Pygmalion Analysis

Submitted By monica626
Words: 737
Pages: 3
Open Document
How does the writer’s historical context influence the ideas in the text?

Nineteenth century Britain was a time where equality between genders and equality between social classes did not exist. It was also a time where females asserted their independence and equality with men. George Bernard Shaw captures these ideas in ‘Pygmalion’ where his fabianist views and criticisms towards beliefs and ideas of Victorian era are portrayed. His purpose of critiquing society and give a voice to the poor has influenced his choice of characters and ideas in the text.

The interaction between characters embodies the Fabian views of Shaw through the characterisation of Higgins. Instead of portraying him in a desirable powerful man, Shaw captured him as a negative controlling man who has little respect over women. Satire is also used when Higgins refers Eliza as a Squashed cabbage leaf’, which is humorous initially but the audience soon realises the brutality of the comment. Furthermore, the diction used such as ‘created’, ‘baggage’ and ‘sell’ and the metaphor of ‘this creature’ to refer to Eliza objectifies her. As Higgins says to Eliza that she doesn’t ‘belong’ to anyone, Shaw represents Higgins’s view of young women need to ‘belong’ to someone. Such comments that refer to women capture Shaw’s criticisms of society where males showed their superiority and lack of inequality between man and woman. As for his fabianist view, he presents it through the discriminating voice of Higgins to shape the readers perspective towards men of the time.

Women of the Victorian era were portrayed as being reliant on marriage to gain economic stability. As Shaw narrates from the perspective of an outsider, ‘She will marry him because she must marry anybody who will provide for her’ he implies that women required man to gain economical relationship in order to have a place in a society. Although woman chooses men depending on their class and wealth, Eliza marries Freddy instead of the powerful wealthy Higgins. Though Higgins is much wealthier than Freddy and can provide cloth, food and security, he brutally bullies her therefore she chooses peaceful and weaker man, Freddy who can fetch her suppliers for a lifetime.

Through the emotional change of characters, Shaw brings to attention the inaccurate strict social boundaries. The strict social morality and the lack of empathy/emancipatory in middle class society is captured in the character of Mr Doolittle. As the Victorian era placed great importance on the hierarchical social structure, Shaw portrays the character as becoming more constrained and restricted by the customs and expectations of the middle class. As Doolittle becomes Middle class man, he expresses discomfort and distress because of the overwhelming expectations. As Mr Doolittle quotes ‘Oh, I have to live for others now, not for myself’ indicates that his independence has been taken
Show More

Related Documents: Pygmalion Analysis

Essay on Lincoln rhetorical

The Rhetorical Triangle Key #1 Persona a mask, the character the audience perceived behind the text, the character a writer or speaker conveys to the audience "It is to my other self, to Borges, that things happen. I walk about Buenos Aires and I pause, almost mechanically, to contemplate the arch of an entry or the portal of a church; news of Borges comes to me in the mail, and I see his name on a short list of professors or in a biographical dictionary. I am fond of hourglasses, maps,…

Words 6267 - Pages 26

Essay about Formalism: First-person Narrative and Old Man

work (plot, theme, conflict, protagonist, antagonist, setting, point of view). Therefore it completely disregards external factors related to examining a work, and only interprets what is present in the context. So for example formalism would not take into consideration, biographical, historical, social, cultural aspects and background of author. The central goal of formalism is therefore to understand the structure of the work, whilst analysing the many uses of language which contribute to the…

Words 4198 - Pages 17

Syllabus: University of Cambridge and Cambridge Pre-u Syllabus Essay

educational principles: • A programme of study which supports the development of well-informed, open and independentminded individuals capable of applying their skills to meet the demands of the world as they will find it and over which they may have influence. • A curriculum which retains the integrity of subject specialisms and which can be efficiently, effectively and reliably assessed, graded and reported to meet the needs of universities. • A curriculum which is designed to recognise a wide range…

Words 5225 - Pages 21

Essay Change Summary

Change Set Text: Looking for Alibrandi by Melena Marchetta Area of Study and Texts for the Common Content of Standard and Advanced Courses The Area of Study must be considered in the context of the Area of Study description in the syllabus, course objectives, content and outcomes. (Reread English Stage 6 Syllabus, p 32 and pp 35–38; p 50 and pp 53–56). Introduction to the Area of Study In the Area of Study, students explore and examine relationships between language and text, and interrelationships…

Words 9417 - Pages 38

Department of English Spring 2014 Course Descriptions Essays

Department of English Spring 2014 Course Descriptions 89S. Imagining War. Instructor M. Maiwald. WF 8:30-9:45 In this course, we will consider how the experience of war has been represented in American fiction, non-fiction, and film. We will investigate how attitudes toward war have evolved throughout American history: our timeline begins with the Civil War—the traumatic event that birthed the modern American state—and ends with the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In particular…

Words 9501 - Pages 39

Essay on Textbook: Critical Thinking

Goals 5 Goals of Critical Reading 5 Recognizing What a Text Says, Does, and Means 6 Tools of Critical Reading 6 Diction 7 Critical Analysis 7 Steps of Critical Reading 8 Recognizing a Text as a Presentation 8 Describing the Nature of These Aspects of the Text 8 Inferring the Underlying Assumptions and Perspectives of the Discussion 8 Critical Reading vs. Critical Thinking 9 How Well Does The Text Do What It Does? 10 What is Critical Thinking? 10 Rationality…

Words 9840 - Pages 40

Gender BD Essays

The influence of gender on language in contemporary media University of Greifswald The influence of gender on language in contemporary media B. Dirks LA Eng./Ge Gym Seminar: Pragmatics The influence of gender on language in contemporary media Content 1. Introduction 3 2. The different usage of language between men and women 4 2.1. Gender differences in language through time 4 2.3. Approaches on gender influenced language 7 3. Influence of gender on language in contemporary media 10…

Words 4765 - Pages 20

The Methodology of Early Accounting Theorists Essay

method of approach is necessarily historical. There have been no previous attempts to evaluate the methodologies employed by the authors considered in this study. Littleton (1933) remains one of the few to have examined the methodologies of past accounting theorists. However, his analysis covered the period to 1900. Those discussed here have made their contributions to the twentieth century accounting literature. Chatfield (1974) has commented on many of the writers discussed here but gave otily…

Words 6716 - Pages 27

Research Paper On Academic Dishonesty

education supplemental, and English as a second language. My goal upon finishing the master‟s degree program in curriculum with a concentration in literacy studies at the University of Texas at Arlington is to obtain my master reading teacher certification and to continue my education so that I may receive a diagnostician credential. Background Information Continued Because there is no required text for the course that I teach, I rely solely on trade books and other supplemental resources. The…

Words 5313 - Pages 22

sfinal paper 10

Jeff Miller Prof. Thomas Biro March, 25 2015 Biblical Theology Paper Holy Spirit Can you see the wind? So how do we know something exists without seeing it? We know that there is wind because we see the leaves crunch as they blow across the yard. We see dirt and dust blow across the road in front of us while we sit in our cars. You can feel how cold or warm it is outside when the wind hits your face. We can smell the aroma of a freshly fallen rain. I know that the wind exists even though I can’t…

Words 1981 - Pages 8