The Purpose Of An Open-end In The Play Pygmalion
Pygmalion play by George Bernard Shaw, it talks about a bet between phonologist Henry Higgins and his friend Pickering about a girl named Eliza Doodle, with a vulgar accent, Higgins says that within a few months he can transform this girl into an aristocratic lady and teach her the elegance of speaking and pronunciation. Henry Higgins gets close to Elisa, and suggests an offer for her, to teach her the perfect English pronouncing for money, she accepts and comes the next day to his home, and begins exercises. During a period of time, Eliza succeeded in the tests, Higgins introduced her as a duchess, and thus Higgins won the bet. After that, Eliza realized that the two men did not give any value for her role in the success. The story ends without taking any actual action by Eliza toward the rest of her life. The end of Pygmalion does not refer to Eliza's fate, it ended in an unknown and unclear way, Shaw is leaving the play in an open-end. Therefore, in this essay, the open-end of Pygmalion play will be discussed in details.
The end of the play was an open ending, it ended quite mysteriously, Shaw left the audience with several unanswered questions. The truth about her marriage to Freddy or she will stay with Higgins is still unknown, and it is highly unlikely that she will back to selling flowers. All possibilities are available, but nothing is asserted at the end of the play. I think that Shaw chose this type of ending for a particular purpose whether it is literary to allow the audience create the end according to their point of view, or it is political to reflect the unknown fate that people felt in Modernism period.
Shaw said in his afterward about the end: 'The rest of the story need not be shown in action..... Nevertheless, people in all directions have assumed, for no other reason than that she became the heroine of a romance, that she must have married the hero of it. This is unbearable'. This excerpt displays his personal hatred towards typical romances, he refuses the audience’s theories that considered the end is romantic.
In my opinion, I do not think that the play is romantic. Higgins' relationship with Elisa does not tend to real love, and they have no clear romantic scenes, it can be categorized as friendship. Maybe Eliza feels love towards Higgins but he treats it as an object. The play is unexpected to end with a romantic ending such as, Higgins and Eliza's marriage. I think the end of the play is more realistic, Eliza cannot determine her fate at the end, to marry Freddy, stay with Higgins or sell flowers again. Eliza feels alienation, loss of identity to choose, unknown fate. All things make the end realistic for a girl who has moved from one social class to another. At the same time, all these feelings were felt by people in 20th century, so it is possible that Shaw wants to reflect reality in literature.
There are many examples and details in the story support my opinion. First, she felt loss of identity after education, Eliza changed to be a high-class lady, so she cannot sell flowers again, she burned all her old clothes, became stylish, and her speech is tactful, she cannot get her earlier identity. Second, the feeling of alienation, Eliza tried as much as possible to belong to another social class, but at the end she realized that is impossible, it can be inferred by Pickering and Higgins who dealt with her as an object. They did not appreciate Eliza's efforts; they attributed the success to Higgins only. Finally, unknown fate is appeared clearly at the end of the play, Eliza does not know what she wants, with whom she will live, and how she will spend her life. Accordingly, the story has open-ended.
I think that there is some similarity between Nora and Eliza in Pygmalion and a doll's house. Both suffer from the impact of social differences; Nora is treated improperly by her husband and her father because she is a woman. Also, Eliza is despised because she is from the low class. The other similarity is that they both passed in the moment of awareness when men do not appreciate any of their efforts, Higgins ignored Eliza's attempts to learn phonetics, and Torvald ignored Nora's sacrifices.
In conclusion, the end of Pygmalion play was open because it is a very realistic end. What Eliza went through in her life such as, education, moving from one place to another, the moment of awareness, all of which indicate the inability to make a specific decision at the end. The open end in Pygmalion play was discussed in details with evidences. Finally, I think the open end allowed the audience to choose the best end for them, especially because the grief feelings of Eliza were felt by most of people in Modernism.
