Pygmalion
Pygmalion, a play written by George Bernard Shaw, is as poignant today as it was when it was written. The two main characters, Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, demonstrate the major class differences of the play’s period, and the prejudices of society. The actors in the movie version, “My Fair Lady,” portray these characters coming from opposite ends of society, who are brought together by unspeakable chance. Throughout the movie, my attention is drawn to the theme of class difference. Higgins is a rich, well-to-do phonetics scientist, while Eliza is a poor flower girl who has grown up on the streets. From the beginning, there is a sense of discomfort between the two classes starting when Eliza tries to sell flowers to Higgins after a glamorous theater performance. Higgins, as well as the rest of his upper class friends and family, blow Eliza off as nothing but a nuisance. Then, after arguing about his superior teaching techniques with Colonel Pickering, Higgins begins bragging that he could train this mere flower girl for a period of six months to the point of passing as a duchess in high-class society. The idea of class difference in this play/movie can be analyzed through different vie
There is a key moment in the story where Eliza walks into a room where Pickering and Higgins are having a conversation concerning Eliza and how they were glad the whole experiment was over. They both agree that Eliza could now have the chance to marry into a wealthy family and live the life of a respectable lady. Neither of the two ever acknowledges Eliza as she’s standing in the room and gives the feeling that since the project was over, they had no more use for her. This event arises the birth of Eliza’s independent spirit and ends up tossing it in Higgins face. She finally stands up to his bullying and objects to being treated as nothing but an object that no one cared about. As to the point where she could marry into wealth and power, she rejects the idea of selling herself. She would rather marry for love and work for a living, than marry into money and live a lie. Finally, towards the end of the movie, Higgins begins to realize Eliza will never change her ways, an! This movie can be analyzed so many different ways, but the theme of class difference just seems to just pop out and shine. There is a very straightforward underlying message in this text. Separated by class, a poor flower girl and a rich phonetics scholar are brought together in the form of teacher and student. Eliza was learning to live the life as a respectable high-class lady. Higgins, while teaching speech and proper techniques, treats Eliza as an object, a project to prove his superiority. He believes he can literally transform Eliza into someone she’s not. The message that tries to come out throughout the movie, shoots out when Eliza refuses to marry into wealth, and decides to take her knowledge and live the life she’s always wanted. As a girl from the streets, she learned the im
Some topics in this essay:
Pickering Higgins,
Eliza Higgins’,
Eliza Higgins,
Fair Lady”,
Eliza Doolittle,
Higgins Coming,
Bernard Shaw,
Eliza Believing,
flower girl,
live life,
Commentary Pygmalion,
class difference,
poor flower girl,
poor flower,
Henry Higgins,
live life respectable,
streets learned,
throughout movie,
life respectable,
high-class society,
eliza transformed,
theme class difference,
respectable lady,
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Approximate Word count = 1205
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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