Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”

I was quite intrigue by the forward that considers Bernard Shaw as “one of the most celebrated and controversial writers of the twentieth century” (1002).  With much curiosity and amusement, I was quite excited to read “Pygmalion,” although I am not a big fan of playwrights.  What is it that makes him so controversial during his time?  “Pygmalion” gives many answers to this question with its portrayal of the rise of poverty and women above the late nineteenth’s century traditional culture, beliefs, and literature.  In Pygmalion, Shaw humorously sends the message that the “aristocratic status is made to look like something of a parlor trick” (1004).  It is by the transformation of Liza Doolittle that the high class society is mocked and undermined.  However, Shaw does this not to say that the poor is any better, but rather that this system of values between the people is illusive, and that equality exists between everyone, regardless of their social status.

The character of Liza is an eye opener in that although poverty stricken, her personal value and belief is higher than that of an aristocrat.  Liza is just a flower girl of the lowest poverty level, in which the only “visible luxuries” is  “a small room with very old wall paper hanging loose in the damp places,… a broken pane in the window [that’s] mended with paper,… a portrait of a popular actor and a fashion plate of ladies’ dresses, all wildly beyond [her] means, both torn from newspapers, are pinned up on the wall,… and a birdcage [with no bird that] remains as a memorial” (1015).  Liza’s situation is utterly poor, much less livable.  But her visions pinned on the wall of actors and fashion ladies show her inner desires to rise above.  These are just foreshadowing signs of her coming fate with the phonetician Higgins.  Liza’s situation is further depressed when the author introduces her in the first act speaking unrecognizable English due to her lack of education:  “The Flower Girl:  Ow, eez, ye –ooa san, is e?”  The author even apologizes that it is so “unintelligible outside of London.”  Even the native themselves find it hard to understand her dialect.  Liza’s first sign of innocence is displayed as she is unwilling to submit to Mrs. Pearce’s command to take off all her cloths to get bath when she defies “Oh I couldn’t, Mrs Pearce:  I reely couldn’t, I never done such a thing” (1023).

It is interesting to note, that Shaw wanted to show that Eliza’s only barrier to shine was language itself.  It is not that she is dumb or stupid, but rather that she has no way to communicate herself except through the use of her jargon dialect attempt of English.  As the story continues, and Eliza is trained to properly speak, rather well, and in fact better than the aristocrats themselves as they are astonished awkwardly at her perfection, her sharpness and natural intuition is reflected as she explains to Pickering her thoughts and emotions:

Liza:  It’s not because you paid for my dresses.  I know you are generous to everybody with money.  But it was form you that I learnt really nice manners; and that is what makes one a lady, isn’t it?  You see it was so very difficult for me with the example of Professor Higgins always before me.  I was brought up to be just like him, unable to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation.  And I should never have known that ladies and gentlemen didn’t behave like that if you hadn’t been there.

Pickering:  Oh, that’s only his way, you know.  He doesn’t mean it.

Liza:  Oh, I didn’t mean it either, when I was a flower girl.  It was only my way.  But yo see I did it; and that’s what makes the difference after all.

…

Liza:  It was just like learning to dance in the fashionable way:  there was nothing more than that in it.  But do you know what began my real education?

Pickering:  What?

Liza:  Your calling me Miss Doolittle that day when I first came to Wimpole Street.  That was the beginning of self-respect for me… things that shewed you thought and felt about me as if I were something better than a scullery-maid; though of course I know you would have been just the same to a scullery-maid if she had been let into the drawing room.

(1057)

We can see from this converse that Eliza, or Miss Doolittle rather, has become quite philosophical.  And it may have been influenced from her time with both Pickering and Higgins.  However, we can see that she understands what self respect is, and what it means to be a lady, even if her English was perfect.  Higgins alone would never have won his own bet if Pickering was not there to teach her what a true Duchess would require.  And that is not a perfect tongue, but the combination of proper etiquette, and elegance of speech, and most importantly, self respect for oneself.  Liza was not taught to think this way, this is already what she is and how she feels, but because she has broken the communication barrier, she can now outwardly express her complex emotions.  And this is the same reason we have language, otherwise, we would all be cave men.  It is language that allows us to build upon our previous understandings, to further realize, deduce, and infer the deeper meanings that the human mind is capable of.  Shaw uses Eliza to show that this human trait even resides in the humans of lowest status.  And this is the very reason why Pickering treats everyone with respect, as Higgins treats everyone with unintentional ignorance of their feelings.  They both truly represent characters that see everyone on the same level.  Pickering will treat everyone with respect, regardless of their social status.  Higgins, likewise, treats no one with respect, regardless of their status.  In fact, Shaw explicitly sends this message through Higgins:

Higgins:  About you, not about me.  If you come back I shall treat you just as I have always treated you.  I cant change my nature; and I don’t intend to change my manners.  My manners are exactly the same as Colonel Picker’s.

Liza:  That’s not true.  He treats a flower girl as if she was a duchess.

Higgins:  And I treat a duchess as if she was a flower girl.

Liza:  I see.  The same to everybody.

Higgins:  Just so.

Liza:  Like father.

Higgins:  Without accepting the comparison at all points, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls:  in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one sould is as good as another.

Liza:  Amen.  You are born a preacher.

Higgins:  The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whether you ever heard me treat anyone else better.

(1059)

Higgins try to show Liza, that it’s not about the manners of a person, for Shaw tends to disregard what is wrong and right, but that it’s about how one treats all with the same natural manners that one was inherently born with.  To be yourself and no one else to all beings is the transcendental belief that Higgins had, but ignored by Liza due to her current state of pride, anger, and self greed.  It’s not that she disagrees, but in some sense, she is attached to Higgins.  She has much interest in him, and does not want him to regard her the same as everyone else, otherwise, what is she to him?  She wants to win a place in his heart, rather than a place in his morals.  Unfortunately, Higgins is true to himself to the end, and this is the very reason he will remain a Bachelor to the end of his days, for he cannot treat people unequally.  It is because we value people differently, that we have what we call friends, family, and lovers.

I must say, that I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of work, and have realize why the author of this anthology has dubbed its greatness, and why Shaw was fated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925.  His work is very deep, and reaches morals, understandings, and philosophical thoughts that only the thinking mind can achieve.  Aside from the aforementioned theme, I would like to point out a few other specific quotes that captured my interest:

Higgins:  She offers me two-fifths of her day’s income for a lesson.  Two-fifths of a millionaire’s income for a day would be somewhere about £60.  It’s handsome.  By George, it’s enormous!  It’s the biggest offer I ever had.

(1018)

This particular line really touched me in that Shaw understands the nature of relative worth.  What we offer for charity is so relative when we consider what we have.  A poor person’s offering of food, is so much more valuable that a millionaire’s dispensable income that is only “change” in his pockets.  Higgins is not a character that does not value money, but he understands what he is truly getting, even though Liza herself has not recognized this as she confusedly states “But I ain’t got sixty pounds” (1018).  It really amazes me how humorous Shaw can be in his work.  In fact, I was literally in chuckle when I read Higgins response to Mrs Pearce’s request for him not to use the “b” word:  “Oh, that!  Mere alliteration, Mrs Pearce, natural to a poet” (1025).  This particular line was quite funny and clever at the same time.

In addition, his constant name callings made me laugh many times, especially when he said “I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe” (1019).  I don’t know what “draggletailed guttersnipe” is, but it was hilariously funny.  In fact, it makes me think that Higgins ironically treated Liza unequal to everyone else, as he treated her worse with his name callings and utilitarian teachings (of course in good faith).  Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so furious with her taunting him of marrying Freddy.  Higgins is human after all, and is hugely affected by Liza.

In this piece, Shaw successfully transforms the status of women to show that it is merely external appearance that sets the social classes apart.  When one is armed with the same level of education and practice, one too can become the “duchess” of London.  Liza’s sharp wit and defiance to Higgins show Shaw’s unorthodox thinking that not all women are submissive, “self-sacrificing, pure, noble, and passive” (1004).