How Does Eliza Change In Pygmalion

551 Words2 Pages

Identity is how a person familiarizes and/or identifies you externally and internally. Demeanor is somebody's behavior, attitude, and/or conduct. Eliza Doolittle is a flower girl who views herself as a poor girl and her demeanor is how she thinks she is “a good girl” in Act I in “Pygmalion”. In general, Eliza changes externally throughout “Pygmalion” from her appearance. Eliza looked like a “dirty girl” in earlier in “Pygmalion”, but Eliza looks like a duchess later on in “Pygmalion”. In “Pygmalion” Eliza also changes internally because her identity, demeanor, and her attitude towards her phonetics teacher, Professor Henry Higgins. In Act III of “Pygmalion”, Eliza was taught phonetics so now she speaks fluently. “[ speaking with pedantic correctness of pronunciation and great beauty of tone] How do you do Mrs. Higgins?” From Act I of “Pygmalion”, Eliza was unable to be understood from others because she couldn't speak fluently. “[ Reproducing her pronunciation exactly] Cheer ap, Keptin; n! Haw ya flahr orf a pore gel”. Eliza Doolittle’s demeanor also changed from Act I -Act III. Eliza now starts to act snooty because of how she spoke …show more content…

This has happened due to Higgins treating Eliza disrespectfully and now taking her feeling into consideration. “ [snatching up the slippers, and hurling them at him one after the other with all her force] There are you slippers… and may you never have a day’s luck with them”. Eliza also states in Act V “[Losing her temper and rising] Ill talk as I like. You're not my teacher anymore”. Another quote that is stated in Act V [ looking fiercely round at him] I wouldn't marry you if you asked me; and you're nearer my than what he is”. This shows Eliza’s attitude towards Higgins has changed from being thankful to him teacher her phonetics to acting defensive towards Higgins whenever he tries to control her also with her

Show More
Related

  • Eliza's Responsibility for her Own Downfall in Foster's The Coquette

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eliza’s blatant disregard for the concern of those around her contributed heavily to her demise. Had she listened to her friends and family when they told her to marry Mr...

    Read More

  • Violations of the True Woman in The Coquette

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Marigolds By Eugenia Collier

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before overhearing the conversation, Lizabeth already has a sense of guilt as she finishes attacking Miss Lottie: “Suddenly I was ashamed, and I did not like being ashamed.” The conflict of not being either a child or an adult yet both together has been in her mind badgering her. After overhearing the conversation, she realizes that she is the oldest kid of all the kids she plays with, and she should be aware of her responsibilities for their

    Read More

  • Identity in Tender is the Night and Appointment in Samarra

    2696 Words  | 6 Pages

    According to the Merriam Webster, identity is the “sameness of essential or generic character in different instances” (Merriam Webster). An identity can be the qualities or beliefs that make a person different from another, but it is also the thing that connects them. A man’s identity stays with him “for the rest of his life” and is something that “[can] not change much” (O’Hara 202, 193). Identity is who one is born to, what one thinks, what one says, and what one does; John O’Hara and F. Scott Fitzgerald both utilize the theme of identity in describing the lives and actions of the central characters Julian English and Dick Diver in their novels, Appointment in Samarra and Tender is the Night. Discovering their individual identities is a journey for both men, and on their journey to self-discovery the men believe that by fixing their lives they will discover their identity. Both Julian and Dick struggle to maintain perfect order in their lives by controlling fate, but their ancestral obligations lead to self-destruction and inevitable downfall. While Diver commits social suicide, English commits actual suicide, and the two seal their fates the second they try to change their journey. Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus complex is a feeling of sexual attracting of a child toward their parent; the fixation towards one’s father or mother can lead to choices of sexual partners or spouses that resemble the parent. The wives of Julian English and Dick Diver, Caroline and Nicole, marry their husbands because of their fatherly personas, and Caroline and Nicole’s own incestuous pasts shape and control their relationships with Julian and Dick. The superficiality of English and Diver and their inability to realize who they are lead to a need to contro...

    Read More

  • Personal Identity: Who Are You?

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity, an ambiguous idea, plays an important part in today’s world. To me identity can be defined as who a person is or what differentiates one person from another. Identity would be a person’s name, age, height, ethnicity, personality, and more. A quote by Anne Sexton states “It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was”(Anne Sexton). This quote helps me define identity because I believe it is saying that identity is what people are remembered by. When some people think of identity, words such as, uniqueness, distinctiveness, or individuality may come to mind. However, I disagree with this because when I think of identity I think of mimicry, self-consciousness, or opinions.

    Read More

  • Theoretical Perspectives in the Film My Fair Lady

    2009 Words  | 5 Pages

    My fair lady is movie about a flower girl named Eliza Doolittle and a man named Henry Higgins of Phonetics. One night professor Higgins was at the Covent Garden market talking to his friend Colonel Pickering. While Eliza was selling flowers she overheard Higgins and Pickering talking. Higgins told Pickering that he can make anyone fluent in the English language the proper way. Eliza later found where Higgins lived and wanted to him to teach her how to speak like a proper lady in a flower shop. Higgins did not want to. Pickering at that time was at Higgins house and he bet that Higgins could not teach Eliza to how to speak as a proper lady and make her a duchess. Higgins at that moment bet. Higgins bet Pickering that he can teach Eliza to speak and be a duchess within 3 months. Over these several months Eliza who moved into Higgins household is put through depressive lessons. Eliza eventually was ready for the big day when she was tested in her skills. Eliza went to the embassy Ball. She was very beautiful, elegant and well-spoken and she proved to be very successful in Higgins and Pickering’s bet. She especially impressed a man named Freddy Eynsford-Hill falls in love with her. After the ball Higgins, Picke...

    Read More

  • My Fair Lady Vs Pygmalion

    660 Words  | 2 Pages

    Higgins and Eliza still sharing the archetypes of the teacher and student get into an argument. The argument starts with Higgins explaining that he does not specifically treat her poorly but treats everyone poorly. Higgins explains, “the question is not whether I treat rudely, but whether you ever heard me treat anyone else better,” (Shaw, 77). Eliza threatened to leave although Higgins explained that she has no money or skill besides speaking properly and proposes that she marry someone rich. Insulted, Eliza threatened to marry Freddy which deeply bothers Higgins because he feels that the idea is a waste of his work on specifically on someone like him. This particular detail shows how Higgins does value his creation and work of art not wanting it to be wasted. In the end, Eliza leaves and later ends up marrying Freddy who together opens a flower shop. Even though there is some similarity in the theme of loving one’s own creation, Shaw’s Pygmalion does not compare to the archetypes in the myth Ovid’s Pygmalion as the movie did.

    Read More

  • Pygmalion and Educating Rita - Rita as a Modern Day Eliza

    328 Words  | 1 Pages

    As to the relationship with their teachers, both students become more self-confident and their teachers become dependent on them, be it in a materialistic or personal way. Yet it is Eliza who complains about Higgins ignorance and carelessness whereas Frank reproaches Rita for her superficiality. At the end Eliza has regained her pride and improved her standard of living although Eliza remaining a social misfit.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Identity

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity-“Ones personal qualities.”Identiy is something only he or she can fully define. My uncle says I am affectionate,cheerful, and calm. My grandmother sees me as slim, pretty and sweet. My dad described me as perky, cheerful and happy, my mom says beautiful, gentle, and self-conscious. These adjectives describe me accurately, yet they are only abstract versions of me. Adjectives cannot begin to describe me and I aknowlege these descriptions for what they are, a condensed translation from my outward self to the world. It is impossible for anyone to understand me completely because nobody has experienced the things I have. My mother has never cherished a raggedy doll named Katie and my father never spent hours upon hours making collages and scrap books for his future children. My uncle never hid in the back of a pick-up-truck and traveled four hours to New York and my grandmother has never walked hours in the rain looking for the Queen of England. My identity is something only I can define.

    Read More

  • Departure By Sherwood Anderson Summary

    492 Words  | 1 Pages

    This passage is the last words written to Eliza from a deathbed “But from the latest throb that leaves my heart, While Death stands victor by,” (Burns, 13-14). The lover who has written to Eliza is very emotional about the final goodbyes expressed to Eliza “Farewell, farewell, Eliza dear… We must part to meet no more!”(9-12). Eliza’s partner wholeheartedly loved her, but was forced by nature to leave her; this not being a self-willing choice of the narrator, he/she is conflicted with love and the heart-rendering dismissal of his/her star-crossed partner in the final moment of their

    Read More

  • Hamilton By Lin-Manuel Miranda Summary

    1041 Words  | 3 Pages

    Angelica sings to Eliza lines from these songs to explain to her that Hamilton seeming uninterested is not her fault, that he is just never satisfied (Odom). These lines being repeated convey an idea that puts a lot of stress on the relationship between Eliza and Hamilton, but

    Read More

  • Identity In Tris And Four

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Identity is the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. All of these things had a lot to do with the movie. She was in love with the guy four. And she was really social. They all had to tie together and take tests to see who was the best and smartest when it comes to a bad situation. And whoever was the best would get killed and if you were a bad one you would just have to die on your own because they didn't know how to handle it.

    Read More

  • Women In The Play Pygmalion

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    People are always in the pursuit of erasing their flaws and becoming what society would say is "perfect." In the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw the main character Eliza Doolittle was not content with her life and her lamentable speech and manners. In order to become what she considered "perfect" Eliza relied on Higgins to change her into a proper and sophisticated woman. Higgins pounded lessons of proper speech and how to conduct one 's self with eloquence into Eliza 's head minute after minute and day after day. Although Eliza was being transformed externally, as she continued to grow from her lessons, she also began to transform internally and realize that she deserved respect, whether she was a kerbstone flower girl or a duchess.

    Read More

  • The Suppression Of Women In Pygmalion

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Eliza's Transformation in Shaw's Pygmalion

    2234 Words  | 5 Pages

    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 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.

    Read More

More about How Does Eliza Change In Pygmalion

Open Document