Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw Essay -- Pygmalion George Bernard Sha

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw's father, George Carr Shaw, was an alcoholic which meant not much money was spent on Shaw's education, therefore he was mainly self-taught, since he was self-taught he never had ideas forced upon him, this caused him to turn into a strong minded individual who expressed his opinions. He was a socialist and a critic who believed strongly in equality. Shaw wrote many plays, which expressed his opinions, one of the most famous being Pygmalion. Shaw uses Pygmalion to show the superficial basis of the class system. Pygmalion is set in London, in the early 1900's when the distinction between classes was more defined. I believe Shaw choose to set the play in London because it has the widest range of classes and would make it easier for him to show how false the class system really is. There is the queen who is considered to be of the highest class and people living on the streets who are considered to be of the lowest class. Shaw uses Pygmalion to show how false the class system is and how it is based on superficial ideas. Shaw shows that people can't be put into categorise when he makes the characters exceed the boundaries of the groups they have placed in. One of the characters to do this is Eliza, who exceeds the boundaries of lower class. " I'm a good girl I am." She shows that she is well mannered, and has more morals than Higgins. She also shows herself to have a lot of pride and self-respect. Through Higgins and Pickering's perceptions of Eliza, we are shown that the class system is all in the mind of the beholder and how it is perceived differently in each person. Higgins sees Eliza as lower class; "I treat a duchess as if she were a flowe... ...Shaw shows how people are judged when we first meet Doolittle. "He'll make bad use of it I'm afraid!" because of his poverty-stricken appearance, Pickering assumes that Doolittle will waste the money. Shaw also uses Doolittle to show that happiness can't be bought with money, when we first meet Doolittle he is happy but when he comes into money he doesn't like his new lifestyle and isn't happy with his new found finances. Shaw successfully criticises the British class system through Pygmalion. He shows how people can't be fitted into categorise as he makes many of the characters exceed the boundaries that they have been confined within. Through Pygmalion he picks up on the class system's many flaws and how easily it can be proved wrong. Pygmalion is successful in getting the message across about the class system and how it is based on superficial ideas.