Select two characters from the works Medea and Pygmalion and compare the means by which these characters are constructed and developed
Select two characters from the works Medea and Pygmalion and compare the means by which these characters are constructed and developed.
Euripides and Shaw employ a range of techniques to present the compelling personas of their female protagonists, Medea and Eliza. The intense emotional transformation of Medea and Eliza's striking physical change are formed by such methods as language, tone, stage direction and theme development. In addition, the course of action the characters take influences the way they are perceived, as does the way the other character's view them. Each technique is important and the playwright must carefully consider all of them when constructing and developing their character.
Euripides emphasizes Medea's intelligence, she is cunning and clever yet feared and despised for having qualities typically associated with masculinity. Aegeus comments, "Certainly; a brain like yours is what is needed" and Creon fears her for being a "clever woman skilled in many evil arts" Medea herself feels her intelligence has been her "curse and ruin". Conversely, Eliza's poor grasp of the English Language often leaves her unable to respond effectively to the array of insults thrown at her by Higgins" often whimpering 'ah-ah-ah-ow-oo" in response to being called "bilious pigeon" or a "draggletailed guttersnipe" Although, surprisingly, when Eliza learns to speak eloquently she loses the freedom to say whatever she wants and is left with the small talk of the upper class.
The intense language of Medea shows conflict, passion and rage and contrasts completely with the light, humorous language of Shaw's Pygmalion. In dealing with the important issue of the British class system, Shaw's use of humor allowed the middle class audience an opportunity to laugh at themselves while taking into consideration the play's deeper moral issues. Euripides, On the other hand, employs the use of the Chorus to help provide a voice of reason and reflect on the plays morality as well as Medea's actions.
Elaborate costume and set design plays a less important role in the staging of Medea as it does in Pygmalion. Eliza's appearance is described in detail; her clothing is "coarse" and "shoddy", her attractive features hidden beneath dirt. Upon arriving at Mr. Higgins home, stage direction describes Eliza's effort to make her clothing and herself respectable, this evokes our sympathy for Eliza. This detailing is important in Pygmalion as costume plays a significant role in Eliza's physical transformation.
Eliza is a proud character who refuses to be looked down on, when taking a cab, she tells ...
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Elaborate costume and set design plays a less important role in the staging of Medea as it does in Pygmalion. Eliza's appearance is described in detail; her clothing is "coarse" and "shoddy", her attractive features hidden beneath dirt. Upon arriving at Mr. Higgins home, stage direction describes Eliza's effort to make her clothing and herself respectable, this evokes our sympathy for Eliza. This detailing is important in Pygmalion as costume plays a significant role in Eliza's physical transformation.
Eliza is a proud character who refuses to be looked down on, when taking a cab, she tells the driver to take her home to "Bucknam Palis" possibly the only affluent area she knows. Once there, stage direction describes her real home; she lives in simple surroundings, with little comfort, a fashion plate of ladies dresses pinned to the wall reveals Eliza's desire for a better life. The next set of stage directions describes the comfortable cluttered laboratory of Professor Higgins. These extensive stage directions are placed directly next to each other in the text, which not only allows us to see the difference in lifestyle and social class but also once again evokes our sympathy for Eliza.
Similarly, Euripides evokes pity by introducing Medea from the sympathetic standpoint of the nurse. However, although sympathetic the nurse's strong language predicts doom and warns of Medea's cruel and dangerous nature. She likens Medea's strength to that of a rock and employs storm cloud imagery to show her unpredictable nature. Medea is frequently associated with images of violence and rage and parallels are made with that of wild animals, "her eye like wild bull's", she is also compared to a lion and Jason, says she is more savage than a tiger. This use of imagery adds to Medea's compelling persona.
Despite the intense imagery surrounding Medea, she appears calm onstage. Master of manipulation, she conceals her anger and intent while easily manipulating all the powerful male characters in the play. Ironically playing to parental love she manipulates Creon, who despite his better judgment tells her "I fear you...yet nonetheless, Medea you shall have what you ask for". With the time she needed granted she uses her skills to manipulate Aegeus, gaining from him a place of safety and once this is secured she quickly moves from victim to aggressor.
Medea sees herself as a victim, discriminated against because of gender and race. She is alone, wronged by the husband who owes much of his success to her, feeling betrayed, by a "filthy coward" and " oath breaker" she believes she is right in her revenge against him. At the beginning of the play, Medea is suicidal and has "collapsed in agony" but soon her pride takes over and her focus and language shifts from that of victim to avenger. Medea delights in revenge, following the death of the king and his daughter she asks the messenger "how did they die" telling him that her pleasure would be doubled "if their death was horrible", she believes that to kill her children is the best way to "deal Jason the deepest wound" ". She refuses to be laughed at or be seen as "humble or weak or passive" This distorted sense of pride will see her take the lives of her children rather than endure the "The laughter of my enemies".
Eliza perceives herself as a "good girl" her self-respect is important to her and although she may not be eloquent she is smart enough to use the money thrown to her by Higgins for her own advancement. She is an ambitious character, telling Higgins"I want to be a lady in a flower shop 'stead of sellin' at the corner of Tottenham Court Road.
Higgins sees Eliza as a challenge, someone "so deliciously low, so horribly dirty" insisting, "I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe." The importance of education is important in Eliza's transformation, but it's the qualities Eliza already possessed, ambition and dedication that got her to Mr. Higgins door in the beginning. Now accustomed to the rules of etiquette, Eliza maintains her education from Higgins "was just like "learning to dance" and believes that her real transformation came from Pickering who taught her manners and self respect.
At the end of the play, Eliza insists"
"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is the not how she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.'
An important theme in both plays is one of being and outsider and Euripides presents this mainly through the character of Medea. The nurse tells us Medea comes from a "distant and exotic land" and Medea herself points out that she is a "foreign woman coming among new laws". Being an outsider, Medea is without status in her husband's homeland and having betrayed her father she has no home or family to return to. Now faced with exile, Medea is terrified, fearing that "Death is better" and of
"All the pains and hardships none is worse
Than to be deprived of your native land".
Similarly, Eliza has had to make her own way in life; she has no secure family home to return to and her transformation has taken her far from the lifestyle she once knew, She asks, "What is to become of me", and proclaims. I can't go back to the gutter? Both Mrs. Pearce and Mrs. Higgins voice concern for Eliza well being once the experiment has ended
Staging is important to both plays and the physical movements of the characters represent change; Medea's movements on and off stage parallel her public and private face. Her offstage speech sees her as a victim and is raw and emotional yet publicly she is cold and calculated. Similarly, Eliza's physical movements also show transformation. When Higgins and Pickering deem Eliza presentable they move her to the outside world, presenting her first at home with Mrs. Higgins. Mrs. Higgins disagrees with the gentlemen's assessment of Eliza, believing her to be a triumph only of their art and her dressmaker; yet, the Ladies and Freddy clearly do not recognize Eliza. By employing the characters introduced in Scene 1, Shaw shows that without the right appearance and accent, Eliza was overlooked and ignored; yet at the first sign of an appropriate accent she is accepted by the ladies who represent, the middle class. Because, Shaw believed class-consciousness to be the root of many problems in British Society he used the play to explore and expose the superficiality of society. .
Although both plays are cultures and worlds apart, they have similarities in the way they have considered themes of gender, society identity and transformation. Also by naming his play "Pygmalion", Shaw reminds people of the ancient Greek myth where a sculptor creates a beautiful statue and then falls in love with his creation, although Pygmalion does not end in the romance hinted at in the subtitle "A Romance in Five Acts" Eliza transformation successfully meets Higgins idea of perfection or what society believes to be a perfect lady. Euripides also explores ancient Greek myths and fables and challenges the values of Greek society by exhibiting his own thought provoking twists on the common values of the time.
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