The Theme of Pygmalion: Introduce, Discuss and Analyze
"Pygmalion" is a well known play that satirizes manners and class inVictorian England. The main characters, Professor Henry Higgins and flowergirl Eliza Doolittle are as different as night and day. Higgins is asuccessful linguist and member of the upper class, while Doolittle is acommon flower girl who sells her flowers on the streets of London. Higginsobserves her and makes notes on her appalling accent, then invites her intohis home to study her further. His friend, Pickering, is down to earth andinterested in Eliza, and so he proposes a bet, where Higgins takes Elizainto his home for six months, and turns her into a "lady." Pickering andEliza grow quite fond of each other, but in the end, Eliza learns enough tostrike out on her own, and while she marries Freddy, she always retains herindependence and her frank appraisal of others. Higgins is wealthy and eccentric. He is a member of the upper class,but he is absent minded, childlike, and lacks many of the social gracesthat "gentlemen" are so proud of. He does have enough sociability to getalong in society, but Shaw describes him as a "baby." He writes, "He is,in fact, but for his years and size, rather like a very impetuous baby
If a man has a bit of a conscience, it always takes him when he's sober;and then it makes him low-spirited. He really means it, but this thought really liveson in Eliza, who does not need manners to know she is a good, decent personworthy of a good and decent life. She can be taught manners and decorum,but she does not have to be taught how to tell the difference between apompous professor and a good and decent human being. At one point, infront of a group of society people, she states, "You see, it's like this. It's filling up the deepest gulf that separates class fromclass and soul from soul" (Shaw 82). In conclusion, the theme of this play is also about the levels ofsociety in England, but it pokes fun at every level, while clearlyillustrating that manners can be taught, but even the higher class can bebereft of manners and common sense. Higgins has taught her manners, and placed her right in themiddle of society, where she fits nowhere and has nowhere to turn. 'taking notice' eagerly and loudly, and requiring almost as much watchingto keep him out of unintended mischief" (Shaw 128). I wish you'd left me where youfound me" (Shaw 181). Eliza, on the otherhand, may speak like a "guttersnipe," and have the manners of the lowclass, but she is all woman, and speaks her mind freely. The Professor only sees her as the result of asuccessful experiment, not a woman, and she knows she is now too much of a"lady" to sell flowers, and too much of a flower girl to really live insociety. A drop of booze just takes that offand makes him happy: (Shaw 166). Higgins tells her, "The great secret, Eliza, is not having badmanners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but havingthe same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were inHeaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as goodas another" (Shaw 201). This indicates how little he reallyknows or cares of the real Eliza and why he has no idea why she is so upsetwith him.
Common topics in this essay:
Pickering Eliza,
London Higgins,
Eliza Doolittle,
,
Henry Higgins,
Victorian England,
flower girl,
taught manners,
soul shaw,
absent minded,
upper class,
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Acceptance Essays
