Pygmalion: Transform and Eliza

capital of Mississippi Wise English 4 4A October 15 2012 Metamorphoses in Pygmalion Pygmalion is a dissolution written by George Bernard Shaw that is based on a poesy called Metamorphoses, written by Ovid. The carry and the poem be very similar in the themes, but the actual stories are not alike. Ovids version of Pygmalion is around a sculpture and its creator who falls in love with a woman who he created and brings her to life. Shaws version of Pygmalion is ab unwrap a wage-earning flower girl who is turned into a beautiful, polite lady. Although the play and the poem are fairly different, the theme is the same.The main theme for Pygmalion is that slip is mathematical for anyone through hard scat. Eliza, Higgins and Mr. Doolittle all go through different kinds of sack (Yeates). Pygmalion is a Cinderella story about how Eliza Doolittle goes through a drastic veeration from a street mortal to appearing as a duchess. Eliza, as the main character, is described as a nasty lo oking person working on the streets as a flower girl. Her clothes are torn, her hair needs washing, and she is very dirty compared to other ladies.However, her distinguishing characteristic that draws atomic number 1 Higgins attention is her horrible accent while struggling to speak comely English. Eliza is a good girl there is no discussion of wishing of morals or criminal behavior in her. She wants to improve herself, she hopes to transform into a lady (Pygmalion). She meets a man named Henry Higgins who offers English words lessons. She goes to Higgins with high hopes but is treated terribly. To Higgins, Eliza reminds him of trash Shall we ask this baggage to present down or shall we throw her out of the window? (Shaw 59) Higgins thinks it over and makes a bet to a man named Pickering, saying that he could completely transfigure this flower girl into a beautiful, polite lady. Their result is a metabolism. She has been transform into a lady she has manners, behavior, and di ction. Higgins and Pickering want to show off their success with Eliza, so they all go to a ball. Eliza comes in looking like a princess. She dances the special waltz and many people guess that she is royal Magyar blood. She even convinces Neppomuck, a European phonetics expert. Another vicissitude in this play is the changing of Mr.Higgins. Higgins is an arrogant, stubborn bachelor with no use for women, who transforms passim the story. He claims that she was simply a challenge Never lose a prognosis it doesnt come every day. I shall make a duchess out of this drag tailed guttersnipe (Shaw 62). Higgins does transform and slowly starts to like having her around. He becomes accustomed to her and grows fond of her, but will not swallow his felicitate to keep her. He is mean spirited and cruel to Liza throughout the play he is probably cruelest to himself since his pride makes him lose her.The last transformation in this play is Elizas father. Mr. Doolittle besides transforms alo ng with Eliza and Higgins. He is to begin with a poor, low-class man who tries to sell his daughter to Higgins. Higgins gives him money for Liza, and in the end of the play, Mr. Doolittle comes back to Higgins upset. He is mad that he has forced himself into the oculus class Done to me. Ruined Me. Destroyed my happiness. Tied me up and delivered me into the transfer of middle class morality (Shaw 190). So, two of the men were unintentionally transformed.Transformation is the strong theme of the play and myth, Pygmalion. In Ovids poem/myth, transformation is displayed by how in love the sculptor is with his woman statue that eventually is transformed into a real woman from the help of the mythical god Venus. A metamorphosis is expressed in more than three ways in Pygmalion and it is also displayed in the myth as well. The three characters discussed all experience transformation. Eliza worked so hard to become the proper flower shop lady she daydream of being. Higgins changed in s pite of his stubbornness.Mr. Doolittle developed a conscious and maybe did a little. These three types of metamorphosis show that anyone of any class stern learn and work to change. Works Cited Pygmalion. Encyclop? dia Britannica. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online. Encyclop? dia Britannica Inc. , 2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2012 . Shaw, Bernard. Pygmalion. New York Brentano, 1916 Yeates, Amelia Recent work on Pygmalion in Nineteenth-Century Literature The Author. Journal Compilation Volume 7, coming back 7, pages 586596, July 2010