Examine some of the differences between Higgins in Pygmalion and Frank in Educating Rita.

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Examine some of the differences between Higgins in Pygmalion and Frank in Educating Rita.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the ancient myth of "Pygmalion" was written down. The myth was about Pygmalion, a king of Cyprus, who was revolted with the women around him and decided to make a gorgeous statue of a woman that he named Galatea. He became infatuated and later in love with the statue when he had completed her, he prayed to Aphrodite to make it become real. Aphrodite breathed life into the statue and Pygmalion and Galatea got married.

"Educating Rita" by Willy Russell and "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw are both modern interpretations of this legend, though neither has the romantic ending of the myth itself. Both plays are based on the idea of a person 'creating' someone else. Higgins 'creates' Eliza; Frank 'creates' Rita, not literally, like Pygmalion, but by sculpting their personalities and transforming them into something different. By educating Rita and Eliza, they are given more opportunities in life and will be more respected.

Professor Higgins teaches Eliza how to act like a lady because he has a bet that he can pass her off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball in six months, which he does. Eliza becomes independent, and does not want to be a flower girl any more. Rita is tired of her life as a hairdresser and wants to read more and understand books. Frank starts to teach her as part of her Open University course. Gradually she becomes more independent as well, and starts to think for herself.

Educating Rita is set in the North in the 1970s, when the Open University had recently been set up by the Labour government. It provided opportunities for working class people who might have missed out on schooling. It was aimed at older people who wanted a qualification in something and had full-time jobs, because it was possible to do work in the evenings. Students at the Open University did not need any previous qualifications, and there was 'distance learning', which was learning using television or videos. There was a summer school for students as well.
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Pygmalion was written in 1910, when there was no Open University, and when the poor and working class were very much more looked down on than they are now. The poor were separated under two headings; deserving and undeserving, as Alfred Doolittle points out: "I'm undeserving, and I mean to go on being undeserving." All through Pygmalion, Eliza is treated quite badly by Higgins because he considers her inferior. She is useful to him for collecting slippers, but nothing more. Eliza has no choice but to be a flower girl, because she is poor and working class, a ...

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