Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw depicts willfulness by portraying women as capable of leading independent lives according to their own choices, unlike previous works. This is due to Shaw's concepts of Life Force and Superman, not feminist ideas. Life Force represents the will to achieve greatness, which Shaw believes both men and women possess equally. Eliza Doolittle transforms from a poor flower girl to a lady of status through her determination. She and Professor Higgins both display traits of Shaw's Superman concept through their intellects and disregard for social norms. By depicting women as willful and equal to men, Shaw challenged traditional portrayals of women in literature.

1. Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw is a modern drama that deals with the importance and role of
language with accurate accent and the social manners in human life. It is the story of a “common
ignorant” flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, who has a horrible accent and “disgusting sounds”. She
wants to improve her accent, so that she may be able to work at a better place rather than selling
flowers on passing tracts. To accomplish her desire of leading a better life by learning a proper
language, she meets two men of letters! Colonel Pickering, “a student of Indian dialects”, has the
appearance of “military type”; and Professor Henry Higgins, a master of phonetics possessing
the features of “the energetic scientific type”. They both take the responsibility to teach this girl.
In a short span of six months her accent is improved and gets accurate enough to be understood
by all people. Now, on account of refining her mode of speech, her entire life style is changed.
Hence, she acquires the status of a respectable lady rather than being a poor flower girl.
In light of above quotation, Shaw has created the notion of willfulness in his play Pygmalion. His
drama portrays willfulness by depicting the willful attitude of women in contrast to previous
eras. This depiction of women is not due to feminist agenda, but his notion about life force and
the superman have helped him to provide a new picture of women. These notions, and not the
feminist ideas, have enabled him to portray both men and women on equal level.
The term willfulness is used to denote the determination or will power to create something
different. It also gives the meaning of stubbornness or revolt against prevailing norms and
traditions. In previous dramas all the writers used to depict a particular picture of women. They
portrayed women completely dependent on male members, acting upon all the rules and customs
set by society without any right to revolt against social norms. Moreover, it was always assumed
that only men can bring about change or revolution for the betterment of society. At the end of
nineteen century, some writers rejected this tradition of writing by revolting against it. They
gave the notion New Woman.
Shaw is one of those writers, who has given importance to the concept of New Woman in his
play Pygmalion. He has given equal significance to both men and women. The women in his
play are capable of leading a life independently according to their own choice. For instance, Mrs.
Higgins is leading a free and happy life in spite of being an old lady. Women are able to earn for
themselves. Flower girl is shown to earn living for her. They have right to decide for themselves.
In the play Eliza takes an important decision of her life by deciding about her marriage with Mr.

2. Freddy. Women are respectable in the eyes of men. Freddy respects his mother and sister.
Higgins also gives value to his mother. In addition, women have a right to preserve their
individuality. For example, at one occasion Colonel Pickering says to flower girl “you have a
right to live where you please”. In short, the depiction of women in Shaw‟s play is totally
different from the depiction of women in the plays of earlier times. Women are shown willful by
walking side by side with men in all fields of life. Both are two significant wheels playing their
own roles to drive the motor of life.
There are two main factors in Pygmalion that are responsible to portray willfulness or concept of
New Woman.
Life Force is a main feature due to which Shaw has given equal place to both men and women in
his play. In Shaw‟s era, Darwin‟s ideas about evolution and survival of the fittest were
considered to be the matters of great importance. But, Shaw rejected these ideas and he
developed his notion of Life Force by taking support from the views of Buffon, Lamarck and
Samuel Butler. According to Shaw, Life Force is a will, or a power, or determination of life that
strives for achieving greatness in life. In J. O. Bailey‟s article Shaw‟s Life Force and Science
Fiction, Shaw‟s views about Life Force are discussed. In light of this article “All organism have
a degree of consciousness, memory and will. If they try long and hard enough to develop an eye,
a nose, a digestive tract, or the innate ability to ride a bicycle, they will eventually succeed, one
generation passing on to another… a tiny residue of organic modification… which gradually
accumulates until it suddenly produces the organ or instinct required”. Again, this Life Force or
power of life will “after aeons… produce something more complicated than man, that is,
Superman: then… the Angel, the Archangel, and last of the entire omnipotent and omniscient
God”. Thus, Life Force is a natural will of life that moves people forward to achieve grater goals
of life without any discrimination of gender, caste, creed and color.
This concept of Life Force is used for both men and women by Shaw. In the play, on one hand, it
is the force of life due to which Mr. Pickering and Professor Higgins have gained fame in the
eyes of many people. It is this force that compels them to visit different countries to share their
experiences or ideas about sounds of speech, accents, dialects and pronunciation. Again it is the
result of this force that Mr. Doolittle, the father of flower girl, improves his life style by
becoming a gentleman far away from the life pattern of a „dustman‟.

3. On the other hand, this idea of Life Force has also changed the position of women in life. At the
beginning of drama Eliza is depicted as a common dirty girl. She is wearing untidy clothes. Her
appearance has been depicted by Shaw in these words: “She is not at all an attractive person. She
is perhaps eighteen, perhaps twenty, hardly older. She wears a little sailor hat of black straw that
has long been exposed to the dust and soot of London and has seldom if ever been brushed. Her
hair needs washing rather badly: its mousy color can hardly be natural. She wears a shoddy black
coat that reaches nearly to her knees and is shaped to her waist. She has a brown skirt with a
coarse apron. Her boots are much the worse for wear. She has been called the “mud out of the
gutter”. She speaks harshly. Her speech is not clear enough to be fully understood by people as
Higgins comments on her speech pattern in these words:
“You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to
the end of her days.”
She is like “a pebble on the beach”. It is her will or determination of life which enables her to
improve her mood of speech. It is her passion of achieving greatness in life which makes her a
“duchess” and a “master piece”. She has become a “tower of strength”. She has lost the titles of
“millstone” and “ungrateful wicked” girl forever. With the betterment of speech, her entire life
style has improved. Now she belongs to the class of gentle ladies. She has become a rich lady,
enjoying the facilities of eating chocolates, sitting in taxies and wearing gold. Hence, it is her
desire of leading a happy life that changes her mode of dressing, eating, speaking, behaving and
thinking.
Similarly, the character of Mrs. Higgins, the mother of Mr. Higgins, is another example that
highlights the importance of Life Force. It is the impact of this force that even at the age of sixty;
she takes an interest in life. She is satisfied and happy. She is always found to be guiding her son
in respect of social manners. She has an interest in paintings. She keeps herself busy in writing.
In short, on account of his belief in Life Force Shaw has portrayed willful picture of women and
by creating willful picture of women he has given an equal status to both men and women.
In view of Shaw, another idea that provides a different picture of women as compared to the
women in previous dramas and the status of women equal to that of men is the concept of
Superman. This term is associated with any person who has extraordinary mental or physical

4. capabilities. Usually this term is spoken for the heroes like Julius Caesar and Napoleon. These
people are remembered for the acts of bravery and courage for the service of their nation. In view
of Shaw, this term is employed for both men and women. Any person, either man or woman,
having Life Force can become a superman human being or any other higher creature.
According to Shaw there are certain traits that are associated with the person bearing the name of
superman or superwoman. Heshe has superior intellect or artistic ability. Heshe uses hisher
intellect for the service of mankind. Such people can be poets, philosophers, moralists or
scholars belonging to any other field. They are sometimes seen cruel and harsh while guiding or
teaching people. These people have no feelings and emotions so their fellow beings, rather they
are passionate just to make progress in their own profession. They have no respect for moral and
social values and they react against the norms and traditions of society. Usually they believe in
their own creative values. In short, in respect of intelligence, character, manners and lifestyle,
super human beings are above than average people.
In Pygmalion, Shaw has given the status of super human being to both man and woman. On one
side, Professor Henry Higgins is the instance of superman. He is extraordinarily intelligent. He
has full command on the knowledge of speech sounds. He has also interest in art, philosophy and
classical music. He uses his intellect to teach or correct the speech of common people. But, while
guiding people, he is sometimes seen behaving cruelly. For instance, while discussing about
linguistic affairs, he says to flower girl Eliza “if I decide to teach you, I will be worse than two
fathers”. He has a wild passion for his subject of language while neglecting the feelings of other
people. His character is described as: “he is of the energetic scientific type, heartily and even
violently interested in everything that can be studied as a scientific subject and careless about
himself and other people including their feelings. He has no value for social manners. For
instance he is in the habit of swearing. At one point, he throws his clothes on the floor. In
addition, he has created his own values. It is his belief that the people, who have no knowledge
how to speak, have no right to live. Thus, he has super traits in both positive and negative aspect.
In the play, Eliza Doolittle belongs to the category of superwoman. In every respect, she is
different from ordinary people. It is the impact of her super intelligence that even in a very short
duration of six months; her accent is refined to a great extent, despite being the fact that she is
totally ignorant and uneducated. Being quiet intelligent, she performs well at every situation.

5. Again, it is her extreme intelligence and at the same times her passion for improving her life, that
she completely changes her ways of life. She has no respect for moral and social manners that
are significant in view of other people. For instance, at numerous occasions, while talking she
utters the expression of “ah--ah--ah--ow--ow--ow—oo”. Then, at one time, she throws slippers
on the face of Higgins despite being the fact that he is her teacher and guider. In addition, at
various occasions, she is found to be revolting against prevailing norms and customs. For
instance, unlike common woman she has lost respect for her father. She is not living in the
company of her own parents. Even she herself decides about her marriage with Mr. Freddy
without any intervention of her parents. In short, in many aspects, she is fulfilling the
requirement of being called a superwoman and due to this portrayal; Shaw has created
willfulness in his drama.
Om the whole, in view of Shaw, both men and women has numerous positive as well as negative
traits. If man is “book learned gentleman” woman can also have “idiomatic notions”. If women
are compared with “bilious pigeon” and they are tamed “like parrot”, men are also called “selfish
pig”, “selfish brute” and “sentimental hog”. If one can preach, at the same time the other has also
a right to teach. Both have their own private imaginations. Both are born equal. It is the
construction of society to present women always negatively and always to give a positive
glimpse of men in all spheres of life. Otherwise, it is natural that men and women both possess
good and bad qualities. In view of Shaw, it is not the impact of feminist agenda due to which he
has portrayed a willful picture of women; rather he has just depicted the natural situation in his
play by keeping in mind the beliefs of Life Force and the Superman. On account of willful or
new glimpse of women equal to that of men, his play also gives the concept of willfulness
against the writings of previous eras.