Pygmaliaon Myth

In the opening scene, Professor Higgins, a phonetics expert, is able to distinguish where each person in the crowd is from and Eliza's accent immediately reveals her lowly level of education and class. Eliza is later able to transcend the boundaries of her class and move up into aristocracy through her new manner of eloquent speech and elegant behaviour that distinguish her as a lady of social standing. She convincingly carried off the fazade at the Embassy Ball. Here Shaw mocks the superficial basis of class distinctions by showing how easy it is to deceive society and challenges the notion of what being a lady' really means.
             Although many elements of the myth are apparent in his play, Shaw chose to dispose of the passion and love, as he found many flaws with the institution of marriage. Higgins does not treat Eliza as an equal but as someone much lower and calls her insulting names like guttersnipe' and squashed cabbage leaf'. Higgins differs from Pygmalion in that he arrogantly takes full credit for the evolution of Eliza to a lday without any gratitude or acknowledgement for Eliza's efforts. Eliza as a flowergirl, has all the potential to become a lady. She has the motivation and intelligence to learn and Higgins is merely the facilitator. He gives her an education and her new manner of speech empowers her to move up in society from the gutter to the middle class. The idea of creation is present, but slightly altered as Galatea was created from inanimate stone, while Eliza was transformed from a living human being.
             The play demonstrates many of the current values and attitudes of a society through its various characters and situation. Eliza is a victim of the conventions in society that leads her at the end of the play to simply leave and live on her own. She has limited and unsatisfying choices and must decide between living as three bachelors with Higgins and Pickering or marrying Freddy.