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

Pygmalion by George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaws father, George Carr Shaw, was an alcoholic whichmeant not much money was fagged on Shaws education, therefore he wasmainly self-taught, since he was self-taught he never had ideas forcedupon him, this caused him to turn into a strong minded individual whoexpressed his opinions. He was a socialist and a critic who believedstrongly in equality. Shaw wrote many plays, which expressed hisopinions, one of the most famous being Pygmalion. Shaw uses Pygmalionto show the superficial buttocks of the class system.Pygmalion is set in capital of the United Kingdom, in the early 1900s when the distinctionbetween classes was more defined. I believe Shaw choose to set theplay in London because it has the widest range of classes and wouldmake 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 andpeople living on the streets who atomic number 18 considered to be of the l owestclass.Shaw uses Pygmalion to show how false the class system is and how itis based on superficial ideas. Shaw shows that people cant be putinto categorise when he makes the characters go the boundaries ofthe groups they have placed in. One of the characters to do this isEliza, who exceeds the boundaries of lower class. Im a good girl Iam. She shows that she is well mannered, and has more morals thanHiggins. She also shows herself to have a lot of pride andself-respect.Through Higgins and Pickerings perceptions of Eliza, we are shownthat the class system is all in the mind of the beholder and how it isperceived differently in each person. Higgins sees Eliza as lowerclass I treat a duchess as if she were a flowe... ...Shaw shows how people are judged when we first meet Doolittle. Hellmake bad use of it Im aquaphobic because of his poverty-strickenappearance, Pickering assumes that Doolittle will waste the money.Shaw also uses Doolittle to show that happiness cant be bought w ithmoney, when we first meet Doolittle he is happy but when he comes intomoney he doesnt like his new lifestyle and isnt happy with his newfound finances.Shaw successfully criticises the British class system throughPygmalion. He shows how people cant be fitted into categorise as hemakes many of the characters exceed the boundaries that they have beenconfined within. Through Pygmalion he picks up on the class systemsmany flaws and how easily it can be proved wrong. Pygmalion issuccessful in getting the message across about the class system andhow it is based on superficial ideas.