The Social Differences in Pygmalion Play

What is Pygmalion play in a short description?

In this paper, we have tried to analyze the social issues and the messages under the light of the historical background of circumstances and the dialogues of the characters in the Pygmalion play. This theatre is one of the most important plays. Because Pygmalion play reflects the meaningless of the class distinction between the upper class and the lower class, this social issue relies upon the story of Liza’s turning point in her life with other characters in the play.

Who is George Bernard Shaw?

Bernard Shaw

In a short briefing, George Bernard Shaw suffered poverty for a long time at his young age, and he had to take economic support from his family. However, he educated himself based on self-education, and he spent his time mostly in the British Museum reading room. His reading and debates were about middle-class London society, and this gave shape to his works in the meantime. Therefore, Bernard Shaw was a modern drama writer.

Where does the name Pygmalion play come from?

Pygmalion painting

In modern drama, it is possible to see some inspirations from Ancient works. Therefore, the title of the play is Pygmalion. According to Pygmalion myth, there is a sculptor who falls in love with his marble statue. He creates a sculpture how he wants, and he falls in love with it, then he prays to Gods. After that, Aphrodite gives a soul to that sculpture, Galatea, she comes to life, and the story ends happily. Just like in this myth, the play plot goes through the transformation process of Liza’s situation in terms of dualism and intertwining of both the upper class and the lower class.

How do social differences take place in Pygmalion play?

The opening scene of the play is described in a rainy setting. Everybody escapes from heavy rain, so people are under the columns of the church. This is the only way of bringing different classes to London’s street. There is a Flower Girl whose name is Liza and who bears a flower basket. She is in poor condition because her clothes are old and dirty. She wears a little sailor hat of black straw that has long been exposed to the dust. She is no doubt as clean as she can afford to be. There is an emphasis on her poverty; the correlation between class and cleanness is directly connected.

The Flower Girl bumps into a boy named Freddy, and her flowers fall into the mud, so she demands money from his mother. Then, she tries to explain herself by saying, “I am a respectable girl”; she repeats that throughout the play. She needs to defend herself all the time because she does not want to be misunderstood. So she explains that she is trying to earn her life selling these flowers because this is the only way for her to survive.

How does The Flower Girl struggle with social differences?

Then, The Note Taker, whose name is Higgins, enters the scene. He complains about The Flower Girl’s speaking, and he is rude to her, but she defends by saying, “I have a right to be here if I like, same as you.” In the play, The Gentleman and The Note Taker introduce themselves one and another. Liza learns that Higgins is a linguist. As she keeps complaining, Higgins gives his all coins in the pocket before he leaves.

Liza goes to Higgins’s house to take a speaking and manner course from him in the following scenes. At first, Higgins says, “She has no use” because Liza is just an experimental object for him. However, she says, “Did you tell him I come in a taxi?” looking at Mrs. Pearce. She wants to prove herself by implying the taxi; she means that she is like a lady. Being an upper-class lady means wearing luxury clothes, having pieces of jewelry, or going by taxi.

What does Pygmalion play emphasize?

This play intertwines the upper class to the lower class and the lower class to the upper class. She wants a better life selling flowers in a flower shop, and she is ready to pay for lessons. The Gentleman, whose name is Pickering, wants Higgins to be a tutor for Liza. Higgins says, “Take all her clothes and burn them.” Here clothes are symbolic, reflecting her identity. Burning clothes means that she will not be able to wear her clothes again and be the same Liza again because her innocence is going to burn.

Higgins asks if she has family, but she says, “I ain’t got no parents. They told me I was big enough to earn my own living”, this is another fact in the lower class. However, Mr. Doolittle, who is Liza’s father, comes to get money from Higgins. Pickering asks, “Have you no morals?” and Mr. Doolittle replies, “I cannot afford them” because even a widow can get money from five different charities, but he cannot get money from them. Bernard Shaw criticized injustice in society, showing him as an undeserving man.

In conclusion, we have tried to discuss the social problems and the messages taking into account the historical back information of situations and dialogues of Pygmalion characters. This is one of the most significant plays that criticize the polarization in society.

References:

1. https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Bernard-Shaw
2. Pygmalion Theatre Play by Bernard Shaw, 1913.

Would you like to read Kintsugi: The Sufferance of a Humble Pot?

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