Alernatiove Ending to George Bernard Shaw´s Pygmalion Essay

Eliza changed herself for the better. In act 5, she told the two men to start calling her “Miss Doolittle” and that was the beginning of learning her self worth. She was done being treated like a “live doll” and began to see herself like a Duchess, like Higgins

Eliza now has two suitors; one who is staid and reserved and one who is amiable and gay. While Mr. Boyer sees Eliza as a woman with “an accomplished mind and polished manner”, it is Sanford’s view of Eliza’s exuberant nature that ensures her downfall (10). In Major Sanford’s letter to Charles Deighton, he sees Eliza as a conquest. He writes that she is “an elegant partner; one exactly calculated to please my fancy; gay, volatile, apparently thoughtless of everything but present enjoyment” (18). Sanford does

Yet, he trusted her and always tried to write to her when he could to help Eliza with any troubles she had with the plantations. Very few men at the time believed that women should even have a say in business or politics. Nonetheless, George Lucas (Eliza’s father) knew he raised a strong daughter, and that she would be fine running the plantation (with his help) while he was gone helping the military in the West Indies. Yet, the war was starting to get in the way of their communication and Eliza had to go up to 6 months without any advice or knowing whether her father was still alive. When Eliza was 19 she wrote to her father, “Never were letters more welcome than yours of Feb. 19th and 20th and March the 15th and 21st, which came almost together.

“Go home,” I tell her, and I feel powerful saying it. I sound like Jasper Jones. I get a shot of electricity up my spine. “Just go home.” I turn and take Eliza's hand.

Showing the poverty, which Eliza comes from is that Eliza is a poor flower peddler, someone who is selling flowers, who is only ending up having her flowers damaged by Freddy. Eliza cleverly is able to convince the mother Mrs. Eynsford Hill to but the damaged flowers. When this all begins this the first low point of Eliza’s and she dose not know it is her beginning of a new way of life. All before Eliza is chosen as the subject to be transformed in to a duchess like person:

There are two different versions. The first version is Shaw’s version. Assuming to position Eliza in a real-life situation, Shaw seems to treat Eliza as an ambiguous character, thus the ending is indefinite. Through Eliza’s effort, she has gradually bridged the gap between herself and the life of the upper class people. Nonetheless, she has to face the dilemma: she may either continue to seek independence by making money on her own or be forced to get married to a rich nobleman. The vague ending has carried an implicit message: the female independence and unfair social relationships are yet to be

“You stay away from him.” Looking at her watch, “Now can we talk? We only have minutes before the meeting. We should settle this without them making a decision about your house,” Louise said and checked her lipstick.

Cordelia: (looking at the two remanding girls in annoyance) You’re both just as dumb as Eline, you know that? Don’t you ever do anything you're told? I asked you to leave, why are you still bothering me. It’s pathetic.

“ Oh really, I guess I’ll just go back downstairs and finish my breakfast.” Ruthie stated, clearly embaressed

Higgins tries to take all of the credit for Eliza’s transformation into a lady. In his mind, Eliza did nothing and without him, she would not have been able to accomplish this task. Mr. Higgins continues to express his dominance by telling Eliza what to do even though she does not work for him. Eliza does not like the way that Mr. Higgins treats her and leaves his house, angrily. After searching for Eliza, Mr. Higgins finally finds her and tells her that he paid for her services and she needs to finish her job. In this way, he treats her as if she is

As Higgins and Mr. Doolittle try to transform Eliza, she is proactive in subverting their conditional terms. Both men dismiss their experiences while Eliza absorbs all of the surrounding information to better her chances of preparing herself to work in a flower shop. She is self- assertive and wants to lead a life of her own. Her ambitions are witnessed, when she returns to Higgins, concerning his offer in teaching her phonetics. He insults her voice and class affiliation, however, she does not relent in walking away from his offer. Higgins views Eliza as an experiment that he can shape and transform into his own ‘artificial duchess.’ But, Eliza confronts his skewed vision of her and presents something more real [Plant, p. 50]. Subsequently, she reveals her

In the movie, Higgins targeted phonological features proper of Eliza’s Cockney dialect. According to Higgins, Eliza’s accent should be modified to “transform” her into a fine lady. The undesired behavior was weakened by a series of reinforcements based on punishment and reward. Eliza was offered chocolate, for example, when she correctly pronounced a set of sentences. Once Eliza achieve the “correct” pronunciation she was offered multiple rewards. For example, she attended the Ascot Horse Race, for which she was offered a new wardrobe.

However, readers of the play may argue that Eliza and Higgins stop working together and conflict later on so that supports the theory of class struggle by Marxism. But when the two characters conflict with each other it’s not because of class struggle or anything related to hierarchy, it’s because of Eliza not accepting Higgins as a teacher as Higgins starts mistreating her so rather Eliza gives the credit for her transformation to Colonel Pickering and have constant arguments with Higgins now that she have learned the dialect of a higher class. “Mrs Higgins. I’m afraid you’ve spoiled that girl, Henry.” Eliza can also be seen as spoiled because of all those higher class ways and lifestyle she just adapted to. This type of conflict can be related to a house dispute and doesn’t show a behavior of lower class revolting against higher class to gain rights. “Liza. That’s not true. He treats a flower girl as if she was a duchess. Higgins. And I treat a duchess as if she was a flower girl.” “Higgins. The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whether you ever heard me treat anyone else better.” As for Higgins’s personality, he always treats people with rudeness so

She is there to take lessons for her speech. Colonel Pickering offers to pay full expenses for Higgins to tun Eliza into a lady and pass her off as a duchess. Higgins accepts.

She retorts back by replying, “You want me back only to pick up your slippers and put up with your tempers and fetch and carry for you.” Eliza is mere domestic helper for Higgins, a helping hand to Mrs. Pearce even if Eliza can be much more than that. This is the crude reality of the patriarchal setup. Women, how much ever is qualified, is better than the opposite gender when it comes to education, the opposite sex will always take her as a house maid or a person working under him.