Pygmalion, a Social Critique - Research Paper Example

? PYGMALION, A SOCIAL CRITIQUE Bernard Shaw, the second greatest playwright, just behind Shakespeare, was a socialist, a semi- feminist, and more over a modern dramatist. Of all the other plays Pygmalion was the most received and significant. Pygmalion was the legendary sculpture and the king of Cyprus who adorned his own statue of Aphrodite. At his prayer Aphrodite made the statue alive as Galatea. Bernard Shaw’s most discussed and stunning modern story is about a girl who is transformed to a new one by the constant interference of Henry Higgins, a master phonetician. The play throws light on the social issues of that time. The way in which the poor and unsophisticated are treated in the society is well attended by the fabulous writer. The important theme is the then concepts and preconceived notions on how to be civilized. The so called social requirements which determine the status of one in the society is also questioned by the writer. Shaw, through Pygmalion shows the possibility of taking one’s life into his hands and molding it to a beautiful valuable creature by miraculously transforming the language. Thus he shows the importance of language in the society and its effect. He succeeds in proving that language and manners are important and they are influential powers in the life status of a human being. Social perception and classification are, to a great extend the products of language and manners, especially at that time. The first scene opens on the rainy Covent Garden for Drury lane she stop a car “I ‘am going home in a taxi”. But the driver prevents her. She shows the money for the fair. The driver thinks that she is a prostitute. When she reaches there he is unwilling to take that money and thus humiliates her. He says keep the shilling …with love from all at home. Definitely he thinks Eliza below him. Eliza’s groove language, impolite manners and arrogant accent makes her think that she is a low class citizen. According to Shaw “The great secret ,Eliza , is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners , but having the same manner for all human souls :in short behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third –class carriage ,and one soul is as good as another “ . Thus Shaw’s ability to interpret the social elements through language is praiseworthy. It conveys the then image of the classification reflected in the minds of the nineteenth century England. It was part of civilization, the development of language and the different class structure was emerged as a result. In Act 11 Bernard Shaw, through Higgins opines “Women upset everything. When n you let them into your life you find that the woman is driving at one thing and you are driving at another.” But Liza shows her ardent desire to become a real British. Yes she wants to be improved. Mrs. Pearce is shocked at Liza’s wish to attain a higher class. Here Shaw is taking the challenge of transforming Eliza to a socially accepted British. He considers it as a humanitarian endeavor. Shaw being a socialist concerned equally with the poor and ridiculed. Eliza the illegitimate child of Doolittle cannot expect more than this. When Alfred Doolittle arrives at Wimpole he does not even recognize his own daughter because she has been washed and elegantly dressed Alfred asks “Beg Pardon, miss: Eliza: Don’t you know your own daughter? Affred: Bly me! It’s Eliza. “This shows that the working class was not used to washing and dressing up, which was customary for the upper class. This clearly shows how strong the dissimilarity between the working class and the upper class that even the near and dear ones could be naturally mistaken. The readers also exclaimed what separates the class. Is that the dressing or the language? But it is a fact that those who can speak well have such a place in the society. Shaw emphasizes the importance of language once again. Not only in Britain but also everywhere people judge every based on their language and appearance. Here also Mr. Higgins never saw Eliza more than a flower girl. Mr. Doolittle is an ordinary man a drunkard and so lazy to beg money from his daughter. The low level relation that Eliza’s father keep now is also something related to his class. Everybody expect such a middle class morality from a middle class dust man. It is clear that the difference between a lady and that of a flower girl the way, in which she is treated, not the way in which she behaves. But Eliza is having good manners. But Higgins believes that how you treated somebody is not much important because everybody is treated equally. Higgins treats her in the typical upper-class or lower class level. He calls her “Squashed cabbage leaf” and an incarnate insult to the English language. The transformation of the squashed cabbage leaf to a genteel lady was possible by the treatment of Higgins. Along with these Shaw highlighted the mistakes in the conception of people about how lower class lived and the social intolerance including orthodox views of women and deprived. Instead of writing a book about all these negligence Shaw used the characters in his play Pygmalion to put forward his opinions. Pygmalion also showed that whatever class you were in, whether you were rich or poor you had a chance to come up to the expectations of the society ,you had a chance to succeed. When Doolittle sells Eliza to Higgins for $5, Higgins offers him $10 and Doolittle says “Ten pounds is a lot of money, it makes a man prudent like; and then good bye to happiness “This proves that lower class people felt that if they were to have more money than they needed then they would lose their personality and become a an upper-class person. The barrier in the minds of the poor people to move to the high level was a formulated notion. Thus Pygmalion tried to disclose such insignificant emotional sets up that disturbed the common people of that time. The renovation was so strong in Eliza that Freddy also comes to her with expectation. Freddy was not even minding her when she was a flower girl. But now her characteristics make her like that of a higher class lady. At the beginning of the play Colonel Pickering was treating Elza differently. Late we find him asks “Does it occur to you Higgins that the girls has some feelings. But he also calls the girl without her name. These show that both Higgins and Pickering are aware of their status in society. Eliza is not well congratulated or considered well for her good manners. Through this character Shaw shows the way in which the upper class treated the lower. But Eliza is different one who shows more courage and strength. She bears all these insults and try hard to come up with Higgins. Once she tells “And if my money‘s not good enough I can go somewhere else”. What she wants is respect and consideration. That longing leads her to boldly tell Higgins. Though the play Pygmalion Shaw presents the classic theme of a drama, the complexity in human relations. The cultural crash and the status of a person is the influential powers that make him acceptable or unacceptable in the society. Here through the scientific approach .Higgins transforms a shapeless trivial thing to a valuable precious stone. Now Eliza the flower girl speaks more beautifully and correctly. The revolution is external. The alteration was different at heart which no science or any experiments can contribute it that without his permission Eliza starts loving him. But they are at the different poles where Eliza is a natural affectionate human being where as Higgins thinks with his intellect. Moreover Shaw himself tries to show the dignity of English language and the way in which it is treated in Education. The importance of phonetics is also exposed here. The entire play is about the use of language as a means of dividing society into classes. In the preface he writes “It (the play)is so intensely and deliberately didactic , and its subject is esteemed so dry ,that I delight in throwing it at the head of wiseacres who repeat the same cry that art should never be didactic. It goes to prove my contention that art should never be anything else”. The play can be considered as a social critic who investigate the issues of class and love during the twentieth century England. Shows brilliant characterization of the rude intelligent phonetician Higgins and the straight forward strong intelligent Eliza give life to the play. Through polishing language Shaw finds solution to eradicate the class difference and preferences. The transformation of Eliza is very important in the sense that she lost her identity. Higgins says “how frightfully interesting it is to take a human being and change her into a quite different human being by creating a new speech for her. It is filling up the deepest gulf that separates class from class and soul from soul. “. This transformation also caused her to search for the roots. She herself has to find out what is she, a middle class or an upper class. Work cited Shaw, George Bernard (1912), Pygmalion, New York Bloom, Harold, (1988) ed.  Modern Critical Interpretations of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.  NY: Chelsea, Read More