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Conclusions on pygmalion
Class structure in victorian england
George bernard shaw life and works
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Themes of George Bernard Shaw's Play Pygmalion Pygmalion and My Fair Lady are a modern parallel of the story of Pygmalion, legendary sculptor and King of Cyprus, who fell in love with his own statue of Aphrodite. At his prayer, Aphrodite brought the statue to life as Galatea. George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion is the story of Henry Higgins, a master phonetician, and his mischievous plot to pass a common flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball. In order to achieve his goal, Higgins must teach Eliza how to speak properly and how to act in upper-class society. The play looks at "middle class morality" and upper-class superficiality, and reflects the social ills of nineteenth century England, and attests that all people are worthy of respect and dignity. Shaw's "Pygmalion" is Henry Higgins, professor of phonetics, who, comes upon a homely flower-girl selling flowers in the streets, makes a wager with Colonel Pickering that in three months he can so transform her as to pass her off for a lady. To Higgins, this is but a task that he accomplishes, a wager that he wins; but in Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl, a new personality has been created. With the manners and speech of a lady, she cannot fall back into her old life, and with those ways has come an asserting will, which selects Henry Higgins, her "creator," as her mate. To Higgins' dismay, he finds that his "laboratory case" has surged into all his life, with emotional entanglements he had not anticipated. Throughout most of civilization, people have been divided into social classes. In a lot of different especially capitalist cultures there is an upper class rich, powerful and in control. Then there was a middle class, less comfortably off than ... ... middle of paper ... ...ian royalty at that, merely by altering her appearance and speech. The wealthy are so superficial they can not see past Eliza's appearance. On a deeper level, Pygmalion addresses the social ills in England at the turn of the century. Victorian England was characterized by extreme class division and limited, to no, social mobility. Language separated the elite from the lower class. In Pygmalion, Eliza's dialect inhibits her from procuring a job in a flower shop; Pygmalion is about the universal truth that all people are worthy of respect and dignity, from the wealthy nobleman to the beggar on the street corner. The difference between a common flower girl and a duchess, apart from appearance and demeanor, is the way she is treated. Treat the flower girl as if she were a duchess, worthy of respect and decency, and she will become a better person as a result.
America is divided into two main groups, rich or poor. There is some grey area among these groups which is referred to as the middle class. The problem with the middle class is that most people think they belong in the middle class because they do not want to associate themselves with neither rich nor poor; there are stigmas attached to each side of the spectrum.
Another factor in the storyline is society's attitude to class differences. Higher classed people were never allowed to socialise with people below their class. For example, Alice who is a young girl born to a rich high-classed family queries why she cannot marry Thomas, a lower classed boy. This is answered by "'Cos he's not a gentleman." Higher classed people were not permitted to marry out of their class. If they did it would be considered shameful and parents would often disown their children. Another example is, "Never was he more ashamed than when he saw their eyes scan his heavy jacket and breeches, his hob-nailed boots and cotton shirt and these were his best clothes" this is when Thomas visits Alexander's house. Alexander is much higher classed. It shows how he feels to be in the company of those higher classed.
Society has categorized individuals depending on their financial status and their income; also known as social class. There are three original social classes in America, upper, middle, and lower class. The classes may sometimes be further divided into upper- upper, lower-upper, upper-middle and lower middle; with the working and lower classes at the bottom; working poor and underclass.
What comes into my mind when thinking on how to categorize those people that belong in the middle class, I look at such things as education, race, family, income, gender and how many people are in your household. I look at it as those people who are making between $40,000 and about $85,000 to be in the middle class while the next step would be the upper middle class and then to the upper class. Maybe I am wrong here, but like I said before, everyone wants to have that “I am middle class” attitude. The most recent Census Bureau survey data shows that the share of households with incomes of $75,000 or more has doubled in the past 24 years. Other studies, however, discover that more people who depart the middle class move down than up, at least temporarily.
Among the number of similarities readers will come across are the likenesses between the two works in character interaction. For example, in both the play and the film, Professor Henry Higgins has an overbearing paternal mentality regarding Eliza Doolittle. In accordance with the dialogue that Higgins speaks in the film regarding Eliza?s filthy disposition, readers of Pygmalion discover practically the same words: ?You know, Pickering, if you consider a shilling, not as a simple shilling, but as a percentage of this girl?s income, it works out as fully equivalent to sixty or seventy guineas from a millionaire? (Shaw 21). In addition, in both the film and the play, Eliza and Colonel Pickering share a bond that stems from her vulnerability and his compassion. For the duration of her stay at 27A Wimpole Street, Eliza often seeks comfort in the sympathetic Colonel because without this ally, she knows that she will not survive the wrath of Henry Higgins. In Shaw?s original version, readers can interpret Eliza?s trepidation through the dialogue. Similarly, in Cukor?s musical adaptation, viewers have the ability to watch Eliza?s facial expressions and body movement to understand her emotions. The videocassette offers the viewers a whole new world that they did not experience during their novel reading. Although the presentation of character interaction differs slightly in Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, the same themes occur.
She cared for people. She cared for Miss Lottie. At this moment all she wanted to do was apologize. She felt guilty. The guiltiest she has ever felt in her entire life. She single-handedly ruined the one thing Miss Lottie had a hope for in this world. Lizabeth grew up and realized it in one moment. She looked back on this moment, and talked about how after this year. Miss Lottie never grew marigolds again. But Lizabeth looks back at this time in her life, and she embodies Miss Lottie. Lizabeth then realizes you must look at the beauty in your life, and not the despair. “For one does not have to be ignorant and poor to find that his life is as barren as the dusty yards of our town. And I too have planted marigolds” (Collier 148). In a different period of time, Lizabeth gives back to Miss Lottie, even after she has passed, with a peace offering. Her marigolds. Her marigolds that Lizabeth grew now symbolize the hope that Miss Lottie had in the world in the future. Her marigolds were Miss Lottie’s. Even after her death, Lizabeth uses marigolds to make the legend of Miss Lottie live
In this instance Molly blatantly confronts Tilly with the truth, which is attempting to change characters, and their perception of her through clothes, will not be enough to deter the hatred as they are incapable of change. Such as in the case of Gertrude whom Tilly transforms outer appearance, to be perceived the way she wishes to be. Thus, the appearance and power of a dress is incapable of masking a character’s true self, a notion which is pertinent to the human
In Pygmalion, the two professors decided to help Eliza Doolittle, only because Professor Pickering made a bet with Professor Higgins that he would be able to change Liza into a lady by the time the ambassador’s garden party came around. Pickering
Both Rita and Eliza rebel against the inflexible class system and have problems developing their potential. They suggest that everyone is capable of fulfilling his potential if he is only given the opportunity. And their teachers and other members of their class misunderstand them. Furthermore they reject the traditional role of women as well.
Mrs and Miss Bates are genteel people and of genteel birth. They are well educated and well spoken and readily invited into the Woodhouse circle. This high class is illustrated at Boxhill during Mr Knightley’s vehement reprimand of Emma’s cutting remark: ‘she has seen you grow up from a period when her notice of you was an honour.’ Of course, they have since slipped in monetary value, but retain their social position nonetheless. Mrs. Elton has the money, but not the connections or character to be considered genteel. Her marriage to a vicar as Mr Elton has raised her a class, but she has clearly not had the breeding to be comfortable in such high society, as she shows by continually dropping Maple Grove into conversations, and justifying her talents: ‘well, my friends say…’ Harriet Smith obviously is not genteel by birth, being the ‘natural daughter of somebody’ but Emma invents her parentage for the sake of the love games. The original modesty and humility that Harriet enjoys are accentuated and extended under the careful care of Emma. Th...
...ll’s power overtakes the other male characters like Algernon and Jack, who have their own personal unresolved crises in the start, putting them lower down the scale of the social group. There is the idea that Wilde portrays Lady Bracknell as the ideal figure for upper class women that both Gwendolyn and Cecily should aim to rival in the future. However, the playwright already demonstrates how the younger women in the play provide the main source of conflict, as they are the objects of affection, so the notion of the ‘New Woman’ may enable them to surpass the elder women’s, who still own patriarchal values, power in the society. At the same time Wilde is able to criticize the drama that not only the women but the whole of the upper class create from the details of each other’s personal affairs. Wilde’s ultimate point is that comedy reacts against social conformity.
Twentieth century Britain is dubbed the Victorian era in which the woman is just the female of humanity, and that they have certain things to do in society. It is socially accepted that women care solely for the children, the house, the cooking and the cleaning and the men are the breadwinners and disciplinarians. Writer, Bernard Shaw, who was "dedicated to tearing down what he saw as the oppressive veil of Victorian ideal of womanhood-that women are self-sacrificing, pure, noble, and passive" (2215). Damrosch, Dettmar, and Wicke the editors of The Longman Anthology of British Literature argue that Shaw designates the excitement, vigor, and advancement behind women who have exploded out the confines of domestic duty and into the work force of Britain by sidelining them with the newest ideas'. However, Shaw is suppressing women; the main character in Pygmalion is Eliza Doolittle is a poor, young woman and Professor Higgins is influenced by a bet to turn into a fine young woman by teaching her to speak correctly. Although Higgins is giving her the chance to learn how to speak like a lady, it is not through grammar one moves through social classes but by connections and hard work to gain money. By giving Eliza the gift of grammar, Higgins says she could get a job in a flower shop and pursue her dreams from there. However, Higgins is forcing her to pretend to become a typical Victorian lady; one who courts and then marries a gentlemen like Freddy and stays at home conforming to the Victorian ideals of womanhood.
Topic sentence. “Ow, eez, yə-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y’ d-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel’s flahzrn than ran awy athaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f’them” (1. 11)? This is a word for word sentence of what Eliza, the flower girl sounded like at the beginning of Pygmalion. She had no grammar and her English was hideous to the higher social class people, but Higgins believed he could take this challenge and succeed with it. Higgins never had a doubt in his mind that he would not succeed in changing Eliza from a flower girl to a lady, no matter what obstacles were brought into play. "I couldnt. I dursnt. Its not natural: it would kill me. I’ve never had a bath in my life: not what youd call a proper one” (2. 43). Here the readers are beginning to learn more about Eliza and see what her life truly was like. She says here that she has never had a real bath. She has ...
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.
Middle class is defined in different ways by different people. For example, Easterly describes middle class “as those lying between the 20th and 80th percentile on the consumption distribution” (Banerjee and Duflo 5); or Birdsall, Graham, and Pettinato says this class “as those between 75 and 125 percent of median per capita income” (Banerjee and Duflo 7). In America, people are divided into classes by many factors. The most popular factors are income and education. For income, people in this class make less money than upper class. Pew 's analysis in the article of Philip Bump says that middle class “holds less aggregate income than the upper class”; this is true. However, people in this class have better jobs and salaries than poor class. The working poor tend to have less stable jobs than their middle class brothers. Because of the temporary nature of these jobs, they have a