1911), Pygmalion is a problem play that examines a social issue. Shaw deals here with the assumptions of social superiority and inferiority that underlie the class system. He demonstrates how speech and etiquette preserve class distinctions.

Pygmalion is not a story about true love, nor is it concluded with a “happily ever after”. It is what Shaw identifies as a realistic romance, or what we perceive as the anti-romance. Shaw even configures the only confirmed romance of the play, being that between Eliza and Freddy, into the opposite of a fairytale.

-Doolittle suggests that morals are bought with money that only the middle class can obtain. -By being an “undeserving poor” Doolitte cannot afford the morals that come with being in the middle class.

The main conflict in Pygmalion revolves around the economic and social class structure of Victorian England.

Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” was inspired directly by Ovid’s myth of Pygmalion. Ovid’s version concerns a sculptor named Pygmalion who decided to sculpt a woman out of ivory. This statue of his own creation was so beautiful and so alluring that it inspired Pygmalion to fall deeply in love.

George Bernard Shaw makes Pygmalion an excellent example of feminist criticism in a piece of literature. Throughout the play, we see male dominance over the females. He depicted how being a lady during the Victorian era changed how you were treated, and women were to act a certain way–the stereotypical lady-like way.

In the story of Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Professor Higgins says: “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” He expresses this frustration as he is attempting to teach Elisa Doolittle how to speak and act correctly. The solution in Shaw’s story was to attempt to remake a woman in the image of a man.

Shaw insists that Eliza will not marry Higgins because, as an attractive young women, she does not feel pressure to marry someone and though Higgins could support her he is domineering and insensitive. Eliza would have sensed that Higgins could never worship her, whereas Freddy proclaimed his love for her daily.

In it, Eliza indeed married Freddy, and together they borrowed money from Colonel Pickering so they could open a flower shop. And yet, despite Shaw’s painstaking attempts to discourage Eliza and Henry as a romantic pair, the audience’s love for the idea of this couple ultimately prevailed.

Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering call the police to find Eliza in Pygmalion when they awake to find her gone from Higgins’s home where she has been staying while Higgins teaches her to speak proper English so that he can “pass her off” as a member of London society.

Higgins claims that while he may treat her badly, he is at least fair in that he has never treated anyone else differently. He tells her she should come back with him just for the fun of it–he will adopt her as a daughter, or she can marry Pickering.

What does Freddy think Eliza is speaking when he meets her at Mrs. Higgins’ at-home? The phrase “They’re all idiots.” summarizes which characters essential attitude towards women? When Alfred Doolittle says he is willing to sell his daughter for fifty pounds, Pickering asks him if he has no morals.

You were a fool: I think a woman fetching a man’s slippers is a disgusting sight: did I ever fetch YOUR slippers? I think a good deal more of you for throwing them in my face.

He has no money. He has too much money. His new life is making him unhappy.

19. Why is Freddy waiting outside Higgins’s house when Liza leaves Higgins? a) He is hoping she will run away with him.

What did Liza wear to sleep at night before being cleaned up by Mrs. Pearce? ill-heartened; some one who is anger and depressed at the same time. By speaking about her family and yelling a curse.

What does the flower girl mean when she cries, “My character is the same to me as any lady’s”? She is a good person that cares about her reputation and she cares about having a good character even though she is poor. Speaking the English language comes down to the education a person gets.

Eliza is tempted into staying with Higgins when he offers her hot baths and clean nightclothes. Higgins says he’d never take advantage of Eliza because women outside of his own class don’t appeal to him. Higgins ends up giving Doolittle money because he doesn’t want his reputation smeared by Doolittle.

At the beginning the relationship between Higgins and Eliza is based on two different objectives: Eliza wants to be taught to speak proper English in order to get a job in flower shop and Higgins wants to meet the challenge to convert Eliza from a working class girl to a lady.

Pickering is impressed with Higgins’ laboratory and his dedication to his study of speech. Both characters are highly educated, though Higgins is even more accomplished than Pickering in the realm of phonetics.

What is the point of the bath scene? It shows that Eliza has ideas of morals and decency even though she is low class.

Answer. When Mrs. Pearce takes Eliza away, we are hardly prepared for the immediate appearance of her father. The audience and Higgins alike expect an irate father, anxious over the safety of his youthful daughter; we expect him to demand honorable protection for his offspring.

Pygmalion remains Shaw’s most popular play. The play’s widest audiences know it as the inspiration for the highly romanticized 1956 musical and 1964 film My Fair Lady. Pygmalion has transcended cultural and language barriers since its first production.

The scene opens on the night after there has earlier been a great success where Eliza was presented as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party, as was stipulated in the original wager between Higgins and Pickering. Eliza has been a smashing success.