Eliza's Transformation in Shaw's Pygmalion

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is a play that shows a great change in the character Eliza Doolittle. As Eliza lives in poverty, she sells flowers to earn her living. Eliza does not have an education. This shows through the way that she does not have the most proper way of speaking. This happens through when Eliza is speaking to the other characters when she meets then when she is still at a low level of poverty in her life. To understand the reasons Eliza is able to change and be changed into an almost Cinderella like character. With Eliza going from and growing and changing through the hardship she faces. In the play Eliza begins with no confidence and works towards having a way to reach trough from learning during her life experiences. Learning through the other characters Eliza meets through out the play. Eliza grows stronger and shows how she is able to change her ways one can understand how she is able to change and makes these changes by seeing her through poverty, how she is interacting with the other characters in the play, and through the things she learns from the options that are provided to her. Eliza’s beginning education skills of learning to speak clearly through learning diction, etiquette, and looking proper for society. In addition, from how Eliza feels rich when she has money from the broken flowers and when she is able to be riding in the taxi, her ideas showing her strong will her insistence on marrying Freddy. Both Eliza and Cinderella grow up in poverty, have a stepmother figure, have a fairy godmother figure, arrive at the ball, show confidence, and married. By comparing and contrasting Eliza to Cinderella, we can better understand why and how Eliza changes.

Making Eliza the perfect and ide...

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...eam but have transformed her in a Cinderella way the place she will take in the world (Berst 100). So the Cinderella success in society has been for the moment (Berst 100-101). But her screams have changed through the education she learned through pronunciation and her felling about the problems she faces can be stated clearly is seen as a Cinderella accomplishment (Berst 101).

A full change for Eliza comes when she begins being able to take care of herself and others. Berst explains “Eliza grows as a woman (not a lady) though progressively rising to the engaging this counter force and coming to grips with alternatives--Freddy and independence” (Berst 133). The differences between Eliza and Cinderella are that we see a happily ever after for Cinderella marring the prince. A similarity is that Eliza has reached her goal and she may not be at the top of society.