much bigger point of Elizas' actions, especially when relaying story to his mother, than perhaps
Elizas' reasons why she acted so .
Also , he never seems to notice mistakes in himself .During act 3 his mother asks him to behave, he
merely reiterates this to Pickering, as if Pickering is the person who needs such advice , and not
himself .
The dominant male is usually so arrogant in himself to only do things which serve his own
needs, and again Higgins does this . The while notion of teaching Eliza , is for his own
sake, to prove how good he is, irrespective of her efforts . However he doesn't realise, due to his
blinkered views, that he is also installing in her a ground teaching in being authoritative and
dominant as well , making her more like him as the play progresses .
Eliza is the main character in the story , and her character is portrayed very well throughout Shaws'
writings .
From the story , a reader might presuppose that Eliza would be passive , going along with the
whole scheme , and at the beginning Shaw shows her as depraved , dirty and living poorly .
However, her character seems assertive, she willingly chats to anyone, most likely as its her
only way to earn money . Shaw doesn't seem to want to portray her as passive, but more
permissive . She isn't overly keen on being Higgins' experimental guinea pig, but the chocolates and
dresses are persuasive .
She isn't quiet, and isn't afraid to speak out. This may well be Shaw indicating her lack of manners
and knowledge of etiquette , or her assertiveness, or both .
Eliza shows an air of independence, most likely derived from her living alone and trying to support
herself , which affects her personality in the play . The fact she travels alone to Higgins' house and
enters into his room proves this , although she does sway to their demands once there . The added
bath scene showing that dominance of Mrs. Pearce over Eliza, proves that sometimes she can be
forced into doing something against her will , but its a fight, not a walkover .
Act 3 shows Eliza at Mrs. Higgins' house, and Shaws shows her once more as lively , chatty and
very open .The conversation revolves around her from when she enters to when she leaves .
As she becomes more trained and learned , she doesn't seem to enjoy herself as much, the ball at the
end of act 3 shows this , which follows onto act 4 where she finally stands up to Higgins' arrogance.
She has acquired now a dominant and aggressive manner from her months with Higgins, and is
pleased to finally get her own back on him . Her running away in act 4 again shows her
independence, and by the end of the novel she is a very forthright young lady , with a free will and a
free mind .
The main contrasts between Higgins and Eliza are his lack of concern for others and his sheer
rudeness, however they both seem to grow by end into two strong characters.
Moving onto the second study text to see whether the same ideas show for its main characters, it
must be noted again that a novel is greatly different to that of a play. The main characters in a play
such as Pygmalion show their personalities much easier than a character in a novel, especially one
so complex as Wide Sargasso Sea. This was written in 1966, and uses a stream of consciousness
approach, drifting from one characters confusing perspective to another . This makes it hard to
follow, and even more so with regard to identifying and understanding the personalities of the
central roles in the book. However , it must be remembered this is Rhys intention , and everything
she tells , or omits to tell the reader , is intentional .
Antionette is the most important character in the novel, and it is her voice starting the
story. To determine if she is portrayed as a passive woman , her viewpoint and actions must be
analysed . It can be seen she is very passive in the beginning , in her reactions to changes in situation
around her . The first main incident is when the house is attacked , Rhys shows Antoinette as doing
what she is ordered, without fuss , saying very little throughout the whole ordeal . Towards the end
she is portrayed as wanting to remove herself from it by closing her eyes, a passive action of not
wanting to be part of anything , and letting others deal with it .
After this , Antoinette is bullied and teased ; she does not retaliate, but runs away as soon as she
can . This shows she hasn't any strength to stand up for herself , lacking courage and belief in who
she is, which again are signs of being dominated and oppressed .
Once her years in schooling are over , the reader is introduced to another sign of passiveness ,
during her conversation with Mr. Mason , he tells her what is going to happen to her ; she only
questions it in her mind, daring not to speak out .
Rhys does not give too many details about Antoinette , maybe due to prove the point that
Antoinette does not really think or even care too much about herself, which is another sign of being
passive . In part two the narrative changes to Rochester , and he is the main male character in the
novel.
Here the reader is shown the views of another person about Antoinette. Rochester is shown to find
her pleading expression annoying, and this pleading indicates she has to ask for anything she wants
as she may not get it otherwise, and he is clearly not enjoying her doing this .
It is noticed how Antoinette is very inanimate towards Rochester, neither positive to his advances ,
nor negative to him either . This suggests she is simply going along with everyone else's plans, and
either has no opinion, or doesn't feel able to stand up for it .
Rhys shows her disagreeing with the marriage, and apparently arguing with Mason over the
subject. This section may have been included to show that even the odd time Antoinette may try and
speak out on what she wants, she gets forced into changing her mind. It doesn't take Rochester long
to persuade her to the wedding , and Rhys portrays her going back to her safe, passive nature, and
simply nods in agreement at the end .
Antoinette is shown as being weak, upon her learning of Christophines’ departure by worrying
about how she will cope being alone , without her there for guidance . Christophine seems to have
been there throughout Antoinettes’ life helping her to know what to do, what to wear etc.
She shows this inability to make decisions and her need to someone to tell her what to do ,
by going to Christophine and asking her about the loveless marriage .
Towards the end of the novel , Rhys exposes Antoinettes’ decline in health, at the same time
making her more vocal and animated .
Her discussion at night with Rochester about her past , shows her able to be more open and honest,
rather than silent and agreeable with everything . The reader is also shown Antoinettes’ secret and
cunning side as she poisons her husband , an act she mayn’t have done earlier on when she was
more sane .
By the end , it is hard to distinguish Antoinettes’ character from her madness. Indeed she is more
forceful and aggressive in her behaviour, but whether it is because she changes her personality, or
because she is sick, isn't clear .
Antoinette does appear to be a character of a typical passive woman. She does as she is told by men
and dominant women most of the time , and rarely shows her own desires or will . She is dependant
on Rochester, financially and emotionally , and has no security of her own . Her physical appearance
was shown to be pale and withdrawn . It is only towards the end of the book Rhys shows her
standing up for herself and being honest about what she believes and wants, and expressing her
(maddening) thoughts .
Moving onto Rochester , who is the main male character in the book, although not appearing until
part two . His portrayal isn't that of a typical male authoritative figure, although Rhys does give him
some traits . Rochester isn't shown as an emotional person, and little is revealed of his personality .
The first sign of his dominance over Antoinette , is shown in the extract mentioned above, when he
coerces her into marriage against her wishes . Also through Antoinettes actions it can be seen how
he is dominating her, a good example being her changing her habits and not wearing scent in her
hair anymore, because he disapproves .
He shows his protective side when Rhys portrays him cuddling and rocking her like a
child , the comparison of father-child in this shows a certain dominance of Antoinette . This comes
again when he stops her fighting with Amelie, he orders them both directly and abruptly , acting as
master of the house .
Male figures of authority are considered to act in such a way, hiding their feelings, always being
right, and taking control of situations . They also are considered to be protective , as a father
would protect his children in a controlling way .
Rochester isn't always shown as such though . When he meets Daniel he is rather quiet and walks
away rather than becoming aggressive and showing his temper . Although Rhys shows him
reasserting his control over Antoinette by changing her name to Bertha because he likes it, despite
what she wants . From this it could be deduced that Rochester is dominant over Antoinette, and
tries to be the male authoritative figure , but doesn't always behave as such with everyone .
He isn't particularly dominant with Daniel or Mason who sets up the whole marriage . By end of
novel he loses all his control , when Antoinette escapes and commits suicide.
To briefly compare the two texts, the female characters do both change over time , becoming more
dominant towards the end. However Liza gains more independence, Antoinette loses hers in the
most extreme way - imprisonment .
Both male characters are somewhat dominant, however both having their flaws ; Higgins with his
mother and Eliza at the end, and Rochester with Christophine and Antoinette at the end . All the
characters are complex, making them unable to be categorised one way or the other . This
therefore makes them more interesting, more human, and a credit to their respective creators .
