Pygmalion
(George Bernard Shaw)

Language

Language is important in this novel because it is used to define a person. Henry Higgins can tell where a person is from within six miles, or possibly narrow it down to a street if they are from London, just by listening to their dialect. He is a master of phonetics and when he hears the Cockney accent of Eliza he makes the claim that he could turn her into a Duchess in six months. Eliza can be nothing more than a girl who sells flowers on the street with her original accent and poor vocabulary but once Higgins teaches her to change her accent and expands her vocabulary she finds that she no longer knows where she fits in. Language dictates who a person is, in terms of this play and maybe in terms of real life, as well.

Transformation

The transformation of Eliza is the plot of the play. Higgins makes a bet with Pickering that he can turn Eliza into a lady within six months, and Pickering agrees to pay all of the expenses if Higgins succeeds. Higgins succeeds but Eliza wishes that he had not because now she has had a taste of society and is refined so she cannot go back to being a Flower Girl, but she also has no skills to make it into the world of high society. She has no idea what to do with herself and blames Higgins for putting her in the predicament. Her father experiences something similar; when he inherits money he finds he does not like all of the drama that comes from it.

Identity

The concept of identity goes hand in hand with transformation in the scope of this play. Eliza knows exactly who she is when she is a Flower Girl; she just wishes that she had more opportunities in life so she asks Higgins to give her speaking lessons. When Eliza is transformed into a young lady of society, she loses her identity completely. She has no idea where she fits in, she does not know how she will make a living, she does not really know who she is at all, and she feels lost. Higgins was her tie to the higher-class world, and when he seems done with her she has a bit of an identity crisis. Similarly, when Eliza decides she does not need Higgins he feels lost without her.

Appearance

In this play, it becomes apparent that beauty is dependent on social connections, as is a person’s worth. When Eliza takes a bath and is dressed in clean clothes she is breathtakingly beautiful. The most refined she becomes the more beautiful she is seen as. Of course, Eliza was always beautiful even as a dirty Flower Girl but that beauty was hidden by her unfortunate social circumstances. The more expensive and lovely possessions a person has the more beautiful they becomes as a person. Eliza fits right in with the Eynsford-Hill family once her appearance is impressive but as a Flower Girl they would never associate themselves with her.

Manipulation

It may seem at first glance as though Higgins is the one doing the manipulating in this play, but Eliza does a bit of manipulating in her own right. Higgins manipulates Eliza to be whatever he wants her to be and what he thinks it is acceptable for her to be. It is a game to him, and she is a toy that he loves to play with. Out of spite Eliza manipulates him back. When she realizes that she has lost her identity and that he is done molding her she basically tells him that she does not need him or any of the fancy things that he has given her and that she is going to marry Freddy. Higgins may have acted as though he did not want or need her, but the second she reciprocated he pouted like a child.

Social Class

The society in London that is displayed in “Pygmalion” is separated very specifically. Eliza was once a part of the lowest class; she lived on the streets in shabby clothing and sold flowers to make money to get by. Professor Henry Higgins is of the higher class; he lives in a grand home, is very wealthy, and he has the right social connections via his mother Mrs. Higgins because he is too socially awkward to make his own connections. Eliza makes a huge jump from the bottom to the top, but she finds that she is uncomfortable at the top because she does not know how to function there.

Femininity

Professor Higgins’ task with Eliza was not only to teach her to speak properly but also to turn her into a young lady. Eliza started as a garish, obnoxious, loud, and slightly crude girl from the streets. After bathing and being introduced to find clothing Eliza began to embrace her femininity a little more. By the end of the play, Eliza has passed for a high-society young woman and embraced her feminine beauty. Interestingly, Shaw portrays several types of women in this play (Eliza, Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Pearce, Mrs. and Miss Eynsford-Hill) and all of them seem to be quite independent and outspoken; this was somewhat of a new idea when he wrote the play.

Hopes and Dreams

Eliza is the only person in the play who seems to have hopes and dreams. Perhaps this is because she is the only person, other than her father, who is not capable of buying everything that she could ever want. Eliza comes to Higgins for speaking lessons because she dreams of being able to work in a flower shop, rather than having to sell flowers on the street because no one will hire her. Eliza has no idea what she is getting herself into and once she becomes a lady of society she loses her identity and seems to have lost sight of her original goals and dreams.

Sex Roles

Sex roles are very clearly defined in this play, and it becomes glaringly obvious that women are not offered the same options in life that men are. When Eliza was just seen as a person who lives on the streets and sells flowers there was no such thing as gender roles. When Eliza becomes a fine lady she realizes that she has limited options; Higgins suggests to her that she find a rich man and marry him. Eliza sees that she can no longer earn her own living because it would not be fitting of her new image, but she also does not want to resort to marrying herself off as a trophy wife.

Wealth

Higgins provides a sterling example that money cannot buy happiness or class. Higgins has everything that he could want, but he is cocky, arrogant, socially awkward, and rude. He acts like a child when he does not get what he wants, and he refuses to believe that he cannot have something that he sets his sights on. Eliza has no money, but she has more class in her pinky finger than Higgins has in his entire body. Just because a person is wealthy materialistically does not make them wealthy emotionally. Monetary wealth is not enough to make a person complete.