Pygmalion and Metamorphoses - Essay Example

6 December Pygmalion and Metamorphoses According to the Greek myth and Ovid’s poem in metamorphoses, Pygmalion was a man who despised women for their treachery and unfaithfulness and hence had decided never to fall in love. As stated in the poem, “One man, Pygmalion, who had seen these womenleading their lives/ shocked at the vices.” Pygmalion was a sculptor by profession and used to spend all his time working and finally one day he was able to sculpt the woman of his dreams and he fell in love with it as the verses state, “He knows tis madness, yet he must adore/And still the more he knows it, loves the more.

” After that, the sculptor wished for his sculptor’s mortality from Venus, his wish was granted, and they lived happily ever after. Bernard Shaw’s play ‘Pygmalion’ is based on Ovid’s famous myth Pygmalion. Shaw’s portrayal of his protagonist Professor Higgins is very similar to that of Ovid’s Pygmalion i.e. both despised women for their vices. However, the situation changes for Professor Higgins when Eliza walks in to his life who was a common flower girl with a cockney accent.

Professor Higgins takes up the challenge of transforming Eliza in to a proper society woman although unknowingly he was making Eliza exactly like his dream woman as it is also observed in the case of Pygmalion himself. In the play Higgins mother, Mrs. Higgins’s character can be interpreted as the symbolic representation of Venus in the myth because both the women characters act as a buffer in instigating the culmination of love as observed in the case of Pygmalion as well as Professor Higgins. Mrs. Higgins’s character bears similarities with the goddess because in the play she hides Eliza from the professor when he hurts her feelings and then makes him realize his mistakes.

Moreover, like Venus, she was able to decipher his son’s feelings for Eliza without any confession from him and she takes it upon herself to bring the two together. Just like Venus who also grants Pygmalion’s wish for Galatea’s mortality although he does not asks for her mortality aloud but it was their in his heart. Just as Pygmalion Professor Higgins, also falls in love with Eliza while transforming her into his dream woman though he does not wants to accept it at the time. However once she leaves him he realizes his mistake and he sets himself against getting her back.

Although it is observed that Shaw does not gives the play a proper ending since no details are stated about Eliza coming back yet it is perceived that they do have a happily ever after. Hence, Shaw incorporates the basic concept of the myth i.e. a man creating a woman of his dreams and then desiring to live with her for eternity in his play Pygmalion. Moreover, it also has a romantic element to its projection as both the myth and the play reflect the power of love and how even the most stubborn of mortal beings are susceptible to the purest and the deepest emotions such as love.

References Cummings, J Michael. Cummingsstudyguides. n.p. 2008. Web. December 6, 2010