External Identity In Pygmalion

The play Pygmalion, written in 1912 by George Bernard Shaw explores how in Victorian England people often are often judged by their external appearance. The story is about a young, flower named Eliza who wants to be treated equally to everyone else. She is trained by a phonetics expert, Professor Higgins, so she can speak and act like a fancy lady in time for a garden party at the end of the play. This play addresses important parts of Victorian England, such as how people were affected by gender and class differences. George Bernard Shaw also ties in ideas about how social class differences aren 't big. How besides the way that they dress and look, a poor flower girl has no real difference compared to a rich, fancy lady. Although throughout the play Eliza´s external identity changes a lot, her clothes hair and manner of speech make her unrecognizable as a flower girl at the end of the play, her internal identity, the way she feels and thinks on the inside stays consistent throughout the entirety of the play.

Eliza 's internal identity stays the same throughout the play. At the beginning of the play,

At the end of the play Eliza demands independence from the trap she realized she was in of becoming to fancy to even work in a shop. At one point she tells Higgins “I won 't be coaxed around as if I was a baby or a puppy. If I can 't have kindness I 'll have independence”(p.87). This quote clearly shows that Eliza 's strive for independence and hope to be treated equally and taken seriously stays with her throughout the play. She wants to be treated with respect, the same as everyone else. This is a part of her identity that stays with her and shows that although she may change on the outside from a poor, flower girl to a lady. There are no true internal changes in the way she thinks, and what she feels is important,