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A Critical Analysis Of Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw

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Pygmalion

Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw, mainly portrays the transformation of a stubborn flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into a professional and elegant woman through the handiwork of her "sculptor," Professor Henry Higgins. Eliza was discovered by Higgins and Colonel Pickering at Covent Garden, where she was caught off guard selling flowers to Pickering, while Eliza was talking Higgins took note of her horrendous language. Soon, as expected Eliza appears on Higgins doorstep to ask for his language skills in order to become a flower-shop girl.
Pygmalion is based on Pygmalion, a sculptor who falls mad in-love with the statue he created. In the myth, Aphrodite brings the statue alive, but Pygmalion forgets that as the statue is now human, magically the statue he created has a mind of her own. You can see how George Bernard Shaw has incorporated the myth into his play, …show more content…

Doolittle is persistent in her mission of mastering the English language. Yet the real test is of her ability to attain savior faire. Bernard Shaw utilizes Eliza 's lowborn speech as derogatory towards British society, though this same criticism is cast upon the upper class during the whole book. It is also transparent that the higher classes’ only judgment relies on speech. Higgins and Pickering 's treatment of Eliza throughout the book and her personal growth differentiated from each other due to their varying classes of society. Eliza rises to a higher social cast not only due to the help and expertise of Higgins and Pickering, but also through her own personal development as a

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