Social Class Hierarchies In Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw

James Loewen begins his argument by establishing that students are leaving high school without knowing the basic inner workings of the class structure. He goes on to attribute some of the ignorance concerning class structure to have stemmed from a lack of labor history and class system information in high school history books. Loewen continues to describe the shortcomings of history books on topics such as social stratification, the realities of social classes in colonial America, and social class inequalities. He then goes into great detail about the continuous inequalities between those in higher and lower social class. Overall, the author of this piece argues that a person's social class influences too many aspects of their life. He claims

HIGGINS [with the look of confusion on his face]: Fine thank you, Eliza we need to…

People may think that social classes have an effect on what influences there how they are treated and what relationships they have, others may believe it has to do with success. The way people are treated can be based on anything from there beliefs, relationship, succeeds, and most importantly where belong in the social classes. It is very important what relationships you have and how others treat you based on your class because it sets your reputation. Overall, no matter what traits you have,who you know, where you come from, your class is very important and can play a big role someone's life. A person's social class can change from being in the lower to higher class, however it can also change from being in the higher to lower class as well. A thousand Splendid Suns is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini in which ideas are being analysed between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, relationships, and taliban control.

The 1920s brought about extreme change in the way the average American lived their lives, both socially and politically. Immigration, industrialism, and the economy boomed, creating abundant wealth among Americans through new job opportunities. Over time, social class structure was established, bringing fluctuations in the distribution of wealth among the different ranks in society. This period of time, known as the “Roaring Twenties”, is seen in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who uses the characters in the novel to depict the conflict in American society. Gatsby, the central figure of the novel, represents the upper-lower class and attempts to achieve the American Dream, emphasizing the true abilities of lower class citizens. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the restrictions lower class Americans had in their ability to access the American Dream due to the limitations of class mobility towards closed plutocratic societies.

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 author of The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott-Fitzgerald, was born in Minnesota in 1896. He was born into a middle class family and spent most of his childhood living in New York because of his fathers job. Fitzgerald attended Princeton but did not get the chance to graduate because he enrolled into the Army. He was stationed at Fort Leavenworth and was under the influence of Dwight Eisenhower. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the life of the working class and how people's dreams of moving up in social class began to dwindle if they did not stay hopeful.

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

George Bernard Shaw and John Edwards seem to share some quite similar beliefs regarding language and identity. More specifically, how language alters one’s identity. Edwards uses discussions involving class, gender, and dialect; while Shaw uses his character, Eliza Doolittle to discuss these connections between language and identity. Both authors debunk the stereotypical perception about language and groups, just in two separate ways. Edwards explains it over several chapters of his text “Language and Identity”, whereas Shaw demonstrates it through one person.

This sudden change in character shows that an upgrade in social class not only changes the way that people look at you but that it can also have many benefits as well. Going against the thesis, there is one character, Colonial Pickering. Colonial Pickering is a friend and a safe haven to Miss Doolittle. She trusts him, and with good reason, from the beginning to the end of the play, he treats her the same, like a lady. ?Colonial Pickering is a compete contrast to the character of Henry Higgins in terms of manners and behaviour. Colonial Pickering is Shaw?s evidence that wealth and poverty can mix.? (Galens and Scampinato, 245). Most characters in Pygmalion expect the rich and poor to stay separate except for the open hearted and minded, Colonial Pickering.

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

Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, describes Shaw’s viewpoint on social class distinctions in the 1900s by describing characters of the upper, middle, and lower classes in the play. Through the characters’ descriptions, language, and actions, the distinction between classes becomes very prominent. Similarly, Galileo, by Bertolt Brecht, describes Brecht’s take on the social class structure during Galileo’s time and how the differences between classes affected Galileo’s opportunity to do scientific research. Both plays depict a society ruled by the upper-class and a lack of coherence among the upper, middle, and lower classes that leads to eventual conflict. In both Pygmalion and Galileo, the authors highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the different social classes in order to critique how the relationships between people from different classes affect their interactions with each other.

     The opening scene is after an opera. The higher class people spill out into the streets. It is here that Eliza is selling her flowers. Eliza is a poor girl with a very thick accent. She is a respectable girl, which she insist throughout the movie, saying to Mr. Higgins, “I’m a good girl”. She’s had a hard life, her father being a drunk and therefore she and her mother had no money. It is

In the Victorian England period, how a person is viewed by society determines everything. What kind of jobs are available, who it is ok to marry, and even who is acceptable to interact with. How a person is viewed can change their life for better or for worse, and sadly women during this period must work twice as hard as their male counterparts to get the crucial social respect needed to succeed in their societies. How a person appears and how they dress plays a big part on how someone is viewed, but flower-girl-turned-duchess Eliza Doolittle must learn the hard way that just because a person fits the outside criteria of a lady does not exactly mean she would be treated as so, by society and most of all her mentor Henry Higgins. Throughout the play, Pygmalion, By George Bernard Shaw, the author makes the theme of prejudice against women very apparent by the way they are treated in society and the unreasonable expectations they are held up to, making it very difficult for women like Eliza Doolittle to move up in society and be seen as equal in the eyes of those above them.

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

Social standing is central to the plot of George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”. The portrayal of class identity in Shaw’s play appears to be a criticism of the distinctions between high society and the poorer classes in Victorian England. Shaw’s aim was to portray how the upper-crust of Victorian society viewed the lower classes, as evidenced by Higgins’ treatment of Eliza upon her first visit to his laboratory; Higgins treats her as though she is too stupid to understand that he is insulting her. The assumption is that the wealthy view the lower classes as being somehow lesser. So what is it that Shaw is trying to impart upon the reader? Shaw appeared to show open disdain not just for the upper class of society but for society in general, and Pygmalion may be interpreted as an open criticism of class distinctions in Victorian England.