The Majority Of Male Characters

Shaw’s work of art is not about the fairy-tale happy ending but about something believable and sensible. Slowly over months Liza’s tough, “gutter”, exterior was chipped away to reveal Eliza, a woman capable of being called a duchess, but not one willing to sit down and serve another. Independence races through her and the moment she throws the slippers at Higgins pieces are being restored, she no longer will be a servant of his nor does she want any position that would make her one for the rest of her life. Any form of relationship to Higgins involving romantic attachment does not allow Eliza to be herself or to feel superior to anyone. Freddy offers the companionship she needs, with support, love, and no shadow to stand in. Shaw’s romance is more about the making of her person not of any relationship with another character, it is Eliza’s relationship with herself. Although Eliza’s self-worth was not determined by her standing in life she realized that she deserved more, she respected herself enough to know that Higgins was not the kind of man she would want a relationship with. She needed someone who cared for her passionately, not one who treated her just as he treated everyone else - badly. Eliza is strong and she finds it within herself to look for the love she deserves and the life she deserves without the constant ridicule of a man who will never truly respect another’s

the final act of the play that Pickering “treats a flower girl as if she was a duchess” (Shaw, 1916,

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

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

Education in “Pygmalion” is depicted as a stepping stone into a better life, but it is how one puts one’s knowledge to use that determines their satisfaction with life. The main message of “Pygmalion” is appearances can be deceiving. Higgins, a high middle class man who studies phonetics--the science of speech-- with a proper education, conveys a persona of being cold, stern, proper, conventional, and intellectual. Eliza, on the other hand, grew up on the streets, which resulted in her hideous accent. She was “...not at all an attractive person…[She] wears a… hat… exposed to

The notion of ‘manners maketh man’ can also be used to judge the gentility of the persons involved. That of Mr Knightley is proven at the ball when, despite his reservations about Harriet and dancing, he chooses to ‘rescue’ her from the humiliation of Mr Elton’s snub illustrating his good manners and gentleman’s heart. The appalling manners of

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.

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

While those of the Victorian upper class were usually the most refined and intelligent, Wilde portrays them as ignorant and dense. One of the most well described ladies, Miss Prism, is shown to be the least aware. “The most cultivated of ladies, and the very picture of respectability”(63). She is ultimately the most absent minded and leaves baby Jack in a handbag in a cloak room of a major railway station. Through Miss Prism, Wilde is able to propagandize the intelligence the aristocrats usually embody. In addition to this, Wilde refutes the morality of the Victorian elite. The main two characters, Jack and Algernon, are deceptive and are rarely seen to have any morals. Reviewing this play with a sociological/Marxist perspective provides insight on how Wilde wants others to perceive the elite of

This critical review is about the musical, My Fair Lady, directed by George Cukor based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. This musical altered some of the scenes and added new ones. The basic storyline of the text is about a young flower girl that runs into a phonetics teacher who claims that he could sell her as a duchess. The flower girl, which is later known to be Eliza, takes up the offer and starts speech lessons with the teacher, Mr. Higgins. He coachers her night and day to prepare her for a race and an embassy ball where she will meet royalty. Mr. Higgins is also acquainted in the beginning with one of his respected colleagues who also specialize in phonetics, Colonel Pickering. Although, Higgins treats her as “baggage” he soon gets attached to her and her ways. Colonel Pickering however, treats her as a respectable lady. She has a great success at the ball but is not recognized for it, which disappoints her. She decides to run away to Mrs. Higgins house where she found by Higgins and Pickering. She organizes her thoughts with Higgins and says she will never come back to them but at the end of the movie, not the play, she comes back to Higgins and Pickering.

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.

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.

According to Harold Bloom, Arthur Miller’s play there is a theme of an individual struggling to fit in a society. Such need is often exhibited by way of guilt of the characters, a sense of responsibility or lack of a sense of responsibility (Bloom 131).

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.

By naming his drama "Pygmalion," Shaw reminds people of the ancient Pygmalion Myth. Pygmalion, a sculptor, makes a beautiful statue and falls in love with his own creation. He prays that life may be granted to it. The gods give him his wish. The statue becomes a living girl named Galatea. In Shaw's play, Eliza, the heroine, is transformed from a flower girl into a graceful lady. This change is like that of a stone into a statue of perfect beauty. But just as