English Standard Mod A - Pygmalion

[GeorgiaManning]

A formal analysis of one character (Eliza Doolittle) explaining how shaw makes meaning (400 - 600 words) - being presented on a podcast page with other parts.


Pygmalion, written by Bernard Shaw (1912) was structured around the myth of the Greek sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved, called Galatea. Similarly, Shaw presents Professor Higgins as the Greek sculptor and Eliza Doolittle as his Galatea. Meaning is created and exhibited through Eliza’s transformation into ‘Galatea’.

The audience is introduced to Eliza Doolittle in the opening scene; where she is presented as a nameless, smart-mouthed kerbstone flower girl, in contrast to Professor Higgins – a scientist of phonetics, Colonel Pickering – a linguist of Indian dialects and the Eynsford Hill’s, who are regal figures fit to consort with nobility. Shaw presents the characters in this manner to highlight the importance of social class during the 20th century Victorian period of England. Eliza objects to a well - dressed note taker writing down her words as she sells flowers as if she’s doing something improper, “He’s no right to take away my character. My character is the same to me as any lady’s”(Eliza, Act I). Shaw uses a metaphor to exhibit spirited pride through a dirty member of the working – class in speaking up to the gentleman and defending her reputation. Through the opening scene, Shaw has depicted the link between Eliza’s occupation and the way she is treated in society, presenting her as less than everyone else, and undeserving of respect.

Eliza soon becomes the subject of Professor Higgins and Pickering’s experiment and bet,” I shall make a duchess out of this draggle-tailed guttersnipe” (Higgins, Act II). Shaw uses juxtaposition and descriptive language to present Higgins intention to convince high London society that Eliza is a woman as poised and well-spoken as a duchess. During the transformation, Shaw presents a social class shift through Eliza’s upgrade in language and culture, but a preserved identity exhibited through Eliza’s first introduction to polite company. She tells a dicey story about her aunt in the slums in perfectly pronounced English, “but my Father he kept ladling gin down her throat” (Eliza, Act III). While Liza's choice of words as a Cockney flower merchant would be thought as absurd as her accent, they are later perceived by the mannered Eynsford Hill family to be the latest trend, when they are considered to emanate from a person of noble breeding. Shaws’ choice in dialogue alerts the readers that although she has received hours of training, her identity never changes. Eliza’s final test of success occurs at the Ambassador’s party, where she is considered a Hungarian Royal.

The re-making of Eliza Doolittle happens after the ambassador’s party, where she decides to make a statement for her dignity against Higgins’ insensitive treatment, “I’d like to kill you, you selfish brute. Why didn’t you leave me where you picked me out of - in the gutter?" (Eliza, Act IV). Shaw uses emotive language and a rhetorical question to present the change in Eliza’s attitude and identity. Shaw presents Eliza not as duchess who has triumphantly passed her final test, but as an independent woman, forcing Higgins to see Eliza not as a mill around his neck but as a creature worthy of his admiration. Shaw investigates conflicts between differing perceptions of identity and depicts the result of Higgin’s experiment as a crisis of identity for Eliza.

Conclusively, Shaw creates meaning through the transformation of Eliza Doolittle, from a cockney flower girl to a Duchess in high society through language instructions and exposure to the high social class. The indeterminacy of appearance and reality in Pygmalion reveals the significant examination of identity in the play.