How does Shaw draw the audience's attention to issues of social class in Act II of 'Pygmalion'? (p20-35)

Authors Avatar

Neha Solanki 10AL                November 2007

How does Shaw draw the audience’s attention to issues of social class in Act II of ‘Pygmalion’? (p20-35)

In your answer also consider:

  • in what ways this scene is typical of the play as w hole
  • what it tells us about life in 1914 England;
  • other possible interpretations

In the early 20th century, social class was a very big part of everyday life. The class system was divided into the upper class, the middle class and the working class. Being born into a certain class meant that you stayed in that social class for the rest of your life. It would also limit an individual to what they would be able to do for a living, where they lived etc. Pygmalion squashes people’s beliefs about the class system and shows the audience that you can be whoever or whatever you want to be.

The playwright George Bernard Shaw got the name Pygmalion from an ancient Greek myth called ‘Metamorphoses’ in which there was a sculptor who went by the same name. The statues he created were his biggest love in the world and he tended to spend most of his time with then as he disliked company, especially that of women of his village, Amathus. These women were called Propoetides and had no sense of shame because Aphrodite, who was the Greek goddess of love, had punished them for denying her divinity. Pygmalion however, was a devotee of Aphrodite and prayed to her to breathe life into one of his most exquisite statues- Galatea. Aphrodite granted Pygmalion’s wish and Galatea transformed into a beautiful woman and married Pygmalion.

G.B. Shaw brings the Greek myth into the play through his characters, as Professor Higgins resembles Pygmalion and Eliza Doolittle shares similarities with Galatea. Shaw does this to show us that it is possible to ‘create’ your own social class and change yourself. He also wanted the audience to believe that an individual’s social class shouldn’t prevent them from getting the same opportunities as someone from a higher class , as nobody gets to choose their social class. Furthermore, the play Pygmalion relates back to ‘Metamorphoses’, which means to change into a different form or appearance, by using the idea that Higgins created Eliza and gave her a different from as well as life. Another way in which Professor Higgins and Eliza resemble the characters of Pygmalion and Galatea is the subtle romance and slight spark between the two of them and many readers expect the two characters to get together.

Bernard Shaw’s political beliefs are strongly represented in the play. Shaw was one of the first members of the Fabian Society, a socialist party which believed in equality and social justice. Bernard Shaw described the Fabian Society as seeking “-to establish equality as the universal relation between citizens without distinction of sex, colour, occupation, age, talent, character, hereditary or what not...” which was the same message he put out to the world via Pygmalion. Bernard Shaw was a realist and really wanted us to think about the issues of social class by dropping in a lot of philosophical sayings. I think the society at the time in which the play was written, greatly influenced Shaw because things were just starting to change in terms of socialism and feminism was particularly strong in the UK.

Join now!

In 1914, life was incredibly dissimilar to how it is today, specifically for women. The Suffragettes were a women’s union who were fighting for women’s right to vote. At this period of time, women were considered to be considerably lower than men, in the eyes of society as well as the law. Being of the female sex meant that your education would be different from that of men and your destiny would be to get married and look after a family. The women fighting for suffrage did all they could to give women the rights they deserved. They threw ...

This is a preview of the whole essay