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Close Analysis Pygmalion Act Ii Pages 25-27
Perhaps the most important theme in this extract is the way Higgins, Pickering and Mrs Pearce behave and feel towards
Eliza. Firstly Higgins, when he hears from Mrs Pearce that a young woman is at the door he becomes excited at the prospect of a test subject: 'Has she an interesting accent?' - obviously phonetics are Higgins' major concern and he suggests to Pickering that he can 'turn her on as often as you like'. When Higgins sees that it is the girl from the night before he completely looses interest in her: 'she's no use'. Shaw describes his behaviour in the stage directions as 'baby-like' and indeed Higgins does often seem to act like a petulant child constantly stropping and generally being selfish. However it is not as if Higgins treats only Eliza like this, he seems to either objectify or show disregard towards almost everyone. Shaw describes his manner in the stage directions as varying 'from genial bullying...to stormy petulance' and we see this when Higgins asks 'shall we throw her out of the window?' which completely terrifies Eliza. It seems as if Higgins regards everyone with equal contempt or rudeness regardless of whether they are of working class or aristocracy.
Pickering's attitude is entirely different from that of Higgins. Shaw describes his words towards Eliza in the stage directions as 'gently' and 'very courteous'. Although perhaps a little patronising Pickering does treat Eliza with the most respect out of the three. The way Pickering is respectful and polite to everyone is very different to Higgins' bullying and rudeness. Pickering seems old fashioned in his ways yet he is the most kind and the most tolerant of Eliza and shows her the most respect as an individual.
The character of Mrs Pearce herself has very clear cut boundaries in regard to class. For her in this Act Higgins and Pickering are at the top, followed by her and then Eliza. She is constantly annoyed by Eliza answering back to Higgins and feels she is superior to Eliza calling her 'foolish ignorant girl'. We can also see this attitude when Mrs Pearce first comes in – she is completely against the idea that a 'quite a common girl...very common indeed' should see Higgins. In this little dialogue we do not see any of this prejudice in Higgins' personality, he does not care whether she is 'common' or not he is only interested in whether she has an interesting accent. Although Mrs Pearce feels she can be domineering and abusive towards Eliza, in her rigid class ideas she acts incredibly respectfully and properly with Higgins and Pickering (although we do see later on in the scene that she does try and influence his decisions and take minor liberties when she believes they are needed).
Eliza as character also begins to come alive. We have seen her previously but in this Act a much more detailed picture begins to appear. Firstly Shaw's stage directions give an insight into the way he wanted Eliza to be portrayed: 'a deplorable figure...innocent vanity and consequential air', the description of clothes that are almost clean or nearly tidy all create a character we are meant to feel sympathy for. 'innocent vanity' – this girl has bought all these new clothes in an effort to look respectable and give off an air of importance but she is wearing a terrible multicoloured hat and a 'shoddy coat'. Shaw even says that the image 'touches Pickering' as it is meant to touch the audience, but obviously Higgins takes no notice whatsoever.
Eliza's focus on certain things is also meant to make us feel compassion, her emphasis on arriving in a taxi for example, to the party in the room it seems nothing, but to her, taking a taxi is a huge treat or privilege and she thinks that if they know she travelled in taxi they might take her more seriously. This shows how Eliza thinks that a woman who is wealthy – able to afford a taxi – demands more respect than a poor flower girl. This moves us because it is so obviously not wealthy or upper class but her vain attempts to appear so are inevitably touching.
Shaw also makes us feel sympathy for Eliza's cause. We find out that Eliza wants to learn to speak properly so that she can get a job in a shop, as the audience we respect her wanting to better herself, achieve something in life, she is not just a simple flower girl - she has hopes and dreams like everyone else and I think at this stage the audience want her to achieve that dream. As an extract there is plenty to analyse in this one and I think it is a particularly important one in the context of the play, it is almost a miniature encapsulation of everything the play is about – the class divide and the prejudices and preconceptions that we hold. Moreover it is very important because it for the first time in the play introduces the attitudes of three major characters towards the central figure in the play, Eliza.
Published: April 26, 2009