Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Comment on Shaw's use of myth in Pygmalion. Answer in detail.

If you use
the term "myth" loosely, you might apply the Frankenstein myth to the characters,
plot, and theme of the play. While the play is called , it seems to have many thematic parallels
to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  In this 19 C. romantic novel,
Shelley portrays an overly ambitious scientist, much like Henry Higgins, whose experiments
create an anomalous being who as a result has nowhere to go.  Like Shelley, Shaw explores the
effects of such a creation on both the creator and the creation.  We see Eliza transformed from
a flower girl to a lady, but this transformation involves far more than a transformation of
language and clothes.  Like the monster, Eliza becomes much more than her creator bargained
for--and as Higgins is reminded by his mother and Mrs. Pearce, he has some responsibility toward
her in making it impossible for her to return to the world she has known previously. Just as Dr.
Frankenstein abandons his monster, Higgins refusal to acknowledge Eliza as anything more than an
experiment deeply wounds Eliza who gradually learns to stand on her own two feet in a world of
rigid class distinctions and hypocrisy. 

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