1. The American Dream
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.
These creation myths contain many of the same universal elements that are found in nearly all creation myths and they demonstrate for us the degree to which the Indians felt we truly are one with nature. ... The punishment of the Water Monster is a direct reference to the great flood that is found in many creation myths, including that of the Christian myths. ... Finally, these creation myths discuss the nature of human beings. ... All three of the Indian creation myths hold universal elements that are easily recognizable and comparable to other creation myths from other cultures. The Indian c...
Myths can be about anything and can be used to explain a variety of ideas. The myth of Prometheus is a rather important one in the Greek and Roman cultures. The main characters of this myth are Prometheus and Epimetheus. ... This myth was told for the sole purpose of explaining how man was created and was not told, like many other myths, to entertain. This myth does not try to point out a certain lesson, but it does show that if you commit a crime like stealing, there are consequences to be paid. ...
Facts of marriage are usually confused with myths. ... The second myth about marriage is, We Will Make Each Other Happy. ... The fourth myth is, My spouse is all I need. This myth is a popular one. ... We all carry myths into our marriages. ...
Resonant as a Myth? Is it valid to call Fowles" The Collector resonant of a myth? ... Often, myths strive to delineate the psychology, customs, or ideals of society or explain aspects of the natural world. They explain why the world is the way it is, and each myth conveys its own message. ... Interestingly, there is a Greek Myth that involves the capture and eternal torture of a beautiful and enchanting woman. ...
Those that believe in myth over science, are they wrong? ... The term myth has multiple meanings. ... The term myth should not be thought of as fictitious or primitive. The possibility for the myth to be real should always be considered. ... In the myth Hesiod anthropomorphizes the cosmos. ...
The quotation marks around beauty explain this myth. ... Naomi Wolff, the main thinker of beauty myth states that "the wishful notion that with enough time, money, effort, and will power, any woman can and should attempt to look like an extremely tall, young, slender-yet-bosomy, Nordic blonde model of a certain facial bone structure more or less summarizes the prevailing beauty myth." The beauty myth is brainwashing, a warped and destructive notion in a universe of such amazing diversity. ... (Beecroft 1999: 176) The beauty myth triggers many associations On-going cycle 1. ... The beauty...
Myths are about our common experience. ... Myths are a reflection of human nature; human nature is reflected in myth. ... Thus it stands to reason that myths reflect human nature and human nature is reflected in myth. Some myths, generally creation myths, relate to questions like those mentioned previously. ... Joseph Campbell wrote, "Read myths. ...
Some of the authors also used myth so they would not make their readers feel stupid or being talked down to. ... Below is a discussion of what I fell how each of these author's use myth and their purpose of using it. Carlyle uses myth (past) to help bring the past into the present. ... Tennyson's main use of myth is to illustrate how man lost their faith and the consequences of losing it. ... Tennyson uses myth to help project his own vision of how he saw his own civilization (i.e., hollowness he saw). ...