After having read Shaw's Pygmalion; realizing that Eliza Doolittle shares many differences and similarities with Henry higgins. And even though it may not seem so; these two work together through clashing their personalities but both believe in the same ideal. While Eliza Doolittle struggles to survive on the streets of London and Henry Higgins enjoys life of a wealthy gentlemen, both share an ideal that through education and language, life can change drastically. But how a person uses their education shows who they truly are.
Eliza and Higgins are very alike in the fact that they believe education can provide work. For example “Simply phonetics the science of speech. That's my profession; also my hobby. Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby! You can spot an Irishman or a Yorkshireman by his brogue” -Act 1. Here, Higgins proves a point that the art of education and speech can provide and be used as a tool. Also in his case used as a job and this is exactly what Eliza is looking for a way to use education in her favor. “Well, sir, in three months i could
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While Mr. Higgins was the exact opposite of this he not only used language for wealth but a way to make others feel as if they were less important than himself. For example- “Higgins- [confidently] oh no: i think not. If there is any trouble he shall have it with me, not i with him. And we are sure to get something interesting out of him. Pickering- about the girl? Higgins- No. i mean the dialect.” -Act 2. This provided that Mr. Higgins treats people more of test subject to his plan, than trying to better others such as Eliza. Mr. higgins continues to be rude to eliza after teaching her; by calling her a “guttersnipe” and a “squashed cabbage leaf” and both of these thing were very insulting to Eliza. And even in act 4 Mr. Higgins said she meant less than his lowly house
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
“Wake up, wake up!” says my owner, Eliza Emerson. She has been my owner ever since her husband, my old owner, died. I have been a slave my whole life and when our old owner died I thought that maybe our new owner Eliza, would set us free if I paid her. She actually liked me here and liked the earnings she got for paying me out. What I thought I could do after she said no was go to court. When our old owner died we had already lived in a free state so I thought that since I lived in a free state I was free.
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is a play that shows a great change in the character Eliza Doolittle. As Eliza lives in poverty, she sells flowers to earn her living. Eliza does not have an education. This shows through the way that she does not have the most proper way of speaking. This happens through when Eliza is speaking to the other characters when she meets then when she is still at a low level of poverty in her life. To understand the reasons Eliza is able to change and be changed into an almost Cinderella like character. With Eliza going from and growing and changing through the hardship she faces. In the play Eliza begins with no confidence and works towards having a way to reach trough from learning during her life
The 1964 award-winning film My Fair Lady is a musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s stage production Pygmalion (first performed in the year of 1913). Taking place in Edwardian London, My Fair Lady depicts Professor Henry Higgins (portrayed by Rex Harrison), a misogynistic phonetics professor, and Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), the author of Spoken Sanskrit. Professor Higgins, after coming out of a theatre and hearing Eliza shouting in her harsh ‘Cockney’ accent, places a bet with Colonel Pickering that he can take the Cockney working-class girl and make her presentable in high society within six months. The working-class girl, Eliza Doolittle (portrayed by Audrey Hepburn), agrees to speech lessons from Professor Higgins to improve her job prospects. Eliza grudgingly agrees to Professor Higgins’ lessons after flying into an angry outburst when a man points out the professor copying down her speech. Despite Professor Higgins treats Eliza as a lesser being, his acquaintance Colonel Pickering treats her with constant respect and kindness, therefore treating her as an equal. It is Pickering’s treating Eliza not as a lesser being, but as an equal that allows Eliza to flourish and succeed.
make a living. Eliza Doolittle is a person who had live this way until Henry Higgins and Colonel
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
The different classes in both plays had their advantages and disadvantages; however, some classes had more benefits than others. In Pygmalion, the upper-class was the most privileged money-wise. Henry Higgins was an upper-class educated man who had quite a reputation and enough money to take on the challenge of transforming Eliza, a lower-class woman, into an upper-class citizen. As a member of the upper-class, Higgins had access to “chocolates, and taxis, and gold, and diamonds” that members of the lower-class didn’t necessarily have (Shaw 19). These objects are associated with
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
One’s class would be one the greatest stereotypical perceptions pertaining to language and groups. In Shaw’s Pygmalion, the storyline starts with a horrible storm. This storm forces classes of all types to crowd together out to seek shelter. Ideally, the higher class would not be caught associating with the lower class. However, a mother sees Eliza talking with her son, Freddy, and immediately goes to investigate. As a mother of that time, it is believed that Freddy should not associate himself with someone like Eliza. Eliza Doolitttle is roughly eighteen years of age, speaks what is called ‘gutter language’, and she sells flowers illegally. Appearance and actions “…reveal speakers’ memberships in particular speech communities, social classes, ethnic and national groups” (Edwards, 21). Due to her obvious state of being lower class, a stereotype is immediately placed on her.
After Higgins, confesses to his undying love for Eliza. Eliza decides to leave Higgins’s home because felt that it would only hurt Higgins more to have her stay another moment in his home because she did not share the same feelings for him. She now resides at the home of Mrs. Higgins.
The factor that changes her fate is that Eliza knows how to grasp chances when they favor her. Overhearing Higgins boast that the professor can make her a duchess, she immediately seizes the opportunity and makes a visit to Higgins. This is the turning point of her life; that is, the beginning of her transformation. Without the independent character and the ability to make right decisions as well as right choices, Eliza would have remained a poor flower girl all her life.
From the very beginning of the play, we can see the unequal relationship between Mr. Higgins (the man) and Eliza (the woman). This difference can be seen by the parallelism between these two
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
Class distinctions are made abundantly clear in Shaw’s “Pygmalion.” Eliza is representative of Shaw’s view of the English working class of the day: Crude, crass, and seemingly unintelligent yet worthy of pity. Equal criticism is leveled at the upper classes, who pass judgement upon the poor precipitated by their appearance and mannerisms. Higgins and Pickering’s attitude towards Eliza is one of derision, stemming from their difference in social status. For instance, Higgins’ open mockery of Eliza’s speech: “You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days.” (Shaw.
Even though the Professor is a highly intelligent man, he is completely ignorant of other peoples’ feelings. Colonel Pickering “came all the way from India to meet [the Professor].” Pickering will not travel halfway around the world if the Professor is not smart. Despite his extreme intelligence, Higgins is unaware of the fact that Eliza is a person with real emotions and feelings. Mrs. Pearce informs Higgins that he can not take a girl off the street as if she is a pebble off the ground. Higgins only reply to this is “Why not?” thereby displaying that he is insensitive and ignorant of Eliza’s feelings. He is so myopic that he does not see the need to have any concern whatsoever for Eliza. When Eliza first comes to Higgins with her request