The play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw portrays Eliza Doolittle, the main character, in various ways. For example, throughout the book, it’s shown that she grows as a person. Eliza is also shown to have learned life lessons from her experiences with Henry Higgins. In the following paragraphs, one will thoroughly understand the ideas proposed above. Eliza is depicted to have grown as a person in this play. For instance, one may observe that Eliza’s language has drastically improved. On page 9, Eliza speaks in this way, “ ‘Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y’ de-ooty bawmz…’” (Shaw 9). On page 121, however, she says, “ ‘Perhaps I could make something of him. But I never thought of us making anything of one another...’” (Shaw
121). Disregarding the content of these quotes, it is shown that Eliza’s language and speaking has been improved. One will notice that she has also improved her manners. When Eliza visits Mrs. Higgins, she greets the mother with a lot of respect as shown on page 69. Eliza states, “ ‘How do you do, Mrs. Higgins? Mr. Higgins told me I might come’” (Shaw 69). This shows that her manners have improved from when, in the beginning of the play, she had none at all. Eliza has also learned multiple life lessons from her experiences with Higgins. A lesson she learned would be that improving her manners and language would earn more respect in the society she lives in. This is shown just by the fact that she ends up at Higgins’ door on page 26 (Shaw 26). It is also shown by how Eliza at the end of the play goes to Mrs. Higgins to defend her pride and dignity from feeling humiliated by Professor Higgins. She has learned to refuse being stepped over as if she was nothing. “ ‘But I won’t be passed over’” (Shaw 116). The paragraphs written describe Eliza Doolittle’s characterization. They portray that she has grown up as a person. Furthermore, they show what life lessons she has learned from experiences with Henry Higgins.
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...
Eliza's assaults against True Womanhood are violations of the virtues submissiveness and purity. When Eliza refuses to ignore the gallantry of Major Sanford in favor of the proposals of Reverend Boyer despite the warnings of her friends and mother, she disregards submissiveness in favor of her own fanc...
The epistolary novel challenges gender roles because in a society where the most accepted form of female writing was letters, the epistolary novel gives a new voice to women. The letters written by the characters especially the women go hand in hand with new republican virtues of society. Women were becoming more educated and their letters became more frequent. The epistolary form gives a sense of realism. It allows the reader to dive head first into the lives and problems of the characters, it is set up in a way where the reader ultimately knows more than the character does. This style of writing allows us to get the story from each character as an individual, which is important because if told from another character, events and emotions might get lost in translation or become skewed. Through reading Eliza’s letters, the audience can get a grasp of her personality, her morals, her humor, and her intentions. Eliza’s voice is strong and as she begins to decline her voice starts to dwindle and become muffled and eventually lost. Through being able to see how her voice gets lost, the reader can get a real sense of her decline as a character. Eliza begins to fade and other characters start to step into the light. Eliza’s letters are what makes her relatable and without these snippets from Eliza, the audience might not want to side with her. William Brown Hill’s preface to The Power of
Writing a journal from the perspective of a fictional eighteenth century reader, a mother whose daughter is the age of Eliza's friends, will allow me to employ reader-response criticism to help answer these questions and to decipher the possible social influences and/or meanings of the novel. Though reader-response criticism varies from critic to critic, it relies largely on the idea that the reader herself is a valid critic, that her critique is influenced by time and place,...
Alice Pyncheon dies because her father, Gervayse, allowed her to be hypnotized by a Maule also
Higgins only considers Eliza as his academic achievement not a woman herself. He transforms Eliza into a completely different person and eventually no one realize Eliza. Eliza never wanted this transition but the ultimate desire that Eliza wants is to be an independent woman.
Eliza is a slave on a plantation that raises her to be a “good” Christian. To Eliza, her masters
"It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and forlorn than Eliza, when she turned her footsteps from Uncle Tom's cabin. Her husband's suffering and dangers, and the danger of her child, all blended in her mind, with a confused and stunning sense of the risk she was running, in leaving the only home she had ever known, and cutting loose from the protection of a friend whom she loved and revered. "
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.
We can wish to change when wanting to improve ourselves, to satisfy others who we hold in esteem, to meet demands placed upon us, but most importantly, a successful change must come from self-motivated reasons. A change forced upon a person is like no change at all. After the pressure, the expectations, the possible threat of that comes with authority, have all been removed, a change can only last if the subject being changed had wanted to be changed in the first place. Initially, she wanted to improve her speaking voice so that she could find a better job, and with a better job, better prospects in every part of her life. She realizes that she can do this with Higgins’s help—she recognizes his expertise in this subject, but he is unwilling to help her until she pays him a high sum that she cannot afford. Higgins’s peer Colonel Pickering’s attention is brought to Eliza’s plight and he feels for her, so he strikes up a wager with Higgins and ...
Illusion vs. reality has been a major running theme in all the plays we have read in class. By interpretation, the idea of illusion is a way to build an alternate fantasy world for oneself where he/she can escape from reality. From all the characters analyzed in class, Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire would definitely be the one character who is so steadfast on illusion that she lets it shape her life as she believes it is her only way towards a happier life. As seen in the above quote, Blanche chooses to dwell in illusion, for it is her primary defense against the troubles in her life. Illusion has had a freeing enchantment that protects her from the tragedies she has had to endure. However, Blanche is not the only character with this fixation on illusion. In this paper, I will be analyzing other characters like Nora from A Doll’s House, Eliza from Pygmalion and Mrs. Hale from Trifles, who just like Blanche have also succumbed to the world of illusion as opposed to reality.
Pickering, shown as gentle and courteous, he is immediately touched by Eliza’s vulgarity and innocence by offering to pay for her lessons himself. Even Eliza appreciates Pickering, accrediting his treatment as a catalyst. "Your calling me Miss Doolittle that day when I first came to Wimpole Street," claims Eliza, "That was the beginning of self-respect for me" (79). Contrasting from Pickering, Higgins claims he has "created this thing out of squashed cabbage leaves of Covent Garden" in reference to Eliza (78). Pickering distinctly treats a lowly flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, the in the same fashion as he would treat a lady. He, in fact, eliminates the class distinction through treatment that does not take such distinctions into account. Higgins treats Eliza just as rudely and inconsiderately as he treats every other character in the play, including his mother and Mrs. Pearce. Eliza metamorphoses not only into the "duchess" Higgins promises, or the shop girl Eliza wants, but also rather into a self-reliant professional woman. Eliza originates as the "incarnate insult to the English language," according to Higgins, yet her personal evolution of character is dramatically shown by Shaw as a theme of favoritism
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 finding a way to reach through learning during her life experiences. Learning through the other characters Eliza meets throughout 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.
In the end Eliza realizes the power she holds; the potential for economic autonomy should she become a teacher, and the potential for sexual fulfillment should she marry Freddy. She departs, and here is where the play