Representation Of Social Issues Of That Time In Shaw’s Pygmalion

A work of art becomes an enduring masterpiece only when authors focus on disseminating ideas and themes through their content. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw borrows the framework of the Greek Galatea-Pygmalion myth and reshapes it to bring out the follies and fopperies of class-obsessed English society in the 20th century. While Ovid's Pygmalion admired his Galatea, Shaw's persistent and witty honesty personifies these epitomes, making the drama and art more relatable to society. Elements of the fairytale transformation of the main character from “rags to riches,” give the story a surreal, unrealistic form which becomes an apt vehicle for the bizarre prejudices prevalent in that era. The Shavian heroine, Eliza, embodies many thematic threads that reflect the unfairness of the times. The tool of language and the caricature-like characterization further aid Shaw to mock his milieu and raise a protest against gender and class hegemony. By delving into the impact of various transformations throughout this story and its impact on society, this enduring masterpiece can be better understood.

The theme of metamorphosis and the emergence of feminism and the New Women is manifested in Eliza’s character. Eliza’s transformation from a lower-class girl selling flowers on the street at night to an upper-class woman who speaks and dresses well, was due to her life force to improve. Being born in the lower-class restricted her professional opportunities to a flower girl, where she regularly fought against hinted allegations of prostitution – “I'm a respectable girl” (Shaw, 2015). But through it all she retained her life-force and planned to improve her circumstances, illustrating the thought processes of the New Women. The man who helped improve her speech and aided her transformation, the famous phonetician named Higgins, gave her a greater power of choice and more options for her future. By doing so, he played a major role in bridging the gap between the classes. Through introducing a powerful, wealthy male character that helps the poor, female character, Shaw wanted to depict that people with talent and life force will get an opportunity to go far.

Furthermore, Eliza’s characteristics of an intelligent, independent, confident and fearless woman conflicted with society's standards of how women are supposed to behave. Her intelligence and confidence were depicted in the first act when she asked people to buy her flowers right when the church bell rang and expressed her opinions openly. This scene was a way for Shaw to emphasize the irrelevance of England’s rigid class structure as God does not discriminate between classes. As a Socialist, through Eliza’s confidence to talk to everyone the same way, Shaw expressed the importance of treating everybody equally, regardless of class. Eliza’s characteristics juxtapose Galatea’s of a weak, subservient individual, commenting on the transformation of the female characters made in the rewrite and the unfolding of feminism in the society. While Galatea married the man who created her, the first human she saw, Eliza never craved a family, the only reason she married an uneducated upper-classman was for power. Her evolution from being derided for her cockney accent to marrying an upper-classman, to fooling the London society weaved the theme of the absurdity of the English trend of respecting those who speak and dress well – highlighting the importance of appearance at that time. Thereby, depicting the socio-cultural values of that era, and showing the society their short-comings.

Another transformation in this story is seen through the stylistic device of sub-plots. The subplot of Eliza’s father, Alfred Doolittle, symbolizes the theme of class mobility when he transforms from Doolittle the Dustman to Doolittle the Gentleman. This transformation was a way of Shaw to reflect the changing face of the English economy. A reluctant, laid back man is catapulted into a job and class that he deserves but could not get. Through the transformation of Doolittle, added to that of Eliza in the main plot, Shaw gives a clear reflection of the clash between strict, conventional ideas and emergent literal ideologies of those who were worried about depleting economic resources and approaching climate of WWI. These evolutions aid in the audiences’ understanding of the need for shaking off man-made divides and moving towards a classless society.

In addition to character transformations, Shaw transforms Ovid’s Pygmalion from a narrative poem to a satire. By choosing the form of satire, Shaw was able to hold up a mirror to the society and make them see the folly of their way. He juxtaposes the upper-class with the lower-class and with classic Shavian mockery makes the audience understand that birth and class cannot determine the worth of an individual. The bitter pill of social criticism on class, gender, and economic inequalities need the sugar coating of comedy and satire. If the issue of class mobility and gender balance had been dealt through any other genre they would either appear too didactic or too revolutionary to be appreciated by the contemporary audience. Thus, Shaw presenting iconoclastic ideas about giving Eliza the power of choice is best presented throughout the form of satire. The unrealistic characterization also aids the revelation of the changing times. Eliza, to whom her “character is the same to me as any lady's,” decides impulsively to stay with two male strangers for six months to improve her speech. This anomalous, unrealistic behavior under scenes how low-class women were emboldened enough to look beyond their constructions, rise above class barriers and accept merit where they find it.

The transformation of the story and the characters in the story highlighted the issues faced by societies of that time. Themes throughout the story emerged whenever there were clashes between the era’s ideology and the author’s ideology. The content of the story lucidly depicts Edwardian England - times of social imbalance, illogical morals, and cultural values. Society of that time was well aware of the plot of the Greek Pygmalion myth, therefore, for Shaw to successfully propagate his ideas of equality, birth vs. worth, a familiar story was used. If a different story was given then the ideas would have been lost in the story’s form of a satire. Themes of equal opportunity, worth over birth, appearance and class mobility were largely shown through Eliza’s transformation into the New Women. While her transformation might not have been ideal for the social and cultural context of the time, they help with the author's motivation for propagating long-lasting ideas.