When Eliza Doolittle appears herself in Chapter 1, she was just same shape as other low class people. She wore same thing as other low class people wear, and looks dirty because she did not wash her body. In linguistically, her pronunciation and grammar were terrible, and she has a London accent, so it was hard to understand her talking. However, although she was lower class people, she was always proud, and did not afraid to the other person. This quote expresses how she thinks herself; “I’m good girl, I am!”.
Most of main characters are shown in Chapter 1, such as Eliza, Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering. When they met first time at the portico of the church, Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering did not have so much interest in Eliza, but only a common flower girl. It was same feeling to the mother and the daughter who met Eliza at first.
She started to change in chapter 2, after Professor Higgins accepted to teach her. Higgins ordered to Mrs. Pearce to clean and wash up Eliza, and her dirty appearance and cloths were disappeared. In physically, she was turning to a lady, but not other parts such as language, behavior and attitude. Other important change to Eliza was the treatment of Colonel Pickering to her. He called her ‘Miss Doolittle’ after chapter 2, and tried to treat her as a lady. However, Higgins did not change his attitude to Eliza.
Her pronunciation and behavior became more likely to a lady, but there were still some mistakes at the meeting in Mrs. Higgins’ house. Eliza met three people again when she met those people in chapter 1. They thought Eliza a little bit weird, but they reacted to Eliza same as other ladies. It was quite successful achievement for Eliza. Finally, at the ambassador’s garden party, she acted perfectly as a lady. Her English and attitude was too excellent, so everybody thought that she’s princess. There was no doubt that she is a lady, not a flower girl. She finally changed into a lady.
However, it did not really affect the relationship between Eliza and Professor Higgins. While Colonel Pickering treated her as a lady, Higgins still did not care about her, because she was still a flower girl for him. There is a nice expression how Professor Higgins thinks about caring Eliza; “And I treat duchess as if she was a flower girl”. She felt upset about him for this reason, and she could not endure anymore, so she left his house after arguing with Higgins.
However she got a serious problem for herself, when the bet was over. Before achieving a goal, she was concentrated on how became a lady. However after the ambassador’s garden party, she felt that she could not come back and do same job of the flower girl in the past, but she did not think that she is perfectly a lady and could not live in the middle class society. It was a serious gap for her.
When her appearance changed a lot in many ways, her mind did not change so much. She still had strong mind on her, even after education for became a lady. That’s why she was left Professor Higgins who did not mind on her, and married with Freddy, who care her more lovely than Professor Higgins. George Bernard Shaw portrays Eliza as a strong woman.
From the beginning, she was just a common flower girl, which was lower class. However, after the lessons by Professor Higgins, she became a lady finally. During the lesson, she learned about English languages, the manners of the middle class, and behavior. She was confused what she is, but she had a strong mind on her, so she could overcome the gap. Whatever it changes, she is still Miss Eliza Doolittle!
