Essay about Pygmalion, by Bernard Shaw - 3404 Words

Bernard Shaw Pygmalion A Romance in Five Acts 1. Summary of the Play, page 2 2. Introduction and Short Analysis of the Main Character, page 4 3. Interpretation, page 5 4. Additional Information, page 7 5. Literature and Links, page 8 1. Summary London at 11.15 a.m., on a rainy summer day. Everybodyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s running for shelter because of the torrential storm. A bunch of people ist gathering in St. Pauls church, looking outside and waiting for the rain to stop. Among the crowd, there is a young flower girl which grew up in the slums of London and therefore has a terribly bad language, although she is a good-natured, simple and pure being. She is carrying a basket with flowers. As there is nothing else to do while waiting†¦show more content†¦So he lets Eliza live with him (heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s quite rich, an he has a big house), and he buys her clothes. And the most important thing: he teaches her how to speach proper English. As for the manners, it is Pickering who shows Eliza how to behave like a lady (as Higgins cannot). For Eliza, this is very hard in the beginning, but after a while sheà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s getting along pretty well, and she is improving fast. After some time, they are visited by Elizaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s father, who is an unreliable, greedy alcoholic (and has never cared for her anyway). He is theoretically the only familiy Eliza would have, but she always had to look for herself. He insists on taking her with him, but it soon turns out, that he only wants money, having heard that the gentleman whome Eliza is living with at the time is quite rich. Higgins freezes him out. A few months later Eliza faces her first test: Higgins introduces her to his mother. Unfortunately, his mother is already expecting visitors, and Eliza is getting more and more nervous because there are so many people. At the end, she rushes out, and Higgins must agree that she is not quite ready. At the end of the six months, he finally lets her accompany him to the ambassadorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ball. Everyone who passes her way looks at her in amazement, for she is now due to be a queen. She is not a flower girlShow MoreRelatedPygmalion by George Bernard Shaw950 Words   |  4 PagesPygmalion, written by George Bernard Shaw, is well known for its portrayal of the rich and the poor. At the time of its publication, it was common belief that the poor were morally inferior to the rich. Pygmalion argues the opposite. Bernard Shaw used both static and dynamic characters to demonstrate the equality between the social classes regarding morals and intelligence. In the case of Eliza Doolittle, the differences are seen as she transitions from poverty to the middle class. In Pygmalion,Read More Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw Essay1070 Words   |  5 PagesPygmalion by Bernard Shaw The word benefit is defined as; a favourable or helpful factor or circumstance. 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People such as antagonist Henry Higgins of Pygmalion, in fact, only focused on a person’s facade; they were completely ignorant to people’sRead MorePygmalion: George Bernard Shaw and Play1459 Words   |  6 PagesPygmalion George Bernard show Pygmalion as a problem play Problem play: defined and explained A problem play is a play in which a number of problems are presented and analyzed thoroughly but no solutions to those problems are provided by the dramatist. Such a play serves as a great irritant to the thought. It is though provoking. the readers are provoked to think over the problem presented in the play and work out their own solutions to those problems. Pygmalion is a problem play in this senseRead MoreThe Themes of Pygmalion, by Bernard Shaw Essay821 Words   |  4 PagesThe play, Pygmalion, by Bernard Shaw is about a phonetics expert who makes a bet that he can pass a Cockney flower girl as a duchess in the matter of a few months. This girl, Eliza does achieve the transformation, but at the expense of a familiar life in the gutters, and risks being caste off into the world with nowhere to turn. This play explores many themes, has extensive use of symbolism, interesting tonality, irony, and the play itself is an allusion to ancient Greek mythology. The majorRead MoreAnalysis Of `` Pygmalion `` By George Bernard Shaw1545 Words   |  7 PagesIn Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw illustrates an everlasting tale of a women trapped in a world dominated and controlled by men. By using the crucial themes of class, language, and independence Shaw reveals the overall meaning of his work: how a man’s dream to turn an impoverish women into a sophisticated duchess only succeeds in pushing her further away, how the love he had for her was of his own creation, and how his heart of stone could not be sated by a statue that was nothing more than rockRead MoreAnalysis Of Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw1305 Words   |  6 Pages An Analysis of the English class system in Pygmalion Throughout the play, Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, many of the characters represent different social class structures. They also resemble how the higher class citizens feel threatened by the lower class citizens. Protagonist Eliza Doolittle, Henry Higgins, and Mrs. Pearce are prime examples of characters who portray different roles in the Victorian social structure. This play takes place during the Victorian period in England where theRead MoreAnalysis Of Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw Essay1947 Words   |  8 PagesPygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, describes Shaw’s viewpoint on social class distinctions in the 1900s by describing characters of the upper, middle, and lower classes in the play. Through the characters’ descriptions, language, and actions, the distinction between classes becomes very prominent. Similarly, Galileo, by Bertolt Brecht, describes Brecht’s take on the social class structure during Galileo’s time and how the differences between classes affected Galileo’s opportunity to do scientificRead MoreAnalysis Of George Bernard Shaw s Pygmalion2617 Words   |  11 PagesSocial standing is central to the plot of George Bernard Shaw’s play â€Å"Pygmalion†. The portrayal of class identity in Shaw’s play appears to be a criticism of the distinctions between high society and the poorer classes in Victorian England. Shaw’s aim was to portray how the upper-crust of Victorian society viewed the lower classes, as evidenced by Higgins’ treatment of Eliza upon her first visit to his laboratory; Higgins treats her as though she is too stupid to understand that he is insulting herRead MoreAnalysis Of The Play Pygmalion By George Bernard Shaw1600 Words   |  7 Pageswith others anymore, instead using their phone. Tea time also known as afternoon tea, Victorian tea, high tea, and five-o clock tea, may be one of the most delightful and informal affairs in the whole social round . In the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Shaw mentions how the importance of reputation can determine the tea time experience. It may also be an unmitigated bore (Victoriana). The observance of tea time originated amongst the wealthy class. Tea time was said to be created by