Pygmalion and its characters essays

Pygmalion and its characters essays Choose a character and analyze the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists; how the character is affected by and responds to those standards; and how the characters reactions develop meaning in the work. "Pygmalion," a play by Bernard Shaw, is a mixture of a romantic comedy and a satire in which the main character, Eliza Doolittle, is judged only based on her English dialect. Shaws play makes fun of a society that evaluates its citizens on their particular dialect rather than their character. As a result, Eliza is forced into the metamorphosis from a common flower girl into a lady. In the opening scene of Act One, Eliza has to fend for herself and vehemently asserts the virtue and sacredness of her character, which society fails to recognize. In this scene, the note taker, who will later be identified as Henry Higgins, repeats exactly what Eliza says: Cheer ap, Keptin; nbaw ya flahr orf a pore gel. At this point, he realizes she is from Lisson Grove, a less-than-wealthy area of England. Furthermore, Shaw foreshadows the importance for Eliza to improve her speech if she wishes to get ahead in life. In other words, she will spend the rest of her life as a flower girl, even though her character may be more upstanding than that of a duchess. Even in this pathetic state Eliza is not totally depraved. She is self-sufficient and capable of earning her living by selling flowers. She exhibits cleverness and a degree of resourcefulness to get the maximum value possible for her flowers. She even has enough self-respect and pride to defend her honor when, as a flower girl, she feels she is being accused of trying to molest a gentleman. Though still preoccupied with her wounded feelings because the note taker was writing down her words, she says, Hes no right to take away my character. My character is the same to me as any ladys. This statement is ...