Pygmalion Feminine Analysis
Adam Bernstein British Literature Honors
Feminist Analysis of Pygmalion
Women have not always been treated fairly and righteously. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is very effective in showing the unjust ways in which women were treated about a century ago. Throughout the play, Eliza Doolittle, a young and poor flower girl, is not always respected. Certain male characters, such as Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, are responsible for this behavior. Pygmalion illustrates how in England, during the early twentieth century, women were often not treated as people but as objects.
Eliza Doolittle is used for an experiment. Higgins and Pickering use Eliza for their own intentions. Higgins tells Pickering,
“You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. I could even get her a place as lady’s maid or shop assistant, which requires better English” (23).
Higgins feels that he has the ability to make Eliza into a well-mannered woman. He believes that it is perfectly normal for him to use her like an object, and do an experiment with her. He even calls her a “creature.” He thinks that word is appropriate in describing her, and that she does not deserve to be seen as a real human being. The fact that Higgins and Pickering utilize Eliza for their own test and that Higgins does not even think of her as a human demonstrates the way in which she is objectified.
Eliza is not treated properly throughout the play. Both Higgins and Pickering treat Eliza and talk to her as if she is below them. When Higgins is angry with Eliza, he says to her, “How dare you shew your temper to me? Sit down and be quiet” (97). The way that Higgins communicates to Eliza is very cruel and unkind. He would not talk to another man like that, but since Eliza is a woman, he believes that this
Feminist Analysis of Pygmalion
Women have not always been treated fairly and righteously. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is very effective in showing the unjust ways in which women were treated about a century ago. Throughout the play, Eliza Doolittle, a young and poor flower girl, is not always respected. Certain male characters, such as Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, are responsible for this behavior. Pygmalion illustrates how in England, during the early twentieth century, women were often not treated as people but as objects.
Eliza Doolittle is used for an experiment. Higgins and Pickering use Eliza for their own intentions. Higgins tells Pickering,
“You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. I could even get her a place as lady’s maid or shop assistant, which requires better English” (23).
Higgins feels that he has the ability to make Eliza into a well-mannered woman. He believes that it is perfectly normal for him to use her like an object, and do an experiment with her. He even calls her a “creature.” He thinks that word is appropriate in describing her, and that she does not deserve to be seen as a real human being. The fact that Higgins and Pickering utilize Eliza for their own test and that Higgins does not even think of her as a human demonstrates the way in which she is objectified.
Eliza is not treated properly throughout the play. Both Higgins and Pickering treat Eliza and talk to her as if she is below them. When Higgins is angry with Eliza, he says to her, “How dare you shew your temper to me? Sit down and be quiet” (97). The way that Higgins communicates to Eliza is very cruel and unkind. He would not talk to another man like that, but since Eliza is a woman, he believes that this