Eliza's Choice: Transformation Myth and the ending of Pygmalion
             Shaw borrowed and adapted many myths, which led to confusion at the end of the play. Actors and audiences were unprepared and unsatisfied with Eliza's decision to leave Higgins.
             Beerbohm Tree, actor of Higgins of the play's London premiere – ignored Shaw's instructions and at the end of every performance threw flowers to Eliza (suggesting a romantic attachment marriage).
             Generally, audiences preferred the more romantic ending of Tree's interpretation. Shaw could not convert them even with his prose epilogue (published 1915) to prove that Eliza married Freddy. Even if Shaw was still alive during the production of the musical adaptation of the play, My Fair Lady, he could not have changed the romantic finale.
             Many actors, audiences, producers and critics favoured the revised ending. In Maurice Valency's recent book on Shaw's work – argues that Eliza and Higgins would make an ideal couple.
             Misinterpretations of Pygmalion come from the conflicting myths which Shaw used in the play.
             • Greek Pygmalion myth – Higgins's re-creation of Eliza is parallel to Pygmalion's creation of the statue of his ideal woman.
             • Cinderella folk tale – just as the poor and mistreated Cinderella becomes a princess through intervention of fairy godmother, Eliza is elevated into aristocracy and into the middle class
             The crucial difference between the play and these myths – Eliza does not marry Higgins, nor does she continue to live with him as a servant, secretary and protégée. Instead, she wants more out of life than the companionship of Higgins. Audiences, remembering the Pygmalion myth and Cinderella expect Shaw's play to end similarly.
             Shaw's intention for the ending of Pygmalion is quite clear. (In the play, there is no line or stage direction that suggests Eliza will...