Class Struggle and Feminist Character Transformation of Eliza Doolittle in Shaw’s Pygmalion

Abstract

George Bernard Shaw depicts, the life of the British middle-class society of the Victorian era. He received the Noble Prize in Literature (1952) and the Oscar Award for his best writing and illustration of Pygmalion. In Pygmalion Shaw addresses class struggle, pronunciation trends, thematic interpretation feminist character transformation and stylistic patterns. Eliza’s inaccurate English spelling is due to a poor economic and social position in society. Shaw’s Pygmalion attracts the reader’s attention to the social class and female viewpoints. The characters of Dolittle’s highlights the idea of class conflict in British society during the Victorian era. Eliza is the ideal character example for the lost modern girl and that these lost females will take lessons from play and make a great transition to obtain dignity, confidence and equality. The character Higgins, who sees that passion for the perfect use of language as a prerequisite for one’s success, uses social influence to enforce his point of view to make the character Eliza embrace and live in compliance with his orders. Thus, Shaw’s Pygmalion shows the hard work of Eliza Doolittle, a flower girl, suffered from the male dominant society and becomes stronger independent women.