When Higgins wrote a letter as a joke mentioning that he knew a man, Alfred Doolittle, who was the most moral man he knew. This gained Doolittle a wealthy sum of money by an American “old blighter” by the name of Ezra D. Wannafeller, without even wanting it.
“Tied me up and delivered me into the hands of middle class morality.” - P86
Ezra D. Wannafeller was searching for a man who he could give 5 million “to found Moral Reform Societies all over the world” in return for Higgins to invent a universal language for him.
Having an education may have benefited on the future of Eliza but does education, then leading to more money, lead to happiness?
After Doolittle inherited all that money he seemed to have lost his freedom and happiness. People only wanted him for his money. Middle class morality is displayed here as Doolittle says in his speech in Act 5 about him only living for others and not for himself.
Throughout the novel, Higgins is frequently looking down on Eliza because of her class and so seems it is OK to treat her with disrespect because it cannot be that someone of the working class should have any feelings. Nothing important to society.
Alfred Doolittle displays some very fair arguments that show that being middle class is not that great. In Act 2 he speaks of how he never wants to be in the middle class and describes himself as “the undeserving poor”.
“You’re undeserving; so you can’t have it.” - P44
He speaks of how his needs are just as important as the needs of a middle class, deserving man. He drinks more eats more and because he is a “thinking man” he needs a bit of amusement. He says middle class morality is simply depriving him and others in his class to be allowed more.
“Just an excuse for never giving me anything” - P44
He knows that he does not deserve much but he is still proud of being a member of the lower class.
“It’s a dog’s life” - P44
In Act 5 he went to Higgins and was unhappy because of the letter he wrote to Ezra D. Wannafeller, because it landed him into the middle-class. He now thinks that he must learn to speak English properly and that he can no longer do things for himself.
“In the house I’m not let do a hands turn for myself.” - P87
As a man of the lower working class he had to dye his hair to even be allowed to stay working. The facilities were also more restricted because of his lack of money, this also showed that he was seen as less important to others. This meant he was deprived of decent health care even when he needed it most.
“Used to shove me out of the hospital before I could hardly stand on my legs, and nothing to pay.” - P87
In Eliza’s point of view there have been advantages and disadvantages to moving into the middle class. She also thinks that she has lost her freedom and independence.
“Why did you take my independence from me?” - P100
But she also increased the options she had for the future. Before every single penny she could get her hands on made a difference but now that her quality of life had vastly changed, it seemed that as a flower girl she did not sell herself, but as a lady she only had herself to sell.
Middle class hypocrisy is mainly reflected on Higgins. Even though he has bad language, poor personal hygiene, is rude and has a bit of a drinking problem, his reputation of being a very successful phonetic expert and wealth still seemed to earn him a place in the higher of the classes.
Eliza on the other hand was well mannered and polite for someone of her class and background yet Higgins still spoke to and about her as if she was merely an inanimate object with no feelings at all.
“A women who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere – no right to live.” - P16
When the Eynsford-Hills first met Eliza they did not treat her as if she was a lady but simply a common flower girl of unimportance. Mrs Eynsford-Hill showed sympathy towards Eliza whereas Clara’s ignorance was clearly shown when she thought that even giving away a small bit of money to a poor girl was a waste.
“Sixpence thrown away! Really, mamma.” - P9
In Act 3 Eliza is treated as if she is a totally different person. Eliza’s accent and appearance have all changed, which was enough to let the Eynsford-Hills think she was of the middle class straight away.
Even when Eliza made the mistake of speaking badly at one point in a conversation they were having, she got out with it by making out it was merely the new slang, and Clara did not know it because she did not have many friends.
Mrs Eynsford-Hill wants to keep her children in the higher class so she therefore made many efforts to marry them off to wealthy families.
Freddy is mistreated by his family, and even though he is of the middle class he has no money for himself. It is only the fact that he was born into the middle-class that he remains there.
Once Eliza is educated, she is able to provide herself and her new husband, Freddy, security for the future.
This gave Eliza the self-confidence she needed to stand up to Higgins and receive the respect that she deserved.
She was able to “beat” him by telling him that’s he was going to teach what she had learnt off him to others. This was Higgins’ weakness. His arrogance allowed him to not be at all concerned about he feelings of others, but he did care about himself, his job, and his reputation of being a great phonetic expert. He obviously couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else doing phonetics.
“Whatll you teach, in heavens name?
What you taught me. I’ll teach phonetics.” - P103
Eliza’s hard work, ambition and determination allowed her to develop her best qualities and earn herself self-respect.
Shaw believed strongly that people shouldn’t be born into a class and have to stay there. He sees that the middle class are hypocrites and deserve some exposure so that they can see the true value of an individual from the working class. Simply working hard to get an education is enough to further a person’s career opportunities and lifestyle so that they can make a valuable contribution to society. Education and making more money may not lead to direct happiness, but it’s a decent start that could help a person a lot to achieve a greater and happier future.