How does Eliza change in the course of the play, and by what means?

In George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’ Eliza Dolittle is a Covent Garden flower girl who evolves from a na�ve, poverty-stricken girl into a heroine. She is not the heroine of romantic myths but an independent, strong-minded, confident woman, who against the odds has grasped the opportunity for a better life.

Higgins, a professor of phonetics, accepts a bet that he can transform Eliza into a duchess and within six months present her at the Ambassador’s garden party. We meet Eliza at the beginning of the play as she tries to sell flowers from her basket.

She has a strong, cockney accent used by the lower class and when she bumps into Freddy she squeals, ‘Nah then, Freddy: look wh’ y’ gowin, deah.’ Eliza is an opportunist. She takes advantage of the fact that she is standing close to the ladies and gentlemen and tries to persuade them to buy flowers. She is dirty and dressed in very shoddy clothes, especially in comparison to the ladies.

We learn that when she goes to bed she takes off her shawl and skirt and ‘gets into bed without further ado’. Her naivety is shown when she steps into a taxi and instructing the driver so that everyone can hear calls, ‘ Bucknam Pellis.’ She believes that Freddy, a middle class young man, will actually believe that she has business at Buckingham Palace. Eliza has a quick temper and is rude, especially when she feels threatened. When Higgins refuses to buy a flower, and accuses her of lying, she flings her basket at his feet announcing that he should be ‘stuffed with nails’.

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At this early stage of the play Eliza is lacking in self-confidence and is unable to stand up to Higgins’ bullying manner. She resorts to whimpering and wailing at the slightest insult although most of Higgins’ remarks to her are genuinely insulting. She doesn’t have the knowledge or vocabulary to stand up to him and if anyone questions her virtue or mentions the police she makes dreadful noises such as ‘ah-ah-ah-ow-oo-o’ and starts crying.

Eliza’s idea of cleanliness is to wash her hands and face only on important occasions although she is probably as clean as she can be considering her circumstances. She is distraught at the idea of taking her clothes off to have a bath as ‘she knew a woman did it every night and died of it’. Eliza declares,

‘What a dreadful thing it is to be clean’ but moments later she is saying, ‘Now I know why ladies is so clean.’ She has discovered the luxury of ‘woolly towels’ and ‘soap smelling like primroses’. She has changed from a ‘frowzy slut to a respectable girl’ but so far this change is only by appearance. She is unrecognisable even by her own father when he is confronted with ‘a dainty and exquisitely clean young Japanese lady’. Eliza is self-conscious at this stage and thinks she looks ‘silly’. She is impatient with her father who is only interested in trying to make some money from his daughter’s position. Eliza states, ‘I don’t never want to see him again, I don’t.’ There is an appealing innocence about Eliza that she never loses throughout the play.

During the next few months Eliza is trained how to speak, act and dress as a lady. Higgins and his friend Mr Pickering, who made the bet with him, decide to present Eliza at Higgins’ mother’s at-home day. Eliza is presented to the Eynsford Hills, a family of mother, daughter and son. She is ‘speaking with pedantic correctness and great beauty of tone’. She is ‘exquisitely dressed’ and ‘produces an impression of such remarkable distinction and beauty’. Unfortunately Eliza’s low class origins are soon revealed when she talks about her father’s alcoholism and slips back into her cockney accent. As Mrs Higgins observes,

‘ she is a triumph of your art and her dressmaker; but if you suppose for a moment that she doesn’t give herself away in every sentence she utters, you must be perfectly cracked about her.’

Eliza’s outward appearance has changed at this stage but she’s still the same Eliza inside. She is puzzled when Freddy laughs at her ‘small talk’ and is naively hoping to impress the Eynsfords Hills by the idea that she is going to take a taxi home rather than walk. In Eliza’s view no one walks for pleasure especially if they can afford to ride.

Eliza’s appearance at the ball is a huge success. The guests ‘stop talking to look at her admiring her dress, her jewels and strangely attractive self’. She speaks ‘with a beautiful gravity which awes her hostess’. Although one of the guests speaks to her in Hungarian Eliza thinks he is speaking French and so this is mistaken for a witty remark. This shows that Eliza’s education is not complete and maybe there is a limit to the progress she can make.

Now Eliza begins to change inside and loses some of her naivety. She realises that as far as Higgins is concerned the ‘experiment’ is over and the success was due to him and not her. She was just an object to show off his talents. She shouts at him,

‘You don’t care. I know you don’t care. You wouldn’t care if I was dead. I’m nothing to you -not so much as them slippers.’

She has become a social misfit and she cries, ‘What’s to become of me?’ She goes to her room taking off her evening dress and hanging it carefully in the wardrobe. Eliza has changed, now she dresses like a lady. Before going out she puts on her walking shoes, her walking dress and hat and confidently looks in the mirror. She puts out her tongue at her reflection, and walks out banging the door. Yes Eliza has changed, not only on the outside but also on the inside. She’s become stronger, confident and determined without losing her fierce spirit.

When Eliza meets Higgins, at his mother’s home, she is able to confront him and play at his own game using witty, cutting remarks. She is ‘a woman’ and tells him, ‘I’m not afraid of you and can do without you.’ She is prepared to go to her father’s wedding ‘to shew theres no ill feeling’.

Eliza’s social status has changed in comparison to her father’s. At the beginning of the play she was a poor flower girl and he was a dustman therefore their status was similar. At the end of Act V Eliza is a social misfit and the final outcome is uncertain until Shaw makes it quite clear in the epilogue. Shaw tells us that, despite added luxuries because of her friendship with Higgins and Pickering, Eliza is in the ‘retail trade’ and therefore working class. In comparison her father, by chance rather than any effort, has risen through the middle classes and by the prologue has become ‘fantastically disclassed’. Higgins jokingly recommended him to an American millionaire as the ‘most original moralist in England’, consequently he was left three thousand pounds a year in the millionaire’s will. Although rejected by the middle class he had become ‘extremely popular in the smartest society’ and at ‘intimate ducal dinners he sat on the right-hand of the Duchess’. Ironically he was also ‘made much of by the butler’ and ‘smoked in the pantry’. It is typical of Eliza’s character that although their social status has changed it hasn’t affected her relationship with her father, she still doesn’t like him. In the epilogue we discover that Eliza has found a place in society. She is married to Freddy, they own a flower shop and she is an independent woman.

During the play Eliza is transformed by the people around her. Higgins alters her speech so that she speaks like ‘Queen Victoria’ but all this produces is someone who sounds like a duchess but inside is still a flower girl. Eliza likens it to learning to dance in the ‘fashionable way’. He is arrogant and bullying treating her like an object and referring to her in insulting terms such as ‘baggage’ and ‘a squashed cabbage leaf’. As Eliza says,

‘I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me like a flower girl.’

In contrast she says to Mr Pickering,

‘I know I can be a lady to you, because you treat me as a lady and always will.’

Mr Pickering taught Eliza manners by setting an example to her. His gentlemanly behaviour towards her, such as taking off his hat and opening doors, raised her self-esteem. When she first came to Wimpole Street he called her ‘Miss Dolittle’ and offered her a seat. It’s Pickering’s thoughtful treatment of Eliza that teaches her to respect herself.

Mrs Higgins and Mrs Pearce help Eliza to find her position in society and become a more fulfilled woman. The former supports her by assisting her when she leaves Wimpole Street and giving her moral support. Mrs Pearce teaches her how to have self-respect regarding cleanliness and appearance. Freddy’s unconditional love makes her feel worthy. If he can’t be with her he is still happiest when he is standing outside of Wimpole Street gazing up at her window.

Most important of all is Eliza’s self-belief and determination which grows despite Higgins’ intimidating and aggressive manner. She already has self- motivation as she shows when she arrives at Higgins’ house to learn how ‘to talk more gentee’. She wishes to improve herself and has ambitions to become ‘a lady in a flower shop.’ She has her dreams shown by a ‘portrait of a popular actor’ and ‘a fashion plate of ladies dresses’ pinned on the wall of her lodgings. Without these characteristics Eliza could not have grown into an engaging, thoughtful woman. Eliza uses her natural talents of determination and willpower to overcome the problems caused by Higgins’ and Pickering’s thoughtless bet. She

refuses to give up and go back to the gutter but uses her new self-belief to change and go forward with or without Higgins.

At the end of the play I believe Eliza is better off. She is married to Freddy who loves and adores her. She has found new friends who respect her for who she is and not what she does. Higgins, who at the beginning of the play insulted Eliza, is now able to converse with her and respects her as a high-spirited, beautiful woman rather than an object of ridicule. She is better off as her self- respect and self-assurance have increased and this has helped her to achieve even more than her dream of being a lady in a flower shop.

However, Eliza is still relying on Pickering to finance her shop although this needn’t necessarily be seen as a negative as Pickering is financially well off and adores Eliza. In my opinion this is a much better position for Eliza to be in than selling flowers on the street. Eliza’s short time at Wimpole Street has taught her many things that probably will have no use in her life with Freddy but from what we have learned about Eliza it wouldn’t surprise me if she put all of the lessons towards a useful purpose. Freddy may not be a perfect man in some people’s eyes but Eliza is happy with him. She is prepared to accept his shortcomings because he has other qualities that she can love. I think the positive aspects of Eliza’s new life outweigh the negative ones.

The play’s title ‘Pygmalion’ derives its name from the famous story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Pygmalion, disillusioned with the women of his time, resolves to live alone and unmarried. He decides to use his artistic talents to create a beautiful statue of his idea of the perfect woman. Eventually he falls in love with his creation and Venus, feeling pity for him, brings the statue to life. The woman is called Galatea and when she is awakened by Pygmalion’s kiss she gazes up at him and falls in love.

The play’s title is appropriate as Higgins is Pygmalion and Eliza his Galatea. At the beginning of the play the audience believe that Higgins, using his art, will transform Eliza into the perfect woman and they will fall in love and live happily ever after but this is not Shaw’s intention. He has deliberately chosen the title ‘Pygmalion’ because he wants to take the romance out of the myth and undo the myth. Higgins cannot transform Eliza by providing her with clothes and an education. After Higgins finishes his ‘experiment’ she is still a statue. He cannot breathe life into Eliza, she can only do this herself by her own will and desire. I think that Shaw is saying that man isn’t the perfect being who can create the perfect female and women are not inferior to men.

During the play Eliza changes from a common flower girl to a respected independent, beautiful woman. George Bernard Shaw shows us, through Eliza, that the growth of an independent spirit means changing on the inside as well as the outside. The true ladies and gentlemen of the world are judged by how they treat other people and not by their position in society.