shower in London, but distance themselves so effusively because of outer appearances. The situation between the nonintellectual flower-girl and the sophisticated Pickering, Higgins, and the Mother-daughter is drawn out over the judgment of her poor speech and her value as a person as she constantly defends herself against their prejudice. Shaw uses Pygmalion to show how language shallowly reflects the importance of social classes within the Victorian era through the portrayal of characters, their conflicts, and transformation in the first act of the play.
I don’t matter, I suppose’” (Berst 99). Eliza’s actions can be felt as a Cinderella impulse coming from her (Berst 99). Eliza worked hard to get through the lessons with Higgins and had won that bet, so she deserves the credit for the hard work she put in. It seems that Eliza at this point is lonely and probably wanted someone in her life to tell her she was doing the right thing, she has accomplished things she wanted to do for herself.