Gender Dynamics and Social Structures in Shaw's Pygmalion

306 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Pygmalion as an education for eliza

The Role of Women in Shaw's Pygmalion In Shaw's days women were subordinate to men. They were regarded as property. Therefore, Eliza's father is a good example of this attitude "selling" Eliza to Higgins as if she was his property. This shows that inequality of the sexes is even greater than inequality between classes. In "Pygmalion", we also find the aspect of natural selection. Yet Higgins succeeds in his experiment, and consequently, Charles Darwin's theory seems to be defeated. Eliza has been made a lady, regardless of her origins. During that time, the belief prevailed that only a man can turn a woman into a lady. This is illustrated in Eliza's helplessness and in the way Higgins treats her. The conflict reaches its climax when Higgins suggests that Eliza should marry. As to Eliza's situation, she has to decide between marrying and going out to work. This reflects the contemporary beliefs that it was degrading for women to earn their own living. However, Eliza begins to rebel against Higgins by tossing the slippers at him. This can be seen as a way of release to the other ladies. Later on, Eliza marries Freddy, who is apparently superior to her, socially, not intellectually. Eliza, though, is eager to work and ignores conventions. Eliza's behavior stands for women who struggled for their rights in those days. In conclusion, one can say that Shaw's criticism and opinion is expressed in Eliza. Whereas females of the period were marked by some kind of helplessness, Eliza is an independent, self-confident character. She even uses language training to show superiority over Higgins. [259]

Show More
Related

  • Freedom of Speech: Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. Kansas City

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    The articles "Freedom of Speech: Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. Kansas City" and "Freedom of Religion: Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association" both engage in conflicts pertaining to the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Critic Roland Barthes's 'The Kite Runner'

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    Amir is, to be put bluntly, a coward. He is led by his unstable emotions towards what he thinks will plug his emotional holes and steps over his friends and family in the process. When he sought after Baba’s invisible love, Amir allowed Hassan to be raped in an alleyway just so that the blue kite, his trophy that would win his father’s heart, could be left untouched. In the end, he felt empty and unfulfilled with the weight of his conscience on his shoulders comparable to Atlas’ burden. Unable to get over his fruitless betrayal, he lashes out and throws pomegranates at Hassan before stuffing money and a watch under his loyal friend’s pathetic excuse for a bed, framing Hassan for theft and directly causing the departure of both servants from his household. Even after moving to America, finding a loving wife, and creating a career for himself in writing, he still feels hollow when thinking of his childhood in Afghanistan. Many years later, he is alerted of Hassan’s death and sets out on a frenzied chase to find his friend’s orphaned son. He feels that he can somehow ease his regrets from all of those years ago if he takes in Hassan’s son, Sohrab. He finds Sohrab as a child sex slave for Assef, who coincidentally was the one to rape Hassan all of those years ago. After nearly dying in his attempt to take back Sohrab, he learns that he can take the damaged child back to the states with him. Sadly, Hassan’s son is so

    Read More

  • 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

    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...

    Read More

  • Lakota Woman

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Lakota Woman, Mary Crow Dog argues that in the 1970’s, the American Indian Movement used protests and militancy to improve their visibility in mainstream Anglo American society in an effort to secure sovereignty for all "full blood" American Indians in spite of generational gender, power, and financial conflicts on the reservations. When reading this book, one can see that this is indeed the case. The struggles these people underwent in their daily lives on the reservation eventually became too much, and the American Indian Movement was born. AIM, as we will see through several examples, made their case known to the people of the United States, and militancy ultimately became necessary in order to do so. "Some people loved AIM, some hated it, but nobody ignored it" (Crow Dog, 74).

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Coquette

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gender roles were important in the eighteenth century because firmly established roles for each gender helped build and maintain a strong family unit. A family with a strong structure was vital because the family was the basis for all other institutions. Everything from government to church worked through the strong family unit. Women in the eighteenth century were designated to maintain household order and be subservient to the man. Eliza Wharton does not lose her innocence throughout the novel, Foster starts the novel with Eliza already enticed by the idea of freedom. Eliza refuses to cooperate with the domestic and republican ideology that is enforced by the women around her. Eliza challenges those who are happily the voice of domesticity. Eliza has no intention of participating in typical republican motherhood and matrimonial bonds. Eliza’s refusal to accept the normal gender roles of the eighteenth century is a menace to the patriarchy. One of Eliza’s suitors Boyer, ends up getting his heart

    Read More

  • Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette

    4243 Words  | 9 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Los Angeles Riots of 1992

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    The riots ended, but The City of the Angels would never be the same. As a matter of fact many things changed because of it, many people blame these riots for today‘s poverty in the city. No one would every forget the violence and rage that hit the city on April 29, 1992. Many lives were lost and hundreds were injured. The damage in the city was over one billion dollars. Thousands of people were arrested. As for the city, it was destroyed. Everyone should fight for what they believe in but rioting the way it happened in this situation it never right.

    Read More

  • The Swallows of Kabul is Inequality by Yasmina Khadra

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, an effect of gender inequality is male dominance. Male dominance is very evident in the novel. One example is where males do whatever they please.

    Read More

  • Solitude Of Self Dbq

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Men were thought to be more powerful and smart. This limited the rights of women compared to men. Women did not have a voice. In The Solitude of Self, Elizabeth Cady Stanton first wrote, “The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is the individuality of each human soul. In discussing the rights of women, we are to consider first, what belongs to her as an individual in a world of her own” (……). Elizabeth did not think women were treated as equals. She felt as if women were belittled, and men ruled over women. Elizabeth then continued to state, “Seeing then that the responsibilities of life rests equally on man and woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity” (…..). Elizabeth wanted everyone to see that women are equal to men, and cannot keep being discriminated. The debates on women rights soon had an impact on the world, and women slowly started to gain the same rights and freedom as men. Just like women were not being treated well, neither were

    Read More

  • Comparing Journey of the Magi by Eliot and Pygmalion by Shaw

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the poem – ‘Journey of the Magi’ the transformation is well decided and not induced but in the play – ‘Pygmalion’ the transformation comes from someone else. Eliza wants to end up as a Lady in a Flower Shop and that is why she takes lessons from Higgins. In poem the magi are not satisfied with the change and same way in the play also Eliza is not satisfied with the transformation.

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre and Feminism

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women of the Victorian era were repressed, and had little if any social stature. They had a very few rights and fewer options open to them for self-support. For most women the only way to live decently was to get married, and in many cases it was not up to the women to choose whom she married. It was almost unheard of for a woman to marry out of her social class (Cain 20). If a woman did not marry, the only ways she could make a living other than becoming a servant was either to become a prostitute or a governess. For the most part, a woman was not given the opportunity to go to school and earn a degree unless she was born into a high social class. The average Victorian woman was treated not as a person, but as an object or piece of property. She had very few rights either in society, or marriage (Cain, 25). Bronte, born into a middle class family, refused to be repressed by society. She recognized the injustices of her society, and in rebellion against society’s ideologies involving women, wrote Jane Eyre.

    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

  • Gender Inequality In Jane Eyre

    257 Words  | 1 Pages

    The article Preface to "What Policies Would Promote Social Justice for Women?" written in 2010 states same idea related to the work Jane Eyre about gender equality. Despite the theoretical relevance of sexual inequality and Jane Eyre the feminist literature signifying the importance of gender issues that needs to change relations on social position. Also, these analyses the impact of changing issues now a days. It is quite surprising that the same issue is continuing over the centuries. The author of the article Preface to "What Policies Would Promote Social Justice for Women?" mentions gender inequality in business, politics, education, and other areas has been closely studied. “Gender discrimination is not limited to the business world. There

    Read More

  • Role of Women in Jane Eyre

    1506 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.

    Read More

More about Gender Dynamics and Social Structures in Shaw's Pygmalion

Open Document