Character Analysis Of Eliza Doolittle In George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion

Pygmalion
Pygmalion molds the clay gently with his calloused, rough hands. His eyes stare down at each line fold and crease of the figures body. He looks into her round eyes that he crafted perfectly. He fell in love with his creation then with a single kiss; blood is rushed to the ivory’s cheeks. He gently takes the figure in his arms filled with hope. *The goddess of love, Aphrodite, brought the next morning the sculpture to life. * Though Galatea was brought to life as a grown woman, she struggled with who she was, similar to Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. In Shaw’s Pygmalion Eliza Doolittle struggles with her identity and worth when she is molded into the “perfect lady” by Henry Higgins. In George Bernard Shaw’s play

Though miss Higgins’ view is shown from the get-go when she disproves of her son experimenting on others for his own selfish reasons. Later everyone arrives as well as Eliza, when she is seen she is barely recognizable as the flower girl they met at the church. “Eliza, who is exquisitely dressed, produces an impression of such remarkable distinction and beauty…” (Shaw act III 74), this transformation begins her inner struggle when her diction is as proper as the clothes she’s wearing but her cockney slang shines through the accent, causing confusion in others as well. When the party is over Miss Higgins confronts her son as well as Pickering to treat her as a human but to them they’re “Teaching Eliza. Dressing Eliza… Inventing new Elizas” (Shaw act III 83). This illustrates the amount of respect that is being loss while Eliza is losing herself in the process. But Pickering and Higgins reassure his mother that she being treated well. Although Higgins speaks of how well she’s doing and compares her to a parrot while Pickering proves his respect when he looks past her accent and tells Mrs. Higgins she “is a genius [and] can play piano quite beautifully…she plays everything she hears right off “ (Shaw act III 83) this exemplifies the difference between Higgins and Pickering. They speak of essentially the same thing but the way

Higgins home. When his mother tells Higgins of the mistreatment he had given Eliza he informs her “he can’t find anything.” (Shaw act V 106) showing how much he ended up relying on Eliza. Eliza soon comes down from upstairs and ignores Higgins similarly to how he did previously showing the change of power. She then goes on and tells Pickering on how grateful she is for him to have treated her