The Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw - Essay Example

? PYGMALION OUTLINE AND CRITICISM By Number: Introduction The Pygmalion play is the work done by George Bernard Shaw in 1912. This play features Henry Higgins, a professor in the Science of speech (phonetics) as one of the main characters. Higgins attempts to transform the accent of Eliza Doolittle, a flower girl, into a better-spoken duchess woman within 6 months. Eliza, the flower-girl, appears at the professor’s laboratory in the following morning promising to commit a shilling for speech lessons. This would help the girl in speaking properly and thus be able to work in the flower shop. The result produces a ladylike Miss Doolittle, and the learned lessons become much more far reaching. Pygmalion probes paramount questions regarding social class, cross-gender relations, as well as human behavior. George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion is a brilliant play based on the Greek myth. The play integrates the element of human relationships in the social world, and is a production that keeps the audience awaiting the development of scenes. The stage effects, costumes, and set design bring up the essence of brilliance. Class distinction in this play can be seen all through, and concerns one's social status in the society. Here, speech places a person in the lower class, middle class or upper class, and this play shows how the upper and lower classes run the characters lives in different ways. George Bernard Shaw gives his characters accents and backgrounds that are different. For example, when Eliza goes to Higgins for phonetic lessons, he tells Eliza that for her to learn how to speak beautifully like a lady; she would have to live with her for the next six months. Bernard Shaw shows how people in the upper class should treat people in the lower class through Colonel Pickering at the beginning of the play (Shaw, 1930). Pickering has respect for Eliza but still shows he has a higher social hierarchy than Eliza. The respect for Eliza can be shown when he asks Higgins whether he is aware that Eliza has some feelings. At the end of the play, Pickering behaves more like Higgins in patronizing Eliza and showing that he is of a higher hierarchy than her which is a similar behavior like that of Higgins. People in the upper classes believe that people in the lower classes are stupid and uncouth. In Act One, when Eliza leaves the Covent Garden for Drury Lane, a taxi driver has an impression that Eliza is a prostitute and charges her extra. After arriving at Drury Lane, the taxi driver refuses to take her cash thinking that she is below him and cannot afford the fare. People treat Eliza the way the upper class treats the lower class. The upper class ignores the lower class which can be clearly shown when Freddy does not pick Eliza’s basket like a gentleman should do, when he knocks into Eliza. In this situation, Freddy does not keep in mind that Eliza loses her day’s pay when he knocks the flower basket. This shows that the upper class thinks of the lower class as dirt, not as human beings (Shaw, 1930). In the play, Higgins teaches Eliza, and at the end of the six months, Eliza makes a favorable impression to the Ambassador’s wife, and she was made a Hungarian princess. Higgins instead of thinking that Eliza’s English is inferior making Eliza angry. Eliza decides to leave and goes missing. Soon after the disappearance, Higgins was finally told that Eliza was in the house, but demanded seeing Eliza. When Eliza shows up she accuses Professor Higgins of thinking of her as a flower girl and says she would not return to his home. Higgins finally admits of treating Eliza in an unkind manner and tries to convince her return with her home. The play ends with Eliza marrying Freddy, and winning Higgins’s respect. Eliza realizes she has overpowered Higgins and wonders as to how Higgins will live without her. Finally, Bernard Shaw portrays his characters in an artistic manner through actions and speech. Criticism There are three outstanding critics regarding Pygmalion play. Each critic seeks to establish a point of argument with which a different approach could have been followed by the play writer. The first critic is established in the comparison of Pygmalion with other works of Shaw. Pygmalion portrays a richly complex approach of representing and presenting ideas. The play integrates a central story involving a young woman’s transformation with mythical elements, fair tale and romance, while on the hand he integrates an interesting plot as he explores social identity, men-and-women relation, and the power of science amongst other issues. The second critic explores the issue of controversy surrounding the Pygmalion’s ending. Pygmalion can be described as one of the most popular plays by Shaw, and one of the most outstanding straightforward plays. The play does not display any complexity such as witnessed in the plays like Heart break or Saint Joan. However, the ending of the play Pygmalion tends to provoke a controversy of interest; Eliza and Higgins do not end up in marriage. The play reconciles the two major characters at the ending. The other critic is presented on the Pygmalion’s ending as well as in the approaches in which the subsequent adaptations have shown a stray from the original vision of Shaw’s work. This critic indicates an ultimate affirmation on the original conclusion of the play. The play was viewed as one of Shaw's comedies, which are provocative. Shaw instead of writing about stereotyping and prejudice, the featured characters have been used to present the writer’s opinions in a more relevant way to the audience. He highlights on the possible errors which people generate in the manner in which they perceive social prejudice regarding the poor. Pygmalion shows that people have equal chances to make it regardless of the class and social status. The lower class feels that by having more money than they required they would lose their personality they would become stereotypical upper class. Bernard Shaw uses his work in addressing social problems. A good example is seen in the way he discusses matters of education, health care and class privilege. He is against exploiting the working class. He presents human relations complexity and mocks social classes by language manipulation. Characters such as Higgins and Eliza were used to capture people’s attention in dealing with typical situations such as friendship, love and family struggles. Shaw writes to transcend different boundaries in literature. Pygmalion was written to challenge system of traditional stereotypes and class. It attacks the British class system and shows Shaw’s feminist views, but it also proves Shaw is highlighting some of the qualities such as not being reasonable and fair that the upper class possesses. This can be proven where in the late 1800s and 1900s it would be expected for a man to remain in the rain searching for a taxi while the women waited in dry places. There were three classes of living during Shaw’s time, and this were the lower class, the middle class and the upper class. The upper class owned large houses, travelled in cabs and they were the elite living a wholesome life while the lower class worked for the upper class as housekeepers or butlers and would be paid relatively low. The middle class in the other hand would get jobs since they could afford proper education while the lower class cannot. Unlike the upper class who managed to read and write Latin or French, the lower class did not afford learning their native language. Shaw portrays this system of classes as corrupt and highlights the reality. Shaw's magnificent Pygmalion is a complex play, which combines the social identity exploration and other issues. Conclusion Pygmalion has continued to gain popularity amongst viewers since production. The concept of integrating social matters like social classes, cross-gender relations and human behavior, continues to draw a lot more attention from respective viewers. The play also portrays qualities of Shaw, the play writer and thus viewers appreciate his work. References Berst, Charles A 1973, Bernard Shaw and the Art of Drama, University of Illinois Press, Urbana. Bloom, Harold 1988, Modern Critical Interpretations of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, Chelsea, NY. Rosenthal R & Jacobson L 1968, Pygmalion in the Classroom, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. Shaw, George B 1930, Pygmalion, Constable and Company, London. Shaw, George B 1916, Pygmalion, Brentano, New York. Read More