The rich minded their own businesses, disassociating themselves from the poor and their wants and needs. Shaw wanted the middle class to notice the deprived working class; much like Charles Dickens did, and wanted to eradicate the class divide and ignorance between the two. ‘Pygmalion’ is a story similar to Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ and it too is a persuasive piece of writing aimed at the advantaged upper classes encouraging them to consider the appalling conditions of the underprivileged lower classes.
Shaw portrays the relationship between the middle and working classes through the story of Eliza Doolittle and her father Alfred’s powerful speeches to Professor Higgins. Doolittle sums up what Shaw believes about the social class system, money is restricting and people only would only want to know you if you have money, ‘A year ago I hadn’t a relative in the world except two or three that wouldn’t speak to me. Now I’ve fifty and not a decent week’s wages among the lot of them. I have to live for others and not myself: that’s middle class morality.’ ‘Pygmalion’ shows how unreliable and foolish the class system was and how it was gradually beginning to change. Gradually, the class system was becoming more flexible, and movement between classes was becoming increasingly common and easier. The play shows how prejudiced people were at times and how you cannot judge a person by the way they dress or speak and so on. Professor Higgins only teaches Eliza how to speak ‘proper’ English, and adorns her in beautiful gowns and dresses, but she is mistaken for a Hungarian princess at an upper class party she is taken to. This shows the foolish ignorance of the time and how quick people were to judge others. Shaw wanted people to realise this and his influential message is expressed clearly throughout the play.
There was a huge distance between middle class people and working class people. The middle class were ignorant of the working class and their wants and needs; they were of no importance to the middle class. These widespread attitudes can be seen in the interactions between upper class characters such as the Eynsford-Hills and Professor Higgins towards lower class characters such as Eliza and her father Alfred. Some of the typical stereotypes are depicted, for example, at the beginning of the play when Eliza and the Eynsford-Hills are sheltering from the rain in the portico of St. Paul’s church. Eliza innocently calls Freddy, without realising it, by his proper name. Mrs. Eynsford-Hill presumes Eliza is a prostitute and has been doing business with Freddy, ‘Now tell me how you know that young gentleman’s name.’ Eliza however, does not approve of nakedness, as she associates it with prostitution, as is shown in the scene when Mrs. Pearce gives Eliza a bath, ‘I had a good mind to break it. I didn’t know which way to look. But I hung a towel over it, I did.’ Higgins is very patronising towards Eliza, supposing she is stupid and has no manners, ‘Remember: that’s your handkerchief; and that’s your sleeve. Don’t mistake the one for the other if you wish to become a lady in a shop.’ Higgins treats Eliza as if she was dirt under his feet; he treats her with no respect. He is very insulting towards her calling her impolite names, ‘Pickering: shall we ask this baggage to sit down, or shall we throw her out of the window?’ This is the typical treatment the working class received from the upper classes.
The working class clearly did not deserve to be treated in this way; they desperately needed help from the upper classes who could clearly afford to donate some of their money towards helping the poor gain better lifestyles. Like Dickens, Shaw saw that if the poor were educated and their ignorance was eradicated then they could learn to help themselves. The poor deserved to be treated with value by the upper classes; the only difference between them was money. The stereotypes the middle class gave to the poor were unfair, harsh and not necessarily true at times. Higgins believes that if he pays Eliza money, she will only spend it on alcohol, ‘She’ll only drink if you give her money.’ When Doolittle visits Higgins at home to try and gain money for Eliza, Higgins is surprised that Doolittle has a ‘certain natural gift of rhetoric’. Higgins is impressed because Doolittle is a working class man yet he is able to speak clearly and expressively. This again is a stereotype because Higgins is presupposing that because Doolittle is of a lower class than he is, he is unintelligent.
Doolittle speaks for Shaw’s views; the poor deserve independence and respect from the upper classes. Doolittle is content to be poor, he claims he is one of the undeserving poor and he means to go on being undeserving. If he was given money, he declares that it will make him feel ‘prudent like’ and he will not be happy with more money than he needs. Shaw is expressing that you do not necessarily need money to make you happy. Both Eliza and Alfred refuse to accept large amounts of money, and both are unhappy when they become wealthier. This proves that money is often a cause of unhappiness, and is not essentially a good thing to have.
In Edwardian times, there were no systems such as pensions to support working class citizens who were too old to work. Someone such as Doolittle would have had no other choice than to work in one of the dreaded workhouse for support and shelter. This is one of the times when the poor d desperately need some support from those who could afford to help them; the middle class. But the rich were too miserly and did not like to associate with the poor, as is shown in act one when the Eynsford-Hills meet Eliza selling flowers on the street. Freddy knocks Eliza’s bunch of flowers and ruins them. Mrs. Eynsford-Hill pays for the damaged flowers but her daughter demands her mother to ask for the change, as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill has paid slightly too much for them, ‘Make her give you the change. These things are only a penny a bunch.’ This confirms how miserly and selfish the rich are and how they do not like to associate with the poor.
Professor Higgins is a caricature of middle class hypocrisy. The upper classes are supposed to be educated and therefore have manners, but Higgins proves that this is not necessarily true. He swears a lot and is very impolite, especially towards Eliza. She even reprimands him for being rude and not inviting her to sit down when she turns up at his home querying about elocution lessons, ‘Well, if you was a gentleman, you might ask me to sit down, I think.’ This remark from Eliza demonstrates that even the poor, who are uneducated, can have better manners than those who are rich and have received some form of education. Higgins swears a lot, is rude and treats people with disrespect and also has poor hygiene, he wipes his face on his dressing-gown and places dirty cutlery on the clean tablecloth. Mrs. Pearce reprimands him for doing and so and asks if he could improve his manners to set a better example to Eliza, ‘Then I might ask you not to come down to breakfast in your dressing-gown, or at any rate not to use it as a napkin to the extent you do, sir.’ This portrays perfectly middle class hypocrisy, a housekeeper asking her master to take care of his manners. It shows how money does not buy you manners.
The rich can be criticised on many accounts. Not only the hypocrisies exposed by Higgins but also the fact that many people were living above their means, trying to keep up with the latest society trends. The rich lived only for themselves and showed no compassion or concern towards the poor. The middle class emphasis on fashions, manners and judging people by wealth shows how superficial and prejudiced the rich could be. Many women married men not for lover but for money. Mrs. Eynsford-Hill is trying to show off her daughter and is persuading her to find a rich man to marry. This is almost like prostitution. In this way it can be said that the poor are have more self-respect and more morals than the upper classes.
The superficiality of the rich can be seen at Mrs. Higgins’ at-home day and at the upper class event that Eliza is taken to by Higgins and Pickering. Eliza speaks about her poor past; her aunt dying of pneumonia and of alcohol. She uses her ‘gutter English’, using words such as ‘bloody’ and phrases such as ‘done her in’. Mrs. and Miss Eynsford-Hill do not understand what she is trying to say, but Higgins covers up Eliza’s mistakes telling the Eynsford-Hills that Eliza is speaking the ‘new small talk’. Clara (Miss Eynsford-Hill) tries out the ‘new small talk’ herself, not realising that she is actually using working class language. It is ironic how shallow Clara is towards Eliza, when she was aware that Eliza was a flower girl, she shunned her and treated her with disrespect and contempt, but now Eliza is dressed up beautifully and is clean, Clara is showing an interest in her and admires her. This is also showing the emphasis the upper classes had on fashions and trends.
After Eliza’s transformation from uneducated poor to educated ‘middle class’ at the hands of Higgins and Pickering, her character has also undertaken a transformation. She is now able to fend for herself and for Freddy Eynsford-Hill to Higgins, contrasting the weak and feeble character she was at the beginning of the play. This shows how a bit of respect from the middle class can alter a person’s personality, and how the poor can all be changed if they were treated equally and with respect by the middle class. Eliza’s morality seems better than the Eynsford-Hill family’s, her disapproving attitude towards prostitution and Mrs. Eynsford-Hill’s wish for Clara to be married to a rich man, ‘I sold flowers not myself.’ Eliza’s ability to reprimand Higgins is a bit of a shame for Higgins, as he is being scolded by someone who he had always considered lower than him. This illustrates again the fact that money does not buy you respect or manners and does not make you a good person.
Shaw wanted the middle classes to realise and consider the working class. He was convinced that the way to alleviate the problem of poverty in society was to provide equal opportunity for all. This message is depicted in Eliza’s transformation. Shaw also attacks middle class values and brands them hypocrites. He suggests that exposure to working class values might do them some good and teach them a valuable lesson. It is an influential message from start to finish and will persuade many people to consider others more.
